By Dave Montalbano
AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com
With the financial success of The Hangover Part II, Bridesmaids and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the movie industry is feeling confident that people are returning to the movie theaters, unlike last Memorial Day weekend, which pronounced the extinction of the community movie-going experience as we know it. For the next two months, moviegoers can enjoy the traditional summer blockbuster fare.
Off the beaten track at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery, one can find Born to Be Wild 3-D, a charming documentary about animal foster care in Borneo. On the six-story IMAX screen, one can watch as two courageous women take in orphan orangutans and elephants.
The visuals are pure poetry. We see elephants playing soccer. Older orangutans teach the younger orangutans the value of swinging from trees and vines. The most violent portion of this documentary is uttered from the lips of Morgan Freeman, who explains that these animals are orphaned because of the greed of poachers. Of all the movies released in 3-D this year, Born to Be Wild 3-D may be the most heart tugging.
Starting tonight and continuing through Sunday, the Ft. Lauderdale Interna-tional Film Festival Cinema Paradiso Theater presents its 2nd Annual Carrabba’s Italia Film Festa, featuring food, wine and 12 Italian films.
Among the highlights is Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning masterpiece La Strada, starring Anthony Quinn and Giulietta Masina as carnival gypsies. As a free Saturday Matinee, the theater will be screening Roberto Benigni’s Pinocchio, dubbed with the voices of Jim Belushi, Glenn Close and John Cleese.
This festa will also present recent award-winning and critically-acclaimed motion pictures from the boot-shaped peninsula:
20 Cigarettes/20 Sigarette was recently honored at both the Venice and Dubai International Film Festivals. Anti-War protestor Aureliano Amadei is given the opportunity to go to Iraq as an assistant director. Ironically, Amadej becomes a victim of a suicide-truck bombing.
Martino’s Summer/L’Estate di Martino is a reflective drama featuring the terrorist attacks upon Italy during the Jimmy Carter Summer of 1980. Starring Treat Williams, this drama involves ghosts, surfing and personal redemption.
