Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) can’t sleep. She can’t focus either. She once was an architect, an incredible one, some called her “genius,” but she gave that up 15 years ago. Now, with no outlet for her energy, it explodes out … Continue reading WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE
On August 1, 2019, D(onn) A(lan) Pennebaker, Penny to most, died. He was 94. A true titan of cinema, Pennebaker leaves behind a plethora of work, almost all of it falling under the category of Direct Cinema. His purpose was … Continue reading D. A. Pennebaker
Piranhas (La paranza dei bambini) opens with a theft; a battle between two rival gangs and a government building Christmas tree. Who are these battling gangs? Don’t know. Why do they want it? We have our suspicions, but they are … Continue reading PIRANHAS
Cinematographer Jack Cardiff was born for Technicolor. One of the company’s first technicians, Cardiff mastered the three-strip process in the late-1930s with industrial and instructional films before getting a chance to work as a 2nd unit cameraman on Michael Powell … Continue reading 10 from Cardiff
With the wisdom of the wise and the smile of a sage, Toni Morrison sits before the camera. No background behind her, nothing in front to distract, just Morrison talking directly to the camera as if we are opposite her. … Continue reading TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is bananas. Not that you’d expect anything less from a title sporting two ampersands and one colon. Depending on how you look at it, Hobbs & Shaw is either the eight-and-a-half installment in … Continue reading FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW
Sam Staggs knows the Gabor family: Zsa Zsa, Eva, Magda, and Jolie, “Watching them was like eating peanuts—you couldn’t stop.” And Staggs knows his audience, which is why his latest biography, Finding Zsa Zsa: The Gabors Behind the Legends, is also like eating peanuts—delicious, addicting, and goes well with an ice-cold drink. Continue reading FINDING ZSA ZSA: THE GABORS BEHIND THE LEGEND
History, by its very nature, is reductive. There’s simply too much to consider, too many players to figure, and too many stories to remember. To the victor go the spoils the saying goes. And when the history of cinema was … Continue reading BE NATURAL
Filmed in 1967 and released in 1968, The Queen is reportedly the first cinematic documentation of a drag pageant. Using a cinéma vérité approach, filmmaker Frank Simon presents his story simply and succinctly. From conception to execution; including finding a … Continue reading THE QUEEN
Michael J. Cinema 
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