What causes happiness? What does it take to make one happy? Am I achieving my potential happiness? And how do I know that my experience of happiness is similar to other people’s experience of happiness? Those are but a few … Continue reading THE HAPPY FILM
When it came to jazz, Dexter Gordon and Ben Webster were giants among men. Both were tenor saxophonists—Gordon helped adapt the instrument for bebop music, Webster specialized in swing—and both had played with the greats and inspired those to follow. … Continue reading COOL CATS
Even if you’ve never heard of Bert Berns, you’ve definitely heard his music. Brenda Reid of The Exciters described the prolific songwriter and record producer as “The white soul brother. … He put the soul in music.” And with hits … Continue reading BANG! THE BERT BERNS STORY
Located in Berkeley, California, Herb Permillion III took over typewriter retail and repair shop California Typewriter more than 30 years ago. The following year, Apple released the personal computer. But Permillion wasn’t deterred. He and longtime repairman Ken Alexander believe … Continue reading CALIFORNIA TYPEWRITER
Get Out opens with a scene that might as well be ripped from newspaper headlines. Well, maybe it was. Andrew (Lakeith Stanfield), a black man, walks alone, at night, along a neighborhood street so quiet, so pleasant, so blandly cookie-cutter, it … Continue reading GET OUT
If I didn’t laugh I should be very annoyed. —Manuela On the island of Calvados in the 18th century, little orphan Manuela is all grown up and ready to be married off to a rich suitor. He is the rotund … Continue reading THE PIRATE
Film festivals tend to stay put. Imagine how confusing it would be if the Cannes Film Festival was suddenly relocated to Bordeaux. What if one year, the Boulder International Film Festival was held in downtown Denver, and the Telluride Film … Continue reading Previewing the 2017 Banff Mountain Film Festival
“The story of the Negro in America is the story of America. It is not a pretty story.” —James Baldwin By the time James Baldwin penned those words in 1979, the revolution had been lost. Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and … Continue reading I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
Traditions may come in all shapes and sizes, but the rigid ones always seem to be the ones that last. On the island of Tanna in the South Pacific, tradition is called “Kastom,” and it’s the one thing the islanders … Continue reading TANNA
Michael J. Cinema 
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