Chaplin was the tramp, Lloyd was the go-getter, and Buster Keaton—Born Oct. 4, 1895—was the Great Stone Face. He was unflappable, no matter how hard he got hit or how hard he fell. The General is his best, maybe the greatest American … Continue reading THE GENERAL
Harold Lloyd’s Glasses character was a real go-getter. The middle-class boy next door could accomplish anything he put his mind to. And it made him immensely popular with the rah-rah-rah mentality of the Roaring Twenties. 1923’s Safety Last! might be his best, … Continue reading SAFETY LAST!
How do you sum up a life in 500 words? That’s the problem Bruce Weber, a veteran obituary writer for the New York Times, faces every morning at 9. Weber’s desk is cluttered with biographies and memoirs ranging from Keith Richards’s Life to basketball … Continue reading OBIT.
Based on a novel by Franz Kafka, The Trail is filmmaker Orson Welles at his most Wellesian. Anthony Perkins stars as K, a man accused of a crime he neither committed nor comprehends. K can ask all the questions he wants, but … Continue reading THE TRIAL
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)
His name is Martin Eden (Luca Marinelli), and he calls no nation home. He’s a sailor by trade—the kind mothers warn their daughters about: tall, dark, and handsome with a few roguish scars and a spectacular head of hair. He’s … Continue reading MARTIN EDEN
Director Jacques Demy sought to make a movie that would make audiences cry. He succeeded in spades. It helps that Michelle Legrande provided one of the most indelible film scores of all time, and cinematographer Jean Rabier found the sourness … Continue reading THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG
There comes a moment, nearly three-quarters through the abysmally dull and bizarre Deadhead Miles—starring Alan Arkin as a long-haul truck driver—where Arkin takes another driver aside to show him something in his cab. Curious, the driver peers into the truck and … Continue reading Terrence Malick Retrospective
Today, Netflix releases the latest from writer/director Ramin Bahrani, The White Tiger, an adaptation of Indian author Aravind Adiga’s debut novel about the rise of Balram (Adarsh Gourav) from a coal breaker’s son to driven entrepreneur. Told in flashback and at … Continue reading Ramin Bahrani
Michael J. Cinema 
You must be logged in to post a comment.