Film News 13 Aug 2007 04:14 pm
Still Crazy After All These Years
A combination of infrequent circumstances – including my reading of the Philadelphia City Paper – inspired me to travel downtown this weekend to visit the Ritz at the Bourse for the first time since the chain had been bought out by Landmark Theatres. The reason? To catch a limited-engagement showing of the 1986 classic Labyrinth.
I hadn’t seen the movie in full in at least a decade, and like too much visual media from the 1980s, it doesn’t age perfectly. Labyrinth is a movie that makes it hard to believe that Jennifer Connelly ever won an Academy Award, impossible to believe that David Bowie went on to be a serious actor, and easy to believe that Jim Henson did some fabulous drugs. Even so, Henson’s homage to The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and a slew of other children’s stories is a wonderful bit of entertainment, and a must-see for Muppet fans and 80s nostalgists alike.
The Ritz, meanwhile, is happily continuing on with business as usual with the new landlords. The prices are still a bit high (then again, what movie theatre’s prices aren’t), the seats are still among the most comfortable around, and the clientele is still the most respectful in town. Too often I forgive the trespasses of the terrible AMC Marple 10 because of its location – an almost literal stone’s throw from my home – while the Ritz, a half-hour ride into the city, remains a sanctuary of good movie practices. It’s a relief to see that Landmark hasn’t changed the chain’s status as destination moviegoing.



