Rob Thomas

1 week ago | notthatrobthomas.substack.com | Rob Thomas

“Civic courage.” It’s a phrase defined by teacher Fred Isseks as “acting as if you live in a real democracy.” In other words, understanding that the system is rigged by powerful interests, but still showing up to do the work of an informed and engaged citizen anyway – voting, organizing, speaking out, asking uncomfortable questions. Boy, could we use a lot more civic courage right now. And the ‘90s teens at Middletown High School, with their clunky camcorders, can show the way.

2 weeks ago | notthatrobthomas.substack.com | Rob Thomas

The Wisconsin Film Festival programs both brand-new movies and restorations of older classics. So it’s fitting that “Anywhere Anytime” is sort of a combination of both. The new film from Iranian-born director Milad Tangshir speaks very much to the world we’re living in, following an undocumented immigrant from Senegal named Issa (Ibrahima Sandou) as he tries to make a living in Turin, Italy.

2 weeks ago | notthatrobthomas.substack.com | Rob Thomas

For me, the scene in Paul Verhoeven’s “Starship Troopers” that encapsulates its sly, demented essence is, surprisingly, not a battle scene. It’s the scene where a group of infantrymen share why they enlisted in the military to achieve the status of “citizen” in their fascist society known as the Federation. One wants to have a baby, another wants to go into politics, another wants to leave his home planet. Being a “citizen” willing to kill and die for the government unlocks those perks.

2 weeks ago | notthatrobthomas.substack.com | Rob Thomas

Watching “Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,” the question arises in your mind, again and again. “How is this a documentary?”First of all, the film by Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter is visually stunning in a way most fact-based films simply aren’t.

3 weeks ago | notthatrobthomas.substack.com | Rob Thomas

“The Friend” is like if “Marley & Me” was a short story in the New Yorker. The story of a New York woman whose life (and rent-controlled apartment) are upended by a gigantic dog seems like it would be fodder for a zany family comedy. Instead, the film from Scott McGehee and David Siegel, based on the novel by Sigrid Nunez, is a meditation on grieving. The big dog serves as a metaphor for the painful emotions that can overwhelm us, especially if we don’t deal with them.