The Problem with 'Unplanned'
(04/09/19 6:31pm)
"Formerly a Planned Parenthood director, I now work to save lives."
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The Legacy of Agnès Varda
(04/09/19 6:31pm)
On March 29, 2019, the world of cinema lost one of its greats. Agnès Varda, known as the grande dame of the French New Wave, passed away in Paris at 90 years old. Her long career began in the 1950s and amounted to a rich filmography of both narrative and documentary films. At age 89, Varda was nominated for an Academy award for Faces Places, a feature documentary she created alongside the photographer JR exploring the villages and characters of the French countryside. Varda’s filmmaking, like many of those working within the French New Wave cinematic movement, sought to achieve a documentary realism that melded fiction and nonfiction. Remarkably, Varda’s distinctive, experimental style emerged before many of the most renowned figures of the French New Wave.
Imitating Evil: Why Michael Shannon is so Great At Playing Villains
(04/15/19 11:15pm)
Stone–faced killer, religious workaholic, and a man of great stature: Michael Shannon is drama’s most understated villain. He’s known for his roles as Strickland in The Shape of Water, General Zod in Man of Steel, and Nelson Van Alden in Boardwalk Empire—three antagonists, drastically different in character and story, but all played with the same nuanced intensity.
The Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival Is the Future of Environmental Education
(04/09/19 6:30pm)
When Debra Goldstein, an environmental attorney, returned to Philadelphia from the Washington DC Environmental Film Festival, she knew she had to take action. “I thought, ‘someone needs to do something like this in Philly,’” she explains. “I realized that I needed to do that to make it happen.” Goldstein—who is now the passionate co-founder and executive director of the Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival—did just that.
Existential Crisis Movie Roundup
(04/10/19 5:44am)
Have you found yourself pondering the meaning of life more than usual? Have you started to accept that certain things—like life—are fundamentally unknowable? Have you Googled anything along the lines of "What's the point?" in the last five days? Congratulations—it seems that you may be having an existential crisis.
Five Fan Theories for 'Game of Thrones' Season Eight
(04/05/19 12:50am)
Fans have been waiting two years for the final season of Game of Thrones, and what better to do with all that time than speculate? Here are the top five fan theories for season eight, ranked from likely to completely out–there. Warning: spoilers ahead for all previous seasons.
'Us' Review: Jordan Peele Forces Audiences to Look in the Mirror
(04/03/19 9:39pm)
It’s been said that if you were to meet an exact copy of yourself, you wouldn’t recognize the copy as being you. That’s partly because we can only see our own image in reverse. Whether it be in mirrors or in pre–flipped selfie cameras, the us we recognize isn’t us at all. Instead, the version of ourselves with which we are most familiar is our opposite, our exact converse staring back at us. And this version is the only self that we know.
Revisiting Harmony Korine’s 'Spring Breakers'
(04/05/19 2:00pm)
Whether you love it or hate it, Spring Breakers has a kind of mythic presence in popular culture for the last decade. Its extreme raunchiness, high–profile cast, and distinctive style are all grounds to remember this gloriously distasteful piece of cinema. It's also a tremendously polarizing film, hailed as both an explosive commentary on morally bankrupt youth culture and a gross trainwreck with poorly written characters and empty–headed superficiality. While unnerving, Spring Breakers is, in fact, a good movie. It makes the conscious decision to subvert the ordinary markers of good storytelling in exchange for a dreamlike editing style full of hypnotic, auditory, and visual resonances. There may be a bounty of things to hate about Spring Breakers but none of them can fully undermine Harmony Korine’s ability to develop such a dark and twisted spring break fantasy.
'10 Things I Hate About You' Turned 20 This Year, But It Still Resonates
(04/07/19 10:04pm)
“I love you, baby, and if it’s quite alright, I need you baby,” Heath Ledger mouths to an audience of gym class students, marching band members, and—behind the screen of a 2012 Dell laptop—my best friend and me. It is one in the morning, and we are trying not to whisper too loudly in our sleepy hometown. This was my first introduction to 10 Things I Hate About You: the spring break of seventh grade, when I couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to hold hands, let alone touch tongues.
Growing Up Through Film
(04/01/19 11:46pm)
Bildungsroman: a novel that focuses on a protagonist’s growth from youth to adulthood. Translated to film, the core of the bildungsroman is a coming–of–age story chronicling the life–long trials we face in identifying who we are.
Triple Frontier: Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, and Lots of Money
(04/15/19 11:10pm)
On the surface, Triple Frontier appears to be the sloppy result of Netflix taking a Buzzfeed quiz along the lines of “We’ll Tell You Which Exotic Location To Film Your Movie In Based On Your Choice in Men,” choosing Oscar Isaac, Ben Affleck, Garrett Hedlund, Charlie Hunnam, and Pedro Pascal, and ending up with Colombia. The beginning of the movie, released by the streaming service on March 13, is quite rocky; the characters' background stories are hastily slapped together and the script itself is a bit dry. However, approximately twenty–five minutes in, the plot begins to quickly unravel and the audience is able to see the movie for what it truly is: the adrenaline–inducing love child of Narcos, Ocean’s 11, and Survivor.
Everything You Need to Know about Netflix Changes this April
(04/03/19 5:24pm)
This April, like every month, an interesting variety of productions will be added to our Netflix options, while other options will be leaving us. To keep you up to date on what’s coming and going, the following is a brief compilation of trends and titles to watch out for.
Don’t Miss Classic Movie Essentials at the Ritz Five this April
(04/02/19 11:46pm)
With the days growing longer and spring in the air, there is no better time to start enjoying Philadelphia outside our academic hamlet here in University City than now. If you’re heading out to Old City for a little distance, any Penn film buff would tell you to drop in for a couple of hours at the Ritz Five, grab some tea and cookies, and enjoy a great movie. However, if nothing among the selection of independent films that are typically playing catches your eye, the Ritz has classic film showings every Tuesday at 7 p.m. When you’re in the mood for a little weekday getaway as the semester winds down, you can catch these showings throughout the month of April.
Double Threat: Spring Fling Headliner Miguel Acts, Too
(04/01/19 6:16am)
On Monday, March 18, the Social Planning and Events Committee (SPEC) announced that R&B singer Miguel will headline the 2019 Spring Fling Concert on Saturday, April 13. The Afro–Mexican artist is well known for his Grammy Award–winning song "Adorn" and self–identifies as part of a new wave of R&B, falling in line with artists like Frank Ocean, the Weeknd and Elle Varner.
Why Ryan Gosling is My Favorite Actor
(04/10/19 11:12pm)
Watching First Man cemented my image of Ryan Gosling as perhaps the most versatile actor in his industry today. It made me realize that there is nothing he cannot do. Gosling morphs into roles as easily as he can look the part.
Anticipating Season 2 of ‘On My Block’
(03/29/19 1:23am)
For college students, high school is mostly out of sight and out of mind. Present day situations call for present day attention, and that usually means putting aside irrelevant memories and experiences from years past. But they’re still there—and On My Block captures both the good and the bad that comes from looking back on what we all experienced.
Hulu's 'The Act': A Horrifying Retelling of True Events
(04/03/19 10:49pm)
As we continue to see the mass production and commercial success of true crime television, it's becoming safe to say that true crime has dethroned the romantic comedy genre as audiences' favorite form of guilty pleasure television. Although it's not entirely clear why so many of us enjoy delving deep into the horrifying worlds of real–life killers, convicts, and victims, entertainment companies like FOX, HBO, and Netflix have certainly taken notice. They continue to satisfy our thirsts for blood, gore, and drama in the form of quick, binge–worthy miniseries like Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and Making a Murderer. The latest addition to the true crime TV dynasty, Hulu's The Act tells the absurd life story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and the murder of her mother, Clauddine 'Dee Dee' Blanchard. The unique circumstances surrounding the crimes of the Blanchard household make The Act an equally horrifying and heartbreaking experience that is sure to make your stomach turn.
'The Hummingbird Project' is a Good Movie—If You Make it to the End
(03/25/19 5:40am)
How exactly do you turn a convoluted, high–frequency trading fiber–optic cable development scheme into a compelling, fast–paced thriller? If The Hummingbird Project is any indication, chances are you can’t. Not to say that the jargon–laden drama with buddy–movie tendencies is an all–out failure, for it hits a handful of high notes and occasionally edges on effective dark humor. However, while some risks do pay off in the end, and I mean the very end, The Hummingbird Project has a difficult time getting off the ground as the true thriller it seems to want to be.
'Five Feet Apart': Yet Another Story of the Bland and Lovesick
(03/23/19 6:06pm)
Even before its release on March 15, Five Feet Apart was embroiled in controversy. From a misguided influencer campaign to worries about the romanticization of in–patient life, the film has had a rough go of it. These criticisms were amplified by the sheer star power this film held for its teen audience: Haley Lu Richardson of The Edge of Seventeen starred opposite of Cole Sprouse of Riverdale, both under the direction of Justin Baldoni of Jane the Virgin. The movie seems tailor–made for lovestruck young girls and boys, the kind who swoon over teeny–bopper Instagram stars and wield social media as their greatest weapon.
'Miracle Workers' Review: The Weirdest Show on Television
(03/24/19 10:25pm)
Cable television has always been seen as somehow less prestigious than movies: a step down, even. This is due, at least in part, to the astronomical pay–grade difference between the two mediums. Apart from a handful of powerhouse series like the Big Bang Theory or Modern Family, television provides actors with far less "big bang" for their buck than movies typically do. Resultantly, we don't see movie stars do television (save for the rare miniseries) unless it’s a desperate attempt to revamp their careers.
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