CINEMA: Uneasy Rider

ROAD GAMES (1981, directed by Richard Franklin, 101 minutes, Australia) BY DAN BUSIKIRK FILM CRITIC A great psychological thriller, intelligent, tense and scary, is a real rarity; I’d hate to let one come to town unnoticed, even if it is 29-years-old. Director Richard Franklin’s Road Games is one of the most entertaining examples of a long string of homages to the acknowledged master of the genre, Alfred Hitchcock, showing just enough originality to escape that sort of airless mimicry foisted upon us by so many others who approached the throne.  Exhumed Films is hosting a rare screening of this cult […]

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CINEMA: Bring Out Your Dead

SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD (2009, directed by George A Romero, 90 minutes, Canada ) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It starts to become difficult to find employment when you’re a film director in your seventies and George Romero, the zombie Godfather of the Living Dead series knows it. He spent the lion’s share of the nineties spinning his wheels in Hollywood, going seven years without getting a film made so he’s making up for lost time, with this his third Dead film in five years. Although he made a string of fascinating non-zombie films over his career it seems that […]

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CINEMA: Land Of The Lost

VALLEY OF GWANGI (1968, directed by Jim O’Connelly, 96 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Secret Cinema will be offering a free screening of their print of the 1969 Technicolor fantasy film Valley of Gwangi tonight at 7:00pm at the American Philosophical Society. The film was directed by Jim O’Connolly but is defined by its gorgeous special effects by legendary animator Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen found his calling at the age of thirteen when he saw the original 1933 King Kong at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, where he was mesmerized the the model animation work of Willis O’Brien.  He contacted O’Brien […]

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CINEMA: Weasels Ripped My Flesh

CASINO JACK & THE UNITED STATES OF MONEY (2010, directed by Alex Gibney, 118 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC One thing that is agreed upon across the political spectrum — from the Tea Partiers to the Progressive Left — is that our government is rife with corruption and that it favors corporations over the individual.  If you want to nurture that cynicism with some cold hard facts, there are few more concise blueprints detailing the way money corrodes democracy than the latest film from Academy Award-winning documentarian Alex (Taxi To The Dark Side) Gibney, Casino Jack & The […]

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CINEMA: Give ‘Till It Hurts

PLEASE GIVE (2010, directed by Nicole Holofcener, 90 minutes, U.S.) THE GOOD HEART (2009, directed by Dagur Kári, 95 minutes, U.S./Iceland)  BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC The production company behind the new film from writer/director Nicole Holofcener is named “Feelin’ Guilty,” a less-enticing but more direct title for her latest look at neurotic New Yorkers.  Of course the only guilt most American movies are comfortable with is the type that calls for punishment meted out by a cop or a super hero. The guilt Please Give traffics in is the type that privileged New Yorkers might feel quietly within themselves; […]

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CINEMA: Heavy Meddle

IRON MAN 2 (2010, directed by Jon Favreau, 124 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Much of the thrill that greeted the arrival of Jon Favreau’s Iron Man two years ago stemmed from the surprise that it wasn’t another Marvel disaster like Ghost Rider or Daredevil, two wannabe blockbusters that seemed to signal a creeping exhaustion in the unstoppable super hero genre.  There’s nothing in Iron Man 2 to replace the surprise of Robert Downey’s smarmy charm finding a perfect fit in that gleaming red and gold suit, but if this sequel is distressingly short on imagination it still […]

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NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t

FRESH AIR Philadelphia Daily News reporters Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for the 10-month series “Tainted Justice,” an expose of alleged corruption among members of an elite narcotics squad on the Philadelphia police force. During their reporting, Laker and Ruderman uncovered allegations against officers that included committing sexual assaults, disabling surveillance cameras during drug raids to hide their misdeeds, and filing fraudulent warrants. During several raids, the police allegedly stole thousands of dollars in merchandise and money from small retailers. As a result of Laker and Ruderman’s investigation, hundreds of drug cases […]

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CINEMA: Enter Sandman

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (2010, directed by Sam Bayer, 95 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC What could it be but nostalgia that took me to the Riverview theater last night for a 12:01 am screening, losing valuable sleep in order to catch the first showing of Nightmare on Elm Street, Michael Bay’s rebooting (oh, I’m starting getting sick of that word) of the long-running horror film series? Seeing the original way back in 1984 was one of my giddiest teen-age movie memories, discovering the character of child killer Fred Krueger with other kids who like me worked […]

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