By Dave Montalbano

AdventuresOfCinemaDave.com

Last weekend, the $150 million budgeted Mars needs Moms earned barely $7 million and joined the list as one of the biggest box office bombs in movie history, rivaling flicks like Ishtar, Speed Racer and Cleopatra. Fortunately for science fiction fans, Battle: Los Angeles earned a whopping $35 million for a non-holiday weekend. Given that this genre accounts for 50 percent of the biggest box office grosses of all time, science fiction is BIG business.

This might explain the consistent success of Megacon in Orlando, which has been in business since the original Jurassic Park was released, circa 1993. Held in the Orlando Convention Center, promoter Christine Alger has created a marketplace for entrepreneurs to sell their comic book collections, toys, clothing, gaming supplies and swords.

This year, Megacon provides an opportunity to hob knob with Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, and crew mates of the Next Generation of Star Trek, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes and Michael Dorn. Superman’s father, in the guise of John Schneider, will be in attendance as well as The Hulk’s television alter ego, Lou Ferrigno. The Hulk’s creator, Stan Lee will receive a special honor at this year’s convention.

Beyond selling autographs, many artists will be hosting panels and presentations. Among the highly anticipated panels will be the one hosted by Doug Jones. While he might not be as recognizable as Tron’s Cindy Morgan and Bruce Boxleitner (who will be in attendance), Jones is a respected character actor and contortionist who often appears under heavy make-up.

As part of the Guillermo Del Toro actor’s ensemble, Jones portrayed multiple roles in the two Hellboy movies, Mimic, and the modern classic, Pan’s Labyrinth. Considered the modern day “Boris Karloff,” Jones began his career as McDonald’s mascot Mac Tonight and paid his dues on television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Remembering how hard it was to break into the business, Jones, and his wife Laurie, mentor young people who wish to work in the medium of film. He is an active member of Media Fellowship International, a Christian group working within the entertainment industry.

For more information about attending this year’s Megacon, visit the website  www.megaconvention.com. For fans, science fiction is alive and well, and living in Orlando the last weekend of March.

By Dave Montalbano

www.AdventuresofCinemaDave.com

Mars needs Moms is frantic action mixed with corny homespun values about respecting motherhood. It opens with Martians observing Earthly domestic life. They run across a mother (Joan Cusack) disciplining her teenage son, Milo (Seth Green), who says something mean and makes his mother cry. Moments later, Martians abduct her, taking her to Mars.

Milo gives chase, accidentally goes to Mars and spends the rest of the movie trying to rescue Mommy from Martians. Along the way, he meets Gribble (Dan Fogler), a 30-year-old overgrown child claiming to be from the Reagan administration’s Secretnaut Program, and Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), a Martian artist who confronts conformity in her Martian Government. One sees the absurdity of the Martian Culture, which lacks emotional connection, and the battle between order and chaos that is played in every household in America.

The film opens this weekend at the Museum of Discovery IMAX Theater. For a few dollars more, one can explore the astronomy exhibit which emphasizes Mars.

For those seeking a more Earthly experience closer to home, Celtic Weekend, March 12-13 is the final weekend for the Florida Renaissance Festival at Quiet Waters Park. Last weekend featured the epic Wenches Weekend with Bodacious Bodices, which served as a rendezvous point for some Class of 1981 Deerfield Beach High School graduates.

By Dave Montalbano

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards went business as usual. The King’s Speech got the  major awards, Inception,  Alice in Wonderland and The Wolfman got their technical kudos and Toy Story 3 got  best animated feature and best song recognition. No film dominated the ceremonies and the Oscar award wealth was spread.

The memoriam forgot Len Lesser; hopefully next year’s will include Jane Russell, who we lost Feb. 28. Bringing out Kirk Douglas was a nice gesture, but not allowing Eli Wallach to speak for his lifetime achievement award was foolish. Given how articulate he was at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival a few years ago, Mr. Wallach would do a better job hosting the Oscars than James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

Having Hathaway and Franco host was a clarion call to get more “young people” to watch the Oscars, which was as successful as Rob Lowe dirty dancing with Snow White 22 years ago. Despite the hype, fad and trend of the new “hip” culture, this year’s artistic and box office winners contained conservative storytelling narratives.

Yet, every new decade seems to produce a motion picture that is a time capsule for its year. For example, Midnight Cowboy reeks of 1969. The same could be said of The Social Network, which heralds a new generation of young talent for the next decade, most notably Jessie Eisenberg and Rooney Mara. Given his character role as the blustery inventor of Napster, Justin Timberlake is now considered the “old man” of this actor’s ensemble.

Based on a true story, The Social Network opens with Mark Zuckerberg (Eisen-berg) and Erica Albright (Mara) speaking Aaron Sorkin dialogue for nearly five minutes. The couple breaks up. Incensed with the breakup and inspired by his own genius, Zuckerberg disses his former girlfriend on the Internet and the seed of “Facebook” is born.

Partnering with Sean Parker (Timberlake),  Zucker-berg and his college cronies grow Facebook into an internet staple within a relatively short period of time. Fast success breeds jealousy and Zuckerberg confronts rivals who used to be allies.

The Social Network is PG-13 and is a film for young people. While the pseudo-intellectual dialogue is as cardboard as a Shakespearean monologue, Sorkin deserves credit for reaching the mythological abstract of King Midas in a modern context. Following the Aristotelian principles of storytelling, the final scene has a payoff that reflects upon opening scene. The Social Network has nowhere near the best picture qualities of The King’s Speech or Toy Story 3,  but it will have an impact on the next decade of motion pictures.

By Dave Montalbano

Cast of Two and a Half Jews – Mark Robert Gordon, the late Len Lesser & the late Bruce Adler

Best known for playing “Uncle Leo” in Seinfeld, Len Lesser had worked steadily as a character actor for over 60 years. Since the dawn of television, each decade, Lesser has had a part in popular TV shows, from The Untouchables to Everybody Loves Raymond.

After his service in World War II, Lesser pursued the craft of acting, thanks to his old friend, Lee Marvin. Lesser worked steadily for 65 years with a resume that includes 500 television shows, over 50 movies and 100 plays. Clint Eastwood spat on him in The Outlaw Josey Wales. In The Birdman of Alcatraz, he wrestled the rock from both Burt Lancaster and Karl Malden.

When I interviewed Mr. Lesser three years ago, the actor said of his career, “I have always been busy as an actor. I am fortunate to make a living and raise a family.”

He recalled a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

“It was a spiritual and solemn occasion with people dressed in exotic robes and submitting prayers to the wailing wall,” he said.

His religious moment was interrupted when he heard a person’s scream, “Hey, Look! It’s UNCLE LEO!”

We lost this kind gentleman last week. Hopefully, this Sunday, the Academy Awards will memorialize this reliable character actor whose track record goes beyond Uncle Leo.

Oscar Parties!

At Cinema Paradiso, the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival will host an Oscar-watching party featuring Michelle’s fine cuisine of The King’s Speech Chicken a la King, A Biutiful Paella, True Grit roasted potatoes and dessert featuring Black Swan Cake and Ice Cream Bar with Winter’s Bone toppings. www.fliff.com.

There are three film festivals proposed for Palm Beach county in March and April, and the veteran Palm Beach International Film Festival will host the only party that is sanctioned by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This Oscar Night America will be held at the Bash of Boca on 6018 SW 18 St. in Boca Raton. Local red carpet arrivals begin at 7:30 p.m. www.pbifilmfest.org.

• Despite reports of the demise of PBIFF last year, Executive Director Randi Emmerman has managed to reunite the core PBIFF team and has expanded the festival to eight days during the last week of March. An announcement about the details is expected.

By Dave Montalbano

While nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, Biutiful will be remembered for the Best Performance nomination of Javier Bardem. It is the first time a performance entirely in Spanish  has been nominated for an Academy Award. As Uxbal, Bardem is given a complicated role as father, husband, underworld broker and cancer patient. Bardem pulls off this complexity and is likely to give Jeff Bridges and Colin Firth a run for the golden idol.

Set in the black market district of Barcelona, Spain, Uxbal helps sweatshops find cheap labor. Neglecting his health, Uxbal’s untreated prostate cancer spreads to his liver, making his prognosis terminal. A single father with two children, Uxbal contemplates their future with their bi-polar mother. Despite his best intentions, Uxbal confronts consistent failure with every action.

Biutiful is one of the most depressing movies released since the Bush Admin-istration. It is a family movie about important things that are not said. Yet, there are moments of pure family joy between a son, a daughter, an estranged mother and a callow, but responsible father. It is these tragic and tender moments that give Biutiful a heart that will haunt the ticket buyer days after the movie concludes.

For those seeking a more uplifting experience, The Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery IMAX theater opens its new documentary, The Ultimate Wave Tahiti 3-D this weekend. Mixing Oceanography and surfing, it seeks to explain the confluence of natural forces that control wave creation in the oceans.

Surfer celebrity Kelly Slater challenges Tahiti’s most extreme surf break known as Teahupo’o. Located in the Pacific Ocean, the famed Teahupo’o is widely regarded as being on the ‘must-surf’ list of every real surfer.

Fortunately, Deerfield Beach neighbors have local surfing legend, Kali “da Big Kahuna” Montero, who will be offering surfing demonstration at the Museum. Before the afternoon screenings, Kali will talk about the history of surfing and Tahitian dance.  Between shows, there will be a Polynesian Dancing show produced by the Polynesian Proud company, along with arts, crafts and Poi tasting.

In South Florida, we take for granted the festivities offered locally.  Yet if one sees the poverty presented in a film like Biutiful, one appreciates how good we have it in the gold old U.S.A.

By Dave Montalbano

Of all the Oscar-nominated best picture nominees from 2010, The Fighter is probably the most energetic entry. With the soundtrack blasting The Heavy’s hit commercial song “How do you like me now?” we are introduced to younger brother Micky (Mark Wahlberg) and older half brother Dicky (Christian Bale) during the opening credits. With such economic confidence, director David O. Russell hijacks his audience bringing them into the seedy streets of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Considered the pride of Lowell, Dicky once knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard in a welter weight contest. A crack addict who hangs out with lowlifes, Dicky is his baby brother’s fight manager. While Dicky provides excellent boxing tips, Micky’s career is in shambles. After losing a bout in Atlantic City in front of a national audience, Micky decides to take control of his career.

Micky’s career-changing decision does not sit well with his mother, Alice (Melissa Leo) or his six peroxide blonde harpy sisters. However, Micky reconciles with his long-suffering father (Jack McGee) and dates a new gal, Charlene (Amy Adams), whose natural red hair offends the sisters. As Micky makes the transition from stepping stone to ladder climber, Micky’s success creates a schism within this dysfunctional family.

Based on a true story, The Fighter has all the earmarks of a successful boxing movie. Yet, the screenwriters Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy strive for more intellectual depth about the double-edged sword of success. Both Dicky and Micky sit on opposite ends of this sword, yet it is their mother who provides the pricking tip.

Bale and Leo have been gathering the best supporting acting kudos at the award’s circuit. Their performances echo the urban world inhabited by Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando. Leo delivers the funniest lines, but it is Bale’s transitional performance from drug abuser to trusted consigliore that is Oscar-worthy.

The weight of the story falls on Wahlberg’s welterweight shoulders. As the movie ringmaster, Wahlberg gains audience empathy, but it is Amy Adams’ eyes that reveal her boyfriend’s conscience. While she is likely to lose the Oscar race to Leo, Adams is proving to be a consistent commodity for well-written award-winning motion pictures.

Compared to Toy Story 3, The King’s Speech and True Grit, The Fighter does not hold up as best picture champion this year. Yet, it is a hard film to dislike and will be an audience pleaser like Rocky Balboa.

By Dave Montalbano

The phrase “All Good Things must come to an end” has been in the air as two more media outlets close along Federal Highway. “The Bookshop” in Ft. Lauderdale will be closing their doors soon as they discount their books by 50 percent. Now, the movie theatre in Mizner Park has closed its doors, which might have an impact on the Downtown Boca Film Festival in April.

It is with a sense of irony that the movie All Good Things is based on a true story (Names were changed for legal reasons) and the lead character, David Marks (Ryan Gosling) is currently a real estate investor in Florida. All Good Things is a dark film, but one appropriate for this time.

David Marks is an errand boy for his powerful father, Sandford Marks (Frank Langella), a Manhattan Land Baron who owns the buildings of the seedy porn district before Rudy Giuliani became Mayor. As with most spoiled children of Manhattan elite, David spends his free time partying with his girlfriend, Katie (Kirsten Dunst), who indulges in cocaine.

During a minor act of rebellion towards his father, David marries Katie and manages a health food store, called “All Good Things,” in Vermont. Despite living in Eden, Sanford convinces his son to return to Manhattan and embrace his divine right. David willingly accepts.

From this point forward, David’s soul decays. He becomes abusive toward Katie. She disappears and David relocates to Texas and begins wearing women’s clothing. David befriends Malvern (Philip Baker Hall), a delusional man with dreams of grandeur.

Poor make-up dooms Ryan Gosling’s performance and this flaw proves distracting. While Langella and Philip Baker Hall provide solid support, Saturday Night Live’s Kristen Wiig provides the only comic relief to this creepy tale.

In the years to come, All Good Things will be remembered as Kirsten Dunst’s first major performance. Shedding her “Mary Jane Watson” image from Spider-Man movies, Dunst ages quickly before our eyes as a spiritually beaten woman. Dunst is haunting long after the movie is over.

By Dave Montalbano

The King’s Speech has all the earmarks of a typical award-nominated motion picture. It’s British, it features classical acting, it is about royalty and focuses upon a character with a physical impediment.

However, if one is prejudiced with the feeling that The King’s Speech is a typical flick for the Oscar Award season, they are going to miss a rare human experience about problem solving. I wish I saw The King’s Speech a few weeks ago; it would have made my Top 10 List for 2010.

It is 1925 and Prince George (Colin Firth) is about to make a speech in a newfangled contraption called a radio microphone. George stammers and the British subjects think that the village idiot has hijacked the microphone. Fortunately for the Brits, George is not the next in line for the Empire’s throne, his big brother Edward the 8th (Guy Pearce) is.

After nine years of failed speech therapy, George and his wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) enter the
office of Lionel Loque (Geoffrey Rush), a failed actor who became a speech therapist during World War I. Logue’s methodology is unorthodox, but George makes progress. By 1939, stammering George is able to lead his nation against the master orator, Adolph Hitler, as the winds of World War II are stoked.

If one has ever suffered from an impediment similar to a stammer, one will find truth with Loque’s technique. The audience witnesses the importance of developing a melody of thought when speaking.

As Loque later says to the future King,“You do not need to be afraid of the thing that you were afraid of at the age of 5.”

As serious as the subject is, The King’s Speech provides humor that is human.  We see the British class distinctions being shattered when Loque demands that George act like a patient, not like a royal. We see George and Elizabeth share storytime with their daughters – one is Elizabeth II, the current Queen of the British Empire.

When I interviewed veteran Claire Bloom (Queen Mary) during the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, she stated it was a privilege to watch Firth and Rush work together. Both have great chemistry; their scenes together are electric. The ensemble cast featuring Bloom, Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon and Timothy Spall (as Winston Churchill) cement a firm foundation for the players.

By Dave Montalbano

He has not made a movie in 35 years, but the ghost of John Wayne still roams the celluloid countryside. With the release of the Coen Brothers True Grit, John Wayne’s original classic has been given much airtime on cable stations. Note that I wrote “John Wayne’s True Grit,” not “Joel and Ethan Coen Brother’s True Grit;” for this foreshadows the philosophical differences between these two fine motion pictures, which tell the same story but were filmed 40 years apart.

Both films follow the novel written by Charles Portis.

In the new film, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfield) wants to avenge the murder of her father by the notorious Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Mattie recruits Reuben “Rooster” Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), a double tough, one-eyed marshal. The two are joined by Le Beouf (Matt Damon), a cocksure Texas Ranger who antagonizes the Marshal.

Cogburn is Bridges’ best performance in recent weeks and Matt Damon creates the correct balance between naiveté and arrogance. This is Steinfeld’s film from beginning to end. A stoic character throughout, her vulnerable time is a special moment.

As literature, True Grit ranks with To Kill a Mockingbird in terms of presenting a young woman’s rite of passage. Both films open and close with Ross’s perspective. The fundamental difference between these two is that the Coen Brother’s vision is dark and pessimistic, while John Wayne’s vision is more life-affirming.

There are numerous reminders of death in the new True Grit with plenty of corpses strewn about the scenery. Both films end at the grave of a dearly departed character; the tone is somber for the Coen Brother’s interpretation. The John Wayne version shows the value of postponing death and riding beyond the sunset.

The new True Grit is one of the best things on the big screen today and the public has rewarded this film with consistent Box Office revenue. With the absence of Attention Deficient Disorder editing, the shootouts and the showdowns have more emotional clarity.

Like Jazz, Blues and musical theater, Westerns are a great American cultural art form. While the character archetypes are the prodigies of Homer and Virgil’s ancestors, the landscapes and mountain vistas capture the beauty of our nation’s natural bounty. Filmmakers should take heed of True Grit’s success. There is a need in our society today for big screen story telling like this.

By Dave Montalbano

Wow! We made it to 2011 anno domini! Besides being the “Year of the  Rabbit” on the Chinese Zodiac, 2011 will be the 30th anniversary of the Bucks’ Class of ’81, despite all the signs of the Apocalypse my classmates have faced.

However, studio executives have faced Armageddon at the box office as  ticket sales dropped by 8 percent in 2010. Yet, the box office champion, Toy Story 3, blew away all competition with a deserved $415 million gross.

As a film columnist, the success of Toy Story 3 is pleasing, since it was my most recommended movie from my Top 10 list: Toy Story 3, Sherlock Holmes, The Runaways, Predators, The Millennium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who played with Fire, The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest), Inception, How to Train Your Dragon and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Honorable mention goes to these flicks in no particular order, except reversed alphabetical: The Yellow Handkerchief, Up in the Air, Winter’s Bone, Suck, Mao’s Last Dancer, Lucky Streak and the Crime Fighters, Lost  Angel, The Incubus, The Expendables, Cool It, Bran Nue Dae and Black Swan.

As good customer service and etiquette became extinct with big business, the South Florida community was blessed with these Backstage Angels who turned disaster into triumph: The volunteers of the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Palm Beach Film Festival, the former Delray Beach Film Festival, Actor’s Playhouse’s Richard Bernard, Caldwell Playhouse’s Nedra Simpson, Charlie Cinnamon; The Incubus’ Anthony Espina, Ginger Ly; Andrew Sigman, Randy Waage and Charlotte Vermack.

The following people proved to be class acts, who made good events even better: Jane Russell, Ernesto & Diego Rimoch, Erika Portnoy, James Pitt, Millie Perkins, Michael Murphy, Meghan Colleen Moroney, Rob Davis, Michael Bryon, Ed Byrnes and Quinton Aaron.

So if it is the end of the motion picture world as we know it, we can embrace the new beginnings caused by this apocalypse. A greedy short-termed culture that relies on attention disorder editing, will give way to filmmakers who believe in story, characters and well-directed spectacle. Here’s to the year of the rabbit, the luckiest of all symbols of the Chinese Zodiac!