French critic cum filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard famously said that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun, but he could have done it with less. As an artist, Godard vacillated back and forth between incendiary … Continue reading BAND OF OUTSIDERS (BANDE À PART)
Preeminent film director Howard Hawks succinctly described a good movie: “Three great scenes, no bad ones.” Many have tried to elaborate on what defines a good movie through various criteria and rubrics, but all fall short of Hawks’ dictum. “Three … Continue reading FINDING DORY
My grandmother once told me that the greatest pain ever felt by a parent was burying her own child. Nothing could feel more unnatural. Losing a loved one is tragic; losing a child is devastation. That devastation has come to … Continue reading L’ATTESA
In 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for individual states to outlaw, or restrict, a woman’s right to an abortion within their first trimester. The decision, Roe v. Wade, was a landmark one, a triumph … Continue reading TRAPPED
When it came to the paranormal, Ed and Lorraine Warren were the people to call. These two demonologists and agents of the Catholic Church found themselves attached to many supernatural cases—including The Amityville Haunting, an event that made several headlines … Continue reading THE CONJURING 2
It doesn’t take much to fill one with despair and the general sense that the world is indifferent to your plight, but nothing can drive a person to the brink like dealing with an insurance company. The paperwork, the type … Continue reading A MONSTER WITH A THOUSAND HEADS
Modern celebrity is a hard concept to parody. The 24-hour news cycle and websites operating click-bait headlines drive the madness while social media shoulder the personal aspect of the downfall. But these are merely the instruments that over-bloated egos hoist … Continue reading POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING
I’m interested in ways of looking and trying to think of it in simple ways,” David Hockney says. “Everybody does look. It’s a question of how hard they’re willing to look.” That question of perspective—and the framing devices that motivate … Continue reading HOCKNEY
Movies aren’t reality. They’re visual expressions of an emotional experience. The best filmmakers have known this all along, but it’s worth bringing up, as many seem to forget this crucial caveat. For too many, movies must present, literally, the source … Continue reading BLACK NARCISSUS
Michael J. Cinema 
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