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Philly Dining: CITY TAVERN
For any regular readers who read my New Year’s Eve post I exclaimed about finding $140 in the movie theater on NYE, which I felt was a good omen for me and Tinsel & Tine for 2012. And I felt the best thing to do with the money was spend it on dining out, thus completing the circle of film and food. My Aunt watches Chef Walter Staib’s show on PBS “a Taste of History” , where each week Chef Staib prepares cuisine from the 18th Century. So with the windfall, I decided to treat her to the historic dining experience of his establishment City Tavern Restaurant (138 South 2nd Street…
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Highlighting: Filmmaker Nikias Chryssos (Tower Block and Der Bunker)
Remember the interview I did for QFest back in July with filmmaker Scud? (click for post) Well, that got the attention of a Munich-based film production company (Deutsche Exotik Filmproduktion) which focuses on independent and art-house films – They asked if I would be interested in interviewing director Nikias Chryssos whose first film Tower Block about a young boy who lives with his sadistic,17 year-old, tormenting brother in the slums of Germany, did well on the festival circuit. Chryssos latest project is called Der Bunker, it deals with education, excessive demands & mental overload. Nikias approaches these topics in his very own style – playful, artistic and at times bizarre…
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5 Mini Movie Reviews – The Artist, Girl w/the Dragon Tattoo, Mission Impossible, We Bought a Zoo, New Year’s Eve
I didn’t do a lot of Christmas shopping this season, didn’t try any new restaurants and my lips were left cold and wanting on New Year’s Eve. But on a bright note, I did manage to fit in 5 films between Christmas and New Years. The Artist (Writer/Director Michel Hazanavicius) – Silent film star George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is riding high, full of fame, ego and verve, one moment at the height of stardom, the next crashing down to earth, brought low by the advent of sound – “The Talkies”. This same new movie craze propels his ingenue, protege Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) into celebrity starlet status. Silently, sans color…
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Commentary – YOUNG ADULT
Young Adult screening was courtesy of The Philadelphia Film Society’s Sneak Preview Series. I’m certain Patton Oswalt (Spence from King of Queens) never in his wildest dreams thought he’d ever in this lifetime get a chance to have a love scene with Charlize Theron. His romance with Rachel Dratch on the TV series was most likely more romantic action then he’d ever thought to see as a character actor. Surprisingly, it’s the chemistry between these two actors which allows Young Adult to find its footing and like-ability. The movie is written by Juno screenwriter, Diablo Cody, who seems to have a knack for making geeks look desirable. We meet Mavis…
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Support AFFRM – Kinyarwanda at select theaters this weekend
AFFRM is the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement – empowering black independent filmmakers with collaborative, simultaneous theatrical distribution in multiple markets. Last March AFFRM got behind Ava DuVernay’s I Will Follow (click for T & T commentary). Giving it a chance to reach a wider audience. This weekend AFFRM is launching Alrick Brown’s KINYARWANDA. Which I will screen on Sunday. The below video from Reelblack features Brown talking about the film, AFFRM and the state of African American Cinema in general. For all its greatness, “Hotel Rwanda” nevertheless used the conventional Hollywood technique of a movie star as a protagonist to serve as the audience’s entry point. None of the…
