When Star Wars debuted in 1977, it was an immediate revolution of cinema and culture. Audiences voted with their wallets: This is how we want our stories delivered, and these are the stories we desire. Four decades later, Star Wars is less a cinematic … Continue reading STAR WARS IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
The spice exists on only one planet in the entire universe: A desolate, dry planet with vast deserts. Hidden away within the rocks of these deserts are a people known as the Fremen, who have long held a prophecy that … Continue reading DUNE
As the decade comes to a close, the mind turns to the best films of the 2010s, and 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis easily makes the shortlist. A Sisyphean story of a struggling folk musician searching for authenticity in 1961 Greenwich … Continue reading INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
The year is 1888, and Vincent van Gogh must leave Paris. There is nothing left for him here. Cafés won’t show his work, the artists’ collectives are more concerned with bureaucratic policies and money than painting, and van Gogh’s closest, … Continue reading AT ETERNITY’S GATE
If Annihilation could be distilled into a single image, it would be that of a hand seen through a glass of water. Crystal clear, the water reflects precisely what is set in front of it, and, in this case, it’s a human … Continue reading ANNIHILATION
Quite simply, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is magnificent. It’s no masterpiece and certainly not without a few flaws, but writer/director Rian Johnson is given plenty of room to continue the Star Wars saga, answer questions posed in previous installments, … Continue reading STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI
We’ve never considered our stuff either homage or spoof. Those are things other people call it, and it’s always puzzled me that they do. Frequently we are writing characters and we are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to see such … Continue reading Born On This Day — November 29, 1954
Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) is a sloppy swindler, a sloppy drunk, and even a sloppy murderer. He and his much younger wife, Colette (Kirsten Dunst), wander the ruins of the Acropolis when they catch the eye of Rydal (Oscar Isaac), … Continue reading THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY
2013 was an excellent year at the movies, but I said the exact same thing about 2012. Film critic for The New Yorker, Richard Brody, chose to open his year-end summary with this quote, “The year 2013 has been an amazing one for movies, though maybe every year is an amazing year for movies if one is ready to be amazed by movies.” I am always ready to be amazed by movies, and 2013 did not disappoint. I was consistently surprised how many movies continue to develop and unfold in my mind days, weeks, and months after I saw them. They refused to leave and I … Continue reading 2013: Another Year of Moviegoing
Michael J. Cinema 