Thanks to Len Fearnside who made me aware of Alloy Orchestra, I was able to see them accompany Metropolis with their original score.

The opening credits and opening scene are INCREDIBLE. I felt like I could have cried it was so moving, just a great experience. It settles down after that into a more traditional score, but it's still quite good and adds to the experience(from what I can assume, it was my first time seeing the film).

It's an ambitious film, Fritz Lang was really a master. What an accomplishment for 1927, wow. For historical purposes, this is a 6-star movie. But it is 2012, and this is a two and a half hour silent movie, so it's not…

Decemberists #43

153 minute version.

A good futuristic story of social injustice told via what feels like a series of plays filmed on great sets, which are sewn together with some funky sci-fi models. The themes of mans greed, corruption, inhumanity towards humanity and collective foolishness are covered with the aid of some bad make up and really quite horrible, over theatrical acting. I know it's 1927 and this may have been à la mode but I'm not interested in non-comedy melodrama from any era and as Oscar Wilde said “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.”

Despite the enjoyable story, quality sets and social commentary the whole thing does…

I watched this movie accompanied by a live orchestra and it was so incredible. I was curious how the soundtrack sounded on the Netflix version and there was no comparison. The orchestra did an amazing job bringing the movie to an absolutely brilliant level. The opening sequence where the workers were walking into the elevators was haunting. It reminded me of a concentration camp and then I later found out this was Hitler’s favorite movie.

I cannot believe what director Fritz Lang was able to accomplish in 1927. However, the visual accomplishment came at a price; adjusting to inflation, the movie took the equivalent of $200 million to make (but I guess that’s what made it so enjoyable to watch).…

Underscoring the need for entertainment despite any achievement made remarkable for its era, I find some objection to the heaps of praise this film receives for being the "best science fiction movie of all time".

Basically an examination of the worker versus the privileged intelligentsia, there is no doubt that it was a stunning visual accomplishment that still impresses in this modern day. I was impressed with the depiction of the powerful seeking to incite the people to violence in order to have a free hand in violent reprisal, which is still a staple feature of those in power today, as I suspect always was and will be.

One has to be tolerant of the expressionistic silent film even as…