Leonora Cravotta

Jan 12, 2025 | spectator.org | Leonora Cravotta

When the actress Michele Yeoh accepted the best actress Oscar for her performance in the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All At Once at the age of sixty, she famously quipped, “And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime. Never give up.” The Las Vegas casinos always had a place for their former showgirls. Once they were no longer performers, they could get jobs as cocktail waitresses or hostesses.

Dec 14, 2024 | spectator.org | Leonora Cravotta

Every year the number of Christmas movies increases. One-hundred and nine new movies were produced for the 2024 season, with three theatrically released films including Red One starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Chris Evans,  and J.K. Simmons. Although Red One, with a global box office revenue of $167 million, has yet to break even against its production budget of $250 million, it is the 25th highest-grossing film of 2024 and is still resonating with audiences on Amazon Prime.

Nov 30, 2024 | spectator.org | Leonora Cravotta

Wicked, the much-anticipated film adaptation of the longest-running Broadway musical is enchanting audiences everywhere garnering close to $200MM in global box office revenue in its first week. The film also has the distinction of delivering the . On one hand, it is a very adult story which satirizes political corruption, personal ambition, and prejudice.

Nov 19, 2024 | spectator.org | Arvind Narayanan |Sayash Kapoor |Leonora Cravotta

AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the DifferenceBy Arvind Narayanan & Sayash Kapoor (Princeton University Press, 360 pages, $21.52)Artificial intelligence has become the proverbial elephant in the room. We vacillate between the fear that the mammoth creature will trample us into intellectual oblivion and the gut feeling that a mirage of our own making has duped us.

Oct 26, 2024 | spectator.org | Leonora Cravotta

It all reminds me of July 1, 1987 when President Ronald Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork for an opening on the Supreme Court. He had it made in the shade, said my complacent conservative friends. The result was brutal. But we do not have to look back 32 years to see how unruly the leftwing mob can be. Recall the recent fate of Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Only his courage and unscotchable determinate saved him. The simple fact is that the conservatives are often slow on the draw against the American left.