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Reel Review features engaging conversations about film and television with interesting folks and USC experts from across disciplines (public policy, governance, theatre, and cinema) to look at visual storytelling, media literacy, diversity, and the public good.

Hosted by Erroll Southers, Reel Review reminds us that film and TV are powerful and passionate mediums that not only entertain, but reflect and comment on our society. Culture, policy, and politics affect our everyday lives, ideas about how we live, and how we live together. It also influences what we watch, as well as what we take away from those programs.

We want to be smarter about the images and stories we see, and how we can be better together.

  1. All Episodes
  2. American Assassin (dir. Michael Cuesta)

American Assassin (dir. Michael Cuesta)

Sep 21, 2017

Director Michael Cuesta brings the fictional hero of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp novels to the big screen in the new film,American Assassin. The all-star cast includes Dylan O'Brien, Michael Keaton, and Taylor Kitsch as a threesome tied together through the specter of betrayal and revenge, set upon a backdrop of international espionage and nuclear threat. 

We discuss the level of violence in the film, its portrayal of U.S. black-ops and anti-terrorism efforts, the film's space within the spy thriller genre, the motivations of the studio, the acting, the gender themes, how millennials may be viewing it, and so much more.

Host Erroll Southers is joined by spectacular guests Alessandro Ago, Lt. Col. Olivia Nelson, and veteran actor David Warshofsky.

Let us know what you think of the film and our conversation at Facebook or Twitter.