JOKER
“I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.” —Notes From the Underground, Fyodor Dostoyevsky Who makes the monster, and where do they come from? We’ve been asking those questions for far too long … Continue reading JOKER
Category: Reviews
JUDY
Judy Garland was born in a trunk. Or so the story goes in A Star Is Born, a movie about an aging actor on his way out, thanks to addiction, and the young starlet he handpicks to bear the burden of … Continue reading JUDY
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (カメラを止めるな!)
Somewhere in a remote part of Japan, a film crew is shooting a low-budget zombie movie in an abandoned World War II facility. The two leads are teen heartthrobs, and the director is of the megalomaniac variety. He can’t get … Continue reading ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (カメラを止めるな!)
(So You Want) Joe McDoakes Comedies…
One of my favorite TCM discoveries of 2018 was a 10-minute short Warner Bros. and Vitaphone production: So You Want to Be a Detective. Starring George O’Hanlon (who would go on to voice George Jetson), and created by Richard L. … Continue reading (So You Want) Joe McDoakes Comedies…
AD ASTRA
Ad Astra, from filmmaker par excellence James Gray, opens with a shot of the cosmos, vast and terrifying. As the camera pans across the twinkling dots of a thousand suns, a lens flare catches the frame and briefly illuminates the … Continue reading AD ASTRA
FANTASTIC FUNGI
For Paul Stamets, it begins and ends with mushrooms. From death, they create life. From fractures, they create connections. And from sickness, they create health. “Mushrooms represent rebirth. Rejuvenation. Regeneration,” Stamets says. Fantastic Fungi, directed by Louie Schwartzberg and edited by … Continue reading FANTASTIC FUNGI
MS. PURPLE
Life at the bottom isn’t easy. Near the bottom ain’t any easier, and that’s where Kasie (Tiffany Chu) resides. Her mother left when she was a child, her father (James Kang) is a bed-ridden invalid in his final days, and … Continue reading MS. PURPLE
THIS IS NOT BERLIN
Mexico City, the mid-1980s: Carlos is 17, sexually curious, slightly confused about what to do with his life, and lacking ambition. His friend takes him to a nightclub, a gay nightclub, and he sees his friend’s older sister, Rita performing … Continue reading THIS IS NOT BERLIN
THE LOST CITY OF Z
For his first five films, writer/director James Gray set his stories in New York City. Makes sense, considering Gray is a born and raised New Yorker, but with his two most recent films, Gray looks far beyond the Burroughs. Releasing … Continue reading THE LOST CITY OF Z
Michael J. Cinema 
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