Michael Sragow

1 month ago | airmail.news | Michael Sragow

In The Alto Knights, director Barry Levinson and his stars, Robert De Niro (as Frank Costello) and Robert De Niro (as Vito Genovese), trace the rise and fall of the real-life postwar Mafia with the speed, humor, and panache that director Raoul Walsh and his stars, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, brought to the rise and fall of fictional pre-war gangsters in The Roaring Twenties (1939). Once again, close allies end up at homicidal loggerheads.

May 18, 2024 | airmail.news | Michael Sragow

READ What Makes Sammy Jr. Run? Ezra Pound said, “Literature is news that stays news.” In editor Alex Belth’s scintillating collection What Makes Sammy Jr. Run?, headline-making profiles from the 60s and 70s retain their freshness and excitement. In a salute to the last freewheeling era of American culture and magazines, reporters Rex Reed and Brad Darrach gain unsupervised access to an unbuttoned Ava Gardner and Robert Mitchum. Thomas B.

Apr 5, 2024 | airmail.news | Michael Sragow

The last time global hysteria reached fever pitch—with war in the Middle East and Asia, the threat of Russia in Europe, and mass protests everywhere—movies helped pop the thermometer and push Western culture to the edge.

Mar 4, 2024 | filmcomment.com | Michael Sragow

This article appeared in the March 1, 2024 edition of The Film Comment Letter, our free weekly newsletter featuring original film criticism and writing. Sign up for the Letter here. Dune: Part Two (Denis Villeneuve, 2024)Ambitious, talented, über-earnest Denis Villeneuve must be in thrall to the super-drug in Dune.

Oct 27, 2023 | airmail.news | Michael Sragow

A Southwest town crackles with toxic cowboy culture. A racial minority comes into money after centuries of oppression. Envious and rapacious whites commit vile racist acts. A slew of unsolved murders leads to stalled investigations. Local officials pledge, and fail, to re-establish law and order. The F.B.I. sweeps into action and uncovers an extensive network of corrupt movers and shakers.