By “Cinema” Dave

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

As history has revealed with the opening of the two-week miniseries known as The Olympics, the motion picture box office is anticipated to suffer. Forty summers ago, America listened to Jim McKay host the Montreal Olympics on the ABC Network that featured Nadia Comaneci, Sugar Ray Leonard, the Spinks brothers and Bruce Jenner, when John Wayne’s last movie, The Shootist was released. Cinematic History has also shown that classic gems seem to get lost during these international games.

Based on the novel written by Phillip Roth, Indignation opens tomorrow. The author of Goodbye Columbus, Portnoy’s Complaint and The Human Stain, Indignation offers another perspective of Roth’s familiar themes: Jewish-American culture, conformity and alienation. With the Korean War as a backdrop, we meet a New Jersey working-class student who transfers to a small Ohio college.

Having screened at the Miami International Film Festival last Spring, The Bride opens tomorrow in neighborhood cinemas. A Spanish film with English subtitles, The Bride is based on the play Bodas de sangre by Federico García Lorca. This melodrama opens with a wedding being interrupted by a man on a white horse. The Bride follows the destructive course of a love triangle between two men and one woman.

For good old Saturday matinee popcorn-eating fun, Star Trek Beyond will fit your bill. While acknowledging the 50 year anniversary of the television show, this new Star Trek is a stand-alone movie about the Starship Enterprise’s fabled five year mission.

On day 966 (yes, this day is a significant “Easter egg”), the Enterprise crew is planning shore leave. The crew is suffering from boredom of routine. While Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is seeking promotion, Spock (Zachary Quinto) and Uhura’s (Zoe Saldana) relationship has reached a standstill. When a distress call is heard, the Enterprise crew cancel shore leave.

Buckle your seat belts, because this adventure takes on a bumpy ride as the Enterprise is decimated by a new enemy named Krall (Idris Elba), a lizard-like villain with a deep hatred for Captain Kirk’s employer, the Federation. As the Enterprise crew faces disaster after disaster, the individuals unite to fight a powerful enemy.

Co-written by Simon Pegg (who plays Chief Engineer “Scotty”), this 12th big screen Star Trek is filled with humor and fantastic visual action, whether epic space battles, vicious fist fights or cliffhanging escapes. Star Trek Beyond will also be remembered for quiet scenes involving the stoic Spock grieving over a lost mentor.

There is no denying the spectacle of the Olympics opening. However, for those seeking an alternative distraction from the outside heat, Star Trek Beyond provides summer shade. For those seeking more serious fare, The Bride or Indignation may be the film for you.

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.