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FLICKS: Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival

Posted on 09 November 2017 by LeslieM

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With genuine emotion, Florida history and the traditional glamour that goes along with it, this edition of Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF2017) is shaping up to be one of the best ever. The regular venues, Savor Cinema & Cinema Paradiso Hollywood, are hosting unique themed parties that are supporting the international flavor of the film being screened. Yet, it will be the opening night gala at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel that will be talked about for many years to come.

Executive Producer Stevie Salas’ Rumble: The Indians who Rocked the World delivered. This intriguing documentary provided an entertaining history about the roots of the Blues and the birth of rock ‘n roll overturning much mainstream education taught in public schools and academic institutions.

Salas had played guitar for the Rod Stewart Tour, which became the first concert at Joe Robbie Stadium on July 3, 1988.

While posing on the red carpet with actor Graham Greene [who showed off his Lifetime Achievement Award], Burt Reynolds and Chris Osceola, Salas acknowledged the moment, saying, “I performed with Rod Stewart in the first concert in the stadium. Now, the Hard Rock owns the stadium!”

With a chorus of reporters humming “Hail to the Chief,” Burt Reynolds arrived on the Red Carpet in an oversized golf cart, referred to as a “mini TransAm.” It was a fun and light moment as the gregarious Reynolds posed with the “Rumble” crew, students from his acting school in Jupiter, and cast & crew from Dog Years, the opening night film, including Nikki Blonsky (known best from Hairspray) and local actors Todd Vittum and Amy Hoerler.

It was after the screening of his film Dog Years, when a weepy Burt Reynolds took center stage to accept his second Lifetime Achievement Award. The silence was deafening as Mr. Reynolds apologized for mistakes in his life. He talked about working with great people through the years and how many of them are no longer around. He talked about Heaven and Hell, Florida State University and his childhood friend who ended up dying in Vietnam. You can find Burt’s speech on the Cinema Dave YouTube Channel – www.youtube.com/cinemadave. For all the facets of fame and fortune, Burt stressed the importance of family, friends and coming home to Florida.

Burt’s message that had an impact on Blanche Baker, whose mom, Carroll, was the recipient of the 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award. Blanche was in town to support a short film she directed, STREETWRITE, a 24-minute musical about free speech that encompasses all forms of Broadway musicals, operetta, rock, contemporary and hip-hop.

Baker utilized the students at New York Film Academy, where she teaches.

There will be more fun this Veterans Day weekend when writer/director Ken Webb’s comedy, Serious Laundry, screens at the Sunrise Civic Center as the featured centerpiece film. ArtServe President & CEO Jaye Abbate and I will introduce the documentary, Cries From Syria this Friday, Nov. 10 at 6:15 p.m. (location TBA), which may be one of the most important films released in 2017. For schedule and showtimes for all FLIFF films, visit www.fliff.com.

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FLICKS: Frantz opens, Savor Cinema/ Cinema Paradiso news & PBIFF opens this weekend

Posted on 30 March 2017 by LeslieM

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As Kong: Skull Island and Beauty & the Beast blow up box office records for March, there are still quiet, artistic movies that are being released on the big screen this weekend. From acclaimed French Director Francois Ozon (Swimming Pool, Potiche) comes Frantz, a film with a touch of Daphne du Maurier’s literary classic Rebecca.

Set in Germany during the post World War I era, Anna (Paula Beer) grieves over the loss of her fiance, Frantz. After a visit to the graveside, Anna witnesses Adrien (Pierre Ninney), a French war veteran, put flowers on the marker.

Despite the cultural divide from the Armistice of World War I, Anna and Adrien communicate with each other. Each individual talks about their experiences knowing Frantz, an artistic soul who died in the muddy trenches. At times this relationship evolution is beautiful, but the horrors of war reveal dark secrets of human nature.

Frantz is presented in grim black and white cinematography that also echoes Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s version of Rebecca. Yet Ozon takes advantage of modern technology to include color cinematography for moments of beauty and grace. Given that Frantz is a study of grief, this film becomes life-affirming despite the tragedies on faces in life.

Cinema Paradiso Hollywood and Savor Cinema are among the two cinemas that will be screening Frantz. Homes to the annual Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, these movie theaters will feature unique programming for the spring season. On Saturday May 6, Savor Cinema will be hosting the running of the 143rd Kentucky Derby, which includes a live band, food prizes and a ladies bonnet contest.

For those pursuing cinema pursuits closer to home, the Palm Beach International Film Festival continues through April 2. Cinemark Theaters in Boca Raton will be one of the host sites. Dr. Oz will be in town, with his daughter Arabella Oz, to promote her new movie. [Michael Lohan will also make an appearance showing the movie The Business of Recovery]. The Tilted Kilt will feature after screening parties next to Cinemark Theater. For screen times, it is best to visit the website www.pbifilmfest.org.

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FLICKS: Inside Out, Cinema Paradiso films

Posted on 25 June 2015 by LeslieM

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

While Jurassic World is still the champion of the box office, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out scored $91 million over the weekend.

Disney/Pixar created a string of critical and financial successes with films like Monsters Inc., A Bug’s Life, Wall-E, Ratatouille, Up, and peaking with Toy Story 3.

Since 2010, however, Disney/Pixar has been dominated by rival companies and Disney’s own internal production company. But, Inside Out returns Disney/Pixar to its former glory.

Inside Out is a simple story about Riley, an 11-year-old girl who moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. The genius of this movie is that most of the dramatic conflict is Riley’s internal struggle between Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black) and Fear (Bill Hader). The emotions are personified with individual characteristics and provide each voice actor a field day.

The first five minutes of the film presents a happy family unit. The move from Minnesota to California is presented as an adventure, creating fond memories. Yet, when the dust settles from the move, Sad begins to intrude on Riley’s core memories, tarnishing the past. When Joy tries to prevent this from happening, the two emotions are sucked into the netherworld of the subconscious.

While remaining “a kids movie,” Inside Out enters the realm of a college freshman psychology class. In Riley’s subconscious, we meet her baby fears (party clowns) and her invisible friend, Bing Bong (Richard Kind). This part of the film takes on a darker hue, much like the melancholia many 11-year-olds face through the rites of passage.

Much like the crowd reactions to Monsters Inc. and Toy Story 2 & 3, children are comforting their parents who are sniffling and tearing up. The film provides the psychological double entendre that makes the Disney/Pixar partnership a continuing cinematic force to be reckoned with. It is also an entertaining flick with a superb musical score from Michael Giacchio, who also scored Jurassic World. Giacchio is the next generation’s John Williams.

Meanwhile, at Cinema Paradiso The Farewell Party opens June 26 at Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood. An award-winning film from both the Israeli and Venice film festivals, it is a dark comedy in Hebrew with English subtitles about euthanasia. July 9-16, Cinema Paradiso, Ft. Lauderdale, will be presenting “Filmed in Broward,” sponsored by Broward 100, a celebration of films produced here. Line-up includes crowd favorites like True Lies, Body Heat, Married to the Mob, Analyze This, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and more. For more info., visit www.fliff.com.

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FLICKS: Vincent Price Returns

Posted on 23 October 2014 by LeslieM

FrightAsylum FrankieBust (2)By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Though he has been gone 21 years ago this Halloween Season, Vincent Price makes a return to the big screen in The Last Man on Earth Halloween night at Cinema Paradiso.

While the film begins at 9 p.m., “Happy Hour” begins at 8 p.m. when Michelle Fresita’s signature “Vampire Wine,” “Bloody Marys” and succulent chocolates will be served. The evening will also feature a costume contest and prizes include: annual memberships for Cinema Paradiso, Fright Asylum coffee mugs, autographed copies of Davy Jones & the Heart of Darkness and The Querulous Nights of Athena Minerva.

A Vincent Price horror film is an appropriate way to kick off is what we hope will be an ongoing partnership between Fright Asylum and Cinema Paradiso, home of the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FliFF).

FLiFF honored Vincent Price in 1991 with a Lifetime Achievement Award, one year after the actor’s last screen appearance in Edward Scissorhands, starring Johnny Depp. Price also narrated the documentary The Devil’s Triangle, which explored the mysteries involving the missing ships and airplanes off the coast of Ft. Lauderdale. Like many a conspiracy, this documentary seems to have disappeared from public consumption, but has resurfaced in four parts on YouTube.

Vincent Price has remained a cultural figure in popular culture. His voice can be heard on Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the best selling album of all time. Seven years before Thriller, Price lent his voice to Alice Cooper’s first solo album, Welcome to My Nightmare. Price’s vocal tones have inspired many actors and actresses. At the recent Spooky Empire Convention, Pat Carroll discussed how Vincent Price influenced her reading of Madame Leota in The Haunted Mansion ride in Disneyworld.

By the time he did The Last Man on Earth, Vincent Price had been cementing his image as the new “King of Horror” for his work in William Castle movies (The Tingler, House on Haunted Hill) and his Edgar Allen Poe/Roger Corman series (The Masque of Red Death, The House of Usher, The Tomb of Ligeia). The Last Man on Earth will be celebrating its 50th anniversary screening Halloween night.

The Last Man on Earth is based on Richard Matheson’s horror fiction novel I Am Legend. His book was adapted for film twice more as The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston in the Vincent Price role and, most recently, as I Am Legend (2007) with Will Smith. Of the three films, the Vincent Price version has been the most influential.

While attending Carnegie Mellon University, George Romero talked with two of his Pittsburgh friends, John Russo and Gary Streiner about directing a movie that “… had a taste for the bizarre.” The film was Night of the Living Dead, which begat the current zombie-craze currently fueled by AMC Television series The Walking Dead. Romero has long admitted that The Last Man on Earth was a direct influence on his work.

Despite portraying despicable villains and cultural maniacs, the real Vincent Price was a dedicated professional and likeable movie star who always had time for his fans. One month before his passing in 1993, I received a letter that just might be Vincent Price’s last autograph. Fright Asylum and I are honored to return Vincent Price to the Big Screen this Halloween night at Cinema Paradiso. (For more information, visit www.fliff.com/Film/1798/Fright_Asylum_Halloween_Special

Vincent Price's last autograph (2)

Cinema Dave had a response from Vincent Price himself!

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