By “Cinema Dave”

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

Robert DeNiro is not Young Vito Corleone, but he played the character in an Oscar Winning portrayal in The Godfather Part II.” DeNiro also portrayed the “Raging Bull” Jake LaMotta in another Oscar Winning performance. Sometimes, actors get confused between fantasy and reality and think they are the people they are playing. This seems to be the case last Sunday night in Manhattan in which DeNiro portrayed a cult leader in an auditorium filled with sycophantic apostles from the Broadway stage. DeNiro’s profanity laced diatribe criticizing the President of the United States was met with a standing ovation.

As I write this column on Tuesday morning, the divide between entertainment fantasy and political reality has expanded to gargantuan proportions. After a 68 year conflict, President Trump has begun negotiations to denuclearize the despot nation known as North Korea. With dwindling box office and dropping television ratings, entertainment industry leaders may want to rethink supporting a “Fearless Leader” like the delusional DeNiro. With armchair diplomacy and a surging economy, the American consumer may want to become more pragmatic when discussing our current President of the United States, Donald Trump.

Despite entertainment headlines about “Oceans 8” overthrowing “Solo: A Star Wars Story” for the weekend box office crown, sales revenues were flat for the Summer Blockbuster Season. With good word of mouth and full Disney/Pixar backing, expect “The Incredibles 2” to dominate headlines and box office revenue this weekend.

“Mary Shelley” also opens this weekend locally. Forty five years ago on PBS, this English Drama would have been routine programming on Sunday Night’s “Masterpiece Theater.” The film features beautiful scenery, very little action with English people talking a lot.

Elle Fanning portrays “Mary Shelley” and this 20-year-old actress from Conyers, Georgia is quite good as the frail, but strong willed young author. Fanning holds her own with a Veteran British ensemble that features Douglas Booth as Percy Bysse Shelley and Ben Hardy as Doctor Polidori. The three characters write and recite poetry and with one another. The topics of death, women’s liberation and sexual orientation are are also broached.

With the exception of the opening moments when she is reciting ghost stories in a a cemetery, we are three-quarters of the way into the film before we finally see Mary Shelley begin writing the book she is best known for, “Frankenstein.: This dull wait is too long and this is why “Mary Shelley” is such a disappointment to fans of gothic literature.

Besides “The Incredibles 2,” cinematic action will pick up next weekend with the release of “American Animals.” For all of it’s flaws, “Mary Shelley” does contain an important line from Doctor Polidori, “We have created monsters, don’t let them devour us.” Hollywood executives, Broadway producers and Robert DeNiro, take heed.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As evidenced by last month’s screening of The Return of the Living Dead sponsored by Popcorn Frights, the horror movie community is an untapped market. This Friday, June 8, Popcorn Frights will follow up with a screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, directed by Tobe Hooper. Horror devotees are expected to drive from Orlando and Miami to catch this special screening at the Savor Cinema (503 SE 6 St., Ft. Lauderdale).

Released in 1974, a year after The Exorcist was released, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was considered rude, crude and socially unacceptable. Unlike the Hollywood embrace of William Friedkin’s direction of William Peter Blatty’s novel about a teen processed by an evil demon, this film was banned in many communities when it was released for Halloween. Whereas The Exorcist was instantly recognized as a classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a pure cinematic visceral experience that has grown in status after four decades.

The plot for the film is as old as the Boris Karloff thriller The Old Dark House. A group of travelers in Texas run out of gas and are forced to stop at a creepy community. Unlike The Old Dark House, which features a creepy family and a creepier butler, this film features a creepy cannibal family with power tools.

The film featured Marilyn Burns as the leading lady and Gunnar Hansen as the chainsaw wielding Leatherface.

Hansen later spoofed his role in the comedy Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, which also featured local actress Linnea Quigley. Both Hansen and Burns passed away three years ago, within a year of each other. In their latter years, they held a place of honor within the horror movie convention circuit.

Steve Owens was also a regular patron of the convention circuit and my personal friend. Owens, who worked with Cemetery Prints and was also an instructor, passed away last week. After a full day’s work on the vendor floor at a convention, Steve could be found late at night poolside with a bottle in his hand and a quick joke. A celebration of life and laughter honoring Steve will be held this Saturday night, June 9, at Bru’s Room in Coconut Creek (5460 W. Hillsboro Blvd.), for those who knew him, starting at 6 p.m. (Don’t worry, there are plenty of television sets, so you will be able to see whether or not Justified takes the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes).

Starring Elle Fanning, Mary Shelley opens next weekend, June 15. A costume drama set in Elizabethan times, this film explores how a teenager is influenced to write a gothic novel about a man who made a monster.

Two hundred years later, the novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus is still in print and is required reading.

In two weeks, American Animals opens. A heist drama based on a true story, it features four friends who want to steal art work from their college library.

Also check out “The Amazing Mister A,” a magician/ventriloquist, this Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at the Deerfield Beach Percy White Library.