It's About Love

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“About Time” About Love

By Skip Sheffield

“About Time” is about love, actually. “Love, Actually” was a big hit for writer-director Richard Curtis in 2003. Now he is back a decade later exploring the fleeting, frustrating, elusive qualities of romantic love.

The gimmicky hook on this one is the fantasy of time-travel. In this case the gift of time travel comes automatically at age 21 to men of the Lake family of Cornwall.

“About Time” opens at the twenty-first birthday party of Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson), an awkward, freckle-faced ginger-haired English lad who aspires to be a lawyer. Tim’s father (Bill Nighy) takes him aside and tells him a big family secret. If you want to go back in time and correct some wrong you may have committed, all you have to do is go in a dark place, clench your fists and Presto! You can return to any previous moment in your life. You can’t change world history, but you can alter something you have already experienced.

Tim has been fruitlessly pursuing Charlotte (Margot Robbie) the gorgeous goddess girlfriend of his troubled sister Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson). As Ray Charles sang in “You Don’t Know Me,” “Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by.”

Tim goes to London sadder and no wiser at the end of summer to begin his law practice in earnest.

At a chance meeting at a night club, Tim is introduced to Mary (winsome, versatile Canadian actress Rachel McAdams), a young woman almost as shy and insecure as he is. Tim is literally bumbling around in the dark, as that is the gimmicky theme of the club. When he tries to go back and make a better impression, he goes too far and misses his connection with Mary, who has no clue as to who he is. There are certain rules that go with time-travel. Tim learns them by default.

Domhnall is the son of the great Irish actor Brendan Gleeson. You could say he is a chip off the old block, with perfect comic instincts and a regular guy appeal that is impossible to dislike. The supporting cast is equally adept, with Tom Hollander as the sardonic playwright who takes Tim under his wing and Vanessa Kirby as Mary’s tart best friend, Joanna. Bill Nighy, who has been in several of Curtis’s films, creates his most moving character to date.

The chemistry between Gleeson and McAdams is just perfect. This movie may recall those giddy moments of your first love. It did for me.

Hate Banks? You'll Love "Capital"

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Crooks Conspire in “Capital”

 By Skip Sheffield

Hate banks and the white-collar crooks who run them?

“Capital” is a French film by legendary Greek-born director Costa-Gavras (“Missing,” “Z”) that will confirm your worst suspicions.

When the CEO of the French bank Phenix collapses and dies on a golf course, an ambitious underling named Marc Tourneuil (Gad Elmaleh) is tapped as his successor.

Tourneuil thinks he is in charge, but he is just a pawn in the treacherous power games that ensue with the hostile takeover attempt from an American hedge fund led by ruthless, pitiless Dittmar Rigule (Gabriel Byrne). It doesn’t help that Tourneuil can’t help falling for exotic supermodel Nassim Liya Kebede.

“Capital” is Robin Hood in reverse. Bankers “rob from the poor to give to the rich.” As one of the characters notes, “They’re grown-up children.” This is fiction that is all too close to the truth.

AARP on the Loose in Las Vegas

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Top-Drawer Talent Gets Silly in Las Vegas

By Skip Sheffield

Old Guys Have Fun Too

On a much lighter note we have “Last Vegas,” which is a silly situation comedy for the Social Security set, directed by Jon Turteltaub (“National Treasure”).

In light of his current marital woes, this could be seen as art imitating life for Michael Douglas, 69, now separated from his beautiful, much younger wife Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Douglas plays Billy, an aging confirmed bachelor who is the last of his Brooklyn gang to attempt a commitment to marriage. Impulsively at his Malibu mansion, Billy proposes to his girlfriend, who is less than half his age. This prompts his childhood friends to throw a last bachelor party in Las Vegas. This takes some doing, as Paddy (Robert De Niro, 70) has hardly left is New York apartment since his wife died.

Archie (Morgan Freeman, 76) lives as a virtual prisoner with his protective son in New Jersey.

Sam (Kevin Kline, baby of the group at 66) has retired, moved to Florida with his wife and is bored out of his skull.

The best I can say of “Las Vegas” is that it is funnier than I thought it would be. These guys are old pros after all, and though screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s script is creaky with old-age clichés, the actors seem to be enjoying themselves. The best thing about the film is Mary Steenburgen as Diana, a retired accountant who has decided to reinvent herself as a night club singer. Steenburgen, 60, is a wonderful advertisement for a woman aging gracefully- and she’s a darn good singer too.

"12 Years a Slave" Powerful, Disturbing

Chiwetel Ejifor, Steve McQueen

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By Skip Sheffield

There are several worthy new film releases this Friday. Standing head and shoulders above the rest is “12 Years a Slave.”

Be advised “12 Years” is not light entertainment. It is perhaps the most realistic depiction ever of slavery in the USA. Slavery is never a pretty sight or sound.

Interestingly, the two main forces of “12 Years,” director Steve McQueen and star Chiwetel Ejiofor, are from the United Kingdom.

“12 Years a Slave” is a true story based on the account of his abduction and enslavement by African-American man Solomon Northup, published in 1853. The screenplay is by another African-American, John Ridley, who wrote the stirring tale of Tuskegee airmen for “Red Tails.”

Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) was a free-born American man living in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1841 with his wife Margaret (Quvenzhane Wallis) and two children. One evening in Washington, D. C. Northrup was approached by two men with a proposition to earn quick, big money touring with a circus show. The men plied Northrup with wine until he was quite drunk. When he woke up in the morning he found himself in chains and manacles. He was forced aboard a sailing ship bound for Louisiana manned by slavers, where he was sold to the highest bidder by Theophilus Freeman (Paul Giamatti).

The high bidder was William Ford (British actor Benedict Cumberbatch), a Baptist minister who was relatively benign as slave owners go. Unfortunately Northrup ran afoul of  Ford’s cruel, racist foreman John Tibeats (Paul Dano), who forced Northrup’s sale to Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), a disreputable, sadistic slave-driver if there ever was one. Epps’ wife Mary (Sarah Paulsen) was not much better, and she was particularly cruel to her husband’s favorite slave Patsey (Lupita Nyong’o). Patsey is the anguished face of total submission and humiliation, raped regularly by Epps and ordered whipped until lacerated and bleeding by Mary.

There will be many instances when you will want to avert your eyes, and perhaps that is the point, painfully, powerfully driven home. Slavery was ugly and horrific and it was a tragedy it lasted as long as it did in the alleged “Land of the Free.” It is an interesting coincidence that Brad Pitt, who played a sleazy operator in the lousy film “The Counselor” plays the good guy, Canadian abolitionist Samuel Bass in this film. Michael Fassbender, who was also in “The Counselor” and two previous Steve McQueen films “Hunger” and “Shame,” pulls out all the stops in portraying one of most reprehensible villains ever seen on film. “12 Years a Slave” is strong yet still necessary medicine to remind us what tore our country apart a century and a half ago.

Laugh, Don't Despair at the D Word

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Don’t Cry; Do “D Word- A Musical”

By Skip Sheffield

“D Word- A Musical,” which has opened at the Rinker Theatre of Kravis Center in West Palm Beach for a run through Nov. 10, is not really a musical, but a musical revue of catchy songs on the themes of being “Ditched, Dumped, Divorced and Dating.”

Orlando’s Jeanie Linders, who created the wildly successful “Menopause: The Musical” franchise, has crafted a similar comic approach to the very real hurt of a marriage breakup. Linders calls it, quite accurately, “a party show.”

Linders and director/choreographer Mayme Paul have cast four women representing distinct types representing women in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

“D Word” has been honed with previous runs in Orlando and Las Vegas. This experience shows in the precise vocal performances of four solo-quality voices performing in perfect harmony to recorded tracks a set of 14 mostly familiar songs about the flip side of romantic bliss. Unlike “Menopause,” which had parody lyrics to popular songs, the songs have their original lyrics. What is new is biographical information and dialogue from the characters.

The setting is a 6-minute speed-dating event. Erica (Angie McKnight) hasn’t gotten lucky in 14 years. DeeDee (Maddie Castro) is in the dumps after the breakup of her 20-year marriage. Kate (Laura Wright) feels her biological clock ticking. She just wants a “sperm donor.” Jen (Sarah Hester Ross) is trying to rise above the humiliation of losing her fiancé of six years to another guy.

The mood is set with the Gloria Gaynor anthem, “I Will Survive.”

After the one-off original “Single Ladies” we go back to the 1950s doo-wop of Lieber & Stoller’s “Fools Fall in Love” and even farther back to “Just a Gigolo.” Greatest hits such as The Miracles’ “Shop Around,” “The Way of Love” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger” (What Doesn’t Kill You) get new renditions as the ladies drink, talk, cry a little, fight a little and reconcile.

Although this is an ensemble, you will probably have a favorite chanteuse. It seems unfair to single anyone out, but DeeDee Castro is the comic sparkplug as “Your Booty Parlor Babe,” who glories in her first date in years with “Hot Stuff” and bounds into the audience with “Before He Cheats.”

Less than a musical; more than a revue, “D Word” is pure fun in 90 minutes without an intermission.

Tickets start at $39. Call 800-572-8471 or go to www.kravis.org.

"The Counselor" a Major Misfire

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Whatever Happened to Ridley Scott?

By Skip Sheffield

Whatever happened to the Ridley Scott who scared the dickens out of us with “Alien” in 1979; who dazzled us with “Blade Runner” in 1982 and who confused us, but still maintained our interest in “Prometheus” in 2012?

That noted British directed is nowhere to be found in “The Counselor;” a misbegotten mystery-thriller if there ever was one.

The same could be asked of Michael Fassbender, who roused our emotions in Inglourious Basterds” in 2009 and shocked and provoked us in “Shame’ in 2012.

And most ingloriously, whatever happened to the sweet Cameron Diaz we all fell for in the irresistible “There’s Something About Mary” in 1998?

Granted, Diaz has one indelible screen moment in “The Counselor” that will go down in cinematic infamy. It involves a Ferrari owned by another wasted talent, Javier Bardem (with more bizaare hair), the windshield of said Ferrari, and a spread-eagled actress acting slutty but looking silly.

We could go on and on. When did Brad Pitt stop being a hunk? When was Penelope Cruz de-sensualized?

Perhaps the biggest question is how can a script by Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men,” “The Road”) be so bad and banal?

“The Counselor” of the title is played by German actor Michael Fassbender. He is never given a proper name; just Counselor.

The Counselor goes into hock to buy a huge diamond for his fiancée Laura (Penelope Cruz). He can’t be a very smart lawyer, because he thinks he can make some quick, dirty money dealing with drug baron Reiner (Javier Bardem) and his treacherous girlfriend Malkina (Cameron Diaz).

It’s a bad idea that keeps getting worse and worse. The setting is El Paso, Texas, which is a hotbed of drug cartels and illegal immigration. Do we need to be told again how bad drug cartels are? How they have no regard for truth, decency or human life? How their main motivating factor is greed?

Evidently the Counselor must need remedial training in this obvious lesson. It is neither entertaining, uplifting nor educational to endure this brutal, sadistic exercise. I did so you don’t have to.

Running for the Shelter of Mama's Little Helper

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“Next To Normal” Nothing Like Ordinary

By Skip Sheffield

Slow Burn Theatre’s “Next To Normal” is an extraordinary production of an extraordinarily dramatic musical show. You can find out how extraordinary weekends through Nov. 2 at West Boca High School Performing Arts Theatre.

It takes a lot of nerve to take on the challenge of a Pulitzer Prize-winning modern musical about mental illness. In its fifth season Slow Burn has plenty of nerve, courage, chutzpa- call it what you will. Without first-rate, heartfelt performances backed by precision live musical accompaniment, enhanced by dynamic lighting (Lance Blank), appropriate suburban costumes (Rick Pena) and a serviceable, evocative set (Sean McClelland), “Next To Normal’ could easily be a train wreck. This train stays on the track and arrives on time after two and a half hours of sometimes gut-wrenching emotion, often leavened by dark, sardonic humor.

Patrick Fitzwater is the engineer or director of this hot-burning train and Manny Schwartzman is the musical director, or in old railway terms, the fireman.

The combustible fuel is a cast of six wildly talented singer-actors of various ages, sizes and attitude.

Brian Yorkey’s book is a parable about the incomprehensible sorrow of bi-polar disorders and the detrimental effects on all who try to comprehend and coexist. The story is propelled by Tom Kitt’s musical score in a variety of styles, from rock to schmaltz and waltz, wistful ballads and stand-up-and-be counted anthems.

Diana (Sharyn Peoples) is a forty-something mom who was diagnosed with a bipolar disorder 16 years ago; not too long after giving birth to a daughter Natalie (Anne Chamberlain), now 16 and quite resentful.

Slow Burn co-artistic director Matthew Korinko is Diana’s infinitely patient, frustrated husband, Dan Goodman. Jason Edelstein is Henry, a 17-year-old who has a serious crush on Natalie.

The song “Just Another Day” is the setup for another chaotic day in the profoundly dysfunctional Goodman household. It’s 3:30 a.m. and mom is up, sleepless. A son sneaks in late and is scolded. Natalie is up at 5:30 getting ready for school. Dad is getting ready for another day at work, which is often interrupted. The chorus is completed by a young man with an angel’s voice who we learn later is the son named Gabe (Bruno Vida).

In the course of the first act we will see mom undergo various treatments with her doctors (both played by Clay Cartland). Strange as it may seen, delusions can be funny when mom imagines her shrink is a rock star.

That’s probably enough plot for now. Anyone who has been touched by bipolar disorders will be familiar with all the painful outcomes, including the most drastic.

All of this high drama is sung beautifully in duets, trios, quartets and sextexts in razor-sharp harmonies. This is not Rodgers & Hammerstein and “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.” It is music that makes you think about what may be unthinkable. If you can take it, you will be rewarded. You may even see the light.

Tickets are $40 adults, $35 senior citizens and $25 students. Call 866-811-4111 or go to www.slowburntheatre.org.

The Intrigue of "The Fifth Estate

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“Fifth Estate” Explores WikiLeaks

By Skip Sheffield

As a long-time journalist I eagerly anticipated seeing “The Fifth Estate.” As a movie fan I was not disappointed.

“The Fifth Estate” is the story of WikiLeaks and its egotistical, tyrannical creator, Julian Assange.

Assange, who is a most distinctive-looking, platinum-haired Australian man, is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, a most distinctive, brilliant 37-year-old British actor. Playing Assange’s conscientious right-hand man Daniel Berg is Daniel Bruhl, who looks almost completely different in the still-showing race car film “Rush.”

These two actors are the key elements in the story, which is a fictionalized, greatly simplified account of Berg’s book “Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange and the World’s Most Dangerous Web Site.” The book was written with the assistance of David Leigh and Luke Harding and adapted for the screen by Josh Singer.

The director in charge of this complicated history is Bill Condon, director of “Dreamgirls” and “Twilight Saga: Breaking Down Part 2.”

“Fifth Estate” covers a lot of waterfront in a short time. We get a visual representation of the advancing technology of print racing from the time of Gutenberg to the latest in World Wide Web Internet inventions before the story even begins at England’s Guardian in 2010. Condon has a way with flashy visuals to help dramatize an uncinematic story.

The Fourth Estate is the name given to the traditional press media as a group. “Fifth Estate” denotes an evolution or mutation if you will into paperless, instantaneous journalism done in a free-form, reckless and at times illegal fashion.

Julian Assange emerged as a self-appointed watchdog; a whistle-blower to all manner of political, military and monetary misfeasance. Daniel Berg was recruited early on as Assange’s right-hand man; a computer genius. The relationship that developed became like a Cain and Abel story. The fall from best friends to bitter rivals is illustrated graphically with literal fire and destruction simulating the deletion of massive computer files.

“The Fifth Estate” glosses over the intricacies of its creation (particularly the role of Bradley-now Chelsea Manning’s military secrets) and overly dramatizes the relationship of the two main creators. The fact remains WikiLeaks rocked the world and continues to do so. Assange lives in relatively comfortable exile in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London. In his absence WikiLeaks lives on. You may not find this story as fascinating as I do, but it is important for all of us.

Santa Fe, Real Superheroes and Crazy Cowgirls at Boca Museum

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Santa Fe, Cowgirls and Real Heroes Featured at Boca Museum

As much as I love Florida, I find something magical in the desert landscapes of the Southwest.

So do many artists. Santa Fe, New Mexico has been a Mecca for artists since the early 20^th century. To see the impact of art on this small community, visit “Southwestern Allure: The Arts of the Santa Fe Art Colony” at Boca Raton Museum of Art at Mizner Park through Dec. 29.

It is a simply gorgeous, uplifting and educational exhibit by some of the best-known Santa Fe artists, such as Georgia O’Keefe, Stuart Davis, Andrew Dasburg and Marsden Hartley, as well as some you may never have heard of. The exhibit was organized by the museum and independent curator Dr. Valerie Ann Leeds, who specializes in art of this period. After its Boca Raton run, the exhibit travels to the Museum of Art in Orlando and the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For something completely different, check out the rodeo-themed cowgirl exhibit “Nancy Davidson: Let ‘Er Buck” and the humorous yet touching photo essay, “The Real Story of the Superheroes” by Dulce Pinzon.

The museum has also instituted an “Art of Wine” series pairing fine wines with art and artists displayed in the galleries.

Call 561-392-2500 or go to www.bocamuseum.org for more information.

28th Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

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28^th Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival Oct. 18-Nov. 11

By Skip Sheffield

The 28^th annual Fort Lauderdale Film Festival runs Oct. 18 through Nov. 11, bringing more than 175 American independent films and World Cinema to our area. Screenings take place at FLIFF’s own Cinema Paradiso, 503 S.E. Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale and three other locations, including the Muvico Pompano at 2315 N. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach, which is the closest to Boca Raton.

Spotlight films include “August: Osage County,” “Last Vegas,” “Nebraska,” “One Chance,” and “Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom.”

Special guests coming to Fort Lauderdale to be honored include Lea Thompson, star of “The Trouble with Truth,” who will attend the Cinema Paradiso screening at 7 p.m. Oct. 19. Honored with Lifetime Achievement awards are Tab Hunter (Oct. 29), Ed Asner (Oct. 23) and Ann-Margret Nov. 9). Also honored but not attending due to her age (96) and frail health is Zsa-Zsa Gabor. Zsa-Zsa and her sisters Magda and Eva are profiled in the book “Those Glamorous Gabor Sisters.” Publisher and co-writer Danford Prince visited FLIFF Oct. 15 to speak and sign his book at a pre-festival event.

The opening night film, “Free Ride” starring a grown-up Anna Paquin, will be screened at Cinema Paradiso at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18. The film’s producers will be on hand. An opening night party will be held at Villa de Palma.

Other special events include author Aphrodite Jones for “Boys Don’t Cry” at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 and a Wrap Party Nov. 10 at Cinema Paradiso.

There is so much going on at FLIFF it is best to go to their web site at www.fliff.com. Call 954-760-9898 for more information.

Rag-Tag Pirates Catch a Really Big Fish

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“Captain Phillips” One Terrific Movie

By Skip Sheffield

“Captain Phillips” is a terrific movie in the most terrifying sense of the word. It is directed by white-knuckle specialist Paul Greengrass (“United 93”) and the script is based on a book written by the actual Capt. Phillips.

Tom Hanks gives the performance of his career as the title character, who was kidnapped and held for ransom in 2009 by four Somali pirates in the first high-jacking of a U.S.-flagged ship in 200 years.

The Maersk MV Alabama was on a routine 10-day mission from Port Oman around the Horn of Africa through the Somali Basin to Mombasa, Kenya. Somewhere around 280 miles from the Somali port city of Eyl, the huge Alabama was attacked on April 8, 2009 by a small, outboard-powered wooden boat manned by four raggedy young pirates armed with automatic rifles.

Greengrass starts the story on a routine and low key with Phillips (Hanks) rising early and leaving his Vermont home with wife Andrea (Catherine Keener) for Boston’s Logan Airport.

We see Phillips meeting his 20-man crew and mapping their journey, with an acknowledgment that they would be traveling through dangerous, possibly pirate-infested waters. Phillips has the crew perform security drills.

In separate scenes we see the desperate Somali pirate crew being chosen by war lords. Only the most menacing, fearless and clever sailors need apply.

We see the pirates’ modus operandi: a “mother ship;” formerly a fishing trawler, and two smaller vessels not much larger than rowboats to do the dirty work.

A young man named Muse (Barkhad Abdi), called by his nickname “Skinny,” emerges as the leader. What Skinny lacks in physical size he makes up with courage and cunning. He is also the only pirate who speaks and understands English

Greengrass recruited actual Somali refugees, now U.S. citizens, as the pirates. None of the Somali had previous acting experience, yet they took to their roles naturally; especially Barkhad Abdi as Muse, who is truly a skinny but scary adversary.

The first evidence of a possible attack is green blips on a radar screen, indicating the approaching small boats. Tension builds as the blips get closer and closer and the boats come into sight.

As someone who has traveled by boat in the Caribbean, I found it curious the MV Alabama had no weapons of self defense other than flares and water cannon. Perhaps that has changed by now.

“Captain Phillips” was produced with full cooperation of the Maersk Line and the U.S. Navy, so the look is absolutely authentic.

The tension ratchets higher during the actual attack and boarding of the now-helpless Alabama. The closest U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Bainbridge, was still 800 miles away.

With the crew cowering in darkness behind locked gates in the Alabama’s hold, Capt. Phillips faced the pirates and engaged in a game of cat and mouse, desperately stalling for time. Phillips tried to buy off the pirates with $30,000 in the ship’s safe. The pirates wanted millions and they were prepared to die for it.

The war of nerves becomes almost unbearable when Phillips offers himself as hostage, and gets into the Alabama’s motorized lifeboat with the pirates, as the U.S. Navy and their elite SEALs arrive.

Other than a somewhat unconvincing New England accent, Hanks’ performance is flawless and explosive in a literal sense. It is a measure of the director and actor’s skill and artistry than we remain on the edge of the seat, despite the well-known outcome.

Already there are naysayers who claim Phillips was not the hero he is portrayed as in this story, and that his reckless course encouraged the high-jacking. In fact there is a lawsuit stating as such.

This is a movie after all, and there is such a thing as artistic license. If Tom Hanks is not nominated for an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor, there is something wrong with the system.

"Chicgao" Comes to Fort Lauderdale, Again

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Music, Sex and Razzle-Dazzle in “Chicago”

By Skip Sheffield

A hot band, even hotter dancers, a dynamic duo of leading ladies and the most dapper and handsome Billy Flynn ever are the hallmarks of “Chicago,” which kicks off a new season Broadway Across America through Oct. 20 at Broward Center for the Arts in Fort Lauderdale.

The winner of six 1997 Tony Awards including Best Musical revival, “Chicago,” which debuted on Broadway in 1975, is the best work by the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, working with famed director-choreographer Bob Fosse. It is indeed one of the most popular musicals of all time.

“Chicago” is first and foremost a satire about everything sleazy in American politics, law and culture. It is set in the appropriately lawless Roaring 20s in the city of the title.

The show begins with a short prologue by a statuesque showgirl promising a show about “All the things we hold near and dear to our heart:” sex, booze, crime, corruption and publicity.

Velma Kelly (Terra C. MacLeod) and Roxie Hart (Anne Horak) are currently incarcerated and waiting trial for murder in the not unfriendly cellblock ruled by “Mama” Thornton (Carol Woods). We get to see Roxie plug her boyfriend Fred (Jon-Paul Matero) as setup for “The Cell Black Tango” with its refrain, “He had it coming.”

Both women have hired the slick, expensive, and utterly insincere lawyer Billy Flynn (John O’Hurley) as their attorney. Flynn celebrates his hypocrisy in the ironic ballad “All I Need (is love).”

O’Hurley, best known for his 14 years as J. Peterman on the “Seinfeld” TV show, fits the role of Billy Flynn as perfectly as his tailored tuxedo. O’Hurley has played Flynn countless times in countless productions, yet he keeps it fresh in a cleverly tongue-in-cheek fashion.

The production features an onstage band that interacts with the performers on occasion. I must say it is fun to see an ensemble, conducted by Jack Gaugham, with a banjo, accordion and tuba among its instruments.

Anne Horak is fresh and sweet in the ingénue role of Roxie, while Terra MacLeod is predictably bitter, catty but unbowed as the older Velma.

The foolish but poignant role of Amos Hart, Roxie’s hapless husband, is nicely realized by Todd Buonopane in his signature song, “Mister Cellophane.”

My female companion was nothing short of dazzled by the virile young dudes who comprise the male dance chorus. I must say the women are pretty darn agile too.

“Chicago” is perfect escapist entertainment in time of trouble, which let’s face it, is always. Forget real-life political shenanigans for awhile and enjoy them played for laughs. You have only until Oct. 20 to enjoy this “Razzle-Dazzle.”

Tickets are $34.50-$79.50 and may be reserved by calling 954-426-0222 or going to www.browardcenter.org.

A Child Shall Lead The Man

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Written by Nader Rizq and directed by Evan Riklis, “Zaytoun” is rooted in the never-ending conflict between Israel and Palestine.

It is set in Lebanon 1982 at the fall of Beirut. American actor Stephen Dorff (“World Trade Center”) plays Yoni, an Israeli pilot shot down and held in a PLO prison camp.

Abdallah El Akai is Fahed, a Palestinian boy who wants to visit his ancestral home on the West Bank.

When Fahed gives some water to Yoni out of pity, he says, “Let me out, and I’ll take you with me.”

When Yoni seizes the prison cell keys, Fahed shoots him. Yoni nevertheless overpowers the boy, who Cleverly swallows the key to Yoni’s handcuffs, binding the man and boy in an uncomfortable relationship as Yoni tries to make his way back to Israel and to Fahed’s homeland.

“Zaytoun” is one harrowing escape after the other as man and boy make their way across the desert, eluding soldiers, police, land mines, all the while Fahed lugging a small tree which he hopes to plant in his homeland.

The tree symbolizes a fragile hope for future peace between Muslims and Jews. “Zaytoun’ drives home the point it will not be easy.

"Gravity" Grave But Beauiful

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“Gravity” a Visual Thriller

By Skip Sheffield

“Gravity” is a science-fiction space-adventure thriller, not a romance. It is grave but beautiful.

If any of you movie fans were thinking there may be some outer space hookup with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, think again.

Alfonso Cuaron co-wrote, co-produced, co-edited and directed “Gravity,” but it is really Sandra Bullock’s one-woman showcase.

She is Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space mission. George Clooney is Matt Kowalski, a veteran astronaut on his last mission.

The film is visually astonishing and four years in the making. Mexico’s Alfonso Cuaron, who wrote the story with his son Jonas, 30, first stunned the world with his comic erotic masterpiece “Y Tu Tambien” in 2001. He followed with the visually arresting “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” in 2004.

If anything “Gravity” is anti-romantic. It is about survival, pure and simple.
Matt and Dr. Stone are somewhere in outer space with a commanding view of Planet Earth. She tinkers on a Hubble Telescope. Matt frolics about in the weightless vacuum.

A dire message crackles over the earphones of the helmeted astronauts. Houston Control warns that debris from an exploded Russian satellite is heading their way, and they must abort their mission immediately and hightail it back to Earth.

Too late, a barrage of glowing particles hits their space shuttle and disables it, killing a fellow astronaut in the process. Matt and Ryan are tethered together, but something happens and Matt’s line breaks and he is off into space. Matt and Ryan maintain radio contact for a while, but both their oxygen supplies are running low. Ryan’s only hope for survival is to board another Russian satellite, and pilot its space capsule back to Earth.

“Gravity” is tense, harrowing and quite a physical workout for Sandra Bullock, who has gotten her lean body into buff muscular shape and chopped off her hair for the role. If you want to watch Sandra Bullock sweat and grimace, this is your movie.

Due to a visual impairment (blind in one eye), 3-D does not work for me in movies or real life for that matter. I am told the special effects are spectacular. Cuaron spent a year alone in editing.

I really wanted to like “Gravity” more,but it is a bit too grave for my tastes, bred by corny low-budget science fiction thrillers of old. “Gravity” is wonderfully artistic, but I missed the thrills.