Meet Zain (Zain Al Rafeea), a 12-year-old boy incarcerated in a Beirut jail for stabbing—as he says—“a sonofabitch.” “You stabbed someone,” the judge clarifies, softening the young man’s testimony. “Yes,” Zain responds. “A sonofabitch.” Well, what else do you call … Continue reading CAPERNAUM (کفرناحوم)
Well, if you want to sing out, sing outAnd if you want to be free, be free.’Cause there’s a million things to beYou know that there are. —Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) It starts with music, a siren song if … Continue reading COLD WAR (ZIMNA WOJNA)
How do comic books work? M. Night Shyamalan knows, and he’d really like you to know. Not how comic books work; Shyamalan wants you to know that he knows how comic books work. It’s an important distinction (though I’m not sure why), … Continue reading GLASS
There are roughly three New Yorks … First, the New York of the man or woman who was born here … Second, there is the New York of the commuter … Third, there is the New York of the person … Continue reading THE WORLD BEFORE YOUR FEET
Rumors of an English-language remake of The Intouchables began swirling soon after the 2011 movie became France’s second highest-grossing film. And despite the acclaim and praise garnered when the movie was released stateside in 2012, The Intouchables still felt like a movie a decade … Continue reading THE UPSIDE
The infamous Beale Street belongs to the city of Memphis, Tennessee, but every city has a Beale Street. So claimed writer James Baldwin, born and raised in Harlem, New York, on the very streets where he set his seminal 1974 … Continue reading IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s place in history is secure; it’s her story that seems to be in question. To borrow a line from the Bard: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” And … Continue reading ON THE BASIS OF SEX
As the old saying goes: Hindsight is 20-20. But therein lies the trap, the notion that since we can see the past clearly, we can also understand it. If history has taught us anything, untangling what we know from what … Continue reading VICE
The year is 1561, and Mary Stuart has returned to Scotland. Spending most of her childhood in France, Mary (Saoirse Ronan) has decided to come home and claim her throne, the very one her half-brother, James (James McArdle), has been … Continue reading MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS
Michael J. Cinema 
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