I had to go into the movie with some expectations because Steven Spielberg does not make bad movies, and the cast had Tom Hanks and Merrill Streep for starters. It’s always hard to know whether the times make the movie or the movie makes the times; culture and Art seem to take turns leading the way. In any case, I was just young enough to not understand what the Pentagon papers were in the early 70s. I distinctly remember that phrase as having been constantly in the news while I was in high school. What I didn’t know was that the events covered so well in this film blazed a trail that made it more possible for the press to act in the role of

After I watched the trailer for Florence Foster Jenkins, the new movie starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, I didn’t think I’d like it. The idea of listening to someone who thought they could sing–but couldn’t– seemed like two hours of torture. I say that as someone who likes to sing from time to time, but knows better than to believe those incurably polite people who say “you have a beautiful voice.” But when my mother suggested we go to a movie, I knew it was the only one to see. So imagine my relief when, despite a number of scenes where “Florence” indulges her dream of singing for the public, I experience a solid film based on a true story, set in New York