No filmmaker working today makes movies like Guillermo del Toro. His are gothic affairs, full of love and sympathy for all creatures great and small, doomed and saved. The color palettes, even when monochromatically muted, have a garish quality to … Continue reading FRANKENSTEIN
Maxine Minx always knew she was going to be a star. Her father did, too, but that’s another story in itself. Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) sees Maxine’s star power. Tasked with directing The Puritan II, Bender has auteurist aspirations and … Continue reading MAXXXINE
On Monday, January 9, the Denver Film Critics Society—15 writers and broadcasters working in and around the Mile High City, of which I am one—announced their nominees for the best of 2022. In total, 38 movies received nominations, with Everything Everywhere … Continue reading And the nominees are…
It opens with the same tracking shot as X; only the image is noticeably different. The greens are greener. The blues are bluer. The house is in better shape. It’s all very idyllic. That’s because X, the exploitation/slasher flick from director Ti … Continue reading PEARL
There weren’t any crowds in Park City, Utah, and the big studios may have stayed away, but the 2021 Sundance Film Festival proved that headliners or no, in-person or virtual, the cinematic cream will always rise to the top. Chief … Continue reading All I Need to Get By: Dispatches from the 2021 Sundance Film Festival
Emma Woodhouse (Anya Taylor-Joy) is handsome, clever, and rich. She’s also a bit of a wrecking ball—the kind who thinks she’s holding the world together when she’s the one holding on for dear life. And if she spent a little … Continue reading EMMA.
Michael J. Cinema 