By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Before Midnight & Monsters University Before Midnight is a film 18 years in the making.

In 1994, actors Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and director Richard Linklater collaborated on an art house movie titled Before Sunrise. Filmed on the streets of Vienna, this plotless movie featured Jessie (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy) talking about the meaning of life.

Nine years later, Hawke, Delpy and Linklater reunited in Before Sunset. Shot in real time, this 80-minute motion picture reveal Jessie and Celine in their 30s. This time, they roam the streets of Paris and talk about regrets. Both movies ask the question — will Celine and Jessie get together?

Before Midnight presents the morning after. Now in their 40s, Jessie suffers from a father’s guilt, while Celine feels like she has betrayed her career aspirations by becoming a mother. The couple has spent the summer in a writer’s retreat on a Greek Archiplelago. When the host family agrees to babysit the children, Jessie and Celine are given one night of intimacy.

For the first two thirds of the movie, Before Midnight seems to be repeating the formula of the first two movies. However, things change for the worse when the two arrive in their claustrophobic hotel room. What were once cute volleys and flirtations, now become ugly and abusive.

To Hawke, Delpy and Linklater’s credit, Before Midnight is a truthful movie. The three dig into their own personal barnacles and let them scrape each other. The fight in the hotel room is not comfortable to watch, but it does feel like a logical extension from that one night in Vienna 18 years ago.

Twelve years ago, Shrek battled Monsters Inc., in what became a symbolic battle between DreamWorks and Disney/Pixar studios, respectively. Shrek won the first ever Oscar for best animated feature, but Monsters Inc. won more awards and the box office gross. After four movies, Shrek retired into his swamp, but the characters from Monsters Inc. never lost public affection.

Monsters University is the prequel and puts the focus upon the one-eyed midget Cyclops Mike (voiced by Billy Crystal). While buddies in Monsters Inc., we discover that Mike and Sullivan (John Goodman) were undergraduate rivals. In their petty rivalry, Mike and Sully run afoul Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren), the hardnosed administrator who is part dragon.

This is a fun motion picture with an upbeat musical score. However, it lacks the heart of the first motion picture, which induced some tears. In fact, the short subject that precedes it, The Blue Umbrella, contains more heart than either Before Midnight or Monsters University.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

At the recent Fatality Fest convention, actress Debbie Rochon and I discussed the cinematography of The Blair Witch Project. On the big screen, Debbie found the film nauseating, but enjoyed the narrative on the television screen.

Perhaps the opposite will be true when Man of Steel leaves the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery IMAX Theater. On the smaller screen, the spectacle will be diminished because of the plot holes and weak character development.

The film opens on the doomed planet Krypton. Despite his best efforts, scientist Jor-El (Russell Crowe) is unable to prevent the end of the world, so he sends his only begotten son, Kal-El, to the cornfields of Kansas on the planet Earth. The boy is raised by John (Kevin Costner) and Martha (Diane Lane) Kent and adopts the name Clark Kent (Henry Cavill). A stranger in a strange land, Clark is raised with moral values and he learns to fight for truth, justice and the American way.

Surviving the destruction of Krypton is General Zod (Michael Shannon) and his army of mercenaries. Zod has a grudge against Jor-El and his family. When he learns that the son of his arch enemy is living on Earth, Zod destroys the planet in pursuit of revenge.

Man of Steel is not a linear story. The film is full of flashbacks that are not in chronological order. The slower episodes featuring Clark and his step parents are the most emotionally poignant. We see a special needs student who is bullied. We all know that Clark Kent could easily demolish his tormentors, but John Kent teaches his son restraint and discipline. These values present Man of Steel’s finest moments.

The film sags with an over-reliance on special effects and attention-deficit-disorder editing. Moments of cliffhanging thrills are lost. The fight scenes lack fluid motion and visual sense. With a $116 million record-breaking gross, Man of Steel is THE motion picture of the moment.

The reviews and word of mouth about this Superman reboot have been split between either love or hate. Younger audiences are proclaiming Man of Steel the best Superman ever, while the older crowd misses the innocence and heart of the movies and television series.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Of all the summer blockbusters out there, Now You See Me is the most underrated movie this summer. The film features an interesting story, characters with dual motivations and veteran actors like Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine teaching a clinic on how to give subtle, understated performances.

Let’s remove the film’s major flaw quickly … this film about the illusion of magic has too many cinematic special effects. Enhanced by some attention deficit disorder editing, Now You See Me defeats the film’s core assertion about the importance of magic in our lives. Had some of the magic tricks been pulled off in a single frame camera shot, Now You See Me would have become the sleeper hit of the summer.

In the opening sequence, we are introduced to four different characters who become known as “The Four Horsemen.” Atlas (Jessie Eisenberg) is a mouthpiece barker, McKinney (Woody Harrelson) is a “mentalist” who shakes down marriage infidelities, Henley (Isla Fisher) performs death-defying Houdini stunts and Wilder (Dave Franco) seems to have an affinity for death. The four are recruited by a person in a hoodie, who represents the “Eye of Horus” from Egyptian Mythology.

While performing in France, the Four Horsemen steal a fortune from a secure bank. In hot pursuit is Detective Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo), who tracks the Four Horsemen to New Orleans and New York in a desperate attempt to arrest them.

Now You See Me is a great title for this movie. While the over abundance of special effects mar this movie, it is the character development that one comes to appreciate in this fine mystery.

Speaking of mystery, Murder on the Beach bookstore in Delray Beach is hosting Mystery Writers University at the Delray Beach Marriott. This one-day seminar features academic and awardwinning authors teaching classes, as well as doing a book signing. For more information, visit www.mys terywriters.org.

Author/ actress Harley Jane Kozak is flying in to teach a seminar on “Character.” Hopefully, the producers of Now You See Me will consider Harley’s lesson plans in designing a sequel.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Since the inception of Flicks almost 14 summers ago, the Observer has covered local film festivals and conventions. With school wrapping up this week, there is an opportunity to howl at the moon at Fatality Fest, the first horror movie convention in South Florida since 2005.

Starting Friday night and continuing until Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fatality Fest, will feature Grim Reaper Reptiles, face painting and a silent auction to benefit Scares that Care, an IRS approved 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides money, toys and other items to help sick children. There will be opportunities to meet established movie actors from modern and classic horror movies of the last 30 years.

With her motivational and acting seminars, guest Dee Wallace has become a staple on the convention circuit, with credits in The Lords of Salem, Halloween and The Howling. Recently released on DVD, Wallace can also be seen in Hansel & Gretel as Lilith, the wicked witch. Ironically, Wallace is best known for her maternal roles in Cujo and E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial.

Had things worked out differently, Wallace would have played Oliver Robins’ mother. Instead Oliver Robins, another fest guest, played the son of Jobeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson in Poltergeist. Released one month before E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, both films were produced by Steven Spielberg.

Now in his 30s, Robins is currently an independent film producer himself. A graduate of Southern California film program, Robins wrote You’ve Got a Friend, a Hallmark Channel Original Movie.

Another class act, Ernie Hudson, known for Ghost busters and Modern Family, returns to South Florida after seven years.

Camille Keaton, the granddaughter of silent screen legend Buster Keaton, will be signing autographs for her best known movie I Spit on Your Grave.

Last, but not least, our resident Scream Queen, Linnea Quigley, will be in attendance, along with her Corpses are Forever co-star, Debbie Rochon.

These are just a few of the long list of guests who will be in attendance. Given the local enthusiasm of the promoters and volunteers, this inaugural Fatality Fest in South Florida should be something special.

For information, visit www.fatalityfest.com/

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As one would expect, Renoir is a pure art house movie, with a slow pace and gorgeous cinematography. Not quite a historical drama, the characters linger in a way that one wants to learn more about the subjects – the family Renoir. In terms of the summer Blockbuster season, Renoir is the quiet vacation for people who want to get away from it all.

This movie would have been more accurately titled Renoirs, for it is a generational story about a father and his son. Painter Pierre- Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet) is a crippled father who has yet to create his final masterpiece (The Bathers) with a paint brush, oils and optimal sunlight. A wounded warrior, Jean Renoir (Vincent Rottiers) limps through his father’s garden and talks about new things, like airplanes and moving pictures. Andrée Heuschling (Christa Theret) is the object of both men’s eyes. She is the muse who poses nude for Papa Renoir.

In spite of the impressionistic motifs, performances are good. The beauty is as real as a primavera Sunday afternoon, but so is the pain of a man struggling in pain with inflamed and gnarly hands. As the senior Renoir says, “The pain passes, beauty remains.”

Frances Ha opens next week in The Living Room Theater in Boca Raton. The title character (Greta Gerwig) shares similar characteristics as Andrée Heuschling, a struggling artist who seeks to develop as performance. Unlike Renoir, Frances Ha is filmed in black & white and contains no nudity.

As a dancer for a Manhattan Dance Company, Frances has enjoyed the Bohemian lifestyle. Now in her late twenties, Frances is forced to mature as her friends form families and her dance skills diminish.

With the black-and-white cinematography and Manhattan setting, Frances Ha is influenced by Woody Allen. Yet Frances is not another pseudo intellectual Catskills comedian, she is an endearing character who learns to embrace her California roots and artistic desires.

In two weeks, Fatality Fest opens in West Palm Beach. For the first time in 10 years, a horror movie convention opens south of Orlando. Expected to attend will be Dee Wallace (E.T., Cujo, Ten); Camille Keaton, Buster’s granddaughter; Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, JAG, OZ) and the queen of independent filmmaking Debbie Rochon. For ticket information, visit – http://www.fatalityfest.com/ west-palm-beach.html

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With 10 motion pictures, four versions of Next Generation television shows and endless novels, the Star Trek franchise was collapsing under its own weight until Paramount executives hired J.J. Abrams to “reboot” the series. Abrams remained true to the Star Trek core audience, while inviting a new audience not familiar with the difference between a Klingon and a Gorn.

For his second and last Star Trek motion picture, Abrams has provided another adrenalin-filled motion picture with heart and tiny references to the 50-year-old franchise. With the best Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan, used as a narrative blueprint, Star Trek Into Darkness fulfills expectations of popcorn-eating Saturday Matinee fun.

This film finds the Enterprise crew in a perilous mission on a primitive planet. While Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) saves the world, he is demoted for disobeying orders. With his untrustworthy first officer Spock (Zachary Quinto) reassigned, Kirk becomes first mate to his mentor, Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Before Pike and Kirk can begin their next mission, Star Fleet Headquarters is attacked by Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

From this point forward, this film turns into an action-packed sci-fi narrative with character twists and turns. The joy of this film is how the screenwriters take sacred Star Trek beliefs (i.e. “The Prime Directive”) and reveal what a bureaucratic cage these regulations are in the real world. This storytelling freedom is infectious.

The film will be playing on the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery (MODS) fivestorey IMAX screen until mid June, when Man of Steel is scheduled. It’s worth the extra couple of bucks. I felt I was aboard the Star Trek Enterprise and could give navigational tips to Lieutenant Sulu (John Cho).Besides the excellent documentary Flight of the Butterflies, MODS will kick off the summer with a new exhibit — Tony Hawk RAD Science, which relates “physics” with “skateboarding.” This kinesthetic learning experience concludes Labor Day Weekend.

Last, but not least, Gary Sinise and Joe Mantenga return to the National Memorial Day Concert on PBS Sunday, May 26 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Given the recent loss of my World War II generation father, the tribute to The Greatest Generation will be especially poignant for me. Memorialize our vets … and honor them this Memorial Day weekend by enjoying freedom and having a good time.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With the release of his autobiography The Outsider: A Memoir, champion Jimmy Connors has pinched a controversial nerve that has rocked a local tennis icon and philanthropist.

Growing up in South Florida during the 1970s, one witnessed the tennis boom first hand as Chris Evert, Harold Solomon, Billie Jean King and Bjorn Borg seemed to be on television every weekend.

Held the first weekend after the Super Bowl, the Pepsi Cola Grand Slam tournament in Boca West featured the champions of Australia, Wimbledon, the U.S. and French Open.

Without the same fanfare, in four days, professional tennis will kick off it’s summer season with the French Open at Roland Garros. The only modern players who seem to capture halycon days of the 1970s are the sisters from West Palm Beach, Venus and Serena Williams.

The documentary Venus and Serena opens tomorrow. It is a fascinating film because the subject matter does not deal with a winning year, but the disappointing 2011 season for the two sisters.

With permission from the Williams family, directors Maiken Baird and Michelle Major presents Serena’s over-reaction to an Asian linesman at the U.S. Open. We witness Venus learning that she has an autoimmune disease. Showcasing professional vagabonds, Venus and Serena removes the glamour of tennis and reveals the professional drudgery of moving from hotel room to hotel room.

As the sisters confront the twilight of their tennis careers, the family unit becomes stronger. Like their parents, Venus and Serena were humbled by their adversity. This documentary is presented with such candor that one’s perspective of the pair will change after viewing it.

For tonight only, Cinema Paradiso presents ROCK SHOW: Paul McCartney and Wings, a concert documentary about Sir Paul’s tour of America, circa 1976. This special screening will be hosted by 102.7 WMXJ’s Joe Johnson, producer of The Beatles Brunch. On Saturday night at 8 p.m, they will also present Across the Universe: The Ultimate Beatles Tribute Band. For ticket information for both events, call 954-525-FILM.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Opening tomorrow, In the House is a French movie with English subtitles. Germain (Fabrice Luchini) is the Language Arts teacher and Claude (Ernst Umhauer) is the gifted student. Claude is given an assignment … write about your best friend. Claude writes about a classmate that he is tutoring in math.

While, bored with most students’ essays, Germain is intrigued with Claude’s story, who concludes each page with “to be continued.” Each night, Germain reads Claude’s essay to his hot wife, Jeanne (Kristin Scott Thomas), who treats the tale as a Harlequin Romance.

This film is a story within a story. Character perception shifts every five minutes. One is not certain if Claude’s experiences In the House are teen fantasy or potential criminal activity, which raises boundary issues between a teacher and his apt pupil. This is a film that will keep you guessing.

After the triumph of Marvel’s The Avengers, it would be hard to bring Marvel characters down to earth. However, the core of each Marvel superhero is their human vulnerability. After saving the world and looking into the dark abyss, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering from PTSS – Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.

Iron Man 3 opens on New Year’s Eve 1999, nine years before the events of the original Iron Man. Callow Tony Stark was wooing Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and snubbing young scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who wants Stark’s funding for a chemistry project.

Fourteen years later, Killian and Stark cross paths. Killian reveals his history with Stark’s current girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Before a love triangle can solidify, the evil Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) issues terrorists attacks upon the United States of America and Tony Stark’s personal property. The fate of Planet Earth is not in question in Iron Man 3, but the fate of Tony Stark’s world and soul is.

Both In the House and Iron Man 3 are successful movies for their respective audiences and will provoke discussion. Only Iron Man 3 will be on the IMAX screen for five more days before it is bumped by Star Trek Into Darkness.

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.