AltWeeklies Wire
Oh, Canadanew
The Toronto Film Festival forecasts a so-so film season.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-24-2012 |
Movies
Going for the Gold at the Toronto International Film Festivalnew
The Toronto International Film Festival is often a venue for anointing the preordained, the first stop on the studios' long march toward Oscar season. But it's the surprises that shine through.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-29-2009 |
Movies
The Epic, Overstuffed 'Inglourious Basterds' is WWII Through a Tarantino Lensnew
Tarantino is more interested in tailoring the WWII movie to fit his preoccupations than the other way around. He even manages to satisfy his foot fetish by having an errant high heel play a pivotal role in the climactic sequence.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
Francis Ford Coppola Talks About His Return to Smaller, More Personal Filmmakingnew
After a decade spent trying to mount a pair of costly passion projects, Coppola abruptly shifted gears and embarked on what he calls his "second career," which began with 2007's Youth Without Youth and continues with Tetro, the story of estranged brothers nursing the emotional wounds of their upbringing by a domineering orchestra conductor father.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
07-20-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Tetro, Francis Ford Coppola
'Bruno' Fails to Detonate With the Force of its Predecessornew
The movie's provocations connect only fitfully, and despite its comparatively strong narrative, it feels less of a piece than Borat, and more like an overlong episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's TV show.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
07-14-2009 |
Reviews
Kathryn Bigelow Talks About Taking Risks in 'The Hurt Locker'new
Bigelow says the main idea was to simulate the "surprise and chaos and randomness" of combat. "I've never been in combat," she says. "I've never been in a war. But I think that chaos is probably pretty much unimaginable unless you've been there."
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
07-14-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Pixar's 'Up' Starts out Strong but Falls Flatnew
Up's striking opening sequence is a tremendous passage, one that the rest of the movie, perhaps not surprisingly, fails to live up to.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
06-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Sunshine Cleaning' Is Too Neatnew
Mystifyingly buzzed-about at Sundance 2008, Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning is a serviceable but none-too-distinct take on the second-chance story. Also reviewed: The Edge of Love.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
03-24-2009 |
Reviews
Desperate Times: An Interview with 'Wendy and Lucy' Director Kelly Reichardtnew
The accident of timing has everything to do with how a movie is received, and there's no question Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy hits home more forcefully now than when it premiered last May. The spare, lyrical story seems tailor-made for hard times, when even the formerly comfortable are staring destitution in the face.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
01-27-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Daydream Believer: 'Waltz With Bashir'new
Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman reconstructs a tragedy using animations and his own experiences as a grunt soldier.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
01-27-2009 |
Reviews
'Benjamin Button' Looks Cool, but Is That Reason Enough to Care?new
Unfortunately, Benjamin's aging process isn't the only thing the movie gets backward. Despite all the care lavished on its execution, it never manages to be about anything more than its own gimmickry.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
12-30-2008 |
Reviews
Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman Gets His Chance in the Director's Chairnew
The movies made from Kaufman's scripts often suffer from a certain airlessness, plunging deeper and deeper into a world with no center. Synecdoche, which takes its name from a literary device in which a part is substituted for the whole, takes that centerlessness as its central theme.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
11-11-2008 |
Reviews
'The Lucky Ones' and 'Flow': Water Worldsnew
Another flick plays it safe with the Iraq war, while the emerging global water crisis offers real scares.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-29-2008 |
Reviews
Finding Joy in the Little Things at the Toronto Film Festnew
Speaking strictly in percentage terms, film festivals are defined more by the movies you don't see than the movies you do. That went double for the just-ended Toronto International Film Festival, where the initial buzz was mainly concerned with the lack of putative Oscar contenders.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-23-2008 |
Movies
The Coen Brothers Switch It Up for Their 'No Country' Follow-upnew
At first blush, Joel and Ethan Coen's high-grade farce Burn After Reading feels like an abrupt, if not unwelcome, about-face from the moral sobriety of No Country for Old Men.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-16-2008 |
Reviews
