Arts & Culture

Daniel Wahl reviews Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric, by Ward Farnsworth.

Andrew Bernstein reviews Act of Valor, directed by Mike McCoy and Scott Waugh.

C. A. Wolski reviews The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon.

Mr. Larsen discusses his work, how he became a painter, who and what inspires him, and why his subjects always look so purposeful. Includes ten high-resolution images of his paintings.

After attending a conference in Las Vegas earlier this week, I had the chance to see Penn & Teller’s magic show at the Rio. A big part of why their show is so entertaining is that they present interesting ideas in novel and provocative ways. Their show is something of…

In The Hunger Games, tyrannical rulers of a future dystopia force children to fight to the death in an annual tournament as a means to suppress and control the population. Given the story’s gruesome subject matter, what explains the popularity of Suzanne Collins’s book and the new film based on…

After two weekends in theaters, the film Lorax earned more than $120 million, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. That’s an impressive haul for a film condemning capitalism. But the irony is apparently lost on the filmmakers. In the original Dr. Seuss story on which the film is based, a manufacturer chops down…

The charming 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins is among the best children’s movies ever produced, in large part because it features some of the best children’s songs ever written. Who can forget “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?” Robert B. Sherman, who cowrote memorable songs for the magical nanny and for numerous other Disney films,…

I enjoyed the story of the Oscar-winning film Hugo in its own right, but to me the most interesting aspect of the film is its exploration of the life and work of French film pioneer Georges Méliès. A fictionalized version of Méliès plays a central role in Hugo, and director…

Theodor Seuss Geisel was born March 2, 1904. He became Dr. Seuss with the publication of his 1937 children’s book, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. That’s a great story, as I’ve reviewed, but my favorite will always be Green Eggs and Ham. That’s the book…