1987, somewhere in Northern Italy, a young man is about to come of age. Like most 17-year-old boys, the boredom of day-in, day-out routine is about to be replaced by something new, something extraordinary. Sex, naturally. And like the multitudes … Continue reading CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
There is humor to be mined from the direst of situations, and Finish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki has been doing just that for nearly 35 years. His latest, The Other Side of Hope (Toivon tuolla puolen), takes his well-honed, delightfully peculiar style and … Continue reading THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE
Quite simply, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is magnificent. It’s no masterpiece and certainly not without a few flaws, but writer/director Rian Johnson is given plenty of room to continue the Star Wars saga, answer questions posed in previous installments, … Continue reading STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
May 1940: Hitler is riding roughshod across Europe, gobbling up territory like an insatiable monster. Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Denmark have all fallen. Belgium, Holland, and France are falling. Britain is next. England’s current Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, wants to … Continue reading DARKEST HOUR
Set in New York’s Coney Island in the early 1950s, Wonder Wheel revolves around Ginny (Kate Winslet), a clam house waitress who lives above the amusement park’s shooting range with her second husband, Humpty (Jim Belushi), who runs the merry-go-round, and Richie … Continue reading WONDER WHEEL
There’s nothing like a good fairy tale, especially one with teeth—and Mexican writer/producer/director Guillermo del Toro has plenty of teeth to go around. Not to mention lovers, monsters, and the overwhelming power stories have to connect. The Shape of Water is … Continue reading THE SHAPE OF WATER
Outside Sweden’s X-Royal museum of modern and contemporary art, a worker replaces the bricks in the cobblestone courtyard just so and lies down a luminous string of lights in the shape of a perfectly constructed square. This is the museum’s … Continue reading THE SQUARE
All stories have to begin somewhere. Brimstone & Glory, a documentary about Mexico’s week-long National Pyrotechnics Festival, takes place in modern-day Tultepec, but its origins lie on the other side of the Atlantic, in Portugal specifically, at the end of the … Continue reading BRIMSTONE & GLORY
Not everyone fighting for equality can be found on the frontline. There has to be someone in the shadows, toiling away, fueled by indignation, righteousness, and uncompromising ethics. Roman J. Israel is such a man. For years, Israel (Denzel Washington), … Continue reading ROMAN J. ISRAEL, ESQ.
Michael J. Cinema 
You must be logged in to post a comment.