By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The 2013 Summer Blockbuster Season jettisons at 11:45 p.m. tonight at the Museum of Science and Discovery IMAX with the opening of Iron Man 3. Exclusively for IMAX first screenings, moviegoers who attend tonight’s show will receive a limited edition Iron Man 3 Mondo print featuring original artwork. Tickets can be purchased now by calling 954-713-0930 for this two-week engagement.

Sadly as Iron Man 3 dominates movie screens, the poorly marketed 42 will be pushed aside. Harrison Ford portrays Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers ball club who hired Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), the first black man to play professional sports, circa 1947.

By avoiding racism clichés found in modern movies, writer/Director Brian Helg -eland focuses on Jackie Robinson’s first critical year. The stupid anger is brutal to behold, but the screenplay focuses on the grace given by Robinson’s Brooklyn Dodger teammates. Of course, Jackie Robinson proves his gravitas on the field of dreams.

With fire in his eyes, Boseman finds Robinson’s dignity and maturity. This is easiest Ford’s best movie of the 21st Century, as well as his best performance in years. Go see 42 with families or as a school field trip.

The Jackie Robinson story transcends baseball, yet baseball provides a unique conduit for fine arts in South Florida this weekend. Former Florida Marlins/New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza joins the Miami City Ballet this Sunday as they conclude their season with the humorous classic Slaughter on 10th Avenue. It features the music of Richard Rodgers and choreography by George Balanchine.

Paris Manhattan opens tomorrow in limited release. A French language film with English subtitles, this romantic comedy features Alice (Alice Togliani), a pharmacist obsessed with Woody Allen movies.

This film is shot in the spirit of 1970s Woody Allen movies. The leading character often involves herself in imaginary conversations with her idol and her Jewish parents are concerned about her love life. Will the conclusion be Annie Hall or Hannah and her Sisters? Either way, Paris Manhattan does capture the old Woody Allen vibe.

Dave Montalbano with picture of Samantha from “Bewitched” in Salem, MA

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Whenever I visit my sister’s family in Massachusetts, New England offers a variety of vacation experiences. When visiting Gloucester, one feels the rustic romance of Captains Courageous and The Perfect Storm. The city of Boston features the fine arts of The Boston Pops with the blue collar partisanship of the Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics. Just north of Boston is the seaport town of Salem, made more famous by the Salem Witch Trials.

Modern Salem derives much revenue from this dark mark of history with wax museums, new age shops and ghost tours.

Written by Marilyn Monroe’s ex husband, Arthur Miller, The Crucible was written to parallel the Salem Witchcraft Trials with Senator Joe McCarthy’s blacklisting in the 1950s. Filmed in 1996, The Crucible was a box-office disappointment, despite a cast headlined by Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield and Bruce Davison.

Davison returns to Salem for Rob Zombie’s The Lords of Salem, a horror movie that challenges Salem witchcraft trial lore. In Zombie’s world, the witches are guilty-ascharged with plans to enact revenge upon Salem descendants.

Heidi Hawthorne (Sheri Moon-Zombie – Rob’s wife) is the descendant of the historical figure of Judge John Hawthorne. The woman has enough of her own problems; she is a recovering drug addict.

Hawthorne is a disc jockey who works Whitey (Jeffrey Daniel Phillips-Geico’s Caveman) and Herman Jackson (Ken Foree). The three deejays receive a strange vinyl record album and broadcast the song on the airwaves. Bad things happen to the townspeople.

The Lords of Salem is Rob Zombie’s 5th motion picture. Unlike the manic editing of The Devil’s Rejects and Halloween, this film is a static motion picture that creeps up on you. Given the low budget, the shot composition is amazing with a color palette of mind-jarring visuals.

With such breathtaking visuals and empathetic characters, this film is dirty horror with grungy witches (led by Meg Foster, Dee Wallace, Patricia Quinn, Judy Geeson) and an open-ended conclusion. The Lord of Salem will not appeal to many tastes, but is definitely a horror film.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

While he has not directed a movie in five years, Guillermo Del Toro has been a major cultural influence on the international motion picture industry. His Pan’s Labyrinth has changed the way adults look at fairy tales. The successful ABC Broadcast Television show “Once Upon A Time” would be an unthinkable Disney product five years ago, given popular culture challenges of Cinderella and Snow White.

Blancanieves is director/ writer Pablo Berger’s answer to the folklore of Snow White. A black and white silent movie set in early 20th Century Spain, it has all the influences of Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel with a touch of Tod Browning and Lon Chaney Sr. Stark noir composition aided by musical score featuring a flamenco guitar, maracas and a full orchestra, this film is a visual feast for art students, but not necessarily children.

The film opens with the majesty of a bullfight. When Spain’s greatest bullfighter, Antonio Villalta (Daniel Giménez Cacho) is mangled in front of his pregnant wife, a girl named Carmencita is born. The mother dies in childbirth and the evil Nurse Encarna (Maribel Verdu) takes advantage of the situation.

Encarna becomes Antonio Villalta’s caretaker and mistreats little Carmencita. After forbidding the daughter from seeing her father, Encarna is distracted by kinky pleasure. Carmencita sneaks into her father’s bedroom and finds ways to entertain her daddy. These sequences are broad and over-the-top.

As The Artist was a tribute to the comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton,

Blancanieves is closer to freak shows of Lon Chaney and Tod Browning. Young Carmencita faces sadism and witnesses the death of her father and her pet. As Carmencita becomes a young bullfighter herself, the young lady befriends seven little people who work for a traveling carnival, as Encarna gloats upon her over-the-top villainy.

Though a silent movie, Blancanieves is a very contemporary movie with satire. The mirror, mirror on the wall (that inspires Encarna’s jealousy) is transformed into the society page of a fashion magazine.

The dark melodrama of Blancanieves will not appeal to everybody. Yet, for a unique motion picture experience about Spanish Culture, this film is fascinating.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The 18th Annual (PBIFF) wraps up this evening with a screening of Chez Upshaw, a comedy about a bed & breakfast that becomes the home for assisted suicides.

Director Bruce Mason and character actress Ileana Douglas are expected to attend with a wrap party at the Frank CineBowl and Grille in Delray.

Unlike the previous nine festivals, which provided postcard-perfect weather, PBIFF 18 was fraught with traffic jams and tornado warnings.

Yet one must acknowledge the tenacity of Executive Director Randi Emerman and her loyal sidekick Laurie Wein. When the opening night rooftop party was cancelled due to tornado warnings, the party moved indoors. Ticket buyers were entertained by the movie Decoding Annie Parker and music by the Sheffield Brothers Band.

There is no doubt the PBIFF team found inspiration from the Comedy Warriors. This 90-minute documentary lived up to the hype. Director John Wager confidently manages the emotional minefield between tragedy and comedy.

This film also provides a fine tutorial on how to construct a joke for comedy at the Improv. Expect to hear more about this documentary.

Still Mine held a screening during PBIFF. Starring James Cromwell and Genevieve Bujold, this drama about self-determination is scheduled for wide release in May.

In other movie news, On the Road opened last weekend. Based on Jack Kerouac’s cult novel, this film explores the end of the beatnik generation and the beginning of the hippie era. While much of the hype has centered around Kristen Stewart’s nudity, this is an ensemble piece featuring quirky performances from Steve Buscemi, Garrett Hedlund, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen and Amy Adams. On the Road will not please every ticket buyer, but neither did Kerouac’s novel of the same name. When PBIFF ends, the summer blockbuster season begins to heat up. The Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery IMAX Theater is presenting a reminder about how much fun a Summer blockbuster can be with a limited engagement of Jurassic Park 3-D. The last screening will be next Thursday. Visit the website – www.mods.org/IMAX/ index.html

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

It has been 10 years since the Boca Raton Resort & Club hosted the 8th Annual (PBIFF).

It was a historical night for the motion picture industry, which featured silent screen legend Fay Wray, recent Oscar winner Adrien Brody, Supermodel Carol Alt, venerable actor/producer Robert Evans, Director Brett Ratner and the King of Pop Michael Jackson-all in the same room. Each year, PBIFF adds to this legacy.

This Thursday, PBIFF 18 begins its future history. Decoding Annie Parker is the opening film this festival. Based on the true story of breast cancer survivor Annie Parker, this film stars Helen Hunt, Marley Shelton and Samantha Morton in the title role. The “real” Annie Parker is scheduled to attend opening night festivities.

Comedy Warriors: Healing through Humor is a documentary that makes its debut tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Frank Theaters CineBowl and Grille at Delray Marketplace, 9025 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach (at the corner of Lyons Road and W. Atlantic Ave.

Comedy Warriors features five severely injured military veterans who undergo therapy of the soul and mind. Under the tutelage of comedians Lewis Black, Zach Galifianakis, B.J. Novak and Bob Saget, the comedy warriors perform in Los Angeles comedy clubs. Can these handicapped individuals succeed? Given that these are veterans with a sense of humor, nothing is impossible.

The most hyped documentary of PBIFF 18 has been Meditation, Creativity and Peace. Director David Lynch conducts a 16-country tour to college students to talk about his favorite subjects-films, meditation and world peace. It is produced by Palm Beach local Joanna Plafsky, who also has another film in the festival, My Reincarnation.

The best thing about a local festival is the international opportunity it provides. Lost for Words is an indie that features Will Yun Lee from Hawaii Five-0/The Wolverine fame.

The Shift presents a generational divide between two healthcare workers. Danny Glover has a role in this film.

These are just a few of the gems! For more information, visit www.pbifilmfest.org.

Happy festival!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When we set my dad’s memorial for Dec. 1, we dreaded the grey Alabama winter. Instead, we enjoyed an Indian summer that lasted during our stay. As my mom, my brother and I said our final farewell to Dad, a bright yellow butterfly descended upon the flowers next to the gravesite, a spring miracle that does not occur in winter. Since that moment, butterflies have caught my attention in so many ways.

Eben Alexander’s recent best-seller “Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife” features a butterfly on the book cover. This work of non-fiction places an importance upon butterflies in the afterlife.

Flight of the Butterflies is a documentary currently playing at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery IMAX Theater in 3-D. Under one hour long, this film presents two stories, one about biology, another about biography.

The biographical portion introduces Fred Urquhart, a scientist who devoted 40 years to the study of the Monarch Butterfly. With his future wife Norah as his assistant, Urquhart tracked the trails of butterflies. The two founded Monarch Watch, which recruited hundreds of “citizen scientists,” who tagged thousands of butterflies and reported their findings to Fred and Norah.

The biological section traces the lifespan and multigenerational migration of the Monarch Butterfly. While it takes three generations to migrate to Canada, it is the Super Generation of Monarch that flies from Canada to the mountains of the Mexican state of Michoacán.

While these creatures weigh less than a penny, on the 5-storey IMAX screen, one is treated to a well-produced Mothra movie from Godzilla productions. Scientific facts are of utmost importance, but Flight of the Butterflies is also an entertaining film and a beautiful piece of visual poetry that would inspire artists like Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

In Tradewinds Park, 3600 W. Sample Rd., Coconut Creek, one can visit Butterfly World, a unique Botanical Garden that is now 25 years old. It would make for a wonderful Sunday afternoon visit, but it is closed this Easter Sunday. But Flight of the Butterflies will provide a great family experience as a substitute. Happy Easter!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

New York Mayors are colorful characters; Jimmy Walker, Firorello La Guardia and Rudy Guiliani come to mind. Each individual represented a distinct era of their time. The documentary Koch is a slice of 1970s and 1980s Manhattan history.

Mayor Ed Koch’s threeterm reign is a lesson in political reality. Opening with great 1970s Studio 54 disco images and closing with images of electrified Manhattan, we see a principled individual who does not change, while the world around him changes.

Director Neil Barsky presents his lion in winter.

Although he has been out of office since 1989, Ed Koch has remained a political influence as a book writer, talk show commentator and fellow movie columnist. A lifelong Democrat, Koch earned Republican respect because the mayor referred to himself as “a liberal with sanity.”

During the AIDS hysteria of the mid 1980s, Mayor Koch was presented as just another uncaring politician. Although the Koch Administration took steps in AIDS prevention for the city, the residue anger zapped Koch’s political mobility. Aggressive AIDS advocates also publicly questioned Mayor Koch’s sexual orientation.

Given this invasion into his privacy, Ed Koch gives a public response that is R rated. However, Koch is a very approachable documentary. In his eighties, we see Koch as a political power broker who is very family-orientated. He shares a Yom Kippur meal with his family and attempts to see his niece when she is performing in a New York concert. We see a man who takes 10 pills a day and who visits Trinity cemetery, his future resting place. Despite his Jewish heritage, Koch takes pride in being interred in “a W.A.S.P.” graveyard.

His honor died right after when the documentary Koch made its New York premier. This film is a celebration of life and is an entertaining piece of history.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The disappointing box office of The Last Stand, Bullet to the Brain and A Good Day to Die Hard has been predicted as the death knell of action movies starring actors who are over 55 years old. If cinema history has taught us one thing, don’t count out Arnold Swarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.

The 5th film of the series, A Good Day to Die Hard features John McClain (Willis) in Moscow, Russia. McClain is trying to see his son Jack (Jai Courtney), who is a political prisoner. Things explode, people betray one another and John McClain gets another boo boo on his forehead.

This is the weakest entry of the Die Hard series. While John McClain is still a great movie character, the overwhelming use of special effects stifles the human element. In fact, this does not seem like a Die Hard movie, but more like a weaker James Bond or Bourne Identity flick.

Lore opens this weekend at the Living Room Theater on the Florida Atlantic University Campus. This German movie with English subtitles has been winning awards on the film festival circuit.

Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) is a

14-year-old girl whose parents are Nazis. As the allies overtake Germany, Lore and her siblings become separated from their parents. To find a safe haven, she must escort her four brothers and sisters across the treacherous black forest in Germany. Along the way, she learns to trust a person she had been socialized to hate.

Lore is simple and gritty. After witnessing death, sex and brutality, this film concludes on a serious note. Lore and her siblings have witnessed things that will haunt the rest of their lives.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Set in Post Apocalyptic Japan circa 1945, Emperor reviews General Douglas MacArthur’s relationship with Emperor Hirohito. It is a fascinating story and similar to General Patton’s relationship with former Nazis in Berlin when peace was declared. There is an old adage that says only warriors truly understand the true meaning of peace.

As played by Tommy Lee Jones, General MacArthur has all the bombast, arrogance and guile one has read about in history. MacArthur’s meeting with Hirohito is touching with humor.

But Emperor is really about MacArthur’s assistant, General Bonner Fellows (Matthew Fox)’s investigation about Hirohito’s war crimes regarding the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Told in flashbacks, we learn that General Fellows had unrequited romance with a Japanese native who was Ivy League educated.

This is a sincere movie, but it could have been better. Instead of flashbacks, if the film took the time to visualize the story in chronological order, Emperor ould have had more of an emotional impact.

With Passover just around the corner, Hava Nagila (The Movie) is released, a documentary that reviews the history and cultural impact of the traditional Jewish folk song.

Until “Hava Nagila,” the history of Jewish music was full of prayerful dirges. To combat repression in the Ukraine, the upbeat song “Hava Nagila” emerged and has continued to inspire the Jewish People. Narrated by Rusty Schwimmer, with Leonard Nimoy, Harry Belafonte, Glen Campbell and Connie Francis providing personal experiences, Hava Nagila (The Movie) is a lovely way to spend 75 minutes.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The 85th Oscar ceremony has come and gone. While Argo won best picture, the awards were pretty divided between Django Unchained, The Life of Pi, Lincoln and Skyfall. Perhaps the biggest highlight included Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger followed by Adele belting out Skyfall, the most memorable James Bond song since Timothy Dalton was 007. In fact, Oscar had better music than the Grammy Music Awards from a few weeks ago. Next week, The Miami International Film Festival (MiFF XXX), held March 1-10, will celebrate its 30th year making it the longest running film festival in South Florida. I am looking forward to interviewing veteran character actor James Cromwell and director Michael McGowan. The two are in town to champion Still Here, an excellent drama slated for local release in May.

Twenty Feet from Stardom opens MiFF XXX this Friday night. This documentary is about “back up” singers to famous rock stars like Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. Vocalist Darlene Love will be in attendance and is expected to sing. Another documentary, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story makes it’s South Florida debut. This documentary concerns Ungerer’s neurotic obsession and finding his outlet through the visual arts. Director Brad Bernstein presents a 98-minute moving portrait of Tomi Ungerer from children’s illustrator to subversive artist. From the United Kingdom comes Venus and Serena, a documentary about The Williams Sisters of West Palm Beach. Filmed in 2011, this film follows the tennis circuit in which both sisters battled serious health ailments. Blackfish is about one of the biggest mammals in the world, the Orca Whale. Since Orlando’s SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed in a “rare” accident, Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite discovers evidence to the contrary. If you liked The Cove, you may want to check out Blackfish. For those interesting in adventuring in Miami for the next two weeks for MiFF XXX, check out www.miami.festivalgenius.com/ 2013.