Charlie Sheen’s The Wraith and the simple genius of 1980s filmmaking

There’s a lesson here for modern filmmakers, who seem positively obsessed with developing backstories, explanatory and obligatory rules, and more in the service of some kind of world building, as though every film must exist in some kind of broader universe with a meaningful beginning, middle, and end.  The Wraith, starring Charlie Sheen and Sherilynn… Continue reading Charlie Sheen’s The Wraith and the simple genius of 1980s filmmaking

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

When you consider that the 1948 cult-classic was one of the master director’s lesser known and less heralded works, his achievement in cinema – which I would suggest amounts to nothing less than the invention of modern cinema, from its plot and characters to how it is filmed and edited  – is all the more… Continue reading Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and the invention of the modern movie

The Killing and the early genius of Stanley Kubrick

Roger Ebert asked, “It’s tempting to search here for themes and a style he would return to in his later masterpieces, but...Seeing it without his credit, would you guess it was by Kubrick?”  On the surface, the answer is self-evidently no, but to a more critical eye, we can see the early signs of an… Continue reading The Killing and the early genius of Stanley Kubrick