With only a handful of days left, 2019 comes to a close on a high note. Or a shrill note, as Uncut Gems has it. The movie has texture, vibrancy, and energy. Sandler is top shelf. And the Safdie brothers … Continue reading This week in Film — UNCUT GEMS and THE GREAT BUSTER
Buster Keaton was destined for the silver screen before moving pictures were even born. As the story goes, an 18-month-old (or was that six-month-old?) Keaton took a tumble down a flight of stairs and didn’t make a sound. “That’s some … Continue reading OUR HOSPITALITY
What used to get my goat at MGM were comedians like The Marx Brothers or Abbott and Costello who never worried about the script or the next scene. My God, we ate, slept, and dreamed our pictures. I always want … Continue reading Born On This Day — October 4, 1895
The 1925 Buster Keaton classic Go West opens, “Some people travel through life making friends wherever they go, while others—just travel through life.” When Keaton traveled, he sauntered, adorned by his flattened porkpie hat and too-short tie. Dubbed “The Great Stone Face,” … Continue reading GO WEST
2014 marks the centenary for one of cinema’s most important faces and minds, Charlie Chaplin. Kid Auto Races at Venice debuted on Feb. 7, 1914, ran 11 minutes and introduced the world to The Little Tramp. On May 4, 1914, Chaplin stepped … Continue reading LIMELIGHT
“The first thing I did in the studio was to want to tear that camera to pieces. I had to know how that film got into the cutting room, what you did to it in there, how you projected it, … Continue reading Born On This Day — October 4
The first thing I did in the studio was to want to tear that camera to pieces. I had to know how that film got into the cutting room, what you did to it in there, how you projected it, … Continue reading In Their Words — Saturday, December 22, 2012
Michael J. Cinema 