** "American Star combines together with this ship, the idea of a fallen ship and the metaphor of a hitman. But once he realizes - that's what the government did, they immediately commandeered passenger ships and used them as weapons of war..."

Ian McShane Talks American Star, John Wick Sequel Ballerina. The British actor on his portrayal as not your typical hitman in the ironically titled allegorical crime thriller, American Star.

** "Needless to say the US is like, we've got a new war. You know what - I could stop right there..."

Let's Talk. Pacifica host Garland Nixon on, 'meanwhile...knuckle dragging nazi neo-cons, the NATO tank brigade that doesn't exist, the US gas gouging Euro-scam, and the Republicans high fiving, fist bumping and chest thumping over the border deal.'

** "This book was actually written in prison - and he actually took the manuscript of this book with him, when he escaped..."

Until Tomorrow, Comrades: A Conversation And Reading With Eric Gordon - and his translation of the late Portuguese revolutionary Manuel Tiago's novel. Touching on historical activist wisdom, and anti-fascist worker literature.

** "Fade up, interior, public library, ground floor, late night..."

The Power Of Film. Brett Gregory at our UK Desk, in an exploration of screen classics 'leading up through not only the avenues and alleyways of US cinema history - but also through the amazing museum of our own personal movie memories...' 

THE WOMEN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE PAULINE KAEL JURY AWARDS 2023

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American Star Review: Capitalism And War - A Personal And Political Odyssey

Much more than just another crime thriller - though that in part metaphorically speaking as well, the ironically titled 'American Star' concerns a real life battered luxury cruise ship commandeered by the US military to ferry troops during World War II - and now wrecked off the coast of the Canary Islands as a kind of allegory symbolizing the deluge of endless US wars and terror visited upon a bruise and broken planet.

And in a quite intriguing manner, the ship serves as a solemn backdrop for Ian McShane's damaged Falkands War veteran turned perplexed, exploited private company hitman for hire, mysteriously summoned to the Canary Islands by a suspect criminal enterprise employing him. What ensues is a narrative stoked with a tragic symbolic toll teeming with both personal and political intimations. And seemingly owing in large part to the candid outsider looking in perspective provided by Spanish filmmakers - the director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego and screenwriter Nacho Faerna.

As the story unfolds at the ill fated crossroads of the historical and psychological, McShane's mentally scarred assassin steeped in an identity crisis, embarks on a metaphysical journey locking horns as an hitman - while a similarly destroyed, shipwrecked battle ravaged vessel serves as melancholy backdrop. Indeed, a simultaneous deceptive conventional thriller - though that as well - with much more on its mind than typical screen mayhem. And a wider, uncompromising dimension encompassing a progressively destroyed, war ravaged world landscape inhabited today.

Prairie Miller

Rotten Tomatoes Review