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

Springsteen’s “Rockaway the Days” is a lost classic, culled from a few other songs, but with a unique structure that stands on its own

The seemingly omniscient narrator of the main verses is interrupted by a first-person speaker who sings something almost entirely different, setting up both a duality and a contrast that persists throughout the song until the very end, where it is either resolved with Billy as the speaker or someone else.  Bruce Springsteen recorded the incredibly… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Rockaway the Days” is a lost classic, culled from a few other songs, but with a unique structure that stands on its own