There is also a cringe-inducing optical surgery sequence which is as amusing as it is unpleasant.

BBC: Minority Report cruises ahead

Petraeus gives many of these airborne, progress-on-the-march tours to visiting congressmen, journalists, and academics, and there was a cringe-inducing quality to some of his recitations as he skimmed above the country at an altitude of a thousand feet.

NEWYORKER: The General��s Dilemma

In a particularly cringe-inducing exchange captured on film, Councilwoman Maria Del Carmen Arroyo of the Bronx accuses Ms. Moskowitz of lying when the charter school leader talks about being a parent in Harlem (the neighborhood where she grew up, where she attended public school, and where she is raising her children, who attend the charter).

WSJ: The Weekend Interview with Madeleine Sackler: Storming the School Barricades