34th Street Magazine is part of a student-run nonprofit.

Please support us by disabling your ad blocker on our site.

Film & TV

Paradise is not lost

Director Hany Abu-Assad has created a masterpiece in Paradise Now, the story of Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman), two Palestinian friends preparing for a suicide bombing in Tel-Aviv.

by YINKA NEIL

My kippah's cooler than yours

You may not know it, but you and the Hasids have a lot in common. At least that's part of the message of Israeli director Giddi Dar's latest film, Ushpizin. The film tells the story of Moshe Bellanga (played by Shuli Rand), an Israeli who has recently adopted the lifestyle of a sect of Hasidic Jews known as Breslevers. As the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot approaches, Moshe and his wife Malli are penniless and unable to prepare for the seven-day holiday.

by RUBEN BROSBE

This movie...how do you say...ah, yes...blows

Despite a dramatic opening, golden Z's and a suspenseful score, The Legend of Zorro never reaches an ultimate climax.

by CHELSEA ALBRIGHT

This is not a superhero Movie

The focus of Shopgirl is Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes), a quiet, insecure glove saleswoman at Saks, an ingenue from Vermont living alone in her L.A.

by JON PASSARO

Holy crap -- Uma Thurman is on j-date?!?

In Prime, Meryl Streep portrays the Jewish Mother rather convincingly as Lisa Metzger, a therapist who discovers her patient (Uma Thurman), who's 37, divorced and definitely not Jewish, is dating her 23-year-old son (Bryan Greenberg). Sure, she'd rather her son be a CPA or a lawyer than follow his true calling as an artist and worries about the religion of her future grandchildren over a pastrami on rye, but Streep refrains from beating the stereotype to death.

by SARA LEVINE

The Future of 'Star Wars'

They are the words that aspiring Jedi Masters and Sith Lords have dreaded for years: "This is it. We've done Episode I through Episode VI and there won't be anymore films at all.

by JEFF LEVIN

I see dead people (in the audience)

What results from combining The Sixth Sense and Fight Club and then subtracting the good acting and violence?

by DYLAN MCGARRY

Hold me closer, famous director

This week, Street talks to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe about his latest work, Elizabethtown, and the highs and lows of his illustrious career.

by COREY HULSE

Doomed to suck

Doom, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Sarge and Karl Urban as John Grimm, promises very little from the onset -- and keeps its promise.

by DEREK MAZIQUE

If Pacino were a deli meat

Two for the Money's greatest strength is clearly its originality. Honestly, whoever thought to cast Al Pacino as an aging, cynical, battle-hardened mentor alongside a handsome, naive idealist is a fucking genius.

by RUBEN BROSBE

Fee fie foe fum

Gosford Park scribe Julian Fellowes' new film Separate Lies almost hits the nail on the head but falls short.

by YINKA NEIL

We aren't waiting for godot

Novice director Rob McKittrick's new film Waiting... signals yet another addition to the "frat pack" genre.

by GREG MORAN

Cameron diaz gets ugg-ly

Though not exactly star-studded, In Her Shoes certainly boasts an interesting cast of characters: there is Rose (Toni Collette), a lawyer who cannot seem to find a boyfriend but has a killer shoe collection; Maggie (Cameron Diaz), Rose's trampy sister who can't hold a job; and Ella (Shirley MacLaine), the sisters' long-lost grandmother.

by ,

Destination: claymation

Call Nick Park old-fashioned, but in an era dominated by computer-generated animation, he still likes working with clay.

by PRATEEK SHARMA

Finally...

Jonathan Safran Foer is not a writer, he is a collector. As played by Elijah Wood, Foer is a vegetarian, an American, and a descendant of a Holocaust survivor, obsessed with mapping the details of his Jewish heritage.

by JESS PURCELL

Into the poo

Into the Blue, starring teen heartthrobs Paul Walker and Jessica Alba, pretty much unfolds as one would expect.

by DEREK MAZIQUE

Two thumbs down

What is the meaning of life? Based on the book by Walter Kirn, the new film Thumbsucker tries, but fails, to provide an answer to this often-asked question.

by JENNIFER ZUCKERMAN

Toilet water, with a twist

Although Roman Polanski's newest movie, Oliver Twist, at first seems to have a winning formula, it falls short in the end.

by CHELSEA ALBRIGHT

"Serenity now," the universal execs said

Serenity, the long-awaited film adaptation of director Joss Whedon's (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) cult-favorite TV series Firefly, has all of the components of a typical sci-fi action film, and little more.

by JEREMY PRICE

The nightmare before nuptuals

Despite its amazing visual style, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is never as original or engaging as it should be.

by MATT KURUC

PennConnects

Most Read