Email Author Michael Fox

2009 Stories by Michael Fox

• New York State of Mind

  published September 23, 2009

  “Despair is collaboration with the enemy,” says Ken Jacobs, who’s been serving up vibrant films and acerbic quotes since the... More >>

• Bleed Out

  published September 23, 2009

  In much the same way that countryman Sergio Leone reinvigorated the all-American genre of the Western, Italian director Dario Argento infused... More >>

• Favorite Haunts

  published September 9, 2009

  Ghosts are usually benign, at least compared to vampires, zombies, aliens, and the other life forms that populate X-Files reruns and FOX... More >>

• Murder Most Foul

  published September 9, 2009

  The U.K. was a major beneficiary of the Marshall Plan, along with Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Yet food rationing did not completely... More >>

• Father’s Little Helper

  published September 2, 2009

  For a self-described character actor, James Mason played a central role in an impressive number of great films — Odd Man Out, 5 Fingers, A... More >>

• Small Is Beautiful

  published September 2, 2009

  With a single tongue-in-cheek image — a naked, tattooed couple sharing an oversized pair of boxers — the San Francisco International... More >>

• Nice Peaches

  published August 12, 2009

  True artists refuse to keep repeating themselves, no matter how lucrative the style or formula happens to be. Experiment and grow, or copy and die... More >>

• Devil May Care

  published August 12, 2009

  Say what you will about Mel Gibson, but he’s one of the few directors with a real appetite for human sacrifice (The Passion of the... More >>

• The Love of the Game

  published August 5, 2009

  Willingly seduced by the mammoth ad budgets and slobbering self-interest of big corporations, television has degraded and Disneyfied big-time... More >>

• J-Culture

  published August 5, 2009

  The big-screen release of a new mood-enhancing Hayao Miyazaki film (such as this week’s Ponyo) is big news to the growing cadre of... More >>

• On Three

  published July 29, 2009

  Cheap cameras and PC-based editing systems have made filmmaking available to everyone, and have spawned a wave of contests. Some tout... More >>

• Tennessee’s Last Waltz

  published July 29, 2009

  Deservedly or not, Ishtar and Heaven’s Gate routinely top the Hollywood bomb list. Apparently no one remembers the 1968... More >>

• Don’t You Forget About Me

  published July 29, 2009

  Molly Ringwald is 41 and has three kids. Let that sink in for a second. The winsome waif who exploded as a teen icon in the mid-'80s — and... More >>

• Dueling Desperados

  published July 29, 2009

  Once a staple of Japanese cinema, the samurai film — like the Western in this country — has fallen out of style. The Age of the Bailout... More >>

• The Thespian Shat

  published July 15, 2009

  William Shatner has bravely gone where no man (except George Hamilton) has gone before — beyond parody, beyond self-parody, into the farthest... More >>

• Rock the Shul

  published July 15, 2009

  Contrary to the narrow Biblical definition embraced by Israel’s Orthodox rabbinate — or the ethnocentrism of assimilated Americans... More >>

• In Vogue

  published July 8, 2009

  Richard Avedon made his rep as a fashion photographer, then segued naturally into a parallel career taking celebrity snaps. His palpably alive... More >>

• Valley of the Doll

  published July 8, 2009

  Where have all the child stars gone? Damaged, disappeared, and prematurely dead — that’s the typical trajectory for starlets and singers... More >>

• Fog Belt Flicks

  published July 1, 2009

  Here’s a helpful hint Heloise neglected to mention: Guys will say and do anything to get laid. You already knew that? Well, that’s... More >>

• Legendary Silence

  published July 1, 2009

  Contemporary moviegoers often view the silent era as a kind of crude training ground deservedly relegated to the attic (with... More >>

• Fasten Your Seatbelts

  published June 24, 2009

  We all have our favorite screen actresses, but none are more steadfast in their affections than gay men. Ask Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor, or Cher,... More >>

• Mission Control

  published June 24, 2009

  Craig Baldwin is the mad scientist of Bay Area independent cinema. Best known in some circles as the founder and indefatigable programmer of Other... More >>

• Summer in the Cité

  published June 24, 2009

  A vacation in Paris requires means and opportunity, and both are in short supply at this point in the recession and the summer. What to do? You... More >>

• New Queer Anthems

  published June 10, 2009

  Long described and too-often defined by the first three letters of the phrase “sexual orientation,” the LGBT community has grown up.... More >>

• Reel Color

  published June 3, 2009

  One may be the loneliest number, but those who belong to two minorities -- black Jews, say, or Latina Supreme Court nominees -- have it... More >>