The two most interesting moments in The Phoenician Scheme—the latest from director Wes Anderson—come at the beginning and end of the movie. As for what happens in between, we’ll get there. By the beginning, I don’t mean the actual opening … Continue reading THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME
We’ve been here before. Sure, it seems worse, and some of the problems we’re facing are novel, but you don’t have to look hard to find analogs and parallels from the past. As Mark Twain put it: “History doesn’t repeat … Continue reading Distress Flares: Cinematic Survival Guide, Vol. 1
There are no small parts in movies—only those that are long and those that are short. That was the philosophy British filmmaker Michael Powell ascribed to. It’s one worth keeping in mind anytime you watch a movie, but it’s especially … Continue reading Short Kings: 2024 Oscar Nominated Short Films
Every year, the Australian-based online quarterly, Senses of Cinema, invites writers from all over the globe to submit their selections for the best movies of the year. My top 10 is relatively familiar at this point, but the sheer breadth … Continue reading SENSES OF CINEMA: 2023 World Cinema Poll
I love lists. Lists bring order to my day: what to do, what to watch, what to read, what to listen to. Lists provide context to larger themes and suss out tiny commonalities. The lists I author, be they for … Continue reading 2023: Now and Then
The play’s the thing, and for Conrad Earp (Edward Norton), a Tennessee Williams-type with a predilection for Tom of Finland cowboy art, his new play is sure to be the one that wakes the audience up. Or puts them to … Continue reading ASTEROID CITY
Wes Anderson’s cinematic style did not appear fully formed. It took a few movies over five years before Anderson locked in on formal compositions, planimetric framing, cuts along the 90-degree axis, diorama-esque interiors, Richard Scarry-like landscapes, idiosyncratic dialogue, peculiar characters, … Continue reading THE FRENCH DISPATCH
There was no show last year; it was called on account of pandemic. Just as well: Wildfires all along the West draped a burnt orange curtain inside Telluride’s box canyon and cut visibility from miles to feet. Movies are about … Continue reading The Show Must Go On: Dispatches From the 48th Telluride Film Festival
The shadow of Alfred Hitchcock looms large in cinema. So much so that it’s hard to divorce his stylistic innovations from movies that may or may not have been influenced by him. Take Blow the Man Down, a recent release currently … Continue reading Two for the Master
Michael J. Cinema 
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