Or maybe he’s the William Carlos Williams of SEPTA. Or the Carl Sandburg of SEPTA. Either way, his name is Mark Fuller and he gives mass transit rhyme and reason. From Scrapple TV, our partners in new media crime.
CINEMA: No, Not That Notebook
THE NOTEBOOK (1913, directed by János Szász, 109 minutes, Hungary) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC When I first saw the title The Notebook on the new release roster I thought, “Oh boy, a ten year anniversary re-release of the Ryan Gosling weeper?” Nope. This Hungarian import, the country’s submission for last year’s “Best Foreign Film” Oscar, couldn’t be further away from that romantic crowd-pleaser. Set in the Hungary at the end of WW II, the slow-building thriller is a pitch black tale of twin boys learning of life’s dark side as the madness of war sweeps through the countryside. […]
CINEMA: It’s Not Easy Being Green
THE GREEN PRINCE (2014, directed by Nadav Schirmin, 95 minutes, U.S./U.K.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC A savvy piece of white-knuckle documentary storytelling, The Green Prince tells the true story of Hamas informant Mosab Hassan Yousef and his Israeli spy handler Gonen Ben Yitzhak. Well, true story? Maybe some quotes around that phrase, after all we’re profiling a man who made his reputation lying to everyone in his surrounding community along with his partner, who made a living manipulating turncoats. While director Nadav Schirmin keeps this spy tale taut from beginning to end, the lack of verification of any of […]
CONTEST: Win Tix To See The Trip To Italy
Dunno about you but we here at Phawker could watch Steve Coogan and Rob Brydal act like petulant man-babies as they road trip across Europe doing their Michael Caine-offs until the cows come home. If that sounds like a good way to wind up your Labor Day weekend, have we got a deal for you. All you have to do is follow us on Twitter and then drop us a line at FEED@PHAWKER.COM saying you just did so. Or if you already follow us on Twitter, drop us a line saying as much. Make sure you put the magic words […]
CINEMA: This One Goes Out To…
THE ONE I LOVE (2014, directed by Charlie McDowell, 91 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The One I Love is a fresh little comic fantasy, a Twilight Zone/Curb Your Enthusiasm mix that reminds us that all is not dormant in the U.S. indie film scene. Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss and indie director Mark Duplass play a couple in a romantic rut. While on a rural retreat the couple find their relationship magically challenged by mysterious events they confront while trying to re-light their relationship. Like a lot of comic fantasies, The One I Love can’t quite resolve the […]
CINEMA: Frank Blank
FRANK (2014, directed by Lenny Abrahamson, 95 minutes, UK/Ireland) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC My whimsy alert was on hair trigger at the start of this indie rock flick about the adventures of a band led by the paper-mâché-head-wearing title character. Was this story of a rising and falling band really going to try to sell me on the child-like wonders of painted smiles and singing a simple tune? The opening of this music-driven little film hits exactly that mindlessly carefree note but it is a great pleasure when Frank dares to takes its oddball situation seriously and heads for […]
CINEMA: Mild At Heart
This is by far the weirdest — and, on the face of it, least interesting and most disappointing — thing David Lynch has EVER done. Cindy Lauper’s right: Money changes everything. Sigh. Screens @ Ritz 5 for one night only September 10th. VARIETY: The idea of David Lynch directing a concert movie of Duran Duran remains far more exciting than the result, live-streamed two years ago on YouTube and currently on the market for distribution as a feature. Though Lynch appears at the start of the pic to announce his “experiment,” the surrealist master’s one trick here is to […]
CINEMA: Time Is Illmatic
Nas will be kicking off a North American Fall Tour on October 2, 2014 in Rochester, NY (see below for full tour routing), in conjunction with a special screening of his documentary film, Nas: Time is Illmatic. His Tour includes a stop at Keswick Theatre on October 5 that will go on-sale this Friday, August 15 at 12PM. Each show on the tour will be a special event where the film will screen followed by Nas performing Illmatic start to finish. The film will open theatrically via Tribeca Film beginning in New York on October 1st, with a national expansion to follow. It […]
Win Tix To See Zach Braff’s Wish I Was Here
Chances are if you are reading this you have seen Garden State, Scrubs star Zach Braff’s 2004 updating of The Graduate for the indie-rock generation, starring Natalie Portman as The Biggest Shins Fan On Earth. Or at least you know about it. Wish I Was Here is Braff’s crowd-funded follow-up. IMDB summarizes the plot thusly: “Wish I Was Here is the story of Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his identity; a purpose for his life. He winds up trying to home school his two children when his father […]
CINEMA: In The Sky With Diamonds
LUCY (2014, directed by Luc Besson, 89 minutes, France/U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC After Snowpiercer, here comes another foreign filmmaker showing us how to do big action right. Lucy is the latest from producer/director Luc Besson and the sci-fi actioner is a welcome return to the sort of flashy fantasy cinema he created in films like La Femme Nikita and Leon: The Professional. At a fleet 89 minutes, Lucy discards franchise-building, city-leveling and unnecessary exposition, instead following the fetching figure of Lucy (movie star Scarlett Johansson) as her brainpower begins surging to unimagined heights . Who is Lucy? We […]
CINEMA: About A Boy
Artwork by TOMER HANUKA BOYHOOD (2014, directed by Richard Linklater, 166 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It would seem impossible not to be moved by Richard Linklater’s intimate epic Boyhood, where the filmmaker took an epic leap-of-faith by committing himself and his cast to a 12-year shooting schedule. Following an entire family but especially young Mason (newcomer Ellar Coltrane), we see history not just imagined but revealed before our eyes. It’s a triumph of ambition, giving us an unusually immersive experience into those tumultuous years in which we come of age. Yet while the film is a certified […]
CINEMA: Her Satanic Majesty’s Request
SKATETOWN U.S.A. (1979, directed by William A. Levey, 98 min., U.S.) SON OF DRACULA (1974, directed by Freddie Francis, 90 min., U.K.) BLOOD (1974, directed by Andy Milligan, 69 minutes, U.S.) MURDER ON THE EMERALD SEAS (1973, directed by Alan Ormsby, 85 min., U.S.) THE SATANIST (1968, directed by Zoltan G. Spencer, 64 min., U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The Philly-based cinema curators of Exhumed Films traffic in the weird, wild and often disrespected fringes of cinema history. What started 17 years ago as a forum to present 35mm prints of the modern classics of contemporary horror has, […]
CINEMA: North Korea Calls New Seth Rogan-James Franco Comedy ‘Terrorism’ And ‘An Act Of War’
THE GUARDIAN: North Korea has complained to the United Nations about The Interview, a forthcoming Hollywood comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, on the grounds that it promotes terrorism against the country. In the film, a TV host (Franco) and his producer (Rogen) manage to secure an interview with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea – only to find themselves hired by the CIA to assassinate him. Despite clearly being in the comic stoner-quest lineage of the pair’s films Pineapple Express and This Is The End, North Korea isn’t laughing. “To allow the production and distribution of […]