It’s only a paper moon. Sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn’t be make believe if you believe in me. —Billy Rose and Yip Harburg “Paper Moon” The names Harold and Lillian Michelson are not synonymous with cinema, but … Continue reading HAROLD AND LILLIAN: A HOLLYWOOD LOVE STORY
There is a scene roughly halfway through Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 backstage masterpiece The Red Shoes where Ballet Russe impresario Lermontov comforts his understandably nervous principal dancer, Vicky Page. “Nothing matters by the music,” Lermontov assures her. He hums … Continue reading BABY DRIVER
The beauty of Band Aid is that while every happy couple may be alike, not every romantic comedy about them has to be. Director Zoe Lister-Jones (who also wrote, produced, and stars) manages to avoid the pitfalls of a typical romantic comedy … Continue reading BAND AID
Chasing Trane, the new documentary about saxophonist John Coltrane opens with a digital trip through the cosmos. Coltrane’s music arranges the galaxies, and a constellation forms to assemble his image while disembodied voices rhapsodies about the great jazz musician. Time … Continue reading CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY
manifesto, noun: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer What we need is works of art that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding,” intones the magnificent Cate Blanchett from behind a funeral … Continue reading MANIFESTO
Presenting a consumable cross-section of the 35 shorts that played at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour offers seven films of varying length, subject matter, and execution. All of the selected seven … Continue reading 2017 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILM TOUR
The disappearance of a tourist brings two bumbling inspectors to the picturesque seaside town of Slack Bay; a place where a mussel gathering family cradle-carry the wealthy across the bay when the tide is high, wealthy that are too obsessed … Continue reading SLACK BAY
Speed. I am speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I am Lightning. You are until you’re not. When racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) showed up on the Piston Cup circuit, he was the rookie hotshot. Faster than … Continue reading CARS 3
All first films are alike; each final film is final in its own way. When Polish director Andrzej Wajda made A Generation in 1954, he already had three shorts and an apprenticeship with filmmaker Aleksander Ford under his belt, but it was … Continue reading AFTERIMAGE
Michael J. Cinema 
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