A young girl spies her mother in bed with a man who is neither her father nor the woman’s husband. The young girl is Flora (Anna Paquin), the speaking child of her mute mother, Ada (Holly Hunter). Both were bought and … Continue reading THE PIANO
Cinematographer Michael Chapman died on Sept. 20, 2020. He was 84. We hadn’t heard or seen much of Chapman recently (his last credit was Bridge to Terabithia in 2007), but Chapman was king in the 1970s and ’80s. Chapman’s first credit as … Continue reading TAXI DRIVER
Three men work the line at the Checkered Taxi auto plant in Detroit, Michigan. Their lives revolve around hard labor and heavy drinking, getting yelled at by their supervisors and trying to keep their heads above water at home. They’re … Continue reading BLUE COLLAR
What makes up a city? The people? The locale? The flavor of the food, the smell of the streets, the sounds of the crowd? When author Reyner Banham concluded his exhaustive study of the city of Los Angeles in The Architecture … Continue reading RIO, I LOVE YOU
2014 has seen a slew of post-apocalyptic/futuristic-themed movies, but out of all of them, Ari Folman’s half live-action, half 2-D animation seems the most likely. That doesn’t mean it is great or a particularly good movie, but its prediction seems … Continue reading THE CONGRESS
Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out. —Martin Scorsese Continue reading In Their Words — Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Michael J. Cinema 