By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

For 17 years, this first column of the year has been devoted to picking the best movies of the previous year. These choices follow the Aristotelian rules for good drama: story, character development and spectacle that enhances the first two rules. So, in no particular order, except in reverse alphabetical, here is the top ten list (in box).

Future films

Holding back for Oscar season, local theaters will be graced soon with Karen Allen and Celia Imrie in Year by the Sea directed by J.A. Boyona. A Monster Calls is based on an award-winning young adult novel by Patrick Ness (from an idea by the late Siobhan Dowd) and features Sigourney Weaver, Felicity Jones and the voice of Liam Neeson.

The king of all monsters returns to the big screen in Kong: Skull Island, featuring an all star cast starring Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson and John Goodman. A week later, in March, Disney will create the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast featuring Emma Watson.

Introduced 17 years ago in X-Men, Hugh Jackman returns as the Wolverine in Logan. After performing in eight motion pictures, Jackman will be hanging up his character’s adamantium claws following this final performance as Logan, the wolverine.

For those with no plans for Valentine’s Day, 50 Shades Darker opens. For a movie franchise that no one admits to enjoying, expect this movie to have a spectacular box office on opening weekend. 2017 will be a unique year.

By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

This column completes my 17th year in which my picture has been associated with Flicks, which is as long as Dan Marino’s career with the Miami Dolphins. Since 1999, I have written through five presidential elections, covered over 30 film festivals in Broward, Palm Beach and Dade counties and reviewed closed to a 1000 films for The Observer. I am very thankful that people still have an interest in my opinion about the movies.

2016 has been an interesting year for the business. The biggest blockbusters (Finding Dory. Captain America: Civil War, The Jungle Book, Deadpool) were released in the first half of the year. With the exception of Sully and Rogue One, the second half of the year suffered from a disappointing box office performance.

There can be many factors that have caused cinema’s deflating box office: riveting news coverage of the election and terrorism attacks, sports drama featuring the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Cubs and even the Miami Dolphins having their first winning season in eight years. The common denominator is that television programming has done much to erode the cinema box office.

In November 2016, the Ft. Lauderdale International film Festival promoted the motion picture industry in our community. Gregory Von Hausch, Jan Mitchell, Erin Fontes, Melissa Fresita, Lenny Wong and a crew of hundreds efficiently screened films from all over the world and hosted informative interviews from Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Arlene Dahl to a young talent like Bailee Madison.

Currently on the big screen is Lion, which earned the FLIFF “best in the fest” award. This film is truly representative of international filmmaking for it was produced in both Australia and India, featuring Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman in an important supporting role.

Sixteen years ago, Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me was an independent motion picture that shocked the Hollywood mainstream by earning multiple Oscar nominations. This year’s Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea has earned honors on the cinema awards circuit. It is a drama about grief, but features some satisfying realistic humor.

My goal is to continue to write this column for at least another two years. However, I am concerned that I may be as extinct as the dinosaur. Stay tuned, I will do my best to keep stories interesting in 2017. Happy New Year!

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

2014 was such a disappointing year that last year I could only name seven movies for my annual Top 10 list. A few weeks later, Hollywood released their Academy Award considerations and I would have balanced the list with the following motion pictures: American Sniper, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything and Whiplash.

The movies for 2015 provided escapist entertainment. Beyond my own enjoyment, I could consistently hear people laughing, crying and applauding the images on the big screen. With good stories, interesting characters and clear visualization, movies were simply more fun in 2015. The included Top 10 list sidebar is presented in reverse alphabetical order.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens just dethroned Avatar as the biggest grossing motion picture of all time. Given the fragmentation of movies between television and Internet, the record breaking box office figures reveal that people still want to see big screen epic entertainment. Jurassic World allowed ticket buyers to see the actual size of a Tyrannosaurus rex on the Museum of Discovery’s 5-story IMAX screen.

2016 will feature a big screen box office battle between a Star Wars spin off (titled Rogue One) and Star Trek Beyond. Given the success of the Marvel Comics Expanded Universe, arch rival DC Comics plans to expand their universe with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will be followed up with Suicide Squad, featuring the Rogue’s Gallery of Villainy.

Despite a sense of diminishing returns from last year’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel is predicted to regain the box office championship throne with Captain America: Civil War. While Captain America (Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) are expected to fight on the big screen, Civil Wars is a political movie that will examine the fine line between security and liberty on May 6, 2016.

Change is in the air locally. The Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) is under new management. Given that the base of operations is in Manalapan, it remains to be seen if PBIFF will have relevance for our Observer readers this April. Stay tuned, we always have the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival in November.

2016 will mark my 17th year writing this column in which we have witnessed the home video evolution from VHS to DVD to direct streaming through businesses like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Yet, for all of these technical innovations, nothing beats seeing a flick on the big screen for popcorn-eating Saturday Matinee fun.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

2013 has shown that the youth and family markets drive the box office dollar. The Top 5 box office motion pictures, Iron Man 3, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Despicable Me 2, Man of Steel and Monsters University had a cumulative gross of nearly $2 billion.

With rising ticket prices, consumers are being pickier than ever. Social Media can destroy a motion picture before it can get out of the gate, witness The Lone Ranger.

A success two years ago (Machete) became one of the biggest box office bombs of the year (Machete Kills). Harrison Ford seemed to be on career redemption with 42, but he contributed to two of the biggest box office flops of the year, Paranoia and Ender’s Game.

Film festivals and conventions are becoming more and more important to the film industry. The major studios targeted the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) with Nebraska, starring Bruce Dern, and August: Osage County, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Gregory von Hausch, president and FLIFF CEO, managed to produce the best local film festival in five years. It helped that the celebrities he invited this year were Class Acts.

Class Acts are hard to find in the entertainment industry, most individuals are very self-centered. Lea Thompson, John Shea, Stephen Moyer, Tab Hunter and Ann Margaret proved to be Class Acts by living up to fan expectations and having grace under pressure at FLIFF. Behind the scenes, the volunteers and Cyndi Boyar helped make FLIFF run smooth.

Pain is a rude awakening from grief. Last January, my chronic back pain got the best of me and I have spent all of 2013 treating it. Besides reading my column on a regular basis, Dr. Thomas Goberville has gotten at the root cause of my problem, prescribing regular physical therapy. Thanks to the Angels at MedDiagnostic Rehab, I was released last Friday.

Any sense of self pity was knocked out of my psyche when the Palm Beach International Film Festival presented the documentary Comedy Warriors. Severely injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, these wounded warriors found therapy in making others laugh.

This lesson was reinforced at FLIFF with the screening of the documentary Cine- Ability featuring local Class Act and now BackStage Angel, Danny Murphy. This excellent documentary looks at how Hollywood views people with disabilities. When CinemAbility ends, one realizes that everybody faces hardship. How one reacts to such hardship defines if they are a winner or loser in life.