By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

An epic tale can be told in 17 days. That is the major lesson that was learned in the 2 ½ weeks of the 34th Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF), which featured a strong beginning, middle and a grand finale.  There were heroes and villains, featuring close calls and thrilling escapes. There was also an acknowledgement that regardless of race, color or creed, there is a community of individuals who love stories told on the big screen.

Winner of the best ensemble award,Working Man, is a film that symbolizes the themes of FLIFF 2019. Ten years in preparation, Robert Jury molded his script into a 1 hour and 49 minute drama that touches upon all the elements of Aristotelian drama: sadness, penance, comedy and redemption. Yet, for all of the academic touch points, Working Man is a contemporary movie that taps into modern sensibilities. The production values of this film reflect upon a little independent film that costar Talia Shire was involved in 43 years ago — Rocky.

Forty-three years ago, the biggest star on the set of Rocky was Burgess Meredith, an actor who was known to one generation as Batman’s nemesis “The Penguin,” to another generation he was “George” to Lon Chaney Jr.’s “Lennie” in John Steinbeck’s adaption Of Mice and Men.  The production values of Rocky were far more depressed than the previous mentioned Burgess Meredith productions. In fact, the actor’s dressing room was a shared van on the streets of Philadelphia.

Instead of missing the glory of salad days gone by, Talia Shire saw him (in his Long Johns, in the dressing room) proclaiming, “Isn’t this great?” Meredith garnered an Oscar nomination for Rocky and steady work in the industry for another 30 years. This is a lesson that the then 29 year-old Talia Shire embraced.

Being trained in theater with the gravitas that “the show must go on,” Shire flew into Ft. Lauderdale on a red eye jet, later than expected, despite an injured index finger and waves of throbbing pain. She would have made Burgess Meredith proud. 

Shire provided expert analysis of Working Man (Videos will be downloaded on my blog — https://cinemadave.livejournal.com this weekend.)  She was generous with the press, signing autographs and posing with fans for photographs.  Shire is a movie star, but she prefers to be known as a character actress.

As an Italian child from Long Island, the film From the Vine helped me recapture moments of my youth.  Starring Joe Pantoliano in a rare leading role, this filmis the story of an overworked executive who discovers the bucolic joy of making wine. 

In 17 days, the climate changed from tropic heat to November chill.  As a double feature, Working Man and From the Vine were great Sunday afternoon matinee fun.

FLIFF 2019 has closed. Many of the backstage angels and class acts are limping home from a job well done.  In fact, 17 days is a great benchmark in the motion picture industry. For Working Man and Rocky were filmed within a similar time period.   Hmm … Cinema Dave has an idea for a film project in 2020 Anno Domini …

By “Cinema” Dave

cinemadave.livejournal.com

The fluidity and rapidity of mass media production is increasing at a geometric rate. In less than three months, the No. 2 box office champion of the year (Avengers: Infinity War), is now available to download digitally. While there was much buzz on Facebook about tears being shed during Disney’s Christopher Robin, the box office champion remained Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

Despite being obliterated by Black Panther a week after its release, Fifty Shades Freed enjoyed a solid box office opening and steady home video use. The concluding chapter of the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy, this romantic S & M flick is a popular franchise that no one in public admits to liking. Of the three Fifty Shades films, Fifty Shades Freed is the second best of the trilogy.

For the first half of the movie, we witness the same naked aerobics between Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan that we have seen in the previous two movies. During these scenes of passion, the musical soundtrack loudly explains Anastasia (Johnson) and Christian’s (Dornan) interior thoughts and motives. There is less S & M in this film, but there is a homage to Kim Basinger/Mickey Rourke music videos that were used to promote Andrian Lyne’s movie from 1986, 9 1/2 Weeks.

The second half of Fifty Shades Freed ties in all of the loose plot threads (A true cynic would ask, ‘There was a plot?’) of the previous movies. Anastasia and Christian have stalker issues, while there is corporate intrigue involving computer hacking. As if it were not cliched enough, Anastasia and Christian have a spat about making babies.

With a sense of guilty pleasure, Fifty Shades Freed does hold one’s attention. Unlike the lumbering second movie, the film does present growth, personal responsibility and maturity.

From the first movie to the last, we witness the virginal and over-dressed Anastasia transform into a married woman who eagerly subscribes to topless sunbathing in the French Rivera.

Of course, the high profile media magnate Christian Grey is not happy with his newlywed’s exhibitionism and he schedules a session in his little red room. Fifty Shades Freed provided closure to the Fifty Shades trilogy.

The Meg opens this weekend at the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science. Since the dawn of the Internet, The Meg has been in Hollywood development Hell …for 20 years. Based on a series of novels by Steve Alten about prehistoric giant megalodon shark, Jason Statham stars as the title character’s main foil. To appreciate the size of The Meg, check out the permanent Meg exhibit found in the Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science.

Of course, a few blocks down the road, Savor Cinema hosts the Popcorn Frights Film Festival, concluding a summer series, but opening the door for Halloween season!

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

After Mission: Impossible — Fallout opens this weekend, the big Hollywood studios will cut back on their big budgeted releases until the fall season. Throughout the month of August, lower budgeted movies will be released. Released 40 years ago, the relatively low budget National Lampoon’s Animal House provided a strong return of investment, when the big budgeted/all star multi-marketed Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band nearly bankrupted the same studio, Universal Pictures. Thus due to budgetary considerations, August movie releases tend towards either comedy or horror.

Last weekend, the San Diego Comic Con laid out the blue print for the next year of movie releases. With Marvel Comics not attending, DC Comics absorbed the spotlight with Wonder Woman 1984, Shazam and Aquaman trailers. Due to be released Memorial Day weekend 2019, the Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters trailer inspired shock and awe, while Jamie Lee Curtis’ return to the Halloween franchise inspired nostalgia for Monster Kids.

It is the Monster Kids who will take over the Savor Cinema in Ft. Lauderdale for seven days beginning Friday, Aug. 10. The Popcorn Frights Film Festival concludes a four month season that paid tribute to the fun of going to the movies again. Founded and directed by partners Igor Shteyrenberg and Marc Ferman, Popcorn Frights kicked things off with a successful screening of The Return of the Living Dead featuring Scream Queen Linnea Quigley, who happens to live locally. (Pictured with Popcorn Frights founders, pg. 1).

Quigley had so much fun, that she attended the next screening Popcorn Frights presentation with a screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Being a vegan, Quigley did partake in a meatless BBQ sandwich, though regular BBQ sandwiches were available for carnivores. Ticket buyers drove from South Miami and Orlando to attend this grindhouse classic and eat authentic BBQ and ticket purchases have remained consistently big. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 The Dream Master solidified the success of Popcorn Frights in July.

The Popcorn Frights Film Festival is committed to screening 28 films in seven days. The film titles seem to cross-reference 1970s Roger Corman exploitation flicks with direct-to-VHS titles found on the bargain rack at a Blockbuster video store.

From the United States comes movies like Boogeyman Pop, Wolfman’s Got Nards and Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich.Asia, Europe, Latin America and the former Soviet Union will also be represented. Those titles read much more serious: Cold Skin, Cursed Seat, One Cut of the Dead and Satan’s Slaves.

Popcorn Frights will also pay tribute to Chuck Russell, who directed A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and The Blob, before moving on to bigger budgeted fare like Eraser (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) , The Mask (Jim Carrey) and The Scorpion King (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). A good festival finds a balance the success of tradition with an eye to a creative future. [For more info, visit www.popcornfrights.com].

The Dog Days of August are fast upon us and the school year will begin shortly. However, there is plenty of air conditioning fun that can still be had at a theater near you.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

The Steve Martin/Eddie Murphy film Bowfinger was my first Observer movie review 15 years ago. It was a positive review, but I noted the tepid box office and how this film would have been a bigger hit a few years prior when the duo were stronger in the box office. The same could be said about Grudge Match, the Robert DeNiro & Sylvester Stallone boxing comedy.

Despite a shaky beginning, Grudge Match is an entertaining motion picture and both actors spoof their iconic images with gravitas. The story has some depth; the ensemble cast consisting of Kevin Hart, Kim Basinger & Alan Arkin give Grudge Match a warm heart. As time has been good to Bowfinger, when it plays on TV, time will also be a friend to Grudge Match.

This weekend, the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival and Cinema Paradiso (Ft. Lauderdale and Hollywood) begin 2014 with a tribute to Keir Dullea, the actor best known as astronaut Dave Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Dullea made his film debut as a juvenile delinquent in Hoodlum Priest in 1961. Through the ‘60s, he drew critical notice for his performances in Bunny Lake is Missing and David and Lisa. In later years, Dullea could be found in motion pictures with a distinctive cult following, most notably Black Christmas, DeSade and The Good Shepherd directed by Robert DeNiro. He and his wife, Mia Dillion, often perform on the New York stage.

This Saturday, film historian Foster Hirsch will host a Q & A with Dullea, who will also receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. It is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., but double check as the times have fluctuated … 954-525- FILM or www.fliff.com.

The inaugural Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival begins Friday at the Hyatt Regency Miami with an awards ceremony held on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. Oscar-winning special effects producer Dean Lyon (Lord of the Rings) will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Of the many films being shown this weekend, NI-28 Strate-1 is one to mark on the calendar. Filmed in the Pacific Island nation of New Caledonia, NI-28 Strate-1 is independent filmmaking at its best, basically a “chase” film with a dark message about the zombie apocalypse. For schedule and pricing, visit http://miscifi.com.