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
Released in 1989, New York Stories is an omnibus film, three shorts stitched together by a city. And though two of the directors’ oeuvres are inseparable from the city streets, tenements, and high rises that dot the New York skyline, it is … Continue reading NEW YORK STORIES
Some movies never grow old. They exist outside of time and space, always there, always waiting for us to return. Case in point: The Godfather Part I and II. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s saga tells the story of the Corleone crime family, whose evolution … Continue reading THE GODFATHER
What the studios want now is ‘risk-free’ films but with any sort of art you have to take risks. Not taking risks in art is like not having sex and then expecting there to be children. Here’s a tip to … Continue reading Born On This Day — April 7, 1939
There’s something in my heart that isn’t yet fulfilled. Maybe it’s a sickness. But I’m definitely not satisfied. It’s not to do with money—I’m richer than I ever thought I would be. It’s not fame—I’m more famous than I’ve ever … Continue reading In Their Words — Sunday, April 7, 2013
The study of cinema is the study of directors, or more accurately, the study of auteurs. Single visions brought to life via a committee. Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, John Ford, all of these names immediately pop into our minds when we think of … Continue reading The Archers
If the movie works, nobody notices the mistakes… If the movie doesn’t work, the only thing people notice are mistakes. —Francis Ford Coppola Continue reading In Their Words — Sunday, December 16, 2012
It seems that, no matter what is happening to me in my personal life, I am always thinking about my work without even knowing it. The phenomenon resembles some kind of karma. In fact, my having become a film director, … Continue reading In Their Words — Tuesday, November 13, 2012
I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians. —Francis Ford Coppola Continue reading In Their Words — Monday, August 27, 2012
Michael J. Cinema 