Ritzfilm
May/June 2012 Volume 2 窶｢ Issue 3
Around the Block: Fairmount | Bully Review Fitadelphia窶認itness & Wellness Experts | Hollywood on Bikes!
May/June 2012
table of contents 5 Letter from the Publisher 6 Ask Ritz Film Magazine 8 Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling with the Stars 11 Fitadelphia! 16 Around the Block: Fairmount 22 Arts Calendar 24 Film Focus: Student Review: Bully
38 Crossword Puzzle
28 Now Showing BULLY ........................................................... 29
MARLEY ........................................................ 35
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS ............................... 34
MONSIEUR LAZHAR..................................... 33
DARLING COMPANION ................................ 36
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.... 34
THE DEEP BLUE SEA ................................... 28
MOONRISE KINGDOM ............................... 37
ELLES ............................................................ 36
SOUND OF MY VOICE ................................ 33
FREE MEN ..................................................... 30
TO ROME WITH LOVE .................................. 30
THE HUNTER ................................................ 31
TURN ME ON, DAMMIT! ............................... 37
THE KID WITH A BIKE .................................. 29
WE HAVE A POPE ......................................... 32
ABOVE TOP: Younes (TAHAR RAHIM) and Salim (MAHMOUD SHALABY) of Free Men ABOVE BOTTOM: Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston) and Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) in The Deep Blue Sea. Photo by Liam Daniel (Courtesy of Music Box Films) COVER: Frances McDormand stars as Mrs. Bishop and Bruce Willis stars as Captain Sharp in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, a Focus Features release
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A magazine for the Landmark Ritz Theatres Published by R&W Publishing Associates Publisher Lisa H. Rafter 215-765-2646 lisarafter@ritzfilmmag.com Editor Abigail Sutton 609-707-6069 abigail@ritzfilmmag.com Advertising sales Jamie Berman 610-609-1635 jamie@ritzfilmmag.com Art Director Hedy Sirico hedy@ritzfilmmag.com
Ritz Film Magazine is published 8x’s per year by R&W Publishing Associates. Distributed at Ritz Theatre locations and designated locations throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs. For more information regarding editorial content, advertising or distribution, please contact us at: R&W Publishing Associates 315 Poplar Avenue Devon, PA 19333 215-765-2646 info@ritzfilmmag.com Landmark Ritz Theatres www.landmarktheatres.com 215-925-7900 RItz theAtRe PhIlAdelPhIA locAtIons: Ritz Five: 214 Walnut Street Ritz at the Bourse: 400 Ranstead Street Ritz East: 124 South Second Street
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letter from the publisher Dear Ritz lovers! We are thoroughly enjoying publishing Ritz Film Magazine! Each issue gives us the opportunity to provide you with a potpourri of content about upcoming Ritz movies and also articles featuring what’s happening in the nearby surrounding city—our beloved Philadelphia. In this issue, we thought it would be fun to talk about health and fitness. After all, it’s the time of year when we swap out the sweaters for the tank tops! We interviewed some of the Philadelphia area’s finest trainers, fitness gurus and overall health advocates. Each shared insights relevant to our physical and spiritual well-being. This issue features Fairmount in our Around the Block section—the home of Philadelphia’s finest museums. We feature the Philadelphia Art Museum, Rodin, Barnes and others. We also list Fairmount’s many restaurants from the area’s iconic Jack’s Firehouse to the brand new La Calaca Feliz. Fairmount is a beautiful area to spend time in the Spring for its gardens, outdoor dining and of course—Kelly Drive and the East River Drive for running, walking and biking! Also inside is a delightful interview with Steven Rea, the author of Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling with the Stars. Gary Kramer interviewed Steven and asked him about his twin passions for pedaling and photography. And don’t miss the student review of the new and very important film Bully directed by Lee Hirsh. Temple student Adam Evans distinguishes the relevance of this movie as a portrayal of serious social issues facing school children every day, and thus, all of us. One more important feature—we finally included an “index” of all the Ritz movies listed in this issue! Enjoy the May/June issue of RFM! And as always, we welcome your feedback so please contact us and let us know how we’re doing and what you want to see in RFM!
Sincerely, Lisa H. Rafter Publisher Ritz Film Magazine 215-765-2646 lisarafter@ritzfilmmag.com
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ask ritz film magazine By Andrew Repasky McElhinney – “The Movie Doctor”
Known for his detailed, labyrinthine, modernist prose, and bawdy Irish wit, the works of James Joyce are some of the most important and influential fiction writing of the 20th Century. However, Joyce’s words are so rich and specific that they do not immediately cry out for cinematic adaptation. Yet, surmounting this challenge, there have been several Joyce movies of note. John Huston’s last feature film as a director, The Dead (1987), stars Donal McCann, Anjelica Huston, Donal Donnelly and the great Dan O’Herlihy. It is a somber and moving transcription of the last short story in Joyce’s collection Dubliners (first published in 1914). James Joyce’s Women (1985), directed Michael Pearce, draws its script from many of Joyce works and star Fionnula Flanagan makes the master’s words sing. In the film, Flanagan portrays several of Joyce’s feminine creations, often performing dense monologues lifted directly from Joyce’s text
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Image courtesy of Rosenbach Museum & Library
Every June 16th for the past twenty years, I go to the Bloomsday celebration at The Rosenbach Museum & Library at Delancey and 20th Streets. I love to listen to the outdoor readings from James Joyce’s 1922 novel, Ulysses from Noon onward. The words form a vivid movie in my mind. . . Tell me, how has Joyce faired on the silver screen? —Rog Larenstein, Rittenhouse Square
in her unmistakable and irreplaceable Irish brogue. Joseph Strick filmed the great work itself, Ulysses, in 1967. This adaption is eminently respectful, and features some nice touches, but remains a rather too-breezy charge though Joyce’s epic narrative. That same holds largely true for Stick’s 1977 adaptation of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The dramatization of Joyce I would have most liked to have seen is Zero Mostel in Ulysses in Nighttown (an adaptation of Chapter 15 of Ulysses), which ran successfully off-Broadway in the late 1950s and on Broadway in the 1970s. I’m totally excited to see the new Whit Stillman movie, Damsels in Distress. You remember how good independent film was in the 1990s? I loved Stillman’s trifecta of Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco. However, there has not been a feature directed by Whit Stillman since 1998. What has he been up to during this time? —Johnson Fillmore Deens III, Ambler
While now highly regarded as a great film of its era, The Last Days of Disco, starring Kate Beckinsale and
Chloë Sevigny, was not fully successful on its 1998 debut. However, ten-year anniversary screenings, plus a recent posh DVD release via The Criterion Collection, turned the critical tables for the movie. It also led to Stillman’s reemergence on the scene with Damsels in Distress because star Greta Gerwig became a Disco fan. In the fourteen years between pictures, Stillman worked on several projects that didn’t get made at the last minute for one reason or another, usually due to money. These projects that faltered aborning include a Caribbean Sea period piece called Dancing Mood and an adaptation of Christopher Buckley’s political satire Little Green Men. Stillman also allegedly turned down directing episodes of Sex and the City due to the HBO show’s “racy” content. While I found the movie undisciplined and overlong, I loved that The Book of Life was none-the-less a film with great things in it—a piece of art worth debating with my friends. I remembered being a big fan of Badlands and Days of Heaven when they came out. However, when I went back to watch Badlands, it was not the movie I thought it was! The picture I was thinking about had Martin Sheen and, maybe, Linda Blair around the time of The Exorcist, in it. But then, I think that memory is the TV movie Born Innocent or Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic...? Can you set me straight? —Donna Mabou, Society Hill
Well, Born Innocent is a classic and snappy 1974 TV movie in which Linda Blair plays a runaway who is sent to a girl’s reformatory. Sarah T. – Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) is more or less self-explanatory. It sounds like you are confusing Terrence Malick’s Badlands (1973) starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, with the superior 1975 TV movie, Sweet Hostage, directed by Lee Philips. In Sweet Hostage, Linda Blair plays a poor—but feisty—farm girl kidnapped by an escaped mental patient essayed to eerie perfection by thirty-four year old Martin
Sheen. Sheen is a charming madman, perfectly—and perversely—preferable to Blair’s dowdy and bickering parents (character actors Jeanne Cooper and Bert Remsen— both superb). Incidentally, this performance by Sheen Sr. completely explains the reason son Charlie Sheen is the way he is. In any case, in Sweet Hostage, Sheen and Blair fall in love, and the couple stand up against the oppressive forces of conformity. And, you are in luck Ms. Mabou, because this title was recently released on dvd-r on the Warner Archive label. I’m a big film fan. When Ken Russell died in 2011, I realized that, despite knowing his name, and having a dim memory of seeing his movie The Lair of the White Worm back in the dorm, I really didn’t know his work. In Sight & Sound, I just read that the movie that is widely considered Russell’s masterpiece, The Devils has finally been made available on dvd, but in the UK only. Furthermore, poking around online, the new UK dvd of The Devils seems to be a censored edition of the movie? What is going on? And, is it worth my ordering this disc to pop into my multi-region player? —Tony Petersen, Esq., Queen Village
Ken Russell’s 1970 motion picture, The Devils, based on the John Whiting play and Aldous Huxley novel, is an amazing movie experience about religious hysteria and political corruption in Seventeenth Century France. Russell’s movie features brave and committed master performances from Vanessa Redgrave, as a nun obsessed with (and rejected by) a decadent, but decent, Continuedon page 27
dR. AndRew RePAsky mcelhInney is a feature film & theater director, author, educator and the programmer of Andrew’s Video Vault at the Rotunda (featuring free cult movie screenings on 2nd Thursday of each month). Visit: ARMcinema25.com
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Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling with the Stars In Hollywood Rides a Bike: Cycling with the Stars (Angel City Press), Steven Rea, the Philadelphia Inquirer film critic and bike enthusiast, collects 100+ images of celebrities and their cycles. This gorgeous book doesn’t quite belong on your coffee table, but rather in your bicycle basket as you cycle to the cinema. In this interview, Rea discussed his twin passions for pedaling and photography. GK: How did you develop your affinity for bikes and movies—both individually and collectively? SR: Bikes: My father put me on a bike and pushed me down a big hill in Central Park when I was a kid, the momentum kept me upright, and I was hooked. All through my teens in New York I’d go riding through the city early in the a.m. on weekends…. There have been periods when I haven’t used a bike that much (living in L.A., for instance, although even then I’d use one to ride around the neighborhood we lived in), but it’s a beautiful, simple, ingenious invention, and I love cycling, period. Movies: I grew up in a part of Manhattan full of movie theaters, and started going early, and often, and used to spend a good part of my weekends at the Loews and RKO 86th Street theaters. And watching The Crimson Pirate (and other fine fare) over and over and over again on Channel 9’s “Million Dollar Movie.” Bikes and Movies: The Bicycle Thief, Breaking Away, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning –are all essential viewing in the bike movie canon!
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Hollywood Rid es a Bike: Cy cling with the by Steven Re Stars a, published by Angel City Press.
By Gary m. kramer
GK: How did you develop this project? SR: It started as a Tumblr blog, Rides a Bike (http://ridesabike.tumblr.com, and is still going strong!). The response was so immediate and passionate that things took off from there. People started saying, hey, this should be a book, and who was I to argue? GK: There are a lot of iconic “bike” photos—e.g., Butch Cassidy, Breaking Away. What was the criteria for inclusion? Surely you had more pictures than pages? SR: I have way more photos than pages! The book had to be a certain size, so that set a limit. Then finding the right mix of candids, studio shots, publicity stills from films, etc., was important, too, for the flow of the book’s pages. There are some images I don’t own and that were too costly to license, and others that are overly familiar, so it didn’t seem that including them made sense. I have a wish-list of photos that I know exist but I haven’t been able to get my hands on. But if there’s demand for a Hollywood
GK: The book contains candids, posed photos, publicity shots and more. What kind of photos/ poses appeal to you? SR: I like the candids for their element of surprise—catching the subject in a carefree moment; the publicity shots for their “staged” realism—Jane Fonda crashing her bike, for instance—and the studio portraits (Martha Vickers, Deborah Kerr) for their old-fashioned Hollywood-ness and cheesecake factor. GK: What, if any, photos surprised you when you found them? SR: The Hitchcock photo was such a surprise – who woulda thunk? And the Lauren Bacallleaning-against-her-bike-having coffee shot is a rare and priceless gem. GK: Were there any pictures that were to you a real “get”? SR: The Olivia de Havilland is a super-rare one, Joe E. Brown is an older, rarer gelatin print gem, and Victor Mature and Betty Grable from I Wake Up Screaming is cool, because the film was originally going to be released as Hot Spot, and the publicity still has that title on it, not Screaming. GK: What if any images in the book are obscure? SR: Depends on your movie knowledge. A lot of people will find Jim Hutton obscure, or Harold Peary, or Genevieve Tobin. I didn’t know who Peary or Tobin were before I acquired those photos. Part of the fun of this project was the research, and discovering (or rediscovering) these films and film stars. And then there are the great shots of Paramount and MGM chorus girls and starlets, most of whom never went very far, career-wise, but sure look swell!
The Hitchcock photo was such a surprise – who woulda thunk?
#11431 / page 147 / Alfred Hitchcock, Cannes, 1972 (Agence France-Press/Getty Images/Hollywood Rides a Bike)
Press.
Rides a Bike sequel, I’ll be ready.
GK: Why do you think bikes appeal so much in Hollywood, which is such a car culture? SR: Bikes were still everywhere in the 1930s and 1940s and ‘50s, and Schwinn, for one, had ad campaigns that used movie stars to sell their bikes. (Doris Day, Roy Rogers, even Lauren Bacall shilled for Schwinn.) During the war years, people were urged to not use their cars to save on gas and on the wear of the tires, and so bikes experienced an upswing in usage again. And on the studio backlots, bikes were the main means of conveyance for the stars (and for the prop people, hairdressers, messengers, lighting department folks, script girls— for most of the studio population). It was like a giant bike share program—decades before Paris or Barcelona or Toronto launched theirs. Bikes also offered the photographers and publicists a chance to get cheesecake and beefcake shots of their stable of stars doing something athletic and appealing. GK: What is your favorite/best “Bike” scene and/or film? For gloomy neo-realism, definitely The Bicycle Thief. For British kitchen sink drama, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. There’s an amazing bike riding sequence in the MGM musical Carefree, with Fred and Ginger pedaling through a park.
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GK: What do you ride now? Where do you like to bike? SR: I ride an early-‘70s Raleigh DL-1 rodbrake bike as my day-to-day, getting around town bike. I rotate my other bikes (for longer rides, early a.m. rides around the Schulykill, etc.)–usually between a mid-‘70s Mercian, a late-‘50s Bates and two 1950s Raleigh Lenton Grand Prixs (Reg Harris models). GK: I really like the Hollywood trivia. I loved the stories about W.C. Fields and Steve McQueen, and I didn’t know anything about Susan Peters…. SR: I tried to mix the essential info with the fun facts—the Oscar wins with the kooky asides. The Susan Peters story is too powerful and sad not to have included. I learned a lot doing the research for this book, which was a delight. GK: Don Ameche rides nearly nude; Gary Cooper wears a suit in one photo and jodhpurs in another. Who do you think has the best biking at-”tire”? SR: Without a doubt, Marlene Dietrich, on a break from shooting The Spoilers, has the best bike-riding outfit. GK: Yes!!! OK, so, who do you think has the best legs?
#11001 / page 115: Susan Peters, 1943 (credit: Howie Cohen’s Everything Bicycles/Hollywood Rides a Bike)
SR: A three-way tie: Grace Kelly, Louise Allbritton, and Bob Hope. •
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Fitadelphia!
We ♥ Fitness Experts By Abigail sutton Nehila strives for balance on the yoga mat, on the tightrope, and at the settlement table. “Nobody wins yoga!” Nehila proudly exclaimed from a small table at Old City’s Café Ole. She began her yoga journey in ‘04 after going through major life changes and traumatic events, her father passed away and she ended a long relationship. A friend encouraged her to take her first class. Soon after, she was hooked. “Yoga made me deal with the way things were and accept what I was going through. I felt less overwhelmed in my life practicing yoga,” she explained. Today, she is one busy yogi but manages to keep everything in balance through her practice and her mindset.
JennIfeR nehIlA Inspirational yoga teacher Realtor and Part-time Actor
Yoga is essentially the union of the eternal self with the tangible self. Nehila illustrated that one doesn’t need a physical practice to participate in yoga. Stepping outside of your worry and habitual actions to concentrate and ponder what you’re feeling and how you’re thinking is what yoga is all about, i.e. self awareness. Similar to meditation, Nehila suggests a consistent yoga practice for a noticeable benefit. “It’s better to practice just two minutes a day of yoga than do an hour class only twice a month” she said. The goal is to sit in your thoughts, let them rise up; observe your reactions and what comes up. That way, once you’ve let everything come to the surface, it’s easier to calm down and continue on with your day. Nehila uses the term “monkey mind” to describe our internal dialogue that can get so noisy when one is stressed.
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Yoga is designed for people to sit for long periods of time and meditate. “Asana” a moving meditation, or what many know as contemporary yoga, is helpful for those that ‘can’t sit still.’ Nehila explained, “The physical practice is an entry point to learn to quiet the mind and sit still, a building block of meditation.” In today’s busy world, Nehila suggests taking timeouts from the workday. She recommends sitting quietly for just five minutes and being conscious of one’s thoughts, this time-out can create the space needed to not just get through the day, but through it in a more enjoyable manner. She also recommends chair spinal twists for those that sit at a desk. These can easily be done by turning to one side in your chair using your arms as an anchor on the back of the chair, but do not strain the back or neck, enough to feel a consistent stretch. Another suggestion is to cut out as much sugar as you can ‘stomach.’ Lastly,
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when waking up in the morning do not go directly to the computer, cell phone or TV. It can create a bad habit of ‘pluggingin’ immediately following your rest. Speaking of which, for those of us that are constantly plugged in and/or at our desks, Nehila and her friend Alice Dommert Phillips started Deliver Me Yoga, which brings yoga to businesses. A few of their clients are WHYY, The American-Jewish Federation and Metro Philadelphia. Nehila and Phillips work with HR departments and wellness programs to discuss the many benefits within employee health and productivity in bringing a regular yoga practice to their workplace. They even created quick 15-minute chair yoga for employees that don’t want to change clothes. Deliver Me Yoga brings wellness to the workplace, “to help you feel better, work better and live better!” as the website, delivermeyoga.com states. Nehila prides herself on empowering
students by showing them how to have a lasting and fulfilling practice, even when they’re not in the studio. She’s heard every excuse for not doing yoga, “if you don’t make the time for yourself, no one will make it for you.” It’s completely fine if you can’t do a headstand or fold in half. Your practice is designed with you and only you in mind,
which is the beauty of it. Like Nehila says, “It takes more courage to be still than it does to move.” Be courageous! Give one of her classes a try!• Jennifer teaches at WakeUp Yoga at 24th& Parish and 1839 E. Passyunk Avenue; Jai (“victory” in Sanskrit) in Haverford; and for private lessons, reach her via e-mail at jnehila@hotmail.com.
Thomas knows fitness. Having played for the NFL for twelve years, a majority with the Philadelphia Eagles as offensive tackle. He’s lived in the area, around Medford, NJ for many years and always knew he wanted to return to the area when he retired from football. He can seem intimidating – 6’7”, tattoos, biceps the size of naval cannons, but when you ask about his gym, clients, football career or his family, he’s instantaneously charming, flashing a huge smile. What he’s created with fellow trainers is nothing short of extraordinary and like nothing you’ve ever seen.
Courtesy of 7 Deuce Sports: Medford, NJ
Where legends are made and quitters need not apply.
tRA thomAs 7 deuce sports
To understand 7 Deuce Sports forget everything you’ve ever seen in a training facility. There are no treadmills, ellipticals, bench presses or squat machines. Now let’s concentrate on what there is. 7DS has a sandpit for running. Running in sand is helpful to build up the intermediary muscles in your legs, increasing strength and agility. The strength equipment is state-of-the-art and in the iconic 7DS red/black color scheme. There’s also an indoor turf for conditioning. In a separate room are the TechnoGym Kinesis machines. The machines are high-end and even nice to look at, blending into the wall in a contemporary way in a wave pattern of black and grey. You use the machine by pulling and pushing on the many handles attached to cables, some of which are for your hands, others to use on your legs and feet. It has multi-purpose functionality; every muscle group can be targeted. When I met with Thomas he had just returned from Tampa, where he and Tiana Taylor, a Kinesis trainer and accomplished dancer/choreographer met with TechnoGym executives to show them how 7DS utilizes their machines. 7DS had the accessories to the machine (weight belts and other attachments) retrofitted to suit their needs. Taylor and Thomas showed TechnoGym their intense intervals of powerful exercises. TechnoGym execs were impressed; they had never seen anyone use their equipment in this intense cardio-inspired way. After my 7DS tour, Thomas trained me in Kinesis. As I can’t use a certain four-letterword, all I can say is, “wow it was hard! But I can’t wait to do it again.” Thomas had me jumping, hopping, running to the side, doing pushups, sit-ups, arm raises, running in place, all on a timed interval. Not counting reps or staring at the timer (as one can do on
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a treadmill) was a welcomed change. It’s fastpaced, fun, energetic and ever changing. If you get bored with a traditional workout, this is for you. But I’ve warned you, it’s meant to be hard. Like the movie G.I. Jane, there’s a bell at the front of the gym. Engraved on the bell is “Defeat is a Choice.” True legends don’t quit and Thomas and his marvelous trainers don’t expect you to either. If you stop during one of their cardio or strengthening classes, you ring the bell. Don’t want to embarrass yourself by bowing out early? Then keep training hard, as it’s the only way to rise to the top in your sport. 7DS recently celebrated their 1st anniversary by hosting a charity dinner. Thomas keeps a realistic approach to fitness, based on training hard and eating right. However, like the rest of us, sometime it’s a struggle, “I don’t maintain 1% body fat or anything like that. It’s important to me that the workouts be high energy and highly motivating; if the energy is up and you keep the classes changing and new it will have everyone excited and enrolled,” he said. In his time away from the gym he enjoys his sport TV time on Comcast SportsNet’s Eagles Post Game
Live, “It’s a lot of fun. What I like about it is the prep and watching the football footage/film. It keeps me involved in the game.” • For more information on 7 Deuce Sports visit www.7deucesports.com. They also have an active Facebook page at www.facebook. com/7deucesports. I promise you, you won’t be disappointed and you might just surpass your fitness goals!
Ty Gumbert, raw foodist and student of longevity “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates Here’s an exclusive, sneak peek into the life of a man, who is putting a different face on the raw, vegan foodist scene. Meet 44-year-old Ty Gumbert, certified personal trainer and student of longevity. He has the physique of a 25 year old, natural body builder and is planning to live beyond 150 years of age! “Would you like to join me in eating some
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wild grass?” These were Ty’s first words as we began our walk down Lemon Hill; he then foraged for mature grass and began to remove his shoes. I turned my nose up to the grasseating invitation, but tuned in to find out why the invitation was extended. What benefit might grass eating have for me I wondered? Surprisingly, Ty had a lot to say; it’s a great source of silica (great for bone building), rich in amino acids and contains detoxifying chlorophyll that also acts as a natural blood builder. You don’t want to eat chemically treated grass, he added, and you want to make sure all greens are chewed to a paste or blended, as our bodies have trouble digesting the cellulose fiber found in whole plants. Ty gets all of his protein from plant sources (fruits, seeds, nuts, roots, leaves and algae)NO whey or soy protein shakes to pay homage to for those muscles. I then asked Ty why he decided to become a raw foodist in the first place? Ty told me he was inspired to switch to mainly living foods after watching the documentary, “Food Matters”, by ProducerDirectors James Colquhoun and Laurentine ten Bosch. I then asked, “How soon after adjusting your lifestyle, did you notice the health benefits?” Ty enthusiastically responded, “The moment I began! It started with a gut feeling, I knew living foods were the way to go. Then came the cleansing effect, then the massive amounts of energy and then I experienced an increase in happiness and lack of stress from the combination of all three things!” Ty also said he used to suffer from migraines & chronic headaches, since switching to a raw diet, he never experiences headaches AND his vision has improved: no more contacts or eyeglasses. I then asked Ty to share some of his other longevity practices and philosophies. He said, in addition to raw fruits and vegetables he also consumes superfoods, which are foods generally recognized as being calorie sparse, and nutrient rich, here are some examples: goji berries, cacao products, acai, algae and raw bee products. Ty embraces Ayurveda, Chinese and South American herbalism by making teas and tinctures from these miraculous native plants. Something else Ty does at his Fairmount residence is use magnets to promote healing. He sleeps on them, performs Qi Gong on them and places magnets on his filtered waterlines
TY GUMBERT
Adding a different face to the raw, vegan foodist scene (this helps soften and restructure the water to make it easier to consume). I mentioned in the beginning of the interview that Ty removed his shoes, here’s why… He likes to get his bare feet on the earth to absorb the natural energy from the ground. We are bombarded by positive energy all day by our computers, cell phones, etc and we can balance out these EMF frequencies by connecting to Earth’s natural negative charge. Embracing mother earth like this could lead to reduced inflammation and a free dose of antioxidants! I ended the interview with asking Ty about his workout habits: what is he doing in the gym/ how often? He said, “I work out 3-4 GOOD DAYS per week. I don’t hop on the latest fad workout or workout for 2 hours when I am there. I make sure my workouts are efficient. I do what my body needs and I train my clients with exactly what their bodies need.” What would you like to leave our readers with: “There is only one thing in your life that is guaranteed to be with you until the day you die…it’s your body. We should treat it that way. Our society isn’t supportive of a healthy lifestyle with fast foods on every corner and pharmaceutical ads everywhere, it’s almost like sick is in. It doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone can have ridiculous amounts of energy without stimulants. Everyone can feel 1020 years younger, everyone can be stronger, everyone can feel a deep connection/love for all living things and everyone has the ability to choose their path. Choose a healthy lifestyle and you’ll be loving yourself and everyone around you for a very long time. • To contact TY Gumbert, NASM-CPT, PES AED/CPR certified, email: getfitwithty@gmail.com
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around the block A spotlight on Philadelphia’s unique neighborhoods
fAIRmount Fairmount is a magical place, there’s the Art Museum, of course, Boathouse Row, the massive Fairmount Park with gems like The Mann and The Please Touch Museum, but there’s also so much more. Fairmount is actually a large area made up of five distinct neighborhoods: Brewerytown, Fairmount, Francisville, Franklintown, and Spring Garden. It’s also very dog and kid friendly for center city dwellers. It’s a charming place to visit or live and it’s so quintessentially Philly. Sponsored by
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Fairmount Area Museums By Abigail sutton Fairmount is a magical place with the Art Museum, of course, Boathouse Row, massive Fairmount Park with gems like The Mann and The Please Touch Museum, but there’s also so much more. Fairmount is actually a large area made up of five distinct neighborhoods: Brewerytown, Fairmount, Francisville, Franklintown, and Spring Garden. It’s also very dog and kid friendly for center city dwellers. It’s a charming place to visit or live and it’s so quintessentially Philly.
eastern state Penitentiary Once the world’s most expensive and strictest prison, now it’s crumbling cells and empty guard towers take visitors on a spooky blast to the past…for the truly adventurous only
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Even if you’ve never entered the Eastern State Penitentiary for a tour or special event, simply walking by the massive stone structure elicits an emotional response. The huge structure, built in 1871 is haunting, surreal, evil looking and historically beautiful, in a way. This was the world’s first true penitentiary, a prison designed to inspire penitence, or absolute regret, in the hearts of convicts. Notorious criminals such as Willie Sutton and Al Capone were locked up behind its thick walls. The 2012 season will be an exciting one as two dramatic spaces have opened and four new art installations are available. Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is located at 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue. The penitentiary is open every day, year round. April through November, admission includes “The Voices of Eastern State” Audio Tour, narrated by actor Steve Buscemi. For more information and schedules, please call (215) 236-3300 or visit www. EasternState.org.
the franklin Institute Located at 20th & The Parkway, is dedicated to inspiring a passion towards learning about science and technology
The Museum originally opened to the public in 1934 as one of the first hands-on science museums in the United States. It’s since served as a platform for many famous scientists to demonstrate new technology. Today, FI appeals to a very broad audience, as its exhibits and theaters are stimulating, educational and known throughout the world. A few of FI’s most popular attractions include: The Giant Heart, Fels Planetarium & The Tuttleman IMAX Theater. In keeping with it’s ever expansive history, FI continues to broaden horizons with the recent
groundbreaking of new addition: the Nicholas and Athena Karabots Pavilion, a 53,000 square foot space slated to open in the Summer of 2014. The new Pavilion will host a cutting- edge new core exhibit entitled Your Brain, an expanded education center with integrated learning technologies, a modern conference center, and a climate-controlled traveling exhibition gallery. You can always count on a large list of fascinating continuing exhibits at The Franklin Institute, but for those of you who have a hankering for something new, please defer to their traveling exhibits, which always surprise and delight. Now featuring: Dead Sea Scrolls: May 12-Oct 14 and coming soon: Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit. For more information, please visit: http://www2. fi.edu/
Academy of natural sciences The home of modern science celebrates 200 years of history this year, all year long
The Academy was founded when the United States hugged the Atlantic coastline, and Philadelphia was the cultural, commercial, and scientific center of the new nation. Classic expeditions to study the wild western area were organized by the Academy. The explorers brought back new plants and animals, which led to the collection of over 17,000,000 specimens, which are catalogued and studied. With its recent affiliation with Drexel University last fall, the sky is the limit for America’s oldest natural history museum and a world leader in biodiversity and environmental research. Robert McCracken Peck, senior fellow and historian has called the Academy “the library of life.” In April, the Academy celebrated its 200th anniversary; to mark the bicentennial, they are presenting “200 Years. 200 Stories” all year long. Secret stories behind some of the most well
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around the block known exhibits, scientific breakthroughs, and more will be exhibited, through March 20, 2013. Also, not to be missed is the special bicentennial exhibit, The Academy at 200: The Nature of Discovery. Senior Fellow Robert M. Peck and historical biographer Patricia Tyson Stroud wrote the book, A Glorious Enterprise: The Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Making of American Science on the Academy’s 200-year history. They celebrated with a book talk and signing in April. To help celebrate the storied 200 years, each month a new theme will be featured. May is Library and Archives month which will highlight treasures from the vast collection. June, respectively is Birds of a Feather: Ornithology month, showcasing the most diverse, historic and largest collection in the world. For more visit http://www.ansp.org/.
Philadelphia Museum of Art So much more than our city’s largest art museum
The PMA always has something exciting to check out. Frida Kahlo, Van Gogh, and Salvador Dali are just a few major exhibitions held over the past few years. Visions of Arcadia: Gauguin, Cezanne, Matisse June 20 to Sept 3 The theme of an earthly paradise, or Arcadia, has been popular in theater, poetry, music, and art since antiquity. In France during the early 1900s, this idea of a mystical place of contentment and harmony was especially potent--illustrated in mural-sized paintings which were often commissioned for public viewing. This exhibition explores the theme in three such paintings of the time: Paul Gauguin’s Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (1898), Paul Cézanne’s The Large Bathers (1906), and Henri Matisse’s Bathers by a
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River (1909-17). Placed on view together, in a dialogue of sorts, these three masterpieces take visitors to the very foundations of modern art. Art After 5 Fridays 5pm – 8:45pm The most unique Happy Hour event in the city. Enjoy live music, a glass of wine and extended museum hours, while basking in your end-of-the-workweek bliss. International music is featured the first Friday of every month and jazz artists perform for the remaining Fridays. May 18 features Francisco Mela, a Cuban drummer well known in the jazz world. www.philamuseum.org/artafter5/ 35mm: Photographs from the Collecton through May 27 This exhibition presents a survey of 35mm photography from the Museum’s collection and offers an examination of its specific “look,” so commonplace in the 20th century but now nearly obsolete in the age of digital photography, which nonetheless evolved directly out of the aesthetic and easy portability of the rollfilm camera.
Rodin Pool and Meduon Gate. Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Secret Garden through July Uniting fabric sculptures and hand-printed textiles from the Museum’s collection, Secret Garden features three American artists whose works in fiber embrace the idea of a garden as a personal metaphor.
Rodin Museum A Parisian-like oasis complete with a beautiful garden showcasing Rodin’s sculpture masterpieces
Sculptor Auguste Rodin, born in Paris in 1840, was ahead of his time for sculpting clay in a realistic way. When viewing his works at this museum, look at how skilled he was at creating a realistic human form. The hands on his models, in particular are expertly done. During his lifetime his works were highly criticized as they lacked the highly decorative
and thematic sculptures of his time. He didn’t follow the other artists of his time by basing his work off of mythology or allegory. He was sensitive to critics’ view of his untraditional art, but was adverse to change his style. Rodin held strong and true, and by 1900 he was a worldrenowned artist. He married his lifelong companion and friend Rose Beuret, in the last year of both of their lives. The Philly museum contains the largest collection of his work outside of Paris. The museum will not reopen until July 13, however, the renovated gardens are currently open and stay open during regular Museum hours. The gardens remain open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm. The Advance Schedule has information on the reopening: www.rodinmuseum.org/.
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around the block Barnes In a controversial move, the Barnes is now on the Parkway. This revolutionary art institution has moved, to our very own backyard.
2301 Fairmount Avenue • Philadelphia 215.978.4545 londongrill.com follow us on twitter @londongrill
AMERICA-ITALY SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA
SUMMER 2012 ITALIAN CLASSES. Native teachers; conversation, movie & literature courses. 10 WEEK PROGRAM June 18th - August 23, 2012 FULL IMMERSION SATURDAY May 26, 10AM to 4PM, light lunch included 40% Off if enrolled by May 12 ALSO Free Classical Music CONCERT on May 2, Free Italian MOVIES on May 10 & May 24, LECTURE and book signing on May 31st.
1420 Walnut Street, Suite 310 215-735-3250 • info@aisphila.org www.aisphila.org
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Dr. Albert C. Barnes was born into a working class family in 1872 and grew up locally. What he managed to create in his life, within his medical profession and his greatest hobby, fine art, was nothing sort of extraordinary. He experienced professional success when he and Herman Hille developed Argyrol, an antiseptic silver compound used in the prevention of infant blindness. Barnes went into business for himself in 1908, and the A. C. Barnes Company flourished thanks to Argyrol’s efficacy and popularity. He began his lifelong love of art and art education and appreciation by studying and developing theories on how people look at and learn from art, theories previously explored by William James, George Santayana, and John Dewey. In 1922, he established the Barnes Foundation for the purpose of “promoting the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.” Both his art collection and his educational theories grew and changed throughout the course of his life. Barnes died in 1951 at 79. For non-members May 26-28 marks the opening of this new art institution off the Parkway. For 56 consecutive hours that weekend the new museum will open its doors to the public. Cultural and performance art organizations will be in attendance to celebrate in style. Advanced registration is encouraged to ensure entry to the Barnes at a time that’s convenient to you. Visit http://www. barnesfoundation.org/events/opening/ opening-weekend/saturday for a list of events Memorial Day weekend. •
wheRe to eAt & shoP In fAIRmount
Sweetie’s Pie Diner
Dining
Umai Umai
Jack’s Firehouse
2130 Fairmount Ave 215-232-9000 jacksfirehouse.com
La Calaca Feliz
2321 Fairmount Ave 215-787-9930
Rose Tattoo Cafe 1847 Callowhill St 215-569-8939
The Urban Saloon
1822 Spring Garden St 215-988-0230 sweetiepiediner.com 533 North 22nd St 215-988-0707 umaiumai.com
Saint Stephens Green 1701 Green St 215-769-5000 saintstephensgreen.com
Café L’Aube
1631 Wallace St 215-235-2750 cafelaube.com
Lemon Hill
2120 Fairmount Ave 215-232-5359
747 N 25th St 215-232-2299 lemonhillphilly.com
Rembrandt’s Restaurant & Bar
Fare
Kite and Key
Zorbas
Bishops Collar
Doma Japanese
Hickory Lane American Bistro
Philly Pub n Grub
London Grill
Retail
741 North 23rd St 215-763-2228
1836 Callowhill St 215-568-1818 2349 Fairmount Ave 215-765-1616 2025 Fairmount Ave 215-769-2420 2301 Fairmount Ave 215-978-4545 londongrill.com
Mugshots Coffeehouse & Cafe
Fairmount 2100 Fairmount Ave - 267-514-7145 Brewerytown 2831 Girard Ave - 215-717-3327 Temple 1520 Cecil B Moore Ave - 215-232-1116 mugshotscoffeehouse.com
Trio
2624 Brown St 215-232-8746
Water Works Restaurant & Lounge 640 Water Works Drive (behind the Art Museum, on the Schuylkill) 215-236-9000 thewaterworksrestaraunt.com
2028 Fairmount Ave 267-639-3063 2230 Fairmount Ave 215-9785990 1822 Callowhill 215-564-1114
2001 Hamilton St 215-563-2424
Ali’s Wagon
2017 Fairmount Ave 215-787-0611 aliswagon.com
Fairmount Hardware 2011 Fairmount Ave 215-765-5829
Fairmount Pet Shoppe 2024 Fairmount Ave 215-236-6080 fairmountpetshoppe.com
Fairmount Running Company 2023 Fairmount Ave 267-639-6046
Bookhaven
2202 Fairmount Ave 215-235-3226
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arts calendar Exhibition: Through June 30
Maya 2012: Lords Of Time, A World Premiere Exhibition Penn Museum www.penn.museum/sites/2012/
May 20
Samsara - The Cycle of Life An Odissi performance by Shibani Patnaik Jeanne Ruddy Dance Performance Garage June 2
Outdoor Fairs/Festivals:
The Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design 2012 Fashion Show Urban Outfitters Corporate Campus
May 11-13
June 15
Pennsylvania Guild Fine Craft Fair Rittenhouse Square A 1st time event! www.pacrafts.org
Earth, Wind & Fire Performing with the Chamber of Philadelphia Academy of Music
May 12
Through Sept 3
Sister Cities Kick Off Celebration Presented by Center City District Sister Cities Park – 18th & Race
From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen National Constitution Center
May 20
Theater:
Memorial Day Flag Placement Laurel Hill Cemetery Through June 30
Commotion Arts Program and Festival At various neighborhoods across South Philadelphia Free admission www.commotionphilly.org Speaking Engagements: May 15
Dr. Temple Grandin: All Kinds of Minds Academy of Natural Sciences allkindsofminds.eventbrite.com May 15
An Evening With Bebe Neuwirth Gersham Y Special Events: May 11-13
Riverdance Merriam Theater May 13
Esperanza Spalding Electric Factory
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Through May 20
Boston Marriage Presented by 1812 Productions Play and Players Theater Through May 20
Motherhood the Musical Society Hill Playhouse For Kids & Teens: May 18
Family Style Open Mic Night Featuring Robert Karimi Asian Arts Initiative WHYY Summer Camps For teens finishing 9th through 12th grades. Perfect for teen students interested in broadcast, video, film, journalism, photography, and acting. Choose one of the following two-week sessions: Session 1: June 25-July 6, 2012 9:00AM-4:00PM Session 2: August 13-24, 2012 9:00AM-4:00PM •
Food Trust Farmers’ Markets There’s a food market for you no matter what corner of the city you live in! Limited Schedule Spring-Summer Only: Fairmount 22nd Street at Fairmount Avenue Thursdays, 3-7pm Schuylkill River Park 25th Street at Spruce Street Wednesday, 3-7pm Headhouse 2nd Street at Lombard Street Sunday, 10am-2pm Norris Square West Susquehanna Ave at Howard St Thursday, 1-5PM Broad & Ritner Broad at Ritner St Tuesday, 2-7PM Grays Ferry 29th St at Wharton Tuesday, 2-6PM Broad & South Broad at South St Wednesday, 2-7PM Clark Park Thursday 43rd St at Baltimore Ave Thursday, 3-7PM Open Year-Round: Fitler Square 23rd St at Pine St Saturday, 9am-2pm Clark Park Saturday 43rd St at Baltimore Ave Saturday, 10am-2pm http://foodtrustmarkets.org/
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Alex in Lee Hirsch’s film THE BULLY PROJECT. Photo by: Lee Hirsch/The Weinstein Company.
film focus STUDENT REVIEW
Bully Review By Adam Evans, Junior, Temple University Film Major Amidst a long battle with the MPAA, Bully gained quite a bit of free publicity. The controversy over its rating seemingly overshadowed its deeper look into an important social issue. Yet while the MPAA undeservedly gave it a harsh rating, which is an entirely different engaging question and subsequent discussion, the social issue and relevancy are delivered in a stunning, and often emotionally exhausting way. Bully is, without a doubt, not only a great piece of cinematic art but also a wake up call to its target audience. Bully, the newest film from Lee Hirsch and distributed by the Weinstein Company, seeks to shed light on just how bad the issue of bullying has become in the American educational system today. It follows the stories of families and individuals affected by bullying and does so in an engaging and emotional way. First off, Bully looks stunning. The aesthetics of the film are quite beautiful, utilizing a great sense of framing and deep focus. The cinematography is accompanied by a great minimalistic, almost ambient score. It can be haunting, yet never interferes with the emotional weight of the subject. The editing is great, with some notable cuts that have an almost disturbing sense of comedic timing. The high point of this type of timing comes from a delayed pause as a result of a school administrator scolding a victim instead of the bully. The film portrays exactly what the viewer feels at that point.
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Bully does not present a solution, but rather opens up the discussion for the rebuilding of our educational and parenting systems. The film does not pull any punches. It presents the acts of bullying and the effect it has on the families in a sobering way. Bully is a great piece of cinematic work. The hand-held camera and shifting focus works in a way that recalls both personal home movies and stark war films. This form is totally representational of the content. The opening scene intercuts the results of a suicide and home video of the victim in a gripping way. The serious tone does not really ever let up. The piece seeks not only to entertain, but to also force the viewer to look at what is going on. There are moments where the viewer wants the camera to pull back, but it cannot. It simply must document the events and present them to the viewer in a compelling way, no matter how painful it may be. It does have its emotional high points though. The film is not a completely dark piece. The ways in which the film portrays the victims of bullying and some of their optimistic attitudes can bring a smile to the viewer’s face. The film ends on a somewhat optimistic point. However, this never undercuts the reality of the lives lost to bullying. Thus, with the overall dark tone, a question must be raised. Who is the audience for Bully? The controversy surrounding the film’s original rating stemmed solely
from the fact that educators would not be able to screen the film in schools. While some content was reportedly cut from the film, there is still a considerable amount of harsh language and violence. The film has its emotional low points that leave the viewer at best worn out and at worst feeling like they have attended a funeral. While children are completely capable of emotional complexity and deeply intelligent thought processes, as the film portrays, the greatest value of the film will come not from showing it to children, but rather to adults. The discussions it will raise are pivotal in starting the change that needs to happen. The issues presented in the film are serious and complex. It is easy to write off the film for not really presenting any answers to the problems or presenting the point of view from the bully. These critiques completely miss the point. The problem lies deep within the foundation of our society. Bully does not present a solution, but rather opens up the discussion for the rebuilding of our educational and parenting systems. Simply put, people need to see this film. The only way that things can change is first through discussion. Bully opens up this opportunity in an engaging and entertaining way. •
Rfm fIlm focus: student moVIe ReVIews! Ritz Film Magazine welcomes Philadelphia area university students to submit movie reviews. We want to encourage young people to write and to give voice to what is being produced for the big screen. So if you are a university student who enjoys movies and writing, email abigail@ ritzfilmmag.com.
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solutIon to lAst Issue’s cRosswoRd Puzzle
47 North 3rd Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 | 215-923-0508 | www.margotcamille.com
26 MAY/JUNE 2012 ritzfilmmag.com
ask the Ritz Continued from page 7
priest played to perfection by Oliver Reed. Long unavailable in home market format due to its controversial nature, any legitimate release of The Devils is welcome to people who truly love cinema. The new DVD of The Devils, freshly out from the BFI (British Film Institute), features a beautiful scope transfer of the movie that shows off Derek Jarman’s fabulous sets, Shirley Russell’s grand costumes and, to the ear, Peter Maxwell Davies’ haunting score. Alas, the elements transferred by the BFI for this release were of the edited UK version of the movie (107 minutes) rather than what is believed to be the longest edition (which clocks in at 111 minutes). However, the editing and censorship history of The Devils is murky and terrifyingly vast. With director Russell now dead, a definitive cut seems unlikely, and a great reason to celebrate the BFI edition. •
REACH PHILADELPHIA AREA’S MOST ADVENTUROUS RESIDENTS! Advertise in
Ritzfilm For advertising rates & Information, contact: Jamie Berman 610-609-1635 jamie@ritzfilmmag.com
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Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) Courtesy of Music Box Films.
now showing
Visit www.landmarktheatres.com for movie schedules and additional information.
the deeP Blue seA Director: Terence Davies | Run time: (Not Rated) 98 Minutes | Music Box Films
Director and co-writer Terence Davies’ (The House of Mirth) romantic drama The Deep Blue Sea is the story of a woman who risks everything for the man she loves. Forty-yearold Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz) has left a privileged life with her husband, Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale) in order to live with a young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston). But Hester and Freddie’s relationship is characterized by drunken rows; though their love life is passionate, they have little in common. When Freddie forgets her birthday, Hester attempts to kill herself. As a result, Hester’s husband reenters her life and offers her a second chance with him, which Hester refuses. Freddie leaves and Hester decides to face her uncertain future alone. Based on Terrence Rattigan’s play of the same name, The Deep Blue Sea is a painful, uncompromising study of the fear of loneliness and the frustratingly unreliable nature of love. BULLY ........................................................... 29
MARLEY ........................................................ 35
DAMSELS IN DISTRESS ............................... 34
MONSIEUR LAZHAR..................................... 33
DARLING COMPANION ................................ 36
MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL.... 34
THE DEEP BLUE SEA ................................... 28
MOONRISE KINGDOM ............................... 37
ELLES ............................................................ 36
SOUND OF MY VOICE ................................ 33
FREE MEN ..................................................... 30
TO ROME WITH LOVE .................................. 30
THE HUNTER ................................................ 31
TURN ME ON, DAMMIT! ............................... 37
THE KID WITH A BIKE .................................. 29
WE HAVE A POPE ......................................... 32
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BULLY Film Still Steelers 2012. The Weinstein Company. Alex Libby Guy Catoul (Jérémie Renier) and Cyril (Thomas Doret) in Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s THE KID WITH A BIKE. Photo credit: Christine Plenus. A Sundance Selects release.
BULLY Director: Lee Hirsch Run time: (NR) 99 Minutes | Weinstein
Directed by Sundance and Emmy-award winning filmmaker Lee Hirsch, Bully is a beautifully cinematic, character-driven documentary. At its heart are those with huge stakes in this issue whose stories each represent a different facet of America’s bullying crisis. Filmed over the course of the 2009/2010 school year, Bully follows five kids and families in that time, revealing a problem that transcends geographic, racial, ethnic and economic borders. Stories include two families who have lost children to suicide and a mother awaiting the fate of her 14-year-old daughter who has been incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus. With an intimate glimpse into homes, classrooms, cafeterias and principals’ offices, the film offers insight into the often cruel world of the lives of bullied children.
the kId wIth A BIke Directors: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne Run time: (NR) 87 Minutes | IFC
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, the deeply moving new film by brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (L’Enfant, Rosetta) delves into the emotional life of troubled 11-yearold Cyril, played with riveting intensity by newcomer Thomas Doret. When his father (Jérémie Renier) abandons him, Cyril at first refuses to admit it, claiming his father just forgot to say where he was going. Eventually forced to face hard reality, Cyril then obsessively tries to get his bicycle back (also missing). Almost by accident, he becomes the ward of a kind hairdresser (Cécile de France, Hereafter, L’Auberge Espanole), a woman who seems surprised to find herself so determined to help him. (Fully subtitled)
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Alec Baldwin as John and Jesse Eisenberg as Jack. Photo by Philippe Antonello (c) Gravier Productions, Inc., Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
now showing
TO ROME wIth loVe Director: Woody Allen Sony Picture Classics
To Rome With Love is a romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film is set in Italy. The film features an ensemble cast, and Allen himself in his first acting role since 2006’s Scoop. The film features various vignettes, telling different characters’ stories of the love, fun, trouble and tribulations that different people find themselves in. Features Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz and Ellen Page, among others.
FREE MEN
Leila (LUBNA AZABAL)
Director: Ismaël Ferroukhi Run time: (NR) 99 Minutes Film Movement
The dramatic thriller Free Men is set in German-occupied Paris of 1942, where a young unemployed Algerian named Younes (Tahar Rahim, the break-out star of A Prophet) earns his living as a black marketeer. Arrested by the French police but given a chance to avoid jail, Younes agrees to spy on the Paris Mosque. The police suspect the Mosque authorities, including its rector Ben Ghabrit (Michael Lonsdale, Of Gods and Men), of aiding Muslim Resistance agents and helping North African Jews by giving them false certificates. At the Mosque, Younes meets the Algerian singer Salim Halali (Mahmoud Shalaby), and is moved by his beautiful voice and strong personality. When Younes discovers that Salim is Jewish, he stops collaborating with the police and gradually transforms from a politically ignorant immigrant into a fully-fledged freedom fighter. Also starring Lubna Azabal (Incendies) and Christopher Buchholz. Directed and co-written by Ismaël Ferroukhi (Le Grand Voyage). (Fully subtitled)
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Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill in THE HUNTER, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
the hunteR From the producers of the Academy Award-nominated independent hit Animal Kingdom comes The Hunter, a gorgeously photographed, taut psychological drama about the human condition, the choices we make and the implications they have. Willem Dafoe stars as Martin, a skilled and ruthless mercenary sent into the rugged, mysterious Tasmanian wilderness on a hunt for a tiger believed to be extinct. Hired by an anonymous company that wants the tiger’s genetic material, Martin arrives in Tasmania posing as a scientist. He proceeds to set up base camp at a broken-down farmhouse, where he stays with a family whose father has gone missing. Usually a loner, Martin becomes increasingly close to the family; however, as his attachment to the family grows, Martin is led down a path of unforeseen dangers, complicating his deadly mission. Sam Neill and Frances O’Connor co-star. Written by Alice Addison and directed by Daniel Nettheim, based on the bestselling novel by author/filmmaker Julia Leigh.
Jim McHugh. mcillustrator.com
Director: Daniel Nettheim | Run time: (R) 101 min | Magnolia
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Image courtesy of IFC Films.
now showing
we hAVe A PoPe Director: Nanni Moretti | Run time: (NR) 105 Minutes | IFC
Nanni Moretti (The Son’s Room, Caro Diario) joins forces with the great French actor Michel Piccoli (Contempt, Belle de Jour) to tell the story of Melville, a cardinal who suddenly finds himself elected as the next Pope. Never the front runner and completely caught off guard, he panics as he’s presented to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. To prevent a worldwide crisis, the Vatican’s spokesman calls in an unlikely psychiatrist who is neither religious nor all that committed, played by Moretti, to find out what is wrong with the new Pope. As the world nervously waits outside, inside the therapist tries to find a solution. But Cardinal Melville is adamant: he does not want the job, or at least needs time to think it over. What follows is a marvelous insight into the concept of a human being existing behind the title of God’s representative on Earth. We Have a Pope is the latest film by Moretti to make wonderful use of humor while dealing with serious issues and continue to showcase his deep humanism.
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Marie-Frédérique (Marie-Eve Beauregard) and Bachir Lazhar (Fellag) (Courtesy of Music Box Films)
monsIeuR lAzhAR Director: Philippe Falardeau Run time: (PG-13) 94 Minutes Music Box
In Montreal, an elementary school teacher dies abruptly. Having learned of the incident in the newspaper, Bachir Lazhar (Fellag), a 55-year-old Algerian immigrant, goes to the school to offer his services as a substitute teacher. Quickly hired to replace the deceased, he finds himself in an establishment in crisis, while going through his own personal tragedy. While the class goes through the healing process, and Bachir learns to better know this group of shaken but endearing kids, nobody in the school is aware of Bachir’s painful past; nor do they suspect that he is at risk of being deported at any moment. Adapted from “Bashir Lazhar,” a play by Evelyne de la Chenelière, Monsieur Lazhar depicts the encounter between two distant worlds and the power of self-expression. (Fully subtitled)
Image courtesy of Sony Classics
sound of my VoIce Director: Zal Batmanglij Run time: (R) 86 Minutes | Sony Classics
In the mystery drama Sound of My Voice, Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius), a couple and documentary filmmaking team, infiltrate a mysterious group led by an enigmatic young woman named Maggie (co-writer Brit Marling, Another Earth). Intent on exposing her as a charlatan and freeing the followers from her grip, Peter and Lorna start to question their objective and each other as they unravel the secrets of Maggie’s underworld. Sound of My Voice is the directorial debut of co-writer Zal Batmanglij.
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now showing
Carrie MacLemore as Heather and Billy Magnussen as Thor Photo by Kerry Brown, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
Cohen Media
monty Python And the holy GRAIl ReIssue Directors: Terry Gilliam & Terry Jones | Run time: (PG) 89 min Cohen Media
It’s Square Pegs at the Round Table as England’s zaniest humorists take on the Middle Ages and convert Arthurian legend into uncontrollable lunacy! Written and performed by all your favorites— Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin—Monty Python and the Holy Grail has been fully re-mastered in high definition and now includes the new, never-before-seen 12-minute short feature “Terry Gilliam’s Lost Animations.” If you’re already a fan (and name one person who’s seen it who isn’t!), you won’t want to miss the chance to enjoy the film the way it’s meant to be experienced—on the Big Screen, in a movie theater, with other die-hard fans laughing at the gags (the clippety-clopping coconuts!) and reciting the dialog (“It’s just a flesh wound!”). And if you’ve never seen this comic masterpiece, you’re in for a very special treat.
dAmsels In dIstRess Director: Whit Stillman Run time: (PG-13) 99 Minutes Sony Classics
Writer/director Whit Stillman’s (Barcelona, Metropolitan) comically deadpan and charming film Damsels in Distress follows a trio of beautiful girls who set out to revolutionize life at a grungy East Coast College—the dynamic leader Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig), principled Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and sexy Heather (Carrie MacLemore). They welcome transfer student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) into their group which seeks to help severely depressed students with a program of good hygiene and musical dance numbers. The girls become romantically entangled with a series of men—including slick Charlie (Adam Brody), dreamboat Xavier (Hugo Becker) and the mad frat pack of Frank (Ryan Metcalf) and Thor (Billy Magnussen)—who threaten the girls’ friendship and sanity.
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Bob Marley in a scene from MARLEY, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
MARLEY Director: Kevin Macdonald | Run time: (PG-13) 145 min | Magnolia
Bob Marley’s universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. Director Kevin Macdonald’s(One Day In September, The Last King of Scotland) documentary Marley is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best. Marley is the story of a towering figure of musical history, whose music and message has transcended different cultures, languages and creeds to resonate around the world today as powerfully as when he was alive.
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now showing
dARlInG comPAnIon
Anne (Juliette Binoche) with her son and husband (Louis-Do de Lencquesaing)
In Lawrence Kasdan’s (The Big Chill, Body Heat) drama Darling Companion, Beth (Diane Keaton) saves a bedraggled lost dog from the side of the freeway on a wintry day in Denver. Struggling with her distracted, self-involved husband Joseph (Kevin Kline) and an empty nest at home, Beth forms a special bond with the rescued animal. When Joseph loses the dog after a wedding at their vacation home in the Rockies, the distraught Beth enlists the help of the few remaining guests and a mysterious young woman (Ayelet Zurer) in a frantic search. Each member of the search party is affected by the adventure, which takes them in unexpected directions—comic, harrowing, sometimes deeply emotional and ultimately towards love.
elles Director: Malgoska Szumowska | Run time: (NC-17) 96 Minutes | Kino Lorber
“Juliette Binoche, surely one of the most inquisitive and daring actors working in cinema today, plays Anne, a wife, mother and—most importantly—a journalist currently researching an article about student prostitution for the French edition of ELLE magazine. Anne finds herself drawn to two young women: a down-on-her-luck Polish student (Joanna Kulig) and a French girl (Anaïs Demoustier) who comes from one of Paris’ many anonymous housing projects. Both women have entered the sex trade for different reasons, and as they open up to Anne, we are allowed glimpses of the reality of their work. Meanwhile, Anne is forced to confront the bourgeois reality of her own life, where her husband seems married to his cellphone and her son to his PlayStation. The sordid scenes of various sexual deviations and couplings play out against the humor and naturalness that both girls bring to their encounters with Anne, where they talk with complete frankness about their lives.” —Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival (Fully subtitled)
36 MAY/JUNE 2012 ritzfilmmag.com
Darling companion, A Sony Classics release
Director: Lawrence Kasdan Run time: (PG-13) 103 Minutes Sony Classics
Turn Me On, Dammit! Directed by Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
TURN ME ON, dAmmIt! Director: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen Run time: (NR) 75 Minutes New Yorker Films
The candid and wryly comic Turn Me On, Dammit! tells a story that is rarely if ever explored in films: the unbridled sexual appetite of a teenage girl. 15-year-old Alma (Helene Bergsholm) is consumed by her out-of-control hormones and fantasies that range from sweetly romantic images of Artur, the boyfriend she yearns for, to down-and-dirty daydreams about practically everybody she lays eyes on. Throughout, the complexities of Alma’s burgeoning sexuality and loneliness are compassionately rendered by writer/director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen with a frankness that always rings true, as does Bergsholm’s quietly moving performance as Alma. (Fully subtitled)
moonRIse kInGdom
Focus Features
Director: Wes Anderson Run time: (PG-13) 100 Minutes Focus Features
Moonrise Kingdom is the new movie directed by two-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Rushmore). Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, Moonrise Kingdom tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore—and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in every which way. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban; and introduces Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as Sam and Suzy, the boy and girl.
ritzfilmmag.com MAY/JUNE 2012 37
Head Over Heels With ‘Vertigo’
Doomed love, obsession, murder and an unresolved ending ...perfect ingredients for a cinematic masterpiece and hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ has them all. In this film, the devil is truly in the details; so here’s a chance to meet the devil eye-to eye and sort through the details. A note about the parenthetical preposition here... What inspires a crossword puzzle based on this film? nothing more than a bit of irony and a weekend case of ... yes, you guessed it ... vertigo. have fun!
By stuart Papavassiliou
ACROSS
DOWN
1. First she’s Madeleine, then she’s Carlotta and finally she’s…
1. Philadelphia-born character actor, he’s the coroner here, Two year’s before, he provoked little Rhoda in ‘The Bad Seed.’ Henry is his first name, what’s his last?
2. Object (as in person) of Madeleine’s obsession. 5. Called the Argosy in ‘Vertigo,’ this book shop is still on Sutter Street. 6. What Midge calls Scottie. 8. Bel Gedde’s role on ‘Dallas.’ Two words please.
2. Bell, Book and ......... Novak and Stewart made this film in the same year. 3. ‘Vertigo’s’ leading character is neither man nor woman. Who is it? 4. This Hitchcock protagonist was born here in PA in this city that sounds like a state.
10. Scottie’s last name.
7. California Palace for the Legion of ......
12. You can see this famous San Francisco landmark (hint, it’s a tower) from Scottie’s apartment.
8. Medicine for vertigo—generic form. 9. Costume designer’s first name, she ‘graced’ Kelly in ‘Rear Window’ as well.
14. Mission where it all happens: San Juan
11. Ranch where Bel Gedde’s lived in Dallas.
16. Elster’s profession?
13. Scottie also suffers from this.
20. From hotel owner to Grandma Walton. Full name.
15. Novak’s suit color. Legend has it this legend hated the color.
21 Liebel. He knows all about San Francisco.
17. Midge tells a shattered Scottie, “Mozart’s your ...”
22. The actor’s last name who played Elster.
18. This Howard was Bel Gedde’s second husband in ‘Dallas.’ He was never in a Hitchcock film, but belted many a Broadway tune on film.
25. This film, not ‘Vertigo’ won best picture and song at the 1959 Oscars. 28. This good cop lives on this crooked street.
19. This one’s tough: he did the special sequences in ‘Vertigo.’
29. Nickname for Marjorie—also Bel Gedde’s character.
23. Elster’s wife’s name?
30. Affectionate name for this leading man. Many thought he was a tad too old for this part.
24. This camera effect gives the illusion of having vertigo. What’s its brassy name? 25. Elster’s first name?
32. Clouzot beat out Hitch for the rights to this story.
26. Another film for actor who played Elster: ‘Designing .....’ (think 80s & 90s TV)
33. This leading lady is of Czech descent.
27. Madeleine’s ride is a green ‘57 one of these.
35. Another name for vertigo.
31. This actress was first considered for the role of Madeleine.
37. Where Gavin and his wife dine before the opera.
34. Shadowy figure in the final scene—causes Novak to jump.
38. In this film about doomed love, Herrmann gives an appropriate nod to his ‘Liebestod.’
36. He did the titles for both ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Psycho.’
Look for the answers in the next edition of Ritz Film Magazine.
Stuart Papavassiliou is a transplanted Texan who has lived in Philadelphia for the past 28 years. He is an editor of two commercial finance publications who suffers from an addiction to pre-1970s movies. He and his partner live in Fairmount.
38 MAY/JUNE 2012 ritzfilmmag.com