He is David King (Denzel Washington), and 20 years ago, he sat on music’s throne. A hits stacker and a kingmaker, David had the best ears in the business and the records to prove it. Now David is scrambling to … Continue reading HIGHEST 2 LOWEST
Politics and entertainment have always been entangled. Sometimes, it’s mockery with a message (Charlie Chaplin clowning on Adolph Hitler in The Great Dictator). Other times, it’s an attempt to expose a local cause to a larger public (the striking miners … Continue reading Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time
I guess you could say the low point arrived on March 27, 2022, with the broadcast of the 94th Academy Awards. No, the “slap heard ’round the world” wasn’t it—though that cast a pall over the proceedings, didn’t it?—but the … Continue reading Cinema 101
2020 was the year I watched more but understood less. With a rotating series of crises to consider, rare were the instances where I found myself lost in someone else’s story for two hours. Empathy has its limits: When you’re … Continue reading 2020: A Year Like No Other
Spike Lee’s back, and he’s getting better with age. The first half of the 2010s found the filmmaker working in a different milieu with Red Hook Summer and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. Slightly atmosphere, quieter, lower budgets. Neither were duds, but nor did … Continue reading DA 5 BLOODS
Spike Lee’s latest film, Da 5 Bloods, will be available to all with a Netflix login on June 12. Delroy Lindo, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Clarke Peters, and Norm Lewis are four aging Vietnam vets who head back to the jungle … Continue reading Home Viewing: Spike Lee
It’s a famous shot from one of the most widely seen movies in the history of cinema: Scarlett O’Hara searching desperately for a doctor in a sea of wounded and dead soldiers. As Scarlett searches, the camera cranes high into … Continue reading BLACKKKLANSMAN
Ah, little lad, you’re staring at my fingers. Would you like me to tell you the little story of right-hand/left-hand? 1930s West Virginia: A condemned man brags to his bunkmate that he hid $10,000 in his house before his arrest. … Continue reading THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
Spike Lee is many things; subtle is not one of them. In 1989—with three movies under his belt—the Brooklyn-based producer/director exploded on to a grand stage with Do the Right Thing. The movie stirred the pot and caused a fair amount of … Continue reading CHI-RAQ
Michael J. Cinema 
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