Shot in stark black and white like a moving Weegee photograph, Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery is a stunning piece of filmmaking instrumental in dropkicking American movie making out of the studios and onto the streets. The story here is of an … Continue reading ON THE BOWERY
George Clooney’s 2019 adaptation for Hulu was faithful to Joseph Heller’s novel until it missed the mark. He condemned Yossarian to a Sisyphean hell rather than set him free and off into the world. Clooney’s deviation probably comes from a … Continue reading CATCH-22
Directed by Matthew Rankin, The Twentieth Century is one-half quirky bio-pic about the rise of Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (Dan Beirne), and one-half spoof of King and the notion that a bio-pic can be a truth delivery device. Shot … Continue reading THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
Blunt and poetic has always been Errol Morris’ strongest suit, and American Dharma is no exception. This time, the man before Morris is Steve Bannon, the architect behind Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and, at one time, the most hated and feared … Continue reading AMERICAN DHARMA
For Nikola Tesla, it all started with a cat. Specifically, a black cat named Macak, a feline friend from Tesla’s boyhood. One day while stroking Macak’s back, Tesla managed to raise a series of static electric sparks from the cat’s … Continue reading TESLA
Though most know Gilda Radner from her many Saturday Night Live characters—particularly Roseanne Roseannadanna—Love, Gilda attempts to understand the motivations behind Radner by correlating the opinions of those she touched and the material she left behind. It gives the movie a Rashomon-like quality: You … Continue reading LOVE, GILDA
A plane has two wings,” a high school junior representing the Federalist Party says to a room full of teens. “A right one and a left one…” And you need both to make the plane fly. Maybe not the best … Continue reading BOYS STATE
The story is familiar: the Howard Brothers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine) take to robbing banks when their luck runs out, and the child support piles up. Tracking them down is an aging Texas Ranger, Hamilton (Jeff Bridges), ready to … Continue reading HELL OR HIGH WATER
It didn’t take long for Judy Garland to get started. Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, on June 10, 1922, Garland strode onto the vaudeville stage with her sisters in 1924, solidifying her future as an entertainer. In … Continue reading Judy Garland
Michael J. Cinema 
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