Lydia Tár is broken. Pulled from the podium, kicked out of her Berlin apartment, barred from seeing her daughter, the disgraced conductor returns to her family house on Long Island, pokes around her childhood room—perfectly preserved as if she were … Continue reading 2022: Accommodating for Others
You may overlook the anachronisms at first, but a few things ought to tip you off that Women Talking, the latest from writer-director Sarah Polley, does not take place when you think it does. A slow-moving traffic sign here, a manufactured … Continue reading Daydream Believer: Dispatches from the 49th Telluride Film Festival
Geeks are not found; they are made. This is the lesson Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), a drifter in 1940s America, learns first hand at the Ten-in-One traveling carnival. Ten-in-One is a carnival like any other: A strong man, a contortionist, … Continue reading NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Two Decembers ago, New Yorker critic Richard Brody wrote, “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.” True in 2013, and … Continue reading 2015: Come and See
Director Joe Wright’s latest, Pan, might be the most unnecessary return to Neverland to see the big screen. Wright and writer Jason Fuchs take the tale of the boy who refused to grow up and turn his backstory into the typical … Continue reading PAN
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is the perfect antidote to anyone who has spent the summer overwhelmed by too many CG fight scenes, too much frantic cutting, too much shaky handheld camera work, too many sequels, and too many reboots. Saints is quiet, methodical, … Continue reading AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS
Some movies start with a bang. Others lure you into their worlds with craft and precision. Before you know it, you are just as paranoid as the characters. Anything could be lurking around the corner, over your shoulder, and no … Continue reading SIDE EFFECTS
Michael J. Cinema 