AltWeeklies Wire
'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus': City Paper Grade B+new
The narrative is a showy gloss on the Faust legend with Tom Waits as a carny-huckster Beelzebub and Christopher Plummer as a monk-turned-immortal showman, and its reliance on oft-told tales and fairy tale archetypes is welcome given how the narrative seems to unravel rather than unfold.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Consciously Collective: How Four Filmmakers Redefine Our Visual Historynew
Defining the archive as "a repository for any personal memories, shared histories, objects and documents through which we revisit the history of our time," Robert Cargni has assembled four programs by filmmakers who rework the archives of our visual culture.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
12-15-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Bobcat Goldthwait Talks About the Rebirth of His Careernew
Make no mistake -- Goldthwait is fully aware of his place in the culture. "If somebody told me Michael Winslow was making movies," he says of his Police Academy co-star, "I'd be kinda skeptical. I'd have a very arched eyebrow."
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
09-08-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Natural Performances Save Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida and Sam Mendes from Themselvesnew
Its opening scene, a deadpan discussion of "vaginal flavors" during oral sex, threatens 90 minutes of the sort of self-satisfied wise-assery that too often intrudes on Dave Eggers' fiction. But Away We Go soon settles into a less strident pace, driven less by its authors' whims than by the casual airs of its leads.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
06-16-2009 |
Reviews
Bruce Campbell Talks About 'My Name is Bruce'new
Someone unfamiliar with Campbell's self-deprecating humor and mock-abusive relationship with his often obsessive fans may wonder why any actor would choose to depict himself as a washed-up, egotistical B-movie hack.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
11-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Simon Says: An Interview with Simon Peggnew
Toby Young as described by Toby Young in his memoir How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is an insufferable prick. But that wasn't the Toby Young that Simon Pegg met when he sat down with the writer he was set to portray on screen.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
10-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Life Goes On 'I Served the King of England'new
In many ways, Menzel's latest serves as a bookend to that early masterpiece, Closely Watched Trains, beginning with another wide-eyed youth on another train platform, his personal desires consuming his entire attention as the Nazis march in just offscreen.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
09-09-2008 |
Reviews
Darby Crash Gets a Biopic as Ragged as He Wasnew
What We Do is Secret is told in a combination of narrative and faux-doc pieces, which becomes something of a patchwork, with the talking-head segments a jarring shift from the gritty punk milieu.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
09-02-2008 |
Reviews
Steve Coogan Suffers the Slings and Arrows of Being a Dopey Shakespeare Hopefulnew
Coogan spends the film in a tug-of-war with the script; he's forced into some blatantly obvious humor, from the broad commercial parodies to the endless mangling of his character's consonant-heavy name. But he also maximizes the thinly veiled rage burbling under Marschz's veneer of undying optimism.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
08-26-2008 |
Reviews
'Bottle Shock's Randall Miller and Jody Savin Pour It Onnew
The wine story at the core of Bottle Shock details the moment at which the wine business changed, turning the Napa Valley from a farm town to a tourist mecca.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
07-31-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Inaugural Philadelphia Independent Film Festival Programs Honest-to-goodness Indie Filmsnew
Coming as it does in between April's behemoth Philadelphia Film Festival and July's ever-expanding Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, the Independent Film Fest has to be looked at as David next to a pair of well-established Goliaths.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
07-01-2008 |
Movies
Preachy Politics Spoil Thomas McCarthy's Otherwise-quiet Character Studynew
For his sophomore effort McCarthy has burdened his slight character drama with a capital-M Message, which weighs down even the most intimately observed character moments.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
04-29-2008 |
Reviews
Morgan Spurlock Talks About His Hunt for the World's Most Wanted Mannew
"I expected to go find him," Spurlock insists, fending off any suggestion that his hunt for Osama bin Laden was a mere pretense. "I had a 50/50 shot, right?"
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
04-21-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'If People Don't Like It Now, They Will'new
Kasper Collin wants to guide you through the life of free-jazz innovator Albert Ayler.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
03-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Striking Oilnew
There Will Be Blood explodes with greed and corruption.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
01-08-2008 |
Reviews
