Essays and reflections on movies, their impact and influence, and the people who created them.
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
Patrick Brennan is an amiable fellow: Tall with a disarming face that looks a little like tanned leather. You wouldn’t call him the intimidating type, but one look says he can handle himself in a fight. He used to ramrod … Continue reading THE TALL T
Not since the pandemic of 2020 (and 2021, 2022…) has the film calendar looked this uncertain. A dual strike from the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild has barred many creatives from promoting their movies, causing some … Continue reading Season’s Screenings: 2023 Fall Movie Preview
Few figures loom as large in CU’s history as Stan Brakhage. As a filmmaker, his influence on the visual medium is incalculable—even if he’s not commonly known. (Brakhage is to cinema what The Velvet Underground was to rock ’n’ roll.) … Continue reading Celebrating Stan 20 Years On
Pica (Toby Smith) is an Oakland college student taking Polaroids in a photography class devoted to 35 mm. “I came here to learn how to express myself,” she tells the teacher (Salim Akil). “You gotta have a 35 mm camera … Continue reading Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner: DRYLONGSO and The Ranown Westerns
As you read this, members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild of America (SAG) are currently pounding the pavement in New York and Los Angeles, raising signs and rhyming chants to anyone who will … Continue reading National Film Registry 2023 Nominations Ballot
The year is 1875, and the bottom has dropped out for the beef market. Cows are reduced to cheap hides and tallow, and the ranchers who built their empires on hundreds, thousands, of heads of steer are now considering foreclosures. … Continue reading COW COUNTRY
Michael J. Cinema 
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