By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

When the original Poltergeist was released in the summer of 1982, I was disturbed by one scene.

It wasn’t the scene where the man ripped his face off or when the corpses attacked JoBeth Williams in the pool, but the scene when a child caught their parents smoking a joint.

A national film columnist claimed the scene was “charming.” I was concerned about the pot smoking parents being a poor role model.

Hollywood did clean up act and actually supported First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign. Perceptions changed when candidate Bill Clinton talked about smoking marijuana — but not “inhaling.” Thirty years later, recreational drug usage has become status quo in popular culture.

This perception is evident in Jack Black’s new movie, The D Train. Black portrays Dan Landsman, chairman of his high school reunion committee. Despite being married with a teenage boy, Landsman is not very well liked by his committee members. When spotting his classmate Oliver Lawless (James Marsden) in an exotic television commercial, Landsman decides to recruit the seemingly successful movie star.

Oliver and Dan hit it off, do drugs, meet movie stars and have a one night stand with each other.

After recruiting Oliver, Dan returns, the conquering hero. Yet, Dan feels conflicted about cheating on his wife with another man; but still enjoys the limelight of being the reunion king.

Having played the same role for over a decade, Jack Black makes some punch lines work with his unique facial expressions, much like Jack Benny would do when he would look at the audience and slap his face. However, this film lacks empathy from the very beginning and this film cannot be saved by facial expressions. The D Train is a train wreck.

For more serious fare, Tangerines opens tomorrow at the Living Room Theater on the FAU Campus. Nominated for Best Foreign Language motion picture, this film explores the 1992 conflict between two former satellite nations of the former Soviet Union.

Amidst the conflict, a farmer attempts to grow tangerines. Two opposing and injured soldiers end up on the farmer’s doorstep. Despite vows to kill each other, the two warriors use their recovery time to consider new perspectives about the bucolic world they are now living in.

With Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2 opening this weekend, Tangerines is a vacation from the ordinary film.

By Dave Montalbano

http://cinemadave.livejournal.com

With three superhero sequels and three years of multiple mixed media hype, Avengers: The Age of Ultron is destined to be coronated as the 2015 Summer Blockbuster Champion. The Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Discovery and Science is already reporting sold out shows this weekend. Those with access to Wikipedia can learn all the plot and character spoilers before even seeing the latest Marvel Comics epic.

For those unable to get a ticket for this film, there are plenty of opportunities to see thought provoking cinema. 24 Days is a serious French language movie that is timely. A young man is kidnapped and held for ransom because the criminals think he is from a rich family because they are Jewish. This film looks at the stereotypical perceptions that prolong the rescue and recovery of a victim. The film won the Jerusalem Film Festival Lia Award for discussing anti-Semitism in France and warning about when dangerous threats go unchecked.

Presented by Pedro Almodovar, Wild Tales is a Spanish comedy anthology about revenge. Writer/director Damián Szifrón takes six commonplace situations (wedding planning, car traffic), inflicts some conflict and creates a comedy of apocalyptic proportions. It will be exclusively screening at Cinema Paradiso in Ft. Lauderdale this weekend (www.fliff.com for details).

In two weeks, on May 8, the documentary Iris opens. The film focuses on Palm Beach resident Iris Apfel and her contributions to the world of fashion merchandising. She is a pure socialite who travels twice a year to Europe and has artwork on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Also opening the same weekend is Felix and Meira, a multicultural movie that premiered at the recent Toronto Film Festival. Felix and Meira are two individuals who live in the same neighborhood, but never met due to their religious upbringing.

On May 15, Tangerines opens. Nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for best foreign motion pictures, Tangerines is in both Estonian and Russian languages. This film features two opposing soldiers who are wounded, but end up being nursed in the same home.

As high school graduation rolls around in June, reserve a ticket for The D Train. Starring Jack Black, Kathryn Hahn and James Marsden. This comedy is about a high school reunion committee that is tasked with finding the most popular guy from high school. I wonder if he is a Marvel superhero.