Author: Michael Macdonald

Michael MacDonald is student majoring in animation at The Art Institute of California, Los Angeles. In younger days he was a Film Studies major at The University of Colorado at Boulder. He has been an assistant manager of a movie theater and has spent some time in the U.S. Army. He has always enjoyed the captivating power of film and lives for those moments when art hits home and really makes you feel.

“Searchers 2.0” is Alex Cox’ first theatrical feature since 2002’s wild “Revenger’s Tragedy” and he definitely continues his eccentric style of work (as seen in Repo Man, Sid and Nancy, Straight to Hell, and Walkers). This film is an offbeat “road” comedy about a revenge plot aimed for justice dreamed up by two former child actors (Ed Pansullo as Ed Fletcher and Del Zamora as Mel Torres) Buffalo Bill vs. Doc Holliday. That sole appearance was enough for a lifetime, given the nasty experience on the set where legendary screenwriter Fritz Frobisher (the always intense Sy Richardson) whipped them to…

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Danièle Thompson’s “Avenue Montaigne” is her third directorial outing (preceded by La Bûche and Jet Lag/Décolage horaire) and is a breath of fresh air in a market of CGI studded films and empty romantic sex comedies. It tells the tale of a charming young woman, Jessica, who leaves her small province to come to Paris to experience life’s adventures. She gets hired for a waiting job at the old-fashioned Café des Arts on the fabled Avenue Montaigne, which is Paris’ nexus for art, music, theater and fashion. There, she meets a variety of characters which include a depressed Classical Pianist…

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“The truth will set you free and drive you madder.” <br>Imagine your young child being involved with the death of a playmate. An innocent game that went awry. That is what UNDER THE ICE (Unter dem eis) touches upon.<br>A solemn study into how covering up truths can lead to more damage. Especially when the people involved are essentially good. The film begins with a young couple, Michael and Jenny (Dirk Borchardt and Bibiana Beglu) living in one the suburbs of Berlin, Germany. Things are looking up and Michael is on the eve of getting a promotion to become a detective.…

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You will wish he was running for president or What happened in there?Barry Levison’s “Man of the Year” is a fragmented Political/Comedy/Romantic/Thriller that may leave audiences either confused or cheering – or in my, case both. The film stars Robin Williams as Comedian/TV show host Tom Dobbs who runs for president and wins by a computer error. Sound familiar? The fragmentation sets in when the film becomes a political thriller at the point where Eleanor Green (Laura Linny), a programmer, finds a glitch in the polling system derived by her employer. The company decides to offshoot her as a drug…

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