Culture Warrior

The answer to this question, taken literally, is “the love of cinema.” But, of course, nothing (at least, nothing in this column) is ever so…

There’s been a bit of consistent coverage the past week on this site regarding the death of French filmmaker Éric Rohmer, not because the writers…

The Golden Age of Television: The late 50s-early 60s, with groundbreaking live teleplays by Rod Serling (Patterns) and Paddy Chayefsky (Marty), as well as landmark…

Ten years ago Entertainment Weekly published a headlining article called, “1999: The Year that Changed Movies.” This article was published over a month before that…

The gesamtkunstwerk is an idea popularized (though not originated) by German composer Richard Wagner. The term roughly means “total artwork,” or an art form that…

There’s been a bunch of hubbub about 2009 turning out to be a disappointing year in cinema. And, when comparing films released this year to…

Warning: This article contains major spoilers on the film Precious. On a recent episode of Slate’s Culture Gabfest (direct link), the hosts of the podcast…

I don’t know about your family, but in mine Thanksgiving is viewed largely as a warm-up drill for the Christmas season, a Christmas prequel if…

Culture Warrior What is Hitchcockian Suspense? In a conversation with Dr. Cole Abaius while he was formulating his thoughts on spoiling and The Fourth Kind,…