Essays and reflections on movies, their impact and influence, and the people who created them.
He was a filmmaker, an actor, a novelist, a playwright, and a revolutionary. He made one of the most profitable and overlooked independent films of all time. He was Melvin Van Peebles, a titan of American filmmaking, and he died … Continue reading Melvin Van Peebles: Essential Films
There was no show last year; it was called on account of pandemic. Just as well: Wildfires all along the West draped a burnt orange curtain inside Telluride’s box canyon and cut visibility from miles to feet. Movies are about … Continue reading The Show Must Go On: Dispatches From the 48th Telluride Film Festival
Call Marlon Riggs whatever you want. He describes himself as an “independent documentary producer,” but if you want to call him a Black gay filmmaker, fine. “If you want to say gay Black, fine. If you want to say Black … Continue reading The Signifyin’ Works of Marlon Riggs
Born April 23, 1894, in Salt Lake City, Utah, Frank Borzage wanted to be in entertainment since he was a kid. That takes money, so Borzage worked odd jobs in mines and on cooking lines to pay his way. Work … Continue reading Frank Borzage
Nowadays we call them noir, but back in the 1940s and ’50s they didn’t have a name. Born out of 1930s hard-boiled novels and an influx of European filmmakers fleeing fascism, films noir (as French film critics later coined them) were … Continue reading THE FURIES
Almost two months later than last year’s ceremony and encompassing two venues, 2021’s Academy Awards will cap the cinematic year that couldn’t get started and never seemed to end. On Sunday, April 25, it’ll be Oscar night on ABC with … Continue reading And the Nominees Are: 2021 Oscar Nominated Short Films
Every year, the Australian-based online quarterly, Senses of Cinema, invites writers from all over the globe to submit their selections for the best movies of the year. This year, over a hundred writers sent in their picks, giving a pretty comprehensive … Continue reading SENSES OF CINEMA: 2020 World Cinema Poll
It’s 1950, and John Ford wants to make a movie: The Quiet Man, from a story by Maurice Walsh, about a retired boxer who returns to his birthplace in Ireland and falls for a vivacious redhead. The movie will star John Wayne … Continue reading RIO GRANDE
2020 was the year I watched more but understood less. With a rotating series of crises to consider, rare were the instances where I found myself lost in someone else’s story for two hours. Empathy has its limits: When you’re … Continue reading 2020: A Year Like No Other
Michael J. Cinema 
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