Reviews, interviews, and festival coverage for Boulder’s only independent newspaper from 2014 to 2025.
The less you know about Dear Mr. Brody, the better, but here are the basics: In October 1969, Michael James Brody Jr. turned 21 and inherited his fortune as the oleomargarine heir—an unlimited sum, Brody told reporters. Three months later, … Continue reading DEAR MR. BRODY
Tall, skinny, blond, and lonely, Connie wants to meet someone and go somewhere. Where really doesn’t matter, and who she doesn’t know yet—maybe someone who looks like James Dean and sings like James Taylor. She’s only 15, so there’s a … Continue reading SMOOTH TALK
It was just over a year ago, on March 6, 2020, when South By Southwest (SXSW) pulled the plug on its film, music, and comedy festival. It was the first time in 34 years that the Austin, Texas, show wouldn’t … Continue reading Play These Movies Loud: 2021 South By Southwest Film Festival
I always wanted to be a cameraman,” Michael Talarico says over Zoom. “I was always into photography, and it was somewhere in my second year at [Colorado State University] that I … thought: I really want to be a cameraman. … Continue reading Michael Talarico on RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON
Has decency become a sin?” Ibrahima Dieng cries. On his knees, Ibrahima holds out his empty hands in mock offering. The world has stripped him bare, and now, in an ending fitting of Kafka, Ibrahima offers up the scraps. So … Continue reading MANDABI
To criticize a movie, you have to make another movie. —Jean-Luc Godard It might be the most notorious climax in American cinema: A Black man terrorizes a white woman, a Black militia lays siege to a white family’s cabin, and … Continue reading WITHIN OUR GATES
There weren’t any crowds in Park City, Utah, and the big studios may have stayed away, but the 2021 Sundance Film Festival proved that headliners or no, in-person or virtual, the cinematic cream will always rise to the top. Chief … Continue reading All I Need to Get By: Dispatches from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
Great movies don’t require a signature shot, but it helps when they have one. What would Vertigo be without that dizzying dolly zoom? The Godfather without the door closing on Kay? The Graduate without Benjamin Braddock trapped in the crook of Mrs. Robinson’s leg? They are … Continue reading THE ASCENT (Восхождение)
As far as cinema is concerned, 2021 opened not with a bang but with cautious optimism. For starters, moviegoing has returned with AMC, Cinemark, and the Mayan Theatre in Denver leading the charge. So if you’re jonesing for that big-screen … Continue reading SUPERNOVA
Michael J. Cinema 
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