BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC I dropped into TLA Video’s South Street store on Friday and found the staff frantically scurrying to serve the Philadelphia Film Festival’s advance ticket buyers, so it appears the opening weekend got things off to a smashing start. I didn’t make it out from under my pile of Festival home-screeners until late Sunday night, but was happily surprised to see the screening of 12:08 East Of Bucharest a good three-quarters full; not bad for a Romanian comedy. The film, which examines the different memories of a town’s citizens over who showed bravery as Communism fell, […]
REVIEW: ‘I’d say this is a movie from a fellow insecure about his modest achievements, who no longer impresses women with his knowledge of Sam Fuller films and now fantasizes about killing them along the side of the highway.’
GRINDHOUSE (2007, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, 191 min., U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC What has happened to Quentin Tarantino? There was a time when the Animals were considered as good as the Stones, a time when Stallone was touted as the next Brando and a time when Tarantino was thought of as one of the next important American filmmakers. Grindhouse, a double feature pairing “Death Planet,” from Sin City‘s Robert Rodriguez, with “Death Proof,” a new feature from the only video store clerk to win Golden Palm at Cannes. With it, Tarantino extends his vacation from […]
FILM FEST WEEKEND PREVIEW: ARTFAG KUNG-FU; UNSPEAKABLE SISTER ACTS; LARS VON TRIER
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC It’s the opening weekend of the 16th annual Philadelphia Film Festival and we’re sitting on the ass end of winter, so no one has to feel bad about being inside, in the dark, on a perfectly beautiful day. Surely you have many more sunny days in Rittenhouse Square in your future, but when will you get another chance to watch silent Our Gang shorts with Leonard Maltin? While Maltin’s taste in contemporary film can be a bit prim, his love of early Hollywood animation and the world of comic shorts better reveal his importance as […]
HOLLA: At The Film Fest Opening Night Partay
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE In nonchalantly telling my spouse that the reason I showered yesterday for the first time in two days was to attend the opening gala for this year’s Philly Film Fest, her question of “where” produced another, even more obvious question: Why was the Film Society holding this year’s fest at a strip club. In and of itself, an honest query, but a quick review of the Penthouse Lounge & Grille‘s website reveals a stated attempt to provide Philadelphia with “an upscale concept restaurant”, which based on last night’s shindig means a tray of coconut shrimp is […]
All Of This Happened While You Were Sleeping
Sharon Pinkerson & Paul Rudd, Film Fest Opening Night Party, Penthouse Club [Photo & FLICKR by JONATHAN VALANIA] Brian Fantana: [about Veronica] I’ll give this little cookie an hour before we’re doing the no-pants dance. Time to musk up. [opens cologne cabinet] Ron Burgundy: Wow. Never ceases to amaze me. What cologne you gonna go with? London Gentleman, or wait. No, no, no. Hold on. Blackbeard’s Delight. Brian Fantana: No, she gets a special cologne… It’s called Sex Panther by Odeon. It’s illegal in nine countries… Yep, it’s made with bits of real panther, so you know it’s good. Ron […]
FILM FEST PREVIEW: Calling All Cinephiles!
BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC For the next two weeks, Philadelphia film-goers can pretend we live in Manhattan, as our viewing choices multiply exponentially as the Philadelphia Film Festival unreels its 16th season. Since no one really gets to see all of the festival’s nearly 300 films, the best a film fan can do is throw arms around this elephant (said to now be the largest festival on the East Coast) and decide how the festival feels. But don’t grope the sensitive areas, an elephant is big and can hurt you — and they never forget. I’ve seen about 30 […]
COMING ATTRACTION: Film Festival Picks And Pans
Would you accept a ride from this guy? Probably not. Don’t be afraid. This is Dan Buskirk, our film critic. He’s harmless. This picture was taken a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away called San Francisco. Fact is, Dan doesn’t really look like this anymore and truth be told he gave us this photo with strict instructions that it only be used for his obituary — but frankly, we got tired of waiting for him to die. Anyway, Dan has barricaded himself in a secure undisclosed location where he is combing his beautiful hair and watching upwards […]
TONY CONRAD: Ten Years Alive On An Infinite Plain
WIKIPEDIA: Tony Conrad (born Anthony S. Conrad in 1940 in Concord, New Hampshire) is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. His father was Arthur Conrad, who worked with Everett Warner during World War II in designing dazzle camouflage for the US Navy. Conrad’s most famous film, The Flicker (1966), is considered a key early work of the structural film movement. The film consists of only completely black and completely white images, which, as the title suggests, produces a flicker when projected. When the film was first screened several viewers in the audience became […]
REVIEW: THE DEAD GIRL
(2007, directed by Karen Moncrieff, 85 min., U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC This past week I happened to see Rosanna Arquette’s 2002 film Searching For Debra Winger, a star-filled documentary in which a wide array of film actresses talk about the joys and heartaches of being a woman in the business. Marcia Gay Harden is among the actresses rightfully bemoaning the dearth of juicy roles for women, and a film like Karen Moncrieff‘s The Dead Girl, an anthology film with roles for eight actresses (includingt Harden), is just the sort of worthy project these women were imagining.Following five troubled […]
PREVUE: One Man’s Quest To Visit EVERY Starbucks On Earth
Starbucking, SEE ALSO Myth Of Sisyphus [Hat tip to FreeIndie]
DVD REVIEW: IDIOCRACY
(2006, directed by Mike Judge, 84 min., U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Can Big Business take a joke? Maybe not, as Mike Judge appears to have found out with his latest film Idiocracy, which quietly slipped out on DVD a few weeks ago. Although wildly uneven, Idiocracy is one of the most eccentric Hollywood comedies ever produced, and further solidifies the creator of “Beavis and Butthead” and “King of the Hill” as one of the truly subversive voices in mass entertainment. So why did 20th Century Fox, which surely would like to keep a talent as successful as Judge […]