The 2004 film Downfall, set in Hitler’s bunker, at times makes Hitler seem if not sympathetic, at least comprehensible in…
Phil Freeman
Static, non-performing art forms translate poorly to film, generally speaking. Movies about painters tend to suck, with Pollock being one…
Fascism is seductive. There’s a part of the human soul that longs to see a strongman take control, get everything…
First, there’s the box – the sheer physicality of the thing. It’s slightly smaller than a vinyl album, 9 1/2…
It has become a cliche to say that much science fiction is not about the future, but about a disguised…
On one episode of Comedy Central’s Insomniac, the show’s drunken host, Dave Attell, stumbles into a state fair somewhere in…
Robert Bresson makes his directorial strategies blatant from the opening frames of this quiet, bleak, masterful movie. Two armored knights,…
Film Noir: An Encyclopedia Reference to the American Style "Are you wavin’ the flag at me?" The question passes Richard…
The runaway success of the CBS crime drama C.S.I. may finally win one of the1980s’ best thrillers the audience and…
Lou Reed’s career is a mystery on at least two levels. The first, of course, is the series of artistic…
Soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy played with pianist/composer Thelonious Monk for four months in 1960. He’s made explorations of Monk’s music…
Are the media biased? Well, it depends on how you look at it. Fox News Channel, for example, is a…
Out-of-print records, suddenly reissued, can serve as a kind of secret history. The paradigmatic example is the Nuggets garage-rock compilation,…
Jazz is all about making personal statements. The introspection which earns surprised plaudits in pop is routine in jazz. A…