In his landmark study, From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, Siegfried Kracauer put forth the theory that cinema is a seismograph for its time, a mass media indicator of the cultural subconscious. In other words: … Continue reading BOY ERASED
What does it take to make a good movie these days? Money? Star power? A dedicated auteur? A pastiche of ideas that resemble a movie? On the surface, The Nice Guys looks like a movie. It’s got Warner Brothers’ money. It’s got … Continue reading THE NICE GUYS
This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend. That line from John Ford’s seminal 1962 western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, doesn’t just encapsulate the movie’s theme, Ford’s overall career, or even the entirety of the … Continue reading Print the Legend: Westerns at the Sie Film Center
To borrow a tagline from another recently rebooted franchise, Man of Steel is not your father’s Superman. The name ‘Superman’ isn’t even in the title, it’s only spoken in the movie once, and not even by one of the main characters! The red … Continue reading MAN OF STEEL
Michael J. Cinema 