What causes global poverty? Why do the countries of the northern hemisphere enjoy so much wealth while over a billion people in the southern hemispher...

The second part of my interview with Daniel Ellsberg, the true American hero who leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971.

Unless we change the system, it will collapse under its own unsustainability -- or the victims of that system will revolt and smash it. That's why Philippe Diaz made The End of Poverty?.

And the main reason is because hatred/fear of gays is running neck-and-neck with hatred/fear of government for the most defining, unifying characteristic of the "modern" republican party.

Public schools have essentially been turned into prisons with constant surveillance and harsh, often absurd zero tolerance policies towards drugs, alcohol, weapons, violence and other forms of misbehavior.

Simultaneously a dark, sometimes surreal examination of the US military's foray into psychic warfare, and a comedy with some nuggets of alleged truth.

I was enthralled by The Most Dangerous Man in America, and when I was told that Ellsberg would be in Los Angeles for a week in late September and would be available for an interview, I jumped at the chance.

So far, Hollywood's attempts at making movies about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been failures, usually critically but always financially.

Making a fantasy movie about a 9-year-old learning to understand his emotions and empathize with others seems like an almost impossible task, and Jonze pulled it off in a way I could have never imagined.

My ReThink Review of Neill Blomkamp's excellent film, District 9, and why its creativity and social/political commentary make it a modern classic.

An excoriating critique of America's economic ideology, Capitalism may go down as one of the most timely and subversive films in movie history

When you hear terms that sound very technical like "credit default swap" and "reverse redlining", it's easy for part of your brain to shut off. I was guilty of this myself.

We should be thankful that Crystal Lee Sutton's struggle to help the working poor has been immortalized in a film as great as Norma Rae for generations to enjoy and be inspired by.

I can't for the life of me figure out why Dick Cheney is still walking around free and -- even worse -- continues to get airtime so he can spew lies about the utter awesomeness of American torture.

The Obama administration just passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. So Will the Nick Naylors of the world soon become extinct? Not by a long shot.

In light of a new report set to be released today from the CIA, I want to take another look at Standard Operating Procedure, Errol Morris' documentary about torture at Abu Ghraib.

The US will spend more on the war in Afghanistan next year than it will in Iraq. So I thought it would be interesting to take another look at Charlie Wilson's War.

Obama is awarding a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the nation's highest civilian honor -- to Harvey Milk.

I'm sure most Americans have no idea how truly screwed up our food system is, and when they find out, they'll start looking for alternatives.

What's an anti-violence parent/babysitter to do? Isn't there a kids' movie out there that's fun and adventurous while advocating non-violence?

Is the character of Bruno, an ultra-flamboyant gay fashion reporter, offensive or damaging to gay people? (Maybe).

Most of The Fog of War "lessons" reflect the powerful and painful humility of a man who knows he has made grave mistakes with graver consequences.

But as the sordid details of the economic meltdown are revealed, it's clear that Gordon Gekko has nothing on the real corporate supervillains walking freely among us today.

It's empathy, the ability to imagine yourself in someone else's shoes, that protects us from the kind of simplistic, closed-minded caricaturing that leads to racism, classism and sexism.