By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When Craig Ferguson wrapped up The Late Late Show last month, he and Jay Leno discussed their feelings about ending their own talk shows in 2014. Leno admitted that it was cool to talk to a supermodel when he was 40; but, at age 65, he did not want to look like a creepy old man. Both admitted that the world of entertainment has changed so much in the past decade; both men were wondering why they were interviewing people like “reality stars.” Having served as The Observer’s film columnist for 15 years, I have been wondering the same thing about the current entertainment culture.

In my previous 14 Films in Review columns, I have written about how much fun this column has been to write. As I reviewed falling box office figures and the lowest attendance records, I realized that the movie-going experience has not been as much fun in 2014. Therefore, I feel justified in limiting my “Top Ten” list by 30 percent this year (Presented in reverse alphabetical order):

Cinema Dave’s Top films:

Wild

Jersey Boys

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

Heaven is for Real

Dolphin Tale 2

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Honorable mentions:

Rudderless

Maleficent

Hercules

Guardians of the Galaxy

Godzilla

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Boyhood

It is my hope that the motion picture industry was taking a deep breath before releasing a series of blockbusters. By owning the Marvel Comics, Star Wars and Pixar properties, expect Disney to dominate the Box Office in 2015 with such titles as Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and Inside/Out.

Master Marketeer that Mr. Mouse is expect many live action theme parks to coincide with box office successes. We’ve already seen rides like The Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean become movies. Johnny Depp is currently in production with the 5th Pirate movie, Dead Men Tell No Tales. Tomorrowland opens this summer and features George Clooney as a scientist who controls time, space and dimension. Disney’s Animal Kingdom and 20th Century Fox are creating an Avatar land to coincide with the release of director James Cameron’s 2016 sequel.

Not to be outdone, Universal Studios, which already partners with Warner Brothers for the Harry Potter parks, is working with Legendary Pictures to resurrect classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolf Man, along with the return to Skull Island, King Kong’s home.

I was optimistic about the film business in our neighborhood; we had a strong revenue stream of work from major studios with projects like Iron Man 3, In Her Shoes and television shows like Magic City, Burn Notice and The Glades. Yet, Atlanta has absorbed business that South Florida lost [due to lack of incentives and] due to our lack of professionalism in the industry. Florida Film professionals need to become more results-orientated, with less emphasis of fame seeking and celebrity stalking.

2015 will be a pivotal year for our neighborhood festivals. Palm Beach International Film Festival and the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival will celebrate important anniversaries (20th and 30th, respectively). It is my hope, in 2014, that I will walk away from a movie feeling good about the industry again.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As predicted, 2014 was a critically and financially weak year for the movies. Perhaps Hollywood is resting before the release of guarantee box office franchises next year – the newest Avengers, Jurassic Park, Star Wars and the latest James Bond movie. For Cinema mavens, 2014 was a year in which many stories about the films were more interesting than the actual film itself.

Beyond revealing naked photos of celebrity starlets and revealing hypocritical political racism at the Hollywood executive level, the Sony hacking scandal did inspire a patriotic response. When terrorist death threats were issued to Sony Pictures for the distribution of the movie The Interview, a new level of censorship was revealed. Both liberals and conservatives agreed that the film should run. On Christmas Day, 300 theaters across America released it.

By Rachel Galvin

The cooler weather was a refreshing change for the participants of this year’s Dunn’s Run.

For the 18^th year, the large crowd lined up behind the starting line for the 5K walk/ run and 5 mile run benefitting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County.

With a time of 16:59, Gabe Leitz was the first to cross the finish line. A winner last year as well, Leitz was barely breathing hard after the race, although he said, “I sound better than I feel.”

Gabe Leitz, winner of 5K race, was the first across the finish line.

The first woman across was Valerie Mebane with a time of 20:17. She had to walk it off following the run, but had her training partner with her to cheer her on.

The five mile winners came in at 26:21 and 29:39, respectively, Chris Miller and Alice Henley, who easily got lost among the crowd, which gradually took over the street to welcome the runners and walkers.

Besides the race, there also were plenty of vendor booths to peruse and several types of auctions conducted following, as well as the awards ceremony.

To see all the results, visit www.splitsecondtiming.com.

See more pictures in the October 9 issue of Observer Newspaper. SEE VIDEO ON OBSERVER TV!

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.