There are treasures deep in the misty mountains of the Congo, untold riches that the Belgian king will stop at nothing to find. Fortunately, there is a man who will sell out his tribe and his way of life to … Continue reading THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
What motivates an artist to return time and time again to the formative and gentle years of childhood? Is it a rejection of the adult world, the world of responsibility and accountability? Or is it a plea to the next … Continue reading THE BFG
Hank has given up. Marooned on a deserted island in the Pacific, he has run out of food, water, and reasons to live. All he has is trash. Piles and piles of trash, all of it cast off once it … Continue reading SWISS ARMY MAN
RECIPE FOR A SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS MOVIE Star to finish: ~90 minutes Servings: One smallish art-house audience Take two parts religion One part aging individual (preferably white) Blend together until their inherent differences rise to the surface. Let rest. Add a … Continue reading DOUGH
It’s unfair to dock a movie simply because of when it was released and what might have come before. But life is unfair, and the German comedy Therapy for a Vampire (Der Vampir auf der Couch) enters American theaters in the wake … Continue reading THERAPY FOR A VAMPIRE
Not every director starts a scene by yelling, “Action!” Clint Eastwood gently whispers, “When you’re ready,” while others don’t even bother calling it. Sam Fuller used to fire a starter’s pistol into the air. And if IMDB.com is to be … Continue reading THE NEON DEMON
French critic cum filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard famously said that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun, but he could have done it with less. As an artist, Godard vacillated back and forth between incendiary … Continue reading BAND OF OUTSIDERS (BANDE À PART)
Preeminent film director Howard Hawks succinctly described a good movie: “Three great scenes, no bad ones.” Many have tried to elaborate on what defines a good movie through various criteria and rubrics, but all fall short of Hawks’ dictum. “Three … Continue reading FINDING DORY
My grandmother once told me that the greatest pain ever felt by a parent was burying her own child. Nothing could feel more unnatural. Losing a loved one is tragic; losing a child is devastation. That devastation has come to … Continue reading L’ATTESA
Michael J. Cinema 
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