Michael DeNobile's Movie Reviews

THE BANALITY OF EVIL: A REFLECTION ON THE FILM HANNAH AREDNT (2012) AND THE BOOK EICHMANN IN JERUSALEM (1963) Michael DeNobile reviews the 2012 film  Hannah Arendt  and Arendt's 1963 moral political thesis Eichmann in Jerusalem and their moral implications. I am, of course, as you know, a Jew. And I’ve been attacked for being a self-hating Jew who defends Nazis and scorns her own people. This is not an argument. That is a character assassination. I wrote no defense of Eichmann. But I did try to reconcile the shocking mediocrity of the man with his staggering deeds. Trying to understand is not the same as forgiveness. I see it as my responsibility to understand. It is the responsibility of anyone who dares to put pen to paper on the subject. Since Socrates and Plato, we usually call thinking to be engaged in that silent dialogue between me and myself. In refusing to be a person, Eichmann utterly surrendered that single most defining human quality, that of being able to th...

It's been over two years since Michael DeNobile’s last movie reflection. He apologizes for being away so long. This isn't an excuse but an explanation: life happened and then the pandemic (which you would have thought would have given him more time but it actually didn't). However, he is back and is going to do a COVID series of many of the things he binged while in quarantine. But let's come back with a bang... A REFLECTION OF (WHAT WILL HOPEFULLY BE SEASON 1 OF) DISNEY+'S BIG SHOT Michael DeNobile provides a reflection of season one of Disney’s new series, Big Shot. Sacrifice. If there's anything the last year has taught us, it's what we have and are willing to sacrifice. It has also put life into perspective. Survival. Both literally and metaphorically, the last year has also taught us about survival, as human beings, as families, as communities, as a society. Strength. It's more than just a Kelly Clarkson lyric, what doesn't kill you truly does m...

Originally published December 2013. Movie seen at AMC Port Chester 14 in Port Chester, NY, during the film's last weekend run. AFTER READING AND WATCHING THE BOOK THIEF The Book Thief is a must-read story and a must-see movie. I had high expectations for the movie version but I must say, I am satisfied with the theatrical rendition of the movie. Set in Nazi Germany, The Book Thief is the story of Liesel Meminger, a young German girl and daughter of a communist who is adopted by poor Germans the Hubermanns who live on Himmel (German for "Heaven") Street, and is narrated by Death. Haunted by the death of her brother Werner and the abandonment of her parents, Liesel learns of the power of words in reading and writing--two things she didn't know how to do before meeting the Hubermanns. I was told this was another stereotypical Nazi movie--I mean, after Schindler's List, there's not more you can do about the Holocaust. The Book Thief, however, both book an...