I guess you could say the low point arrived on March 27, 2022, with the broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards. No, the “slap heard ’round the world” wasn’t it—though that cast a pall over the proceedings, didn’t it?—but the … Continue reading Cinema 101
Reporting from the 2022 Telluride Film Festival. He’s a nice gentleman, always properly dressed, prompt to work and other engagements, and he takes pride in his work—even if that means “holding on” to applications stuck in the Sisyphean circles of … Continue reading LIVING
Directed by Akira Kurosawa and released in 1958, The Hidden Fortress was produced during Kurosawa’s string of financial successes and artistic triumphs that began with Rashômon in 1950 and concluded with Red Beard in 1965. Throughout that 15-year, 13-movie run, Kurosawa released a series of monumental … Continue reading THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (隠し砦の三悪人)
Comfort watching comes in all shapes in sizes. Sometimes it’s a chubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. Other times it’s Gene Kelly dancing with an umbrella and splashing around in puddles. Diversion, you could call it: A moment of … Continue reading HIGH AND LOW (天国と地獄)
Existential cinema is the topic du jour in this week’s Boulder Weekly—something filmmaker Akira Kurosawa was no stranger to. He once claimed, “Man is born crying. When he has cried enough, he dies.”His masterpiece might be Ikiru, the story of lonely government … Continue reading IKIRU
Had it up to here with feel good stories and emotional pick-me-ups? Feeling down in the dumps and wanting a little company? Ready to scream into the infinite until even your echo vanishes? Well, do I have some movies for … Continue reading This week in Film — Existential cinema and THE STRANGER
The Magnificent Seven doesn’t open with fanfare. No blaring horns to signal the American West, no soaring strings to complement the vast vistas before the camera, no cinematic shots of warring bandits cresting a hill, no legends, no heroes. Instead: ominous … Continue reading THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
The movie opens and closes with a similar image, the ruins of a fortress, built at the foot of Mt. Fuji, enveloped by fog. A visual cue from famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa reminding viewers that what goes around comes … Continue reading THRONE OF BLOOD
The object is to try to get the system to work for you, instead of against you. And the only way you can do it is through success, I’m afraid. —George Lucas Continue reading Born On This Day — May 14, 1944
Michael J. Cinema 
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