By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The Last of the Unjust opens tomorrow. It is an almost four-hour interview conducted in German with English subtitles about “Theresienstadt,” Adolph Eichmann’s plan for the “Jewish Ghetto” in Germany during World War II. If you long for an in-depth interview from a wise old man who experienced both horror and compassion first hand, then The Last of the Unjust is the film for you.

The central figure is Benjamin Murmelstein, the last Elder of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council. For six years, Murmelstein negotiated with Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann for the survival of the Jewish people. As Hitler increased the extermination of the Jewish people with the Final Solution, Murmelstein witnessed the lynching of his kinsmen in the courtyard of Theresienstadt.

The film is too long for its own good, with many lingering shots of European modern architecture. Critics have condemned Murmelstein’s deadpan delivery about the horrors he witnessed. Yet, if you take time to watch the film, you will be rewarded by a pure intellectual experience. By not wearing his heart on his sleeve, Murmelstein’s stoic delivery enhances his eyewitness testimony.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Sixty-nine years ago this week, the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated. As that generation of survivors leave us, the responsibility of this brutal history falls upon future generations. Filmed in Poland with English subtitles, After math (Poklosie) tackles this theme about generational responsibility to the truth.

After making a living in Chicago for 20 years, Franc (Ireneusz Czop) the prodigal brother returns to his hometown in Poland. His brother, Jozek (Maciej

Stuhr) has stayed behind, buried their parents and maintained the farm. Feeling guilty for being away, Franc notes the strange behavior between the village people and Jozek.

Aftermath unravels like a good mystery, enhanced by writer/ director Wladyslaw Pasikowski’s concise direction and clear cinematography. The revelation is horrifying and personal, but is a worthy climax, guaranteed to inspire discussion. Aftermath opens tomorrow in local theaters.

Saving Mr. Banks wraps up its theatrical run shortly with a lukewarm box office. A muchanticipated Christmas Day release, this film has been a disappointment on the awards circuit, with Emma Thompson garnering most notice for her work as P.L. Travers, the author of the children’s classic Mary Poppins.

For almost three decades, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) attempted to produce Mary Poppins as a piece of cinema for his daughters, but P.L. Travers did not want to see her books be corrupted. Facing financial difficulties, Travers finally relents and flies to California to workshop Mary Poppins. With her nose high in the air, Travers creates continuous obstacles for the Walt Disney Imagineers. Underneath her frosty exterior, lies the pain of Travers’ tragic childhood.

Saving Mr. Banks is a film full of historical and subtle details. Given that Walt Disney died of lung cancer, he is introduced in the film with an offstage cough, later he is caught smoking a cigarette. During one dramatic scene in his office, a map of Florida is seen in the background with little flags placed around the Orlando region.

Twenty-two years ago, my buddy Bonnie took her daughters to go see Turner & Hooch, only to traumatized by the ending of this Tom Hanks movie. She told me that Saving Mr. Banks sabotaged her original feelings for Mary Poppins, which means that Aftermath would be too intense for her. However if one is seeking pure drama as an alternative to this Super Bowl weekend, then Saving Mr. Banks & Aftermath will provide a fine diversion.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When I was 16, I watched the Steven Spielberg all-star comedy 1941 twice, awed by the impressive visuals and John Williams musical score. I implored my surrogate grandfather, Ed Herma, to see this movie. His response was something like, “What would John Belushi and his friends know about World War II?” Now that I am member of the Half Century Club, I think about Ed Herma’s words when I watch movies from my personal history, most notably American Hustle and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Both films are dominating the awards’ circuit this season. Both are revisionist history, both contain appropriate soundtracks of forgotten songs and both films are entertaining, if a bit long for their own good.

American Hustle opens with our protagonist (really can’t call him a hero) Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) tending to his comb-over. With government agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) and girlfriend Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), Rosenfeld is participating in a sting operation to bring down New Jersey politicians. Eventually, the list of suspects grows bigger and bigger and includes fake Arab sheiks, organized crime lords and members of the 96th session of the United States Congress.

“Some of this actually happened” are the opening words of writer/director David O. Russell’s current opus. Russell recruits actors from his previous award-winning features (The Fighter –Adams, Bale, Silver Linings Playbook – Cooper, Lawrence) and creates a refreshing homage to the malaise of the Carter Administration. American Hustle is not about the facts, but contains truthful moments about 1978, from the hairy chested machismo influence of Burt Reynolds to psychological revelations inspired by Dr. Wayne Dyer.

The Wolf of Wall Street feels like the spiritual continuation of American Hustle, only with more in-your-face-decadence directed by Martin Scorsese. We see the rise of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), a stock broker who makes a fortune selling penny stocks to naive investors. With each financial success, Belfort descends into spiritual decline so symbolic of the exuberance of the roaring ‘90s.

This film is fascinating, with plenty of debauchery. DiCaprio played a similar role in The Great Gatsby, but, this time, the actor performs slapstick in a scene worthy of Jerry Lewis or Jim Carrey. As one of Belfort’s wives, unknown Margot Robbie shines in an ensemble cast that features Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler and Jonah Hill.

Gimme Shelter opens tomorrow. Vanessa Hudgens portrays a homeless teenager who discovers she’s pregnant. Based on a true story, Hudgens is supported by Brendan Fraser, James Earl Jones and Rosario Dawson, who plays the mother-fromhell.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The Steve Martin/Eddie Murphy film Bowfinger was my first Observer movie review 15 years ago. It was a positive review, but I noted the tepid box office and how this film would have been a bigger hit a few years prior when the duo were stronger in the box office. The same could be said about Grudge Match, the Robert DeNiro & Sylvester Stallone boxing comedy.

Despite a shaky beginning, Grudge Match is an entertaining motion picture and both actors spoof their iconic images with gravitas. The story has some depth; the ensemble cast consisting of Kevin Hart, Kim Basinger & Alan Arkin give Grudge Match a warm heart. As time has been good to Bowfinger, when it plays on TV, time will also be a friend to Grudge Match.

This weekend, the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and Cinema Paradiso (Ft. Lauderdale and Hollywood) begin 2014 with a tribute to Keir Dullea, the actor best known as astronaut Dave Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dullea made his film debut as a juvenile delinquent in Hoodlum Priest in 1961. Through the ‘60s, he drew critical notice for his performances in Bunny Lake is Missing and David and Lisa. In later years, Dullea could be found in motion pictures with a distinctive cult following, most notably Black Christmas, DeSade and The Good Shepherd directed by Robert DeNiro. He and his wife, Mia Dillion, often perform on the New York stage.

This Saturday, film historian Foster Hirsch will host a Q & A with Dullea, who will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. It is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but double check as the times have fluctuated … 954-525- FILM or www.fliff.com.

The inaugural Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival begins Friday at the Hyatt Regency Miami with an awards ceremony held on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Oscar-winning special effects producer Dean Lyon (Lord of the Rings) will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Of the many films being shown this weekend, NI-28 Strate-1 is one to mark on the calendar. Filmed in the Pacific Island nation of New Caledonia, NI-28 Strate-1 is independent filmmaking at its best, basically a “chase” film with a dark message about the zombie apocalypse. For schedule and pricing, visit http://miscifi.com.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Top 10 films of 2013

(in reverse alphabetical order)

Still Mine

One Chance

Lone Survivor

The Lone Ranger

Gravity

Frozen

42

The Conjuring

CinemAbility

American Hustle

Honorable mention:

(These might not have been technical masterpieces, but these films had something to say…)

Wolf of Wall Street

Star Trek Into Darkness

Philomena

Metallica Through the Never

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Great Gatsby

Flight of the Butterflies 3D

Comedy Warriors

Bianca Nieves

Before Midnight

All is Lost

2014 looks like a tentative year compared to the franchise blockbusters planned for 2015, with the release of Star Wars: Episode VII, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avatar sequel and a James Bond movie. Yet, when the award season wraps up after the Winter Olympic Games, there will be some fascinating movies opening up (maybe not as dramatic as Florida State Seminoles Championship Game, but fascinating nonetheless).

George Clooney directs and leads an all-star cast in The Monuments Men, in which a team of soldiers rescue art from the destruction of World War II. 300: Rise of an Empire is graphic artist Frank Miller’s story about the Spartan’s ancient conflict with Persia before Jesus Christ was born. Frank Miller’s much anticipated film noir anthology, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For opens in August with most of the ensemble cast returning.

Comic books and graphic novels have proven to be reliable box office hits, with 2014 exploiting full potential. X-Men Days of Future Past combines the ensemble of actors from all six of the XMen movies. April sees Chris Evans return in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with Robert Redford as a government liberal.

For non-comic book aficionados, Clint Eastwood steps behind the scenes to direct Jersey Boys. Based on the Broadway hit show, Jersey Boys details Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons’ rise in the music industry. Christopher Walken portrays a mobster/ mentor.

In terms of local events, the 19th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival will resume the first week in April, while Fatality Fest is scheduled to compete with the 29th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival in October. The locally-produced Fright Asylum has completed its 7th year. With founder Woody Meckes and co-host Manny Colon, I have joined Fright Asylum as a semi-regular inmate.

Reporting on films for 15 years for the Observer has been a joy that has allowed me to branch into a variety of projects in public performance and writing. Besides funding Steve Hunter’s The Manhattan Blues Project, my latest book Davy Jones & the Heart of Darkness would not have been created without the discipline of writing a column each week. This month, I have begun editing my latest book, a Christian horror novel about an aging actress, that I hope to publish this year. As long as I keep receiving positive feedback from my neighbors, I will keep writing in the South Florida community.

Thank you, dear reader, for sharing the ride.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

2013 has shown that the youth and family markets drive the box office dollar. The Top 5 box office motion pictures, Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel and Monsters University had a cumulative gross of nearly $2 billion.

With rising ticket prices, consumers are being pickier than ever. Social Media can destroy a motion picture before it can get out of the gate, witness The Lone Ranger.

A success two years ago (Machete) became one of the biggest box office bombs of the year (Machete Kills). Harrison Ford seemed to be on career redemption with 42, but he contributed to two of the biggest box office flops of the year, Paranoia and Ender’s Game.

Film festivals and conventions are becoming more and more important to the film industry. The major studios targeted the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) with Nebraska, starring Bruce Dern, and August: Osage County, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Gregory von Hausch, president and FLIFF CEO, managed to produce the best local film festival in five years. It helped that the celebrities he invited this year were Class Acts.

Class Acts are hard to find in the entertainment industry, most individuals are very self-centered. Lea Thompson, John Shea, Stephen Moyer, Tab Hunter and Ann Margaret proved to be Class Acts by living up to fan expectations and having grace under pressure at FLIFF. Behind the scenes, the volunteers and Cyndi Boyar helped make FLIFF run smooth.

Pain is a rude awakening from grief. Last January, my chronic back pain got the best of me and I have spent all of 2013 treating it. Besides reading my column on a regular basis, Dr. Thomas Goberville has gotten at the root cause of my problem, prescribing regular physical therapy. Thanks to the Angels at MedDiagnostic Rehab, I was released last Friday.

Any sense of self pity was knocked out of my psyche when the Palm Beach International Film Festival presented the documentary Comedy Warriors. Severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, these wounded warriors found therapy in making others laugh.

This lesson was reinforced at FLIFF with the screening of the documentary Cine- Ability featuring local Class Act and now BackStage Angel, Danny Murphy. This excellent documentary looks at how Hollywood views people with disabilities. When CinemAbility ends, one realizes that everybody faces hardship. How one reacts to such hardship defines if they are a winner or loser in life.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

In storytelling, the most affecting tragedy includes the tears of a clown. Shakespeare includes comic relief even in his tragedies. The terror of the original “Wicker Man” is made more horrific by the goofy characters and cheesy music that is played previously. Given his work in Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters, Mrs. Henderson presents… and The Queen, director Stephen Frears knows how to balance the humor and sadness of Philomena.

When journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) loses his high profile job with a national newspaper in Great Britain, he begins slumming in “human interest stories.” Given his international career covering the fall of the Soviet Union, Sixsmith finds “human in- terest” stories beneath his standards. Desperate for income, Sixsmith gets in contact with Philomena (Judi Dench).

When she was a naive teenager visiting the county fair, Philomena had a son out of wedlock. Without parental support, Philomena is forced into indentured servitude at a Catholic nunnery. When the boy is born, Philomena’s maternal instincts kick in. One day, rich parents from Washington D.C. adopt Philomena’s boy, while the heartbroken mother continues to fulfill her medical debt to the nunnery. Fifty years later, Philomena wants to know what happened to her baby boy.

With a mystery afoot, Sixsmith and Philomena uncover clues. Why is there an unkempt graveyard of young mothers and premature babies? How does the Reagan Administration fit into this mystery? Philomena answers these and many more questions, but it is personal resentment and human interest that form this core mystery of evil. As Philomena, Judi Dench will provide Meryl Streep competition during awards season. Dench retains the grit from her previous acting challenges as Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria, but with Philomena, the actress reveals a vulnerability not seen in many decades.

Best known from his British comedy performances, Steve Coogan co-wrote and produced this film. With low key precision as the straight man, Coogan lets Dame Judi Dench shine without shadow. With Philomena,

Coogan enters the next stage of British Royal filmmaking.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

This month marks the 15th and last December thatMuvico Pompano will be in existence. Carmike Cinemas will take over ownership of Muvico in January.

Pioneered by Hamid Hashemi, Muvico brought back a sense of grandeur and elegance to the cinema-going experience. When ousted by the company that he built, Hashemi vowed to return and now owns the iPic Theater in Mizner Plaza. Hashemi’s commitment to the South Florida movie-going experience has created competition that forced rival theater chains to raise their games as related to customer service.

It’s the holiday season, Dear Reader, take the time to see a good film this week and next. Merry Christmas!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Forty one years ago, WPIX Channel 11 in New York broadcast Hans Christian Andersen, a MGM musical with lyrics by Frank Loesser and starring Danny Kaye in the title role. Originally, the film was to be a collaboration between MGM and Walt Disney animation, but two decades of business negotiations fell through and the studios developed their own projects.

Walt Disney Productions stuck with animation and developed the Oscar-winning The Little Mermaid, which has become culturally significant for the past three decades. Taking a dark fairy tale like The Snow Queen and mixing it with the Disney touch, Frozen has created a Hans Christian Andersen renaissance and is easily the best holiday motion picture for 2013.

The film opens in a magical kingdom that looks suspiciously like Denmark. Princesses Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) love each other. However, big sister Elsa is a mutant who can shoot frost out of her fingertips. When Elsa frosts Anna’s brain and distorts her little sister’s memory, the king and queen teach the future Snow Queen to isolate herself from the world. These royal actions are observed on the sidelines by young Kristoff (Jonathan Groff) and his not-so-magical reindeer.

It is during Queen Elsa’s coronation that disaster occurs. Anna announces her impulsive engagement to a charming prince and Elsa flees into the forest to build her own ice castle. Anna recruits Kristoff in a vain attempt to get Elsa to return to the magical kingdom. With Queen Elsa and Princess Anna out of town, passive-aggressive evil brews.

One of the most overwhelming days that Disneyworld Orlando confronted this year was “Villain’s Day,” in which the Magic Kingdom was forced to stop admission. Given that The Snow Queen was one of Hans Christian Andersen’s premier villains, one expected Frozen to have sympathy for the devil. However, the dynamic between sisters keeps the villainy on a human level. In fact, it is good intentions and miscommunication that propels the plot.

The animation is filled with visual poetry, with the snowy landscapes invoking childhood Christmas season memories. There are some thrilling action sequences when Kristoff battles the Snow Beast or when the hero’s sleigh comes cliff-hangingly close to danger. There are enough action sequences to interest a father who has to babysit his kids.

Expect the song “Let it Go” to be Oscar-nominated for best song; it is a ballad tour de force sung by Idina Menzel and covered by Demi Lovato. From the breath taking opening to the clever post-credit closing gag, Frozen has all the entertaining qualities to melt one’s heart.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

After a drought of almost two decades, the Thanksgiving Box Office broke records last weekend. The one-two combination of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen proved to be indomitable family entertainment.

A film that continues Suzanne Collins’ Young Adult novel series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was buoyed by additional screenings at Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery’s IMAX.

After their unique victory in their first movie, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) fulfill their obligatory celebrity roles. Through their victory, Katniss and Peeta have sparked a quiet political evolution against the president (Donald Sutherland) and his oppressive policies. Thepresident recruits Plutarch Heavensbee (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) as his trusted advisor to quell the rebellion.

Although the first half drags a bit, these expository scenes set up the arch of the trilogy. When the games begin, character and story intensity pick up with personal violence and hidden character motives. Like The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, this is an entertaining middle film that promises a fine conclusion.

On the smaller screen at the Florida Atlantic University Living Room Theater, one can have an intimate experience with Italy’s Le Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty). Director Paolo Sorrentino tells the tale of Jep (Toni Servillo), a 65- year-old man who is tired of living in “La Dolce Vita” culture since the 1960s. Having written an influential novelette decades ago, Jep lives a shallow life in which he has lived off the reputation of his book. He undergoes a spiritual revelation when he meets a nun his age who has lived a life of chastity and poverty.

For local interest, don’t miss Bettie Page Reveals All, a documentary featuring the iconic Pin-Up girl and a bit of Boca Raton history. We learn that Bettie attended “Bibletown” (now Boca Raton Community Church) and she shot her famous jungle photos a few blocks south in the old Africa- U.S.A. park (now a housing development). Narrated by Bettie, Bettie Page Reveals All is a documentary of contrasts.

Throughout the movie, we see her glamour in various stages of dress and undress. Yet through the dead pan narration, we learn about Bettie’s battles with abuse, censorship and her own mental illness. Not seen since her spicy photographs from the 1950s, Bettie narration is hauntingly off-camera. While the woman embraces her sexual legacy, her deep-voiced southern drawl presents a warning to naïve young people everywhere.