Film & TV
Trailer of the Week: “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”
If you didn’t get enough of Ron Burgundy the first time around, “Anchorman 2” is scheduled for release on December 20, 2013.
Synesthesia: "The O.C."
If you ask me about “The O.C.,” I will, with unabashed enthusiasm, explain to you that it’s one of the most important television shows ever to air. There’s a number of reasons I hold this opinion, but a relatively important one is that the soapy and dramatic lives of Orange County residents Ryan Atwood, Seth Cohen, Marissa Cooper and Summer Roberts are soundtracked with astonishing precision.
Review: “Diana”
“Diana” covers the last three years of Princess Diana’s (Naomi Watts) life, and focuses mainly on her love affair with heart surgeon Hasnat Kahn (Naveen Andrews). Walking into the theatre with high hopes and expectations, I was sorely disappointed.
B–Roll: Brave New World, Same Old Form
Every Monday night, I watch the latest episode of “How I Met Your Mother,” even though the show hasn’t been consistently funny in years.
Netflix Pick of the Week: "Better off Ted"
“Better off Ted” is a hard comedy to define; half satire and half heart, its cast of characters feels both real and totally cartoonish.
Review: "Blue is the Warmest Color"
In Abdellatif Kechiche’s recently debuted French drama, blue is not only the warmest color, but it is also the most heart–warming one.
Review: "12 Years a Slave"
Steve McQueen’s latest masterpiece, “12 Years a Slave,” is less of a film one watches than a piece of art one experiences.
Philly Film Festival Review: "Caucus"
A typical Northeastern Obama-supporting Liberal, I strived for an open mind in watching "Caucus." Though I’d like to claim objectivity, it was immediately apparent I had failed.
Trailer of the Week: "Neighbors"
The release of a new trailer for “Neighbors,” Seth Rogen’s upcoming comedy that’s sure to be a hit, gives us a glimpse of what life turns into for a couple with a newborn baby when a fraternity moves in next door.
Synesthesia: "Friday Night Lights"
“I was living in a devil town/ didn’t know it was a devil town,” sings Tony Lucca as he covers Daniel Johnston’s 1990 song, “Devil Town.” Johnston had no idea his “devil town” would be Dillon, Texas, the imaginary town profiled in “Friday Night Lights,” but his song, reprised in a huskier tone yet with a whimsical air by Lucca, is one of the standouts of the show.
Philly Film Festival Review: "Miele"
What is a good reason to want to die? The eponymous main character of “Miele” has built a career out of avoiding that question.
Philly Film Festival Review: "A Touch of Sin"
Directed by Jia Zhangke, "A Touch of Sin" captures the unsettling side effects of the economic expansion in China.
Drinking Game: “How I Met Your Mother”
Here is a nine–step drinking game to be played while watching any episode from HIMYM’s nine seasons. It’s sure to make your night legen–waitforit–dary.
Interview: Jason Osder
Jason Osder, a professor of the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, is the director of “Let The Fire Burn,” a new documentary about the radical organization located in Philadelphia known as MOVE.
B–Roll: Blood & Guts for Film Buffs
This past summer, I let my roommates convince me to do something quite uncharacteristic: watch a horror movie, “The Audition.” Somehow, boredom and curiosity beat out the overwhelming urge to turn on “American Idol” and watch those horrific auditions instead . One of the first horror movies I ever watched was “The Fourth Kind,” a mockumentary about alien abductions.
Philly Film Festival Review: "Let The Fire Burn"
The first person we meet in Jason Osder’s documentary, “Let the Fire Burn,” is a young child introduced to us as Michael Moses Ward.
Netflix Pick of the Week: "Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)"
Ramón Sampedro, played by a Javier Bardem, is a Spanish man who became a quadriplegic at age 25. He spent the next 29 years of his life fighting for his right to an assisted suicide.
Guilty Pleasure: "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit"
Remember when they made a movie about Whoopi Goldberg as a nightclub–singer–turned–nun on the run from the mob and it was the greatest thing you had ever seen?
