The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the audacity of the earliest filmmakers

Somehow, a silent film managed to include a false framing device that serves to mislead the viewer and set up a twist ending straight out of a modern movie, a love triangle, a flashback within a flashback, multiple murders, a murder investigation with a falsely accused suspect, an abduction, and more. Over a century after… Continue reading The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and the audacity of the earliest filmmakers

David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and the birth of two genres, at least

In an era where TV rarely ventured beyond the dreaded “To be be continued…” ending, Mr. Lynch and Mr. Frost placed a bet that people wanted more, that the mystery was important for the sake of the mystery, that not everything needed to be explained, and that sometimes things are better without an ending.  In… Continue reading David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and the birth of two genres, at least

Greta Van Fleet, Led Zeppelin, Woodstock, and a fair evaluation of modern music

The intersection between art and technology isn’t confined to the music industry, but strangely, the idea that modern artists are merely inferior copies of past greats isn’t generally applied outside of it.  Bob Dylan is sometimes credited with taking the electric guitar mainstream when he “plugged in” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.  By… Continue reading Greta Van Fleet, Led Zeppelin, Woodstock, and a fair evaluation of modern music

“Barbenheimer,” Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and the dearth of original ideas

I cannot be the only one increasingly tired with critics hailing recycled ideas packaged in slick ways as modern masterpieces, nor do I think anyone should be impressed that a movie made by a small army at a cost of at least a hundred million dollars looks good.  Unless you are a recent arrival from… Continue reading “Barbenheimer,” Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, and the dearth of original ideas