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Southside With You is the latest in a long line of presidential biopics. But since it is simply an account of the Obamas’ first date, with little reference to their illustrious future, how will it rate alongside the likes of Young Mr Lincoln and Pt 109?

If Hollywood is to be believed, the most fascinating parts of a life are the rise and the fall — the ascent up the mountain and the inevitable tumble back to sea level. The middle bit — all the stuff about how one copes with the mundane reality of one’s fate — is less travelled territory. Look no further than the superhero origin story. Despite how often moviegoers have seen Batman’s parents gunned down in an alley, no shortage of films and TV shows choose to dramatise it yet again. But long before capes and masks were dominating cinemas, the film industry was giving audiences...

Joan Crawford Movie Star Joan Crawford movies on TCM: Underrated actress, top star in several of her greatest roles If there was ever a professional who was utterly, completely, wholeheartedly dedicated to her work, Joan Crawford was it. Ambitious, driven, talented, smart, obsessive, calculating, she had whatever it took – and more – to reach the top and stay there. Nearly four decades after her death, Crawford, the star to end all stars, remains one of the iconic performers of the 20th century. Deservedly so, once you choose to bypass the Mommie Dearest inanity and focus on her film work. From the get-go, she was a capable actress; look for the hard-to-find silents The Understanding Heart (1927) and The Taxi Dancer (1927), and check her out in the more easily accessible The Unknown (1927) and Our Dancing Daughters (1928). By the early '30s, Joan Crawford had become a first-rate film actress, far more naturalistic than...

‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ sequel could get killed by Paramount (photo: James Stewart and Donna Reed in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’) What would the world be like if any one individual human being had never been born? In most cases, the world would quite possibly be an infinitely better place, but the overwhelming majority of (delusional) humans want to feel good about themselves and their place on our overpopulated, fast-rotting planet. Hence movies such as Frank Capra’s 1946 sentimental fantasy drama It’s a Wonderful Life, released the year after the end of World War II — which reportedly left about 60 million human beings dead (plus countless other non-humans), in addition to millions more maimed, homeless, and/or psychologically destroyed. Starring James Stewart as Small Town America family man George Bailey, who almost kills himself but is prevented from doing so by an angel with way too much time in his hands,...

Modern presidential campaigns and Oscar campaigns share several things in common: both have become months-long affairs; both cost sums of money that would have been unimaginable just a generation ago; and above all, both are now shaped tremendously by publicity strategists.

Because most Academy members do not follow the annual Oscar race nearly as regularly or closely as the pundits who cover it, it has become imperative for studios to hire publicity strategists to try to corral their attention — and to make the “case” for their clients in the most succinct and digestible manner possible when they have it.

From conversations with strategists in both the political and cinematic arenas, I learned that two of the oldest and most effective ways to do so are to…

1. Create and hammer home short, general, and easy-to-remember narratives describing their client. For example…

Obama: “the candidate who has shown good judgment in the...