By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

In the midst of covering the 28th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and the 30th Miami Book Fair International, one of the most asked questions I heard was, “Have you seen Captain Phillips?

Captain Phillips has Oscar nomination written all over it. It is a big story about an international incident circa 2009. It features Oscar winner Tom Hanks acting his heart out as the title character, with lesser-known actors adding believable menace to our everyday hero. So is Captain Phillips another manufactured Oscar contender like The Butler? Hardly. Captain Phillips captures the claustrophobic despair of being a hostage.

The Captain skippers a cargo ship of charitable supplies off the African coast. When the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama is hijacked by Somali pirates, Captain Phillips must utilize his wits to save his crew. What was supposed to be a routine kidnapping for these thugs, becomes a global television affair involving the U.S. Navy. Perhaps if these pirates read Davy Jones & the Heart of Darkness, they would not have gotten involved in such a disastrous venture.

Best known for his work on the overrated Bourne amnesia spy movies, the director Paul Greengrass, who was Oscar-nominated for United 93, a movie about the 9/11 plane crash. Thanks to Greengrass, the intensity of Captain Phillips never lets up as a human story. When violence occurs, it is sudden, explosive and quick. One movie that no one mentioned to me was Escape Plan, the Sylvester Stallone – Arnold Schwarzenegger buddy movie. This team-up has been three decades in the making, though diffused by the Sylvester- Arnold Expendables of recent years. Escape Plan is pure Saturday matinee afternoon escapism.

Ray Breslin (Stallone) makes a living breaking out inescapable prisons and has written a book about the subject. After a successful payday, Breslin is kidnapped and sent to the Tomb, a prison of his own design. The villainous prison warren (Jim Cavielzel) is a student of Breslin and has an odious henchman (Vinnie Jones) do his evil bidding for him. Fortunately, Breslin befriends Emil Rottmayer (Arnold), a convict who rules the prison yard. The two team up to plan an audacious escape.

Despite a too-pat ending, Escape Plan works as an action thriller. To the credit of Summit Entertainment Marketing executives, the trailer did not reveal important plot twists and surprises. The two 60-year-old action icons provide some edge-of-your-seat moments with humor. While Captain Phillips is an Oscar contender, Escape Plan is a lot of fun.

Italy’s Oscar selection for Best Foreign movie, Great Beauty, opens tomorrow. The Observer will have a full review in next week’s edition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With the 150th anniversary of “The Gettysburg Address” and the 50th anniversary of the last presidential assassination this week, both Abraham Lincoln & John F. Kennedy (see more pg. 6) will be forever linked by the ironies of history.

Both men held a love for the written word. The celebration of the written word continues with the 30th Anniversary of the Miami Book Fair International, held Nov. 17-24.

Dan Brown, author of books like The DaVinci Code and Inferno, opened the festival Sunday evening with a lecture about how family life inspired him to becomeaninternationalbest-selling author. His dad was a math teacher, his mother a church organist. Filled with self deprecating humor, he also talked about working with Tom Hanks and Ron Howard on the set of the movie The DaVinci Code at the Louvre Museum, home of Leonardo DaVinci’s “Mona Lisa.” (See more, pg14)

With the production of cinematic classics like The Maltese Falcon, and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, director John Huston also carried a love for the written word. Beginning his career as a screenwriter, Huston’s coterie of houseguests included authors like Carson McCullers, Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck, who influenced his daughter, Oscar-winning actress Anjelica Huston.

Anjelica Huston’s body of work stands on its own with Prizzi’s Honor (directed by her father) earning her an academy award, and with movie roles as diverse as The Big Year, The Royal Tenenbaums andTheGrifters. For young people, she is best known as Morticia Addams in The Addams Family films. Recently, she added credibility to the TV show Smash with her role as Eileen Rand.

Huston will be discussing her memoir, “A Story Lately Told, Coming of Age in Ireland, London and New York,” on Friday evening. Besides acting and growing up with an eccentric father, Anjelica will discuss being a teenager and living in London during the swinging ‘60s, her forays into modeling and her earlier attempts at acting.

The beauty of the Miami Book Fair International is the opportunity for unknown authors to be discovered. It is covered by major news networks, and C-Span spends the weekend in their book mobile. This is why Cinema Dave will be setting up his first booth tomorrow in Section D – Writer’sRowwithmytwobooks, “The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World” and “Davy Jones & the Heart of Darkness.” With each book sale, customers will receive an artifact from “the Cave of Cinema Dave.”

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

On the surface, The 28th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival was a success. Honored actors Lea Thompson, John Shea, Finola Hughes and Tab Hunter were class acts; they showed up on time and were gracious with their fans. Legendary actor Ed Asner and band leader Pauly Cohen revealed that their star power has not faded. When Free Ride star Anna Paquin was forced to cancel, her husband (and True Blood co-star) Stephen Moyer, executive producer of the film, substituted and he was fanfriendly.

With screenings of Life is Beautiful, Black Swan and The Artist, FLIFF has a history of presenting future Oscar winners through the years. This year, the fest screened the inspirational biography One Chance, Bruce Dern’s performance was honored for his work on Nebraska, while Meryl Streep will likely continue her Oscar streak for her performance in August: Osage County.

The evening with Tab Hunter was particularly memorable. Brooklyn College film professor Foster Hirsch conducted an onstage interview with Hunter that covered his career. In the business since age 19, Hunter has reinvented himself for many generations. He was teen idol with a hit record that rivaled Elvis Presley, and a co-star to iconic leading men like Gary Cooper and John Wayne. Since coming out of the closet, Hunter has earned a new fan base with his autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential. As he exited the Cinema Paradiso spotlight, he received a standing ovation from the audience.

FLIFF acknowledged South Florida history with They Came from the Swamp, a documentary about William Grefe’s movies produced from the ‘60s to the ‘80s. With titles like Death Curse of Tartu, Sting of Death and Mako: Jaws of Death, these independent films were created on a shoestring budget with a loyal crew. Grefe’s knowledge of South Florida swamps led to consultant work on James Bond productions, most notably Sir Roger Moore’s first outing, Live and Let Die.

The Last Hit was named Best Florida Feature. Written by Lou Pappas (who is also the leading man), The Last Hit is a modern gangster/noir film about a hit man with a conscience. Filmed in our neighborhood, this film features FLIFF photographer Irwin Levenstein as an ornery gangster.

The final screening of Krissy Belle, another locallymade film directed by Alyn Darnay and starring writer Carole Wood, was held in the new Cinema Paradiso – Hollywood. This Art House Theater is so new that the paint is still drying on the wall. Located on Hollywood Boulevard, Cinema Paradiso – Hollywood is a great cultural addition to South Florida and is worth an excursion to the south county.

Behind the scenes, FLIFF suffered. One week before the gala, office manager Jane Moguillansky passed away. A lovable presence at Cinema Paradiso, Moguillansky had a keen eye for detail. Her loss reverberated throughout the festival.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Tomorrow, three motion pictures open with diverse stories that tackle the subject of survival. All is Lost is a tale of primal survival, Sunlight Jr. features a story about economic survival under the recession, and in Thor: The Dark World, the survival of the universe is at stake.

Robert Redford is “Our Man,” the only actor seen in All is Lost, a thriller about a man lost in the Indian Ocean. With the exception of one utterance of desperation, the only words spoken are in opening narration. For the next 106 minutes, we witness the Sisyphean efforts of “Our Man” trying to keep his boat afloat. The ending will inspire discussion for both sailors and landlubbers.

Redford is fantastic; he underplays brilliantly and spends most of All is Lost thinking of his next solution. In its simple storyline, All is Lost contains as much depth as Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Award-winning novel The Old Man and the Sea. Expect Oscar buzz for this film.

Sunlight Jr. is Florida Film Noir, featuring dark performances from Naomi Watts, Matt Dillon, Tess Harper and The Walking Dead’s leading man, Norman Reedus. Filmed in the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area, the poverty of Sunlight Jr. is interchangeable with the poverty of Downtown Ft. Lauderdale. Sunlight Jr. is a dark movie that goes from bad to worse.

Richie (Dillion) is a paraplegic who is married to Melissa (Watts), a clerk who works at a mini-mart called Sunlight Jr. Living in an efficiency apartment, the two obviously love each other, despite living from paycheck to paycheck. The couple is better off than her bloated Mom (Tess Harper) who raises white trash grandchildren. Richie and Melissa have one night of grace that leads to their most disastrous decision.

For pure Saturday Matinee popcorn-eating fun, go see Thor: The Dark World. The formula for fan favorite moments are there: three riproaring cameos, two post credit sequences that tease the next movie and provide a chuckle for those who wait. This film also features some fantastic visual sequences and cliff-hanging moments.

While it would help to review Thor and The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World is a stand-alone movie. Thor’s human love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) stumbles from the dark ages with the potential to destroy the entire universe. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) attempts to rescue, but first must enter in an alliance with his villainous brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston). For all of the fantastic set pieces, it is the character dynamic that makes this film this weekend’s predictable box office blockbuster. However, for quieter tastes, check out All is Lost.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

It is amazing to me that a culture like the film industry consistently makes films that are anti-Capitalist.

Based on a French novel by Stéphane Osmont, Capital is a film directed by Costa Gavras, an international director best known for left of center films like Missing, Z and State of Siege. Capital is multilingual with English subtitles.

The film opens on a golf course in which a bank CEO dies. Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh) becomes the heir apparent and flies to Ft. Lauderdale for a business deal. Upon returning, Marc is given the task of firing his employees to receive a substantial bonus. Tourneuil is your typical Woodstock hero — infidelity and stealing from the rich are morally correct, paying for your sins is considered stupid.

The Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival continues with some interesting screenings this weekend.

The Pin is a minimalist motion picture that takes place in two separate time periods set in either the countryside or the morgue. A Canadian motion picture in Yiddish with English subtitles, The Pin is a tale about a Shomer, a religious watchman who is responsible for guarding the recently deceased. As fate would have it, this Shomer is reunited with the corpse of this long, lost love. The film flashes back to more innocent times when they were refugees hiding in an abandoned farmhouse.

With a literate title, themes about cultural differences and shot composition worthy of a Guggenheim Art Museum, Chasing Shakespeare is your typical “festival” entry. Set in the west, it features a talented Native American who wants to perform Shakespearian monologues in a society that thinks that only pretty white girls should be allowed to perform. Graham Greene and Danny Glover are given strong supporting roles.

While not screened at press time, Alyn Darnay’s Krissy Belle makes its festival debut this weekend. A recently divorced Southern belle relocates to Latin real estate in Miami. Krissy Belle is played by Carole Wood.

More film noir than Halloween, The Insomniac traces the rise and fall of John Figg (Eddy Salazar), a victim of theft. The thief confiscated many of Figg’s personal items, and the protagonist starts an all-night vigil in an effort to catch the thief.

Happy Halloween!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

For three weeks, Gravity has been an anomaly during a typically slow time at the box office. This film should definitely be seen on the big screen to appreciate the nuances that director Alfonso Cuaron has incorporated into this film. Cuaron takes his time to open his movie; the pace is deliberately slow and all the action occurs within the frame of the shot. There is NO attention deficit disorder editing. When the action breaks loose, the audience is taken for the ride along with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Not since Space Station 3-D has a motion picture been created that makes one feel like they are in space.

The story of Gravity is very simple — an accident occurs and astronauts are stranded into space. The trailer may lead one to believe that Bullock and Clooney merely float around in space for 1 hour and 39 minutes; however, there is a variety of scenery and situations to keep one involved in the characters’ fates. With themes of survival, regret and loneliness, Gravity is one of the best movies of 2013. See it on the big screen in 3-D to appreciate the wonder.

Sandra Bullock is the voice of Golda Meir in the documentary The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers, which is given its world premier this weekend at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival. Part of a historical series of documentaries by Academy Award-winner Richard Trank, The Prime Ministers reveals details of the “Six-Day” and “Yom Kippur” wars. This film also examines the strategic relationship between Israel and the United States.

Best known for playing in the soap opera General Hospital and as the “bad girl” in Staying Alive, Finola Hughes is in town for The Bet, sponsored by FLIFF anchors Janet Leavy Schwartz & Irwin Levenstein. Hughes steps behind the lens to direct her first featured film.

The Bet is a family comedy that looks at dating relationships from three generations: teen years, middle age and senior romance. Grandpa is concerned about his grandson’s slow romantic development, so he engages the young lad in a bet — who will be the first to seduce a lady?

On Tuesday Oct. 29, Tab Hunter will attend a screening of John Walters’ trash classic, Polyester. The festival director has gone to great expense to obtain “Odorama Cards” to enhance (or destroy) the cinematic experience. If he survives this screening, Hunter will be interviewed by scholar Foster Hirsch. Hunter is scheduled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

With Halloween approaching, House Across the Street and the William Grefe documentary They Came from the Swamp will be two FLIFF entries.

Halloween season would not be complete without a visit to Fright Asylum (www.frightasylum.com). Episode 215 features Woody & Manny with a “special house guest” who does not want to leave the Asylum.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Cyndi Boyar is a backstage angel who is a miracle worker for celebrities visiting South Florida.

With work-ethic and skill, this celebrity makeup artist has turned ugly ducklings into red carpet swans.

For this year’s 28th Annual Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF), Boyar’s name will be front and center for two events — the romantic comedy The Trouble with the Truth, featuring Lea Thompson and John Shea, who will be at the screening at Muvico Pompano on Sunday at 2:30 p.m., and the documentary Taking Charge – The Pauly Cohen Story, for which Cohen is scheduled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 26 at the Sunrise Civic Center. This documentary, centered around Cohen’s 90th birthday, features footage of a master class at Florida International University with the Studio Big Band and uses archive footage featuring the young trumpet player learning from his mentors — Dizzy Gillespie, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw and Charlie Barnett (he also performed with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett). After the movie screening, the Pauly Cohen Orchestra will be conducting a LIVE Big Band concert.

Boyar wrote about her involvement with this film: “…working in the film industry, I wanted to give back and support my local film festival. I contacted Greg [Von Hausch – FLIFF president and CEO]; [he told me] what films were coming with a list of celebrities attached to them … As soon as I saw Lea Thompson’s name, I was interested. It was important to me that the film would appeal to a wide audience. The Trouble with the Truth fits the bill.”

Danny Murphy is also a local and has a new film premiering called CinemAbility screening this Saturday night at 7:45 p.m. at Muvico Pompano. This documentary looks at the cinematic history of disability portrayals, from Charlie Chaplin’s silent films to the blockbuster X-Men series. A quadriplegic since the age of 19, Murphy makes regular appearances in Farrelly Brothers comedies such as Kingpin, Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something about Mary. Murphy actively supports the South Florida film community and is an advocate for Americans with Disabilities.

Brother and sister filmmakers, Isaak and Eva James, return to FLIFF for the third time. This time, Eva takes the lead role in By Way of Home, directed by Isaak. Filmed in Cape Cod during the dead of winter, this drama concerns the generation of over-educated people who cannot find their dream job.

Swim Little Fish Swim is an international picture with similar themes about family, financial well-being and artistic aspirations. Paul Osborne’s thriller Favor, reminiscent of an Hitchcock film, shows a friendship unraveling after the disposal of a dead body. Either one of these films will be good substitute for the bloated big studio release of Machete Kills.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) returns Oct. 18 with the screening of Free Ride. Writer/director Shana Betz and executive producer Stephen Moyer will be attending the screening at Cinema Paradiso. After the film, Moyer and Betz will also attend the Opening Night Party hosted by philanthropist Steve Savor at his 18,000 sq. ft. waterfront home, Villa de Palma. Great Gatsby will be the party theme with a strictlyenforced formal dress code (which means I will be wearing my tux).

Released in springtime and currently available on DVD, The Great Gatsby is writer/ director Baz Luhrmann’s best narrative motion picture. Having gone overly creative with visuals in his previous films (Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!), Luhrmann has the discipline to respect the written word of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The visual flourishes of The Great Gatsby enhance the visual poetry.

Much has been made about the Hip Hop soundtrack to represent decadence of the 1920s Jazz Age. Jay Z, Beyoncé and Will.I.Am. may have drawn the younger people to the box office, the music of “Jelly Roll” Morton, W.C. Handy, Fats Waller and George Gershwin is the most effective. In particular, Gatsby’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) entrance to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue is pure literary cinema.

Following in the footsteps of Warner Baxter (1926), Alan Ladd (1949) and Robert Redford (1974), Leonardo DiCaprio is the most vulnerable Gatsby, a true symbol of these financially-turbulent days. This Gatsby opens and closes with Nick Carraway’s (Tobey Maguire) narration from a mental institution. As Daisy Buchanan, Carey Mulligan lacks the callowness of Mia Farrow’s 1974 performance.

Before the festival begins, on Oct. 15, A Tribute to Zsa Zsa Gabor will feature Danforth Prince, author of Those Glamourous Gabor Sisters: Bombshells from Budapest. Known for her campy interviews on The Merv Griffin Show, Zsa Zsa was the modern-day Kardashian; she was famous for being famous. Younger sister Eva Gabor provided her comedic acting chops on Green Acres co-starring Eddie Albert.

Behind the spotlight, Prince provides the historical perspective of a family of Jewish refugees who escaped to America and discovered fortune and fame. While Zsa Zsa and Eva stayed in the spotlight, it was sister Magda who quietly lived the high society American Dream.

The Florida State Seminoles and Miami Dolphins have this weekend off. It’s a good time to pick up the FLIFF catalog and start planning your film festival choices. Sponsored by makeup artist Cindy Boyar, Lea Thompson’s appearance at Muvico Pompano on Oct. 20 is close to a sell out! For more information, call 954-525 FILM.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Last weekend, I went to Orlando. Once north of Palm Beach County, the change of scenery is obvious; the landscape is more green and rural. Between the Ft. Drum rest stop and Kissimmee, one sees an orange grove and senses a raise in elevation.

However, this change of elevation is minimal compared to the experience of visiting the Rocky Mountains. For Florida first timers, the biological changes are obvious; one can almost see their heart beating out of their chest. With this type of personal experience, one can appreciate a Museum of Discovery IMAX film like Rocky Mountain Express: The Journey of a Lifetime, which documents the 19th Century building of the steam engine locomotive in the Canadian Rockies.

Even without 3-D glasses, the vistas and landscapes are majestic to behold. This 45- minute epic includes a story about the building of Canadian Pacific Railroad that is both inspiring and disturbing.

This film devotes considerable time to the history that inspired some of the darkest moments of the recent Lone Ranger movie. In a rich man’s pursuit to dominate nature, due diligence was ignored and stubborn determination leads to disaster. Almost 200 years later, this film presents wooden and stone trestles that were never used. Near these sights are the unmarked graves of the workers who died trying to build an untested short cut.

Five years ago, Downtown Disneyworld closed The Adventurers Club, against much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Thanks to the surviving club members, the club has been kept alive as a notso- secret organization. One greets club members with a healthy and hearty “Kungaloosh;” non members observe this behavior with confusion.

Under the leadership of Robert F. Croskery, Esq., the first Adventurers in Charity was launched last Saturday. This program, which is not sponsored by Disney, reunited club membership for a positive cause. Fifteen cast members returned to perform and discuss their respective charities. $9,000 was raised, with A Better Life Pet Rescue receiving the most representation from cast mates John Connon, Mindy Wally Dietterick, Eric Pinder and Joy Anderson Bowes.

My first book, The Adventures of Cinema Dave in the Florida Motion Picture World was sold at the silent auction as was the CD A Festival of Bruces. The husband of Joy Anderson, Bruce Bowes, passed away after the closing of the club. The CD is beautiful a cappella music that celebrates traditional English carols and is available at www.brucebowes .com.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When I was growing up, local movie theaters like Wometco Deerfield Ultravision used to have midnight movies on Friday and Saturday nights. They featured Grindhouse movies or LIVE concert documentaries, like Wings Over America or It’s Good to See You Again, Alice Cooper.With the advent of Saturday Night Live and home video, these movies became an endangered species.

Leave it to producer Charlotte Huggins to bring back nostalgia for a time gone buy. A veteran of 3-D family entertainment, Huggins has produced Metallica: Through the Never, a concert video with a surreal visual narrative thread. This film may not be for the “Lawrence Welk” lovers, but Heavy Metal heads my age and younger will want to experience it.

As the band Metallica (James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Urlich, Robert Trujillo) begin performing their sold-out apocalyptic concert, Trip the roadie (Dane DeHaan) is sent on an errand to retrieve a leather bag. Much like “Rosebud” from Citizen Kane or the briefcase from Pulp Fiction, the bag is the plot’s “MacGuffin,” and Trip’s quest to retrieve the bag takes on epic proportions.

There are some fantastic visuals of Trip confronting a vicious van accident, a street battle between anarchy and order with drops of apocalyptic terror mixed in. The unrelenting guitar shreds the viewer’s nerves, but there is a soothing denouement.

The beauty of seeing this concert in 3-D is that one can study the details. Monster Maven Kirk Hammett’s blistering guitar solos are enhanced by his movie poster tributes to Vincent Price and Boris Karloff that can be found on his guitars. With this attention to detail, one can appreciate the depth of this film.

For those seeking to continue the concert experience on the big screen, the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery & Science IMAX Theater will be presenting The Laser Light Experience with four laser experiences, two by Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall), and Laser Zeppelin and Laser Vinyl Classics.

In 45 minutes, Laser Vinyl Classics contains nine anthems of Rock ‘n Roll with laser visualization throughout the theater. Van Halen, KISS and Aerosmith are highlights, but Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody steals the show.

Both Metallica: Through the Never and The Laser Light Experience should be a field trip for the Bucks’ Class of ’83 reunion next month.