According to American film critic J Hoberman, 21st-century cinema has been defined by two things: the digital turn and the traumatic events of 9/11, which he describes as a "show of cinematic might". His book is divided into three parts: an extended essay exploring the dawn of the CGI era ("Chaplin was perhaps but a footnote to Mickey Mouse"), a selection of some of the 400 weekly reviews he wrote for the Village Voice from 2001 to 2008, and 21 brief essays on 21st-century films from a university course he taught. Released just over a month after "the Event" (aka 9/11), Donnie Darko was "the millennium's first cult film". In the following year, Black Hawk Down epitomised the "new bellicosity" of a period that "allowed Americans to feel like victims and act like bullies". Hoberman's criticism is always incisive and witty. A withering piece on Arnold Schwarzenegger's political aspirations describes the star of The Terminator as "the blockbuster made human". Hoberman proves himself to be one of the most intelligent and politically aware commentators on film.