I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

too many historical inaccuracies. the movie is set in 19371. fascism wasn't anti-semitic until the mid thirties, and the first racial laws were passed in 1938 on account of the pressing ideological pull of the dominant ally, Nazi Germany. Hitler needed the Italians to get on par with the racial discrimination, otherwise he couldn't justify to the Aryan German people being allied with an inferior people, and all the propaganda efforts put into making the Germans feel as a unite comradeship against their many inferior enemies would promptly fail its purpose. Mussolini obediently submitted to his requests and promulgated the race manifesto, despite counting many Jews among his friends and acquaintances himself, like his ex lover the writer Margherita Sarfatti2. Margherita Sarfatti was a strong supporter of Mussolini, but that changed when the racial laws were passed. She soon left the fascist party and went to Argentina. So if she ever went to the USA to promote Mussolini, this was surely before the regime turned anti-semitic.3. Italy and Germany did not attack Spain. They aided and military and politically supported the nationalist rebels leaded by Franco, who tried a coup during the civil war to restore a conservative regime which had been subverted by the late socialist government and numerous anarchist riots. IE Spain was already a mess. Many Italian Marxists, communists and socialists also went and fought in Spain alongside the republican forces - which were aided by the URSS - against the falangistas and the fascist regular troops. 4. Rivera painted that mural in 1933, so all dates and facts happening in the movie mismatch.5. In my understanding there was wide sympathy and support for Italian fascism in the American parlors, which isn't as apparent watching the movie. They favored fascism in juxtaposition to communism, as the latter was founded on class conflict, and the first on induced/enforced social peace and corporatism - which was already part of the American culture and economy, although in a more liberal form (and it still is). The fascist ideology found ground in the frightened middle and upper classes in all of the world, as the unions were getting stronger and the rich were scared of a Marxist revolution.

An all-star production, CRADLE WILL ROCK chronicles the events leading up to the debut of Mark Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock," a labor-oriented drama with music, written in the turbulent 1930s. It is to be performed at the WPA Federal Theater, but the government gets cold feet at the last minute and closes the theater. So the players take their production to a private theater and perform before an SRO crowd. Oddly enough, the performance turns out to be the least interesting part of the film, done up in a "Let's fix up the old barn and put on a show" routine seen in countless Andy Hardy and Little Rascals films. It is what happens before that is fascinating, as we shift back and forth between New York and Washington and are exposed to the "isms" of this post Depression/pre-WWII time: communism and fascism. One supposes most of what writer/director Tim Robbins portrays here is real enough, but keep in mind Robbins is an avowed leftist and so the film is probably best taken with a large dose of salt. But what a cast: John and Joan Cusack, Susan (Mrs. Tim Robbins) Sarandon, Cary Elwes, John Turturro, Jack Black, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Ruben Blades and Hank Azaria. All play real-life figures of the era, including Orson Welles and John Rockefeller. A must-see for art-house film lovers and those interested in the period. All others, beware.

I was fortunate enough to attend a special screening of "Cradle Will Rock" with producer/assistant director Allan F. Nicholls, a man of remarkable resume (he worked with Robert Altman several times and therefore, knows what makes a great ensemble drama). Tim Robbins' ode to theater, the passion for arts (acting, in particular), freedom of speech and the price you have to pay for believing and living for it (art vs. politics), is an underrated mosaic of some very exquisite personalities (Orson Welles, Nelson Rockefeller, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, John Houseman, Hazel Huffman, among others) that are, one way or another, involved with a musical play that's about to be closed down for being "communist", in 1936's New York. Nicholls (who has a cameo as George Zorn) said that most of the actors worked almost for free, out of friendship for Robbins and love for theater, and that "Cradle Will Rock"'s poor reception at the box-office/critics, is the main reason why Robbins hasn't directed another movie since then. That's a shame, since this is even better than his previous directorial efforts ("Bob Roberts" and "Dead Man Walking"), which were much easier films. It's true you have to know at least a little bit about the people portrayed here in order to fully appreciate/understand the film, and movies like this don't usually become blockbusters, but the fact that "Cradle Will Rock" was ignored altogether and seems quite forgotten is really sad. The ensemble cast is one of the best I've ever seen - Emily Watson, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Cusack, Cherry Jones, John Turturro, Susan Sarandon, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Angus Macfadyen, Paul Giamatti, Bob Balaban, Hank Azaria, Jack Black, Philip Baker Hall, among others - and the screenplay is Altmanesque tapestry at its best. Hopefully, this film will be discovered in a not so distant future, and get the acclaim it deserves. 10/10.

Cradle Will Rock is a big movie. Not big in terms of blockbuster big, but big in terms of the stories and history portrayed in the film. Robbins has the undertaking of telling several stories tying them all together with the accusation of the chief characters' participation in anti-American activities. Organizing unions and communism are at the center of the conflict portrayed in this film, set in depression-era New York. Chief among the stories are pro-Union play Cradle Will Rock, the Diego Rivera painting Lenin in Rockefeller Center, and accusations of communism being represented in plays funded by the Federal Government.Robbins brings to life the attitudes of the day through the eyes of several fictional and non fictional participants in these events. Toturro and Watson portray actors in the eponymous play, who risk not being able to work in theater again if they act in the play, shut down by the federal government. Bill Murray (in a great, but ignored performance) and Joan Cusack work for the federal theater, and are vocal about there thoughts about communism. Stealing the show, however, are Cherry Jones, as Hallie Flannagan, brilliantly testifying her case before the government denying being a communist, and Hank Azaria, who subtly plays out the role of Cradle Will Rock's writer Marc Blitzstein with great passion.There are some liberties with the history. These events occurred at different times, but Robbins has them occur at the same time, to illustrate their historical significance and similarities. And while the event regarding the much fabled first performance of Cradle Will Rock is heavily dramatized, it's beautifully played out.Of course, Robbins has his hands in politics and this film is an example of that, but, politics aside, this is a brilliantly acted piece illustrating events in history long forgotten. One of the highlights of this film is the music from Cradle Will Rock, which before viewing this film, I wasn't familiar with. As one watches the film, they will realize that the play has some Brecht/Weil (Threepenny Opera) influences. This film is so passionate about its material, that encourages one to dig deeper, and read more about the play and its creator and the history presented here.