-
20th Philadelphia Film Festival – Melancholia
If I owned an incredibly elegant, picturesque, stately castle with an 18 hole golf course and stable full of horses, I’d too would be sad and scared to see the end of the world, because you gotta figure life on the other side might not be as good. In writer/director Lars von Trier’s film, Melancholia is a planet that has been hiding behind the sun for eons and has suddenly made its appearance known as it starts traveling through the galaxy. During its rotation, it has come close, but not hit other planets in the solar system; therefore, the scientist on earth predict Melancholia passing by the earth will be…
-
20th Philadelphia Film Festival – SHAME
by Le Anne Lindsay, Editor Michael Fassbender has a Dirk Diggler size schlong! And an Adonis rear-end. Beyond that, I don’t remember anything about the film Shame. Just kidding. Well, about the film’s resonance, not about Fassbender. In actuality, the film stayed with me for quite awhile. Seeing two people in so much pain with no clue how to get relief, yet basically from the outside, look as if they are managing the day in and out of life. Director Steve McQueen (Hunger), (why doesn’t he go by S. McQueen or use his middle name, Rodney or Stephen?) has created an intense character study of a sex addict without really…
-
20th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival Coverage 2011 Part 1 of 3
LIKE CRAZY Everything appeared to go as planned last night at the opening of the 20th Anniversary Philadelphia Film Festival. The spacious Zellerbach (Annenberg) theater felt full and the mood was light as we were welcomed by PFS Executive Director Andrew Greenblatt, Artistic Director Michael Lerman and Mayor Michael Nutter. The film chosen to set off this milestone occasion, would seem an insignificant choice by the description – basically a romance involving two recent college grads, Anna an accessibly pretty, unaffected young woman (Felicity Jones) who is in the US on a student visa from the UK and must return upon graduation. Jacob (Anton Yelchin) is an adorable, curly-haired, furniture maker. The…
-
Commentary – TOAST
This same excitement and enthusiasm for all things culinary would follow Nigel Slater into adulthood and into British celebrity. The film Toast is the early biography of Slater's life growing up in Wolverhampton, England with a very sweet, but sickly mother, who relied heavily on serving toast for meals when her meager attempts at preparing dinner would turn out unappetizing and often inedible...
-
20th Philadelphia Film Festival – Day 1 – 4 Picks
I picked up my press pass for the 20th Anniversary Philadelphia Film Festival tonight! Just to get you in the festival mood, here’s the films I plan to see the first few days (Thursday, October 20th thru Sunday October 23rd). Of course, the festival runs till November 3rd, and I plan to be present throughout most of it; however, during the festival, I’ll be posting on facebook and twitter each day what film(s) I plan to see. In fact, if time runs short and things get hectic, my commentary on a few films may never make it to this blog or PFF blog, but may only be posted on facebook…
