It always begins with light. Be it an ancient myth or a modern movie, light carves away the darkness and gives form and shape to the world. In some cases, that light is metaphorical. In others, practical. But in The Light … Continue reading THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS
When it comes to sports on film, none transfer to a composed and contained visual medium quite like boxing. Two men, and in some cases women, square off in a confined arena below the spotlights of showtime. The action is … Continue reading HANDS OF STONE
If a revolution could ever be distilled into a single image, then let it be Delacroix’s commemoration of the French Revolution’s July 1830 victory, “Liberty Leading the People.” The now-iconic painting focuses on Marianne, a woman waving the familiar tricolor … Continue reading BELLADONNA OF SADNESS (哀しみのベラドンナ)
Cinema feeds on cinema. No cinematic work is crafted in a vacuum, and contemporary works refer back to previous ones. Sometimes in very inventive ways, other times for nothing more than pure derivation. They say imitation is the highest form … Continue reading WAR DOGS
Kubo and the Two Strings—the latest stop-motion animation from the Portland-based Laika Entertainment—opens with a fantastic piece of advice: “If you must blink, do it now.” With that, director Travis Knight drops the audience into a fairy tale that races … Continue reading KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS
Born July 8, 1885, Dr. John Romulus Brinkley Jr. had trouble with the truth. But then again, Dr. Brinkley was an American, and Americans have a particular allergy to the truth—especially when it stands in the way of a good … Continue reading NUTS!
When it comes to movie genres, none are as distinctly American as the western and film noir. The western, populated by cowboys, Native Americans, and disappearing frontiers, went from dime story novels to popular kiddie fare to wrought psychology and … Continue reading HELL OR HIGH WATER
In Life, Animated—the new documentary from Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams—one image in particular stands out: a toddler standing in front of a TV, hand outstretched to the image before him. The image is Mickey Mouse donning the sorcerer’s hat … Continue reading LIFE, ANIMATED
French critic cum filmmaker Jacques Rivette asserted that “Every film is a documentary of its own making.” While this is true of all movies, it is especially true of early cinema. The films documented people, places, and cultures now gone, … Continue reading DAUGHTER OF DAWN
Michael J. Cinema 
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