The 39th Denver Film Festival gets underway tonight with the opening night film La La Land, a modern-day musical set in the City of Angels where some dreams are realized while others are crushed underfoot. The movie stars Ryan Gosling and … Continue reading The 39th Denver Film Festival — Day 1
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. —Exodus 20:16, King James Version The eighth commandment of the Roman Catholic faith (the ninth in the Protestant) is largely interpreted as “Thou shalt not lie,” but for Kieślowski and Piesiewicz, … Continue reading DEKALOG 8
The beauty of cinema is that nothing is what it seems. Images are not literal explanations, but visual descriptions of an emotional experience, and few cinematic genres drive this point home like the horror film. Full of bloodletting, carnal terror, … Continue reading THE HOWLING
Thou shalt not steal. Exodus 20:15, King James Version Can you steal something that belongs to you? —Majka Coming off of an impressive one-two punch with Dekalog Five and Dekalog Six, Dekalog Seven is a surprising—but somewhat understandable—misstep. The story revolves around Majka (Maja Barelkowska), … Continue reading DEKALOG 7
Few ideas are as malleable and fluid as the American Dream. It means many different things to many different people, but the Platonic idea of the American Dream always centers on two things: money and success. One may follow the … Continue reading AMERICAN HONEY
Rachel (Emily Blunt) has problems. As she rides the train from Manhattan out to White Plains, NY, she gazes wistfully out her window at all those pretty houses full of pretty people living their pretty lives. How nice it would … Continue reading THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
If all had gone according to plan, the internet would have made a rather inauspicious debut, but perhaps it wasn’t meant for modesty. On Oct. 29, 1969, two computers—one at the University of California Los Angeles and the other at … Continue reading LO AND BEHOLD: REVERIES OF THE CONNECTED WORLD
Sometimes the place you are used to is not the place you belong,” the master tells the student, perfectly encapsulating the hero’s journey in one sentence. Sure it’s on the nose, but so are many lines from Queen of Katwe, including … Continue reading QUEEN OF KATWE
From Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, the Adventure Film Festival (AFF) returns to Boulder for its 12th annual celebration of those who “make their own legends.” Conceived on a handful of scratch paper during a storm in the Himalayas, AFF … Continue reading Jeff & Paige on the 2016 Adventure Film Festival
Michael J. Cinema 
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