For Bruce Springsteen, it was the starting snare shot of “Like a Rolling Stone” that kicked open the door to his mind. He’s not wrong. And he’s not alone. That iconic Bob Dylan song has and will stand the test … Continue reading A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
Wanting for my happily-ever-after, I lowered my defenses, forgetting the first lesson I was taught: That I was brought into this world to be abandoned; that I am irrevocably alone. —Mary Shelley It’s been 200 years since the publication of Frankenstein; … Continue reading MARY SHELLEY
A young man sees the world from a specific point of view. Though women may surround him—women who raise him, teach him, love him, and confuse him—he will never be able to fully see the world through their eyes. He … Continue reading 20TH CENTURY WOMEN
Adapted from the 2012 novel by Dennis Lehane, Live By Night is a great American epic stuck inside a misguided movie. Written for the screen, produced, and directed by Ben Affleck, who also stars, Live by Night starts overseas in the trenches of World … Continue reading LIVE BY NIGHT
Not every director starts a scene by yelling, “Action!” Clint Eastwood gently whispers, “When you’re ready,” while others don’t even bother calling it. Sam Fuller used to fire a starter’s pistol into the air. And if IMDB.com is to be … Continue reading THE NEON DEMON
If you’ve spent any time on the University of Colorado Boulder’s campus, you probably noticed the courtyard fountain next to the University Memorial Center—the kind of courtyard where couples take their engagement photos and children play on hot summer days. … Continue reading TRUMBO
Sometimes, things just line up. In the past two weeks, I have watched three movies dealing with jazz music and musicians, and all three have found different, if not cliché, approaches to explore the artistic expression of the genre. First … Continue reading LOW DOWN
Maleficent is Disney’s latest in a spate of Nostalgia Branding, a trend spawned from the enormous box-office success of 2010’s Alice in Wonderland. Last year’s Saving Mr. Banks was a lesser movie than the movie it referenced, Mary Poppins, but the performances from Tom Hanks … Continue reading MALEFICENT
Ginger & Rosa tells the story of two 17-year-old girls who are coming of age in England, 1962. With the creation of the atomic bomb, mankind had finally unlocked the power to obliterate all living things from the planet. The older … Continue reading GINGER & ROSA
Michael J. Cinema 