I met Roger Ebert only once, in 1995, a little more than a year after I'd begun writing about television for the Daily News.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Much will be written in the next few days about Roger Ebert, the prolific, passionate and perceptive film critic, author and TV personality who passed away Thursday, age 70, after a long running and defiant battle with cancer. I picked up Ebert’s collection, The Great Movies II, just to revisit the Pulitzer Prize-winner’s sharp, smart, never highfalutin but always inspiring writing, and found this absolutely wonderful, and poignant passage in his entry on the Three Colors Trilogy, by Krzysztof Kieslowski: (The boldface below is mine.)
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Going back to turn Steven Spielberg’s 20-year-old dino thriller Jurassic Park into a 3D spectacle (required to watch with, yes, 3D spectacles) is almost as egregious an error, it turns out, as going back and bringing tyrannosaurs and triceratops to life again in the first place.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
“So, you wanna dance?” Valley Girl, the ultimate ‘80s teen movie – starring Nicolas Cage as a Hollywood punk and Deborah Foreman as the suburban high schooler he falls for (and vice versa) (and whatever happened to Foreman, anyway?) -- gets a much-deserved screening Tuesday night, April 2, at PhilaMOCA.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
“People always think something's all true. “ – Holden Caulfied, The Catcher in the Rye
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Kirby Dick’s Oscar-nominated documentary feature, The Invisible War, offers a startling investigation of rampant and underreported incidents of rape in the United States military. It’s being screened Friday, March 22, as part of the ambitious Human Rights Watch Film Festival, under way this week and weekend at International House.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
The Cinedelphia Film Festival, up and running April 4-27 in venues all over town, promises a remarkable celebration of the city’s film traditions, its stars and cult gods, its B-movie roots, its movers and shakers – and its music makers, too. Take a look at a rare 35mm print of the French adaptation of Philly noir author David Goodis’ The Burglar (called The Burglars, and starring ultimate cool dude Jean-Paul Belmondo). Check out John Waters 1974 classic, Female Trouble, featuring Divine, and listen to local luminary Ray Murray recount the history of the film and video company he co-founded, TLA Entertainment. Hear indigenous indie band Farquar Muckenfuss tear through the songbook of that seminal ‘60s media phenom, The Monkees, and then watch the totally trippy, Bab Rafelson-directed (and Jack Nicholson-scripted) Monkees movie, Head.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Imagine this: crystal clear digital projection, wraparound sound, plush seating, and a program of new and repertory film fare to die for. That’s what Andrew Greenblatt and his cohorts at the Philadelphia Film Society have been imagining since they signed a deal to take over the two-screen Roxy Theater last fall.
