Life is but a dream
One might have had the right until now to characterize much of Mann's work ... as a triumph of style, of a sort, and self-consciousness over substance. His heroes in particular have tended to be a bit too cool and controlled (and in control) for their or anyone else's good.
--David Walsh (17 November 1999)
I've always thought of Michael Mann's films that way. And then I saw, after all this time, The Insider. I was drawn into it the same way Walsh describes original viewers having been drawn into it. How many original viewers were there? I don't remember it being a box office smash. No matter. Watching it is quite interesting. It definitely makes a visceral connection. There's supposed to be some fictionalizing and the end credits say so as well. How much? Considering how convoluted the world is anyway, who can say what is fictionalized?
It must be said that this is a defeat the Democratic Party made possible and richly deserved. Obama’s right-wing policies on the bank bailout, his cost-cutting healthcare overhaul and his continuation and expansion of the wars of the Bush administration have antagonized millions who supported him in 2008 and alienated Democratic Party base voters.
--Patrick Martin
Obama’s posturing as the tribune of “new politics” and the apostle of progressive change was a fraud. He was selected and elevated by powerful sections of the ruling elite, who calculated that a young African-American in the White House would provide more favorable conditions to push through their reactionary agenda.
--Jerry White
Brown's achievement is not novel. His type of Republican has been elected governor in Massachusetts three or four times in the last 18 years by the real "majority party"--which is the "unenrolled" independents who are 1-1/2 times the size of Democrats in number among registered voters and tower over the Republicans of whom less than 12 percent are registered as such.
--Alexander Cockburn
--David Walsh (17 November 1999)
I've always thought of Michael Mann's films that way. And then I saw, after all this time, The Insider. I was drawn into it the same way Walsh describes original viewers having been drawn into it. How many original viewers were there? I don't remember it being a box office smash. No matter. Watching it is quite interesting. It definitely makes a visceral connection. There's supposed to be some fictionalizing and the end credits say so as well. How much? Considering how convoluted the world is anyway, who can say what is fictionalized?
It must be said that this is a defeat the Democratic Party made possible and richly deserved. Obama’s right-wing policies on the bank bailout, his cost-cutting healthcare overhaul and his continuation and expansion of the wars of the Bush administration have antagonized millions who supported him in 2008 and alienated Democratic Party base voters.
--Patrick Martin
Obama’s posturing as the tribune of “new politics” and the apostle of progressive change was a fraud. He was selected and elevated by powerful sections of the ruling elite, who calculated that a young African-American in the White House would provide more favorable conditions to push through their reactionary agenda.
--Jerry White
Brown's achievement is not novel. His type of Republican has been elected governor in Massachusetts three or four times in the last 18 years by the real "majority party"--which is the "unenrolled" independents who are 1-1/2 times the size of Democrats in number among registered voters and tower over the Republicans of whom less than 12 percent are registered as such.
--Alexander Cockburn