Macbeth Spotlight Spies and Spectre

Somewhere around 1600, Macbeth receives a prophecy from three witches that he will become King of Scotland in William Shakespeare's Tragedy of ambition and murder (in Macbeth, the Movie). In 2001, The Boston Globe assigns a team of journalists to investigate allegations of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in the movie Spotlight. Spielberg’s movie, Bridge of Spies, begins in 1957, During the Cold War. New York lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is recruited by a CIA to negotiate a prisoner swap for the release U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers. In Spectre, the timeless and ageless James Bond uncovers a sinister organization (Spectre) while the secret service faces a giant merger in the latest installation in the 007 series.

A Shakespearean tragedy beginning with witches spreading hearsay to old time investigative journalism to the vagaries of cold war intelligence to issues of good and evil controlling global security --- It is the holiday movie season. This sampling of features suggest that communications are at the heart of dramatic story arcs still. What is kind of amazing in our digital age is how dated word-of-mouth, fact-checking, military intelligence and keeping the world safe from the bad guys starts to feel. I’m wondering if timeless tales and non-fiction will yield to fantastic blockbusters with only a sketchy attachment to the human condition on the planet earth.

Here's to wishing us all PEACE ON EARTH. See you at the movies.

Also recently viewed the latest in the Rocky series - CREED and the BI SHORT about the financial house of cards around mortgages including sub prime investments of which hardly anyone understood except a handful of shrewd people betting on wholesale failure of the system in 2008.