She was born Norma Jean Baker in 1926, but she died Marilyn Monroe in 1962. Between those two dates and names lived one of the 20th century’s most enduring icons—a not-unusual collection of complications and contradictions exacerbated all the more … Continue reading BLONDE
There’s a secret at the heart of Don’t Worry Darling, and that’s half the problem. You can glean that from watching the trailer, and even if you’ve skipped it, you pick up on it within the first five minutes of the … Continue reading DON’T WORRY DARLING
She’s leaving home. First, she dresses; then, she gathers her things. It’s early, and she moves through each room as if she’s not there. She tries to be quiet, but she also bumps into the piano. No one seems to … Continue reading HOLD ME TIGHT (SERRE MOI FORT)
Hollywood cinema has had a complicated relationship with race and ethnicity since its very beginning. Continue reading Luis Reyes on VIVA HOLLYWOOD
It opens with the same tracking shot as X; only the image is noticeably different. The greens are greener. The blues are bluer. The house is in better shape. It’s all very idyllic. That’s because X, the exploitation/slasher flick from director Ti … Continue reading PEARL
Reporting from the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. His name and visage might be the most recognizable in all of movie history. Thanks to his cameos, his TV shows, and his copious appearances on talk shows, he’s practically a household name … Continue reading MY NAME IS ALFRED HITCHCOCK
Reporting from the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. Today it’s probably more synonymous with elevator music and the dentist’s office, but in the late-1950s and early-1960s, Bossa Nova took the musical world by storm. Born out of Brazil’s samba and featuring … Continue reading MIÚCHA, THE VOICE OF BOSSA NOVA
Reporting from the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. The kid’s a class clown. You get the sense he might have a learning disability, but Armageddon Time doesn’t make much of it. Just that he acts out at school, befriends the lone Black kid … Continue reading ARMAGEDDON TIME
Reporting from the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. Young Harry Turner left Britain for the battlefields of Afghanistan and came back a troubled man. The things he saw there—the fate of one little girl, in particular—marked Harry so deeply that it’s … Continue reading WILDCAT
Michael J. Cinema 
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