Essays and reflections on movies, their impact and influence, and the people who created them.
On Friday, Jan. 5, the Denver Film Critics Society—19 writers, broadcasters, and bloggers working in and around the Mile High City, of which I am one—announced their nominees for the best of 2023. In total, 33 movies received nominations, with … Continue reading And the nominees are…
On this week’s edition of After Image, I chat with Metro Arts’ producer Veronica Straight-Lingo about the movies and themes that defined 2023. Listen to After Image, Fridays at 3 p.m., on KGNU’s Metro Arts: 88.5 FM and 1390 AM Denver/Boulder, … Continue reading
I love lists. Lists bring order to my day: what to do, what to watch, what to read, what to listen to. Lists provide context to larger themes and suss out tiny commonalities. The lists I author, be they for … Continue reading 2023: Now and Then
The year is 1925. In Europe, Benito Mussolini declares himself dictator of Italy. In nearby Germany, Adolph Hitler publishes the first volume of Mein Kampf. In America, F. Scott Fitzgerald also publishes a book, this one set in New York: The Great … Continue reading THE POWER OF THE DOG
The twisting begins before we even meet the hero. A Union soldier makes his way through the carnage of a battle. Confederate bodies litter the ground, and a Yankee survivor plunders them for gold teeth and various effects. Then he … Continue reading A BULLET FOR SANDOVAL
Director Taylor Hackford once described the westerns directed by Budd Boetticher, starring Randolph Scott, and produced by Harry Joe Brown as movies that take place in the middle of stories. The hero, Scott, rides in from nowhere, deals with a … Continue reading DECISION AT SUNDOWN
Along the Southern U.S. border is the town of Agry. It’s a town in love with its own name: The Agry Palace Saloon, Agry Jail, Agry Hotel. The man who runs the hotel is Amos Agry (Peter Whitney). The man … Continue reading BUCHANAN RIDES ALONE
A man can cross over anytime he has the mind. It ain’t that easy. It ain’t that easy at all. Likable and sympathetic villains are one of the hallmarks of the Ranown Cycle, a series of westerns made on the … Continue reading COMANCHE STATION
There are some things a man can’t ride around. So says Sam Boone (Pernell Roberts), a character with so many good lines he almost steals the show from the lead, Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott). That’s because Brigade is trying so … Continue reading RIDE LONESOME
Michael J. Cinema 
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