Chasing Trane, the new documentary about saxophonist John Coltrane opens with a digital trip through the cosmos. Coltrane’s music arranges the galaxies, and a constellation forms to assemble his image while disembodied voices rhapsodies about the great jazz musician. Time … Continue reading CHASING TRANE: THE JOHN COLTRANE DOCUMENTARY
manifesto, noun: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer What we need is works of art that are strong, straight, precise, and forever beyond understanding,” intones the magnificent Cate Blanchett from behind a funeral … Continue reading MANIFESTO
Presenting a consumable cross-section of the 35 shorts that played at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival, the 2017 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour offers seven films of varying length, subject matter, and execution. All of the selected seven … Continue reading 2017 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL SHORT FILM TOUR
The disappearance of a tourist brings two bumbling inspectors to the picturesque seaside town of Slack Bay; a place where a mussel gathering family cradle-carry the wealthy across the bay when the tide is high, wealthy that are too obsessed … Continue reading SLACK BAY
Speed. I am speed. Faster than fast, quicker than quick. I am Lightning. You are until you’re not. When racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) showed up on the Piston Cup circuit, he was the rookie hotshot. Faster than … Continue reading CARS 3
All first films are alike; each final film is final in its own way. When Polish director Andrzej Wajda made A Generation in 1954, he already had three shorts and an apprenticeship with filmmaker Aleksander Ford under his belt, but it was … Continue reading AFTERIMAGE
The horror is so bad you wish you were watching something scripted, something directed. But you’re not; you’re watching reality play out in gory detail. A man is dragged from his truck and beaten within an inch of his life. … Continue reading LA 92
Set in a post-apocalyptic world—what brought about the end, we’ll never know—It Comes At Night explores horrors without and horrors within. The horrors within are much worse. The titular “it” takes the form of nightmares that plague 17-year-old Travis (Kelvin Harrison, … Continue reading IT COMES AT NIGHT
Though the name Emily Dickinson may be well known—most can identify her as one of the greatest American poets—not many can recite the Belle of Amherst, a play about her life, line-by-line. That same disparity can be found in the oeuvre … Continue reading A QUIET PASSION
Michael J. Cinema 
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