Power is a "solid introduction" to Hollywood and American politics but one which is a journalistic popularisation of Alford's more overtly academic work and as such, he implies unfortunately, "renders much that Film Studies has tried to do over the last fifty years... as effectively wasted effort." In The Scotsman, Hannah McGill, artistic director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival opined that Reel Power "has its valid points to make [and] is at its best when it identifies and analyses cases of direct influence being brought to bear on film production by the US political establishment [...] its stonewalling of more contentious projects [...] or individuals in positions of constant influence" but that "I felt, on frequent occasion, as if I was in the company of the character Jane Horrocks played in Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet: the moodily self-righteous teen who hurled the word "FASCIST!" at anyone who failed to mirror her every conviction and desire." Further Work A 2017 book, National Security Cinema: The Shocking New Evidence of Government Control in Hollywood, by Matthew Alford and Tom Secker, uses the Freedom of Information Act to establish in more detail how certain films and TV shows have been affected by The Pentagon and CIA. Director Oliver Stone recommended the book to Louis Theroux and commented: "I wasn't aware of the infiltration of Hollywood by the Pentagon and the CIA... it's a bigger racket than you think" National Security Cinema was the basis for a documentary film Theaters of War, released by Media Education Foundation in 2022. See also Investigative journalism Military-industrial complex References External links Matthew Alford at SourceWatch 2010 non-fiction books Pluto Press books 2010 debut works