Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki is in search of the American Dream. To find it, he loads up Elvis Presley’s 1963 Rolls-Royce with a camera rig and drives around with politicians, actors, musicians, activists, and anyone else willing to climb in and … Continue reading THE KING and KING CREOLE
If great comedy must involve something beyond laughter,” film critic James Agee writes, “Lloyd was not a great comedian. If plain laughter is any criterion—and it is a healthy counterbalance to the other—few people have equaled him, and nobody has … Continue reading SPEEDY
Meet Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher); she’s 13, lives in a suburban home with her single father (Josh Hamilton), and is about as put together as you might expect a 13-year-old to be. Practically bursting at the seams with personality, thoughts, … Continue reading EIGHTH GRADE
If ever there was a word to describe Fred Rogers—the host of the long-running PBS show, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood—it would be “kind.” Not a word you hear a lot these days. I suppose that’s why so many look back and think … Continue reading WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?
Wanting for my happily-ever-after, I lowered my defenses, forgetting the first lesson I was taught: That I was brought into this world to be abandoned; that I am irrevocably alone. —Mary Shelley It’s been 200 years since the publication of Frankenstein; … Continue reading MARY SHELLEY
This is not based on a true story; this is a true story.” So proclaims the title cards that open American Animals—a documentary/narrative hybrid that is almost too good to be true. And it is true, but in a circuitous manner. … Continue reading AMERICAN ANIMALS
Known as “the third genius,” Harold Lloyd did not have the same background in vaudeville as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton; yet, he ended up making more movies than both of them combined. Lloyd started his career as a Chaplin … Continue reading THE FRESHMAN
Like most love stories, this one begins at the movies. London, 1971: A young actor goes to see the latest release, A Clockwork Orange, and is transfixed. The garish colors, the violence, the sex, the terror, Malcolm McDowell’s theatrical performance; the young … Continue reading FILMWORKER
This conversation between Eric Kohn of Indiewire, writer/director Paul Schrader, and actor Ethan Hawke took place following a screening of FIRST REFORMED at 2017’s Telluride Film Festival. Spoilers follow. ERIC KOHN: Paul, first of all, anyone who’s seen your films … Continue reading Conversations from the Telluride Film Festival: FIRST REFORMED
Michael J. Cinema 
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