'The Artist' Review

I have a screener for this black and white beauty sitting in front of my TV, and if there's anything I'm looking forward to post-holiday, it's popping it in to revisit the glee I felt at this year's New York Film Festival. "The Artist" is all kinds of lovely, and since no films that top it on my Best of 2011 list have a prayer, I'm all for it claiming the Best Picture Oscar.

Read my full review of "The Artist," now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE.

NYFF Coverage of 'Goodbye First Love'

My final NYFF review for Nathaniel Rogers's The Film Experience was of Mia Hansen Love's deeply felt, if flawed, "Goodbye First Love." I had a hard time settling on a star rating for this one. It inspires both admiration and ambivalence.

Read my review, online now. CLICK HERE!

NYFF Coverage of "The Kid with a Bike"

Continuing my guest coverage of The New York Film Festival for Nathaniel Rogers's The Film Experience, I offered a write-up on The Dardenne Brothers "The Kid with a Bike," a wonderful film that reaches toward the uppermost region of my 2011 list.

To check out my review of the film, CLICK HERE. And while you're there, you may want to give my latest Cinema de Gym column a read. It takes a look at the Spanish version of Tony Scott's "Man on Fire," which just hapens to be one of Taylor Lautner's five favorite movies. Aww, snap.

NYFF Coverage of 'A Dangerous Method'

My first New York Film Festival review is here! For The Film Experience, I chatted about David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method," that Mortenson-Knightley-Fassbender menage a trois that's been steadily building up buzz.

To read my take, CLICK HERE.

QFest Preview 2011

The 17th Philadelphia QFest (nee the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival) is now underway, its selection of work from 80-plus filmmakers and actors stretching through July 18. The lineup is, as always, a very eclectic mix.

My QFest Preview is now online at SouthPhillyReview.com. CLICK HERE to read it!


And for further reading, have a look at my QFest coverage from 2010 and 2008.

19th Philadelphia Film Festival preview

This year's Philadelphia Film Festival boats the finest lineup I've seen in close to six years of covering and/or being involved with film fests in Philly. The roster includes "Black Swan," 127 Hours," "Uncle Boonmee" and the lovely and heart-wrenching "Blue Valentine," which had the great pleasure of seeing on Monday (it's the love story of the year). Below is a snippet of the preview article before the jump.

FROM BUCKS LOCAL NEWS: I've never been so excited over a local film festival as I was at the press party for the 19th Philadelphia Film Festival, where reps from hosting organization The Philadelphia Film Society announced a stunning roster of hotly anticipated movies. Based on the hype out of previous 2010 fests and what I've seen myself, I've culled a list of 10 can't-miss picks from the crop of over 100 domestic, foreign and documentary features. You'll see language like “best” and “finest” used generously in the passages ahead, and it's no hyperbole, folks. It speaks to the quality of the programming of this year's event, unfolding from Oct. 14 through 24 at six venues throughout the city.

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