Tag Archives: Philip Glass

Errol Morris’ Documentary About Stephen Hawking Hitting the Criterion Collection

Errol Morris remains one of cinema’s best documentary filmmakers. However, despite his amazing back catalogue of true-life films, he remains absent from the Criterion Collection. That looks like it is about to change. IFC President Jonathan Sehring said in an interview that Criterion would plan on releasing a number of Morris’ films. Nothing has been […]

The Top Ten Songs of Warren Zevon

When music lovers compile their lists of the greatest singer-songwriters of the latter 20th century, one name that should lead the list is all-too-often ignored. Warren Zevon never achieved the superstardom of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Billy Joel, Don Henley, Bob Dylan or many other luminaries. That is a tragedy partly brought on by Zevon’s […]

Jewish Composers in the Opera House

Nearly anyone can whistle the “Galop Infernale” from the operetta Orpheus in the Underworld if I called it by its less formal–and more well-known–name the “Can Can.” But could you name which religion its composer, Jacques Offenbach, followed? Yes, we have a member of the tribe to thank for an addictive classical melody and popular […]

Films About Mt. Everest

Documentary films about Mt. Everest often sound like a catalog of mountaineering horror movies. Everest: The Death Zone, Storm Over Everest, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest, Into the Thin Air of Everest: Mountain of Dreams, Mountain of Doom. As filmmakers like David Breashears know, documenting Mt. Everest is almost always shadowed by death. Whether […]

Understanding the Genres of Music

What exactly is a genre of music? It is a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, content, or technique. You may have heard of the basic genres that exist, like rock, blues, country, jazz, hip-hop, christian, and pop. There are many more that you may not have heard about and that […]