This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. That line from John Ford’s seminal 1962 western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, doesn’t just encapsulate the movie’s theme, Ford’s overall career, or even the entirety of the … Continue reading Print the Legend: Westerns at the Sie Film Center
Is there a less desirable room to be in than a courtroom? True, courtrooms are the spaces where civility and rhetoric determine the justice of actions, but entering one is like traversing Dante’s Inferno. Justice may be served. You might … Continue reading COURT
Earlier this week, BBC Culture released its lists of “The 100 greatest American films” from a poll of 62 international film critics. The results weren’t surprising—what was left off caused more discussion—with the usual suspects: Citizen Kane, Vertigo, The Godfather, The Searchers, 2001, etc., topping … Continue reading THE THIRD MAN
The time has come to rewrite Jean-Luc Godard’s aphorism: “All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.” Writer/director/cinematographer Sean Baker doesn’t even need the gun—just two transgender actresses, three iPhone 5s with fancy lenses, and East … Continue reading TANGERINE
David Thorpe’s documentary Do I Sound Gay? is cinema by way of the diary. After breaking up with his boyfriend, Thorpe realizes he’s not happy with the person he is and decides to change for the better. This happens to just about … Continue reading DO I SOUND GAY?
Amy Schumer tries everything. Especially when it comes to shooting a one-night stand for her movie. “I was like, ‘What if we see his dick?’” Schumer says, describing the well-endowed Staten Islander that opens 2015’s Trainwreck. “What if he has a huge … Continue reading Amy Schumer on TRAINWRECK
For most, Taxi Driver is summed up by one of the most famous lines in cinema: “You talking to me?” Conveying masculinity and bravado, it readies angry men for battle. But it is misleading. It is an act, a façade. The truth … Continue reading TAXI DRIVER
On the eve of World War II, the great director, Jean Renoir, gave one of the most tragic and truthful dictums of all time, “The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons.” That was true for the … Continue reading CARTEL LAND
There has never been, and there will never be, a movie like Roar. Even the tagline is one in a million, “No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Seventy cast and crew members were.” If that doesn’t pique your … Continue reading ROAR
Michael J. Cinema 
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