Skip Sheffield's Flix, Muzik, Showz, Travel & More Blog

Whales Save the World

2012-02-02T08:44:00.001-08:00

A “Big Miracle” of World Cooperation

By Skip Sheffield

Can whales save the world?
If you see “Big Miracle,” you may think so.
“Big Miracle” is based on a real-life incident in 1988. Three California gray whales became trapped by ice five miles away from the open sea near Point Barrow, Alaska. What started out as a little local news story grew and blossomed into an international sensation which ultimately brought together the USA and the Soviet Union in a joint effort to free the whales.
“Big Miracle” is a fictionalized version of Tom Rose’s 1989 book, “Freeing the Whales.”
The trailer I first saw looked a bit hokey and corny, but darned if this determinably feel-good movie takes hold and lures the viewer into an idealist realm where adversaries can put aside their differences and cooperate on a mutual goal for the common good.
There has already been some criticism that “Big Miracle” reduces the important role the native Inuit Eskimos played in what was called Operation Breakthrough, while maximizing the role of Caucasians.
From a Hollywood and a political point of view I understand why it was done. This movie is the first one subsidized- to the tune of one-third the $30 million budget- by the State of Alaska. As such it is kind of an advertisement for the state. In a way it reminded me of the musical “Oklahoma!” where ultimately “the cowboy and the farmer can be friends.”
“Big Miracle” stars Drew Barrymore as Rachel Kramer, ardent environmentalist and head of Greenpeace up in the Arctic Circle. The character is based on the real-life Greenpeace activist Cindy Lowry.
John Krasinski plays Adam Carlson, Rachel’s ex-boyfriend who works as a television reporter at the tiny Barrow station. Adam Carlson is a composite character who represents the reporters who became interested in the story and saw its potential as a national cause. It also gives the story some romantic tension when an ambitious Los Angeles television reporter, Jill Gerard (Kristin Bell) flies to Alaska to cover the story. Adam can’t help noticing.
The Polar adversary of Rachel Kramer is Liam Peterson (Ted Danson), the combative oilman who wants to drill in the pristine wilderness. He could really use some good public relations.
In truth “Big Miracle” is more about politics and media influence than it is about whales. Each of the disparate characters sees the do-gooder mission of rescuing the whales as a means to promote his or her cause. National Guard commander Tom Carroll (Dermot Mulroney) originally thinks it’s a risky, foolish mission. Governor Haskell (Stephen Root) sees no political benefit. Kelly Myers (Vinessa Shaw) see the positive benefit for the President and his political party. The native Eskimos fear being typed as bad guys because they still hunt certain whales for sustenance so they work the hardest of all.
Director Ken Kwapis keeps cutting back and forth to the poor whales (actually robotic figures) and the bickering, struggling humans as the clock ticks on toward a deep freeze and dead whales.
Ultimately it is up to “Ronnie” Reagan to put aside political differences and call his pal “Gorby” Gorbachev, and say hey, can you Russkies sent that big ice-breaker our way?
Sure it is hokey, contrived and distanced from reality, but when you think about it, Operation Breakthrough was the first sign of thaw between two superpowers capable of annihilating the planet. Now that is feel-good.

Glen Close Close to the Vest in "Albert Nobbs"

2012-01-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

Oscar-Nominated Film “Albert Nobbs” in Boca

By Skip Sheffield

Now that Glenn Close and Janet McTeer have been nominated as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for this year’s Academy Awards, there should be a temporary surge in box office for the quirky little comedy-romance, “Albert Nobbs.”
Let me stress “Albert Nobbs” is not a laugh-out-loud comedy. It is hardly a comedy at all. It just has some ironically funny situations stemming from sexual role-playing and romantic misunderstandings.
The film is a labor of love for Glenn Close, who co-wrote the screenplay and starred in the play on which this is based almost 30 years ago.
It’s late 19th century Ireland. The character of Albert Nobbs (Close) showed at age 14 at Morrison’s Hotel. The hotel’s owner, Mrs. Baker (Pauline Collins) took pity on the waifish lad and added him to the hotel staff
It is now 30 years later and Albert is an esteemed but almost silent, almost invisible butler.
Albert’s unruffled, predictable routine is upset when Hubert Page, a boisterous outgoing fellow, is hired to do some painting at the hotel. The thing is, like Albert, Hubert is really a woman too. That fact is revealed somewhat humorously when Albert is forced to room with Hubert.
If that weren’t confusing enough, Hubert is married to a woman (Bronagh Gallagher) who may or may not know Hubert’s true sexual identity, and who cares?
Confusing matters even further is lovely Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a young maid to whom Albert is attracted. Helen likes little Albert OK, but she is stirred more by the brutish boiler man Joe (Aaron Johnson).
Yes, “Albert Nobbs” is a feminist fable- an allegory really- about oppressive social, political and economic dictates. Victorian England and Ireland were notoriously anti-female, yet at the time the U.K. was ruled by one of its strongest most steadfast Queens, Victoria Regina.
While Glenn Close’s performance as this bottled-up little person is impressive, there is little to like about the melancholy character. The character we really like is Janet McTeer’s Hubert. In this year’s Oscar sweepstakes she has a much stronger chance of bringing home the gold.
If you are interested in sociology and gender politics, “Albert Nobbs” is a film for you. I don’t think it stands much of a chance with America’s mainstream audience.

Subversive Fun in West Boca

2012-01-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

“Urinetown The Musical” Comes to West Boca

By Skip Sheffield

Admittedly the title “Urinetown: The Musical” does not sound very appetizing.
Guess what? The Slow Burn Theatre production of this offbeat Off-Broadway show is funny, clever, and quite pertinent to our current political and economic situation. The show continues through Sunday, Jan. 29 at West Boca High School way out at the end of Glades Road.
“Urinetown” was nominated for ten Tony awards during its 2009 Broadway run. It won for Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Music Score and Best Direction of a Musical.
Authors Mark Holliman (music and lyrics) and Greg Kotis (book and lyrics) say they were inspired by the politically-charged theater of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill (“Threepenny Opera”) in the 1920s and 1930s.
Kotis was also prompted by his encounter with pay toilets on his first trip to Europe. What if we all had to use public pay toilets, and any other form of elimination was a criminal offense? And what if those public toilets were controlled by a greedy, dictatorial giant corporation?
Sound familiar? Welcome to Urinetown and its all-powerful Urine Good Company (UGC).
“Urinetown” not only taunts corporate America, Wall Street and fascistic law enforcement, it makes fun of the Broadway musical itself in it very first song: “Too Much Exposition.” The experienced theater-goer will nod one’s head and say, yes, I’ve often felt that way.
Slow Burn’s cast is absolutely charming. Even the villains are entertaining, as we learn right off the bat as friendly Officer Lockstock (Matthew Korino) explains the situation to naïve but smart street urchin Little Sally (Jaimie Kautzmann). A drought has been going on for 20 years (sound familiar?) and water has become a precious commodity; so precious it is decreed ordinary people cannot be trusted using private bathroom facilities. If someone is caught relieving oneself in public, that person is carted off to “Urinetown;” presumably a penal colony.
The setting is Public Amenity No. 9; the poorest, filthiest facility in town. Policing the place is the formidable Penelope Pennywise (Cindy Pearce) and her young, idealistic assistant, Bobby Strong (Daniel Schwab). Trouble brews when Bobby’s father, Old Man Strong (Conor Walton) can’t afford the fee and urinates in the street (“It’s a Privilege to Pee”).
If this weren’t bad enough, UGC CEO Caldwell Cladwell (Larry Buzzeo) is conspiring with Senator Fripp (Michael Torok) to raise toilet rates even higher.
Every musical needs an ingénue. In this case it is Hope Cladwell (Lindsey Forgery), the CEO’s daughter, who has just joined the company payroll. Every musical needs romance too, and wouldn’t you know it’s instant attraction between Hope and Bobby Strong.
With its offbeat titles and subject matter, the musical score is not the kind you’ll find yourself humming after the show. It is well-played by a live but invisible band.
Kudos to choreographer/director Patrick Fitzwater for bringing this provocative, entertaining show to Boca Raton.
Tickets are $35 adults, $30 seniors and $20 students and may be reserved by calling 954-323-7884 or going to www.slowburntheatre.com.

Giving Heroes Their Just Due in "Red Tails"

2012-01-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

Black Flying Heroes Known by Their “Red Tails”

By Skip Sheffield

Most Americans have not heard of the Tuskegee Airmen. Perhaps “Red Tails” will correct that oversight and add some real-life black heroes for African-American children.
Founded, in 1881, Tuskegee Institute is a historically black university in Alabama where some of the most celebrated African-American scholars have studied and taught. When the United States entered World War II, Tuskegee Institute recruited a group of young men to be trained as combat pilots. The men were duly trained, but there was a major problem: the U.S. Armed Forces were segregated. Furthermore, a now-discredited Army study in 1925 alleged that blacks were mentally inferior and unable to cope with complicated machinery such as airplanes.
The Tuskegee Airmen, formally known as the 332nd Fighter Group, were deployed to Europe, but as of 1944 they had not seen actual combat. They were equipped with well-worn, obsolete P-40 fighter planes and had to be content with just doing practice drills.
A long-gestating project by George Lucas, “Red Tails” recounts the turning point, when not only did the Tuskegee Airmen prove themselves; they performed above and beyond the call of duty.
Lucas had a challenge financing the project because its principal cast is all African-American. The two box office names are Terrence Howard as Col. A.J. Bullard and Cuba Gooding, Jr. as Major Emmanuelle Stance.
The year is 1944 in Sicily, Italy. Back in Washington, Col. Bullard is pleading the case for his men. Finally the Tuskegee Airmen are given a chance to prove themselves in the extremely dangerous assignment of providing escorts for bombers.
“Red Tails” is an old-fashioned film that is a lot like any other war movie. The difference is the race of the characters and the additional obstacles they must overcome.
There is the hard-drinking squadron leader Marty “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker); fearless flying ace Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo); runty Ray “Junior” Gannon and flippant Samuel “Joker” George (Elijah Kelly), under the command of taciturn, pipe-smoking Maj. Stance (Gooding).
Director Anthony Hemingway and screen writer John Ridley show us pointed examples of discrimination and bigotry, but they also show the grudging, growing admiration of white bomber pilots, who came to specifically request the brave pilots of the 322nd as escorts.
The computer-enhanced air battles are much more convincing than war films of yore. There is even a token romance between Lightning Joe (Oyelowo) and Sofia (Daniela Rush) a beautiful Italian woman.
“Red Tails” is a bit corny, clichéd and rah-rah, but in a good way that makes anyone, black or white, proud to be an American

Professional Wrestling as Allegory

2012-01-17T10:57:00.000-08:00

America Enters the Ring in “Chad Deity”

By Skip Sheffield

Is professional wrestling an allegory for life in America?
It sure is in “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” running through Feb. 12 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
In wrestling you have clearly defined heroes and villains. The heroes are staunch upholders of the American dream. Villains want to tear the USA apart. Part of the appeal of wrestling is that everything is so clear-cut and black-and-white. Real life is such a confusing mess of gray-scale tones.
Chad Deity (Donte Bonner) is the “hero” of Kristoffer Diaz’s 2010 Pulitzer Prize-finalist play.
“Hero” is in quotes, because Chad Deity is not a hero at all. Oh, he makes the most money and he is adored by the masses, but the real hero of the story is Macedonio Guerra, known as “The Mace” (Brandon Morris).
Mace is a professional bad guy. He is costumed in the garb of whatever ethic group we are hating at the moment.
Mace sets the stage by talking about his childhood in the Bronx; how he and his brother ate sugary cereals and played with wrestling figures. Don’t call them dolls, please.
Mace grew up to be a very good wrestler; so good it becomes his job to make lesser wrestlers appear better than they are.
Wrestling is all about team work, Mace explains. If you don’t work together, someone could get hurt. Mace’s love of wrestling is so lofty he likens it to an art form, like ballet, performed by 300-pound bruisers.
It is Mace’s job to make Chad Deity look good. Chad is handsome, confident, with gym-sculpted body. He drapes himself, literally, in the American flag. He is the star of “THE Wrestling” company. His action figures and T-shirts make buckets of money for the crass promoter Everett K. Olsen, known as E.K.O. (Gregg Weiner).
EKO knows what sells. When Mace brings in a charismatic upstart from Brooklyn, EKO smells money. No matter that Vigneshwar Paduar is of Indian descent, or that his sport is basketball. VP has presence. People stand up and take notice.
EKO cooks up a new script. Mace plays the villain as usual, but this time he is an America-hating Mexican called Che Chavez Castro. VP is a vaguely Mideastern Muslim character called The Fundamentalist.
Boo! Hiss! “Chad Deity” is extremely funny in its portrayal of the ridiculous extremes of wrestling, yet playwright Diaz salutes the men who play the roles. For authenticity’s sake, a real wrestler named Matthew Schaller plays three stereotypical heroes.
You don’t have to care a fig about wrestling to love “Chad Deity.” My brother and I watched wrestling on television when we were kids mostly for the comedy and entertainment value. Later, brother Richard got to know several professional wrestlers. They were hard-working stiffs like anyone else.
“Chad Deity” is a left-handed salute to the people of wrestling and a scathing commentary on America’s greed, materialism and jingoism. Above all its is an amazing theatrical spectacle that will make you laugh, jeer, gasp and feel both shame and pride. In the swift course of under two hours, director Clive Cholerton presents a microcosm of the paradox that is the good old USA.
Tickets are $27-$50. Call 561-241-7432 or go to www.caldwelltheatre.com.

Have you Hugged Your Mother Today?

2012-01-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Living With the Mother From Hell

By Skip Sheffield

Most of us have nothing but warm thoughts and memories of our mothers- most, not all.
“The Effects of Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” running through Jan. 29 at the lovely new and much larger Palm Beach Dramaworks at 201 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, is about a less-than-ideal mother. You could call Beatrice Hunsdorfer the mother from hell.
Beatrice is played by Laura Turnbull, one of South Florida’s finest actresses. Furthermore her brilliant daughter Matilda is played by her own daughter, Arielle Hoffman, a senior at Coral Springs High School but a seasoned actress in her own right. Matilda’s older sister Ruth is played by Skye Coyne, another seasoned young professional.
The girls and their mother live in an unspecified town in a space that was once a vegetable store. Mother Beatrice is an embittered divorcee whose ex has since died, leaving her the sole support of her girls.
Mom ekes out a living taking in boarders. The current one is Nanny (Harriet Oser), a silent, decrepit old woman who shuffles around with the help of a walker.
The play begins with a voiceover soliloquy by Matilda on the magic and the power of the atom. It is the early 1960s, when many people thought atomic energy could be the answer to all our woes.
Matilda is using the power of the atom in a different way. With the help of her high school science teacher she has irradiated marigold seeds with gamma rays to see if the plants might mutate and grow faster and larger. It’s a science fair project that is the source of playwright Paul Zindel’s title.
A normal mother would be supportive of her daughter’s efforts to accomplish something difficult. Not Beatrice. Beatrice belittles Matilda, saying her experiment is foolish and she is awkward and unattractive.
Beatrice is not much kinder to Ruth, who has already suffered one breakdown and is fragile at best. All Ruth and her mother have in common is a fondness for cigarettes. Ruth is developing rapidly, and it is clear her mother is threatened by that.
Out of pain art can emerge. Zindel’s own home life and mother were very difficult. Through his flights of fancy he was able to soar over grim reality.
So Matilda grows in a most inhospitable climate. No matter what unspeakable cruelties her mother performs, Matilda manages to remain strong and steadfast.
It is this optimistic spirit of overcoming obstacles that perhaps inspired the committee to award Zindel the Pulitzer Prize for literature in 1971.
Tough as it is, “Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds” is a thing of rough beauty and uplifting thought, performed by a dream cast, each totally immersed in her role.
Laura Turnbull usually plays sympathetic, even tragic figures. Beatrice is in a sense a tragic figure, but we are not impressed or depressed. We have seen Beatrices before in people who blame all their misfortune on others.
Stick around for the curtain call and you see a heartwarming scene of mother and daughter acknowledging the sheer joy of acting.
Tickets are $55 ($10 students). Call 561-514-4042 or go to www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.

2012-01-06T13:36:00.001-08:00

“Tinker Tailor” a Thinking Person’s Mystery-Thriller

By Skip Sheffield

Tired of cars that crash and things that blow up? “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is a thinking person’s action-mystery whodunit.
Gary Oldman stars as George Smiley, a top intelligence officer now retired from Britain’s secret service in this adaptation of John Le Carre’s 1974 chapter of his popular spy novel series.
The year is 1973 in the chilliest part of the Cold War. A year previously something went terribly wrong in Hungary. Three people were shot dead in downtown Budapest in broad daylight. One of them was an important “person of interest” in an ongoing investigation of a “mole” or informant to the Soviet Union at the very highest level of British Intelligence.
A melancholy man known as Control (John Hurt at his gloomiest) who resigned at the same time Smiley did after the fiasco, appeals to Smiley to come back to the “Circus,” as British Intelligence headquarters (MI-6) in London is nicknamed.
Smiley wants no part of the “Circus,” but it is hard for him to turn down a challenge. His marriage is in tatters and he is at loose ends. Grudgingly, he jumps back into the fray.
“Tinker” is so gray and gloomy director Tomas Alfredson could have just as well shot in black-and-white. There are many suspects, and Smiley considers them all. The plot is as complicated as a high-level chess match, but if you stick with it, it can be quite satisfying if not exciting.
The ensemble cast is absolutely first-rate. Toby Jones is at his effectively prissiest as fellow agent Percy Alleline. Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, and Mark Strong all contribute strategic parts to the complicated puzzle, but it is Gary Oldman as the taciturn, ingenious and fearless George Smiley who holds it all together.
Oldman tips his hat to the great Alec Guinness, who created the trench coat-wearing, bespeckled master spy in a seven-hour version of this 400-plus-pages book, broadcast by the BBC. I neither read the book nor saw the series, so I was glad to experience this kind of Cliff Notes treatment of John Le Clare’s spy-versus-spy world. I do not miss the Cold War one bit. This film reminds me why.

Marcia Ball Plays Lake Worth

2012-01-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

Queen of Boogie-Woogie, Marcia Ball, Plays the Bamboo Room

By Skip Sheffield

Marcia Ball is hands-down the hottest piano-pounder in the world of blues and boogie-woogie. The long tall Texan and Alligator Records recording artist is making a rare local appearance with her band at 9 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7 at the newly-revitalized Bamboo Room, 25 S. J Street, Lake Worth,
“I’m so glad the Bamboo Room is open again,” she said recently from somewhere on the road. “It’s one of the nicest venues in Florida for the blues, and we do love Florida.”
Ball not only pummels her piano, she sings the blues and writes about them too. Every song on her latest album, “Roadside Attractions,” was either written or co-written by her.
“It’s a very personal album,’ she says. “It’s about life on the road. You see a lot of strange and interesting things. I have never tired of it.”
Ball has been “on the road’ for more than 40 years. She was born into a musical family in 1949 in Orange, Texas and began taking piano lessons at age 5. In 1970 she set out for San Francisco, but her car broke down near the musical Mecca of Austin, Texas. After playing in several bands, she set out on her own in 1974. Ball recorded on Capital Records and Rounder Records before landing on the nation’s premiere blues label, Alligator Records of Chicago, in 2001, At Alligator three of her first four albums have earned Grammy nominations and she has amassed seven Blues Music awards since 2001. In 2009 she won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award. In 2011 Living Blues Readers’ Poll declared her Female Blues Artist of the Year and Most Outstanding Musician- Keyboard.
The Pinetop Perkins Award was especially meaningful to Ball. She was a personal friend to Perkins and one of five pianists- the only woman- to play a Pinetop Perkins memorial concert in Austin.
“It’s a brutal business,” Ball reflects. “But we have lasted longer than most. My bass player Don Bennett has been with me 40 years. Not everyone gets to do what we do, but we love it. That’s why we last.”
The love is returned. Marcia Ball headlines a “Blues Cruise” Jan. 8-15 to St. Barts, St. Kitts and Nevis. In March her band will perform at music festivals in Switzerland and Spain.
Tickets are $32 and $37. Call 561-585-2583 or go to www.bambooroom.com.

Spectacular Cirque "Holidaze" at Broward Center

2011-12-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

A Spectacular “Holidaze” Show at Broward Center

By Skip Sheffield

“Cirque Dreams Holidaze” is a dazzling spectacle of sound, light and human feats of derring-do at the Broward Center for the Arts, onstage through Sunday Jan. 1.
This “Cirque” (French for circus) is not to be confused with the much larger, better-known Cirque du Soleil with headquarters in Montreal. Producer-director Neil Goldberg creates his shows right here in Florida in a large warehouse-studio in Pompano Beach. Like the French-Canadian company, Goldberg’s Cirque is a circus with no animals or animal tricks. It is a strictly human show with an international cast of 30 phenomenal acrobats, jugglers, balancing acts, trapeze artist, gymnasts, trick bicyclists, dancers, roller-skaters- you name it. This is a kitchen sink of diversity, wildly costumed and brilliantly lit, with a thunderous recorded musical accompaniment and live singers. In fact the music is a little too thunderous for those with sensitive ears.
It’s been a good ten years since I first met and interviewed Neil Goldberg. The show he produces now is vastly improved over what I saw a decade ago. There is only the barest thread of a plot. It’s Christmas Eve, and through some magic all the tree ornaments and toys spring to life. There are three main characters who sing and thread the acts together: Angel (Hannah Hammond), the Ice Queen (Traci Blair) and author Dickens (Jamarice Daughtry) all from the USA. Each of these singers is powerful in his or her way. I was especially impressed with Daughtry’s vocal range. I was less impressed with the original music by Jill Winters and David Scott, but it is lively, to say the least. There are several familiar cover tunes, including “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and a particularly lovely version of “O Holy Night.”
The cast includes performance artists from Brazil, China, Ethiopia, Latvia, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the Ukraine. Each act has a specialty and special moments guaranteed to make you gasp. If you enjoy toned bodies performing incredible tricks, this is a show for you regardless of the season.
Tickets are $29.25 to $69.25, and well worth it. Call 954-462-0222 or go to www.browardcenter.org.

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Holiday Movies Galore

2011-12-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

We are heading into the home stretch of the holiday film season. There are so many films coming out, I couldn’t possibly get to them all, but here are a few notables.
I belong to two film critics groups: Florida Film Critics Circle and Southeastern Film Critics Association. Because of this, I am invited to advance screenings and some of the studios provide DVDs for viewing at home.
SEFCA asked each of its 47 members to submit a top ten favorite film list. I voted “The Artist,’ which opens Dec. 23, No. 1. The rest in descending order were Melancholia at 2, Moneyball, 3, War Horse 4, My Week With Marilyn 5, Descendants 6, The Muppets 7, J. Edgar 8, We Bought a Zoo 9 and Young Adult 10.
The rest of the SEFCA writers voted The Descendants No. 1, followed by The Artist 2, Hugo 3, Moneyball 4, Tree of Life 5, Drive 6, Midnight in Paris 7, Win Win 8, War Horse 9 and The Help 10.
George Clooney was voted Best Actor for Descendants while Meryl Streep got Best Actress for Iron Lady.
Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting actor for Beginners and Janet McTeer was Best Supporting actress for Albert Nobbs.
The Help won Best Ensemble and Martin Scorsese was Best Director for Hugo. Good ol’ Woody Allen got Best Original Screenplay for Midnight in Paris.
The very funny film Rango was voted Best Animated Film and the very strange The Tree of Life got Best Cinematography.
It will be very interesting to see who scores at Academy Award time. I suspect The Artist will do better because A: it’s a masterpiece and B: it is all about Film.

The Artist is the first major silent, black-and-white film in more than 30 years. The production crew is French, but the film is set in Hollywood in the late 1920s at the ending of the silent film era. The film is written and directed by Michael Hazanavicius and it co-stars his wife Berenice Bejo as aspiring starlet Peppy Miller, who rides the coattails of a married movie star named George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) to stardom.
George is a dashing Rudolph Valentino- Douglas Fairbanks kind of action star. George is at the peak of his stardom and wealth in 1927, but all that is about to change because talkies are coming and George thinks silent film is the only pure art film form.
“I am an Artist not a puppet,” he declares to ruthless studio head Al Zimmer (John Goodman). George is so convinced silent film is the only way to go that he invests his life savings in a silent epic.
It is not hard to guess how this will go. What makes The Artist so great is that it tells its poignant story through body language and facial expression, not words. Minimal titles are used, and there is a bit of sound at strategic moments. At its core The Artist is a love story for and about film, and it is also a romantic love and redemption story; not just about a woman for a failing man, but of a servant’s devotion to his longtime employer. For that role of Clifton, George’s butler-chauffeur, James Cromwell will surely be recognized.

“Iron Lady”

If you like British history and great acting, I recommend Iron Lady. America’s most versatile actress, Meryl Streep crawls right into the skin of indomitable British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. If you don’t care for British history, you may find it on the dull side.

“Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse”

Yet to come is Steven Spielberg’s Adventures of Tintin and War Horse. I have not seen the former, but I have read great things. The latter opens on Christmas Day and I assure you it is a most wonderful cinematic present. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Amy Glazer at FAU for "Charlie

2011-12-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

Filmmaker Amy Glazer will appear in person after the 7:35 screening of her film Seducing Charlie Barker at FAU’s Living Room Theaters for a Q&A.
“I always enjoy speaking with audience members,” said Glazer recently. “We have had a great reception for seducing Charlie Barker. It has been a labor of love and kind of a family affair.”
Amy Glazer and brother Mitch, a film producer, grew up on Miami Beach and became interested in the performing arts there.
“Seducing Charlie Barker” is a dark comedy and cautionary tale about a struggling New York actor who falls into an ill-advised affair with a beautiful, sexy, extremely ambitious young woman.
Charlie Barker (Steven Barker Turner) is married to Stella (Daphne Zuniga) who is called a “frigid Nazi’ by her nemesis, but in fact is understandably at the end of her rope as the only support for her increasingly erratic, disloyal husband.
When Charlie is approach by the aforementioned gorgeous, seductive woman at a party, he is just weak and vulnerable enough to fall under her spell.
Charlie’s best friend Lewis (David Wilson Barnes) had set his sights on Clea (Heather Gordon), a manipulative blond goddess, but heedless Charlie falls for her anyway. It is the first of a number of betrayals in a downward spiral of a morbidly self-destructive man.
“Charlie Barker” is based on a play by Theresa Rebeck. Director Amy Glazer worked with all four of the principal cast members prior to making the film.
“The play was called The Scene, and we first did it at the Humana Festival of 2006,” Glazer revealed. “Theater is my first love, but when a patron saw our production, he said ‘That could be a movie,’ and he signed on as producer.”
Because she had worked with the two women in California and the men at the Humana Festival in Kentucky, Glazer said they developed a kind of shorthand.
“It was kind of like The Brady Bunch,” she says with a chuckle. “It wasn’t that hard to jump into shooting, even though we had to shoot out of sequence. I really lucked out with this cast.”
Heather Gordon interrupted her MFA studies at Harvard to do the film. Daphne Zuniga had to work around a busy acting schedule.
Glazer says the film is more a commentary on shallow contemporary values rather than an indictment of a vain, weak-willed man.
“Clea steals the show the way she contradicts herself,” says Glazer. “In real life she would be a studio president one day.”

A Heartwarming “Zoo”

If it’s heartwarming you want this season, you won’t go wrong with “We Bought a Zoo.’
“Zoo” is based on the real-life zoo story of British journalist Benjamin Mee, who used his life savings to rescue a dilapidated zoo and its 200 creatures from destruction.
The American version is by writer-director Cameron Crowe and stars Matthew Damon as Benjamin Mee.
Damon is just the right all-around good guy to play this selfless, brave soul. Thomas Haden Church is likewise right on target as his skeptical older brother.
Scarlett Johansson is less likely a prospect for a tough, determined zoo manager, but she tones down her natural allure and turns up her determination as Kelly Foster.
Yes there are cute kids and many funny, unpredictable animals and even a huffing, puffing-type villain, but in this holiday season, you can’t beat this for family fare.

A Hard-Hitting “Girl With Dragon Tattoo

“Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is most definitely not family fare, but it is not a recycling of the hit 2009 Swedish mystery-thriller, but a re-visioning by American director David Fincher. If anything, this version is more shocking, harder-hitting and more understandably a horror film, starring Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) as Stieg Larsson’s angry, tough, yet vulnerable computer-hacking hero.Daniel Craig is a more animated, appealing version of crusading investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist. If you like it unflinching hard, dark and tough, this is your cup of hemlock.

Junkers to Creampuffs Vehicle List

2011-12-22T08:01:00.000-08:00

Back when I was in my early 30s I had the presence of mind to make a list of every vehicle I had owned, however briefly. My first motor vehicle I built myself with an old Briggs & Stratton lawnmower engine I mounted to a toy car Mike Welch gave me. I was 12. One day I mustered the courage (stupidity?) to drive the thing on city streets from our house in Lake Floresta, through Royal Oak Hills, down Camino Real to Dixie Highway and thence to the west entrance of Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club. I waved at the guard without stopping and pulled up at my friend Chip Haeberle's house.
Chip could hardly believe my foolhardy feat. The feat became even more foolhardy when I decided to rev up the old engine, which made quite a racket with just a straight pipe. Bang! You guessed it: a rod right through the block. I don't remember if I got a ride from Chip's dad, or if I had to walk all the way home.
The day I turned 14 I took and passed my restricted driver licence test, driving our family's huge 1958 Chevy station wagon. Yes, I even parallel-parked that sucker.
A restricted license meant I could buy a motorbike with 5 brake horsepower or less and ride it during daylight hours. That very same day I bought a used Sears Allstate Puch mo-ped, made in Austria. I paid $80. I was off and running.
The next year at 15 I bought my first car: a non-running 1931 Ford Model A coupe. It took me a whole year to get it going, but by my 16th birthday I was licensed and legal, even if the car was often unwilling.
It's been like that ever since: one misadventure after another. I reached my peak of wheeler-dealings my last two years of college in Lakeland, which was a paradise of old iron. One one hand I hung out with egghead intellectuals and self-styled rebels and poets. On the other hand I was down with the good ol' boy gearheads and rednecks. My friend D.C. Hall, a rich boy from Palm Beach, and I had a routine down pat. He was Shorty and I was Slim and we could drawl with the best of them. It was great fun until one fateful day when D.C. lost control of his 1966 Corvette and smashed into a railway underpass. He survived with two broken legs and many other injuries. So did his Husky dog, who like his master was fitted plaster casts for his broken front legs.
So here is that list: 79 4-wheelers and 35 2-wheelers. Lord willing I hope it continues to grow.

1. 1931 Model A Ford coupe (pd $175 1962, sold $325 1964)

2. 1929 Oldsmobile 3-window coupe (pd $60, sold $175)

3. 1948 Jeepster phaeton (pd $225 1966, sold $400 1982)

4. 1951 Hudson 4-door sedan (pd $75)

5. 1929 Model A 2-door sedan (pd $60, sold $110)

6. 1940 Ford 2-door sedan ('53 Merc engine) (pd. $75, sold $125)

7. 1940 Ford 4-door sedan (parts car, pd $10)

8. 1940 Ford 3-quarter-ton panel truck (pd $30, sold $150)

9. 1920 Model T touring (body only, free)

10. 1950 Willys Wagon (at FSC)

11. 1951 Willys wagon (parts)

12. 1940 Chevrolet 2-door sedan (pd $150)

13. 1946 Chevrolet 3-quarter-ton pickup (pd $275)

14. 1935 Studebaker 2-door sedan (briefly, free)

15. 1948 Plymouth 2-door coach (traded for '46 Chev p.u.)

16. 1948 Plymouth 4-door sedan (parts, pd. $25)

17. 1965 Corvair Corsa, 4-speed, 4-carb (pd. $1,300)

18. 1939 Cadillac Model 75 limousine (pd $275)

19. 1946 Cadillac convertible (pd $50)

20. 1948 MG TC roadster (pd $400, sold $700)

21. 1933 Plymouth 4-door sedan (pd $75)

22. 1961 MGA 1600 roadster (pd $1,000)

23. 1971 MBG roadster (pd $1,500)

24. 1972 MGB roadster (pd $1,400)

25. 1964 Triumph TR-4 roadster (pd $500)

26. 1971 Triumph TR-6 roadster (pd $1,700)

27. 1956 Hillman Husky estate car (RHD, free, sold $750)

28. 1969 Fiat Spyder 850 roadster (pd $175)

29. 1965 Dodge convertible (the Red Sled)

30. 1961 Ford Falcon wagon (Jim Williams, pd $75)

31. 1953 Chevrolet 4-door sedan (co-owner with Mike)

32. 1936 Buick Model 40 4-door (co-owner with Mike)

33. 1955 Chevrolet 4-door station wagon (pd $150, trade toward '57 Ford)

34. 1964 Chevy II station wagon (pd $140, totalled)

35. 1957 Ford 2-door Ranch Wagon (312 T-bird engine, stick. pd $175, totalled)

36. 1963 Chevrolet Bel Air coupe (free, Fred Bode). Gave it back.

37. 1967 Volvo 122S 2-door sedan (pd $200, sold $700)

38. 1971 Volvo P-1800 E coupe (pd $1,600, sold $2,500)

39. 1968 Pontiac Le Mans convertible (350 V-8 Hurst 3-speed, pd $900, sold $1,100)

40. 1971 Camaro (Corvette V-8 4-speed) (pd $700, sold $1,100)

41. 1970 Volkswagen bug, sunroof (pd $500)

42. 1977 Pinto Youth Wagon (pd $390)

43. 1965 Chevy II Nova wagon (pd $1,200, sold $1,350)

44. 1978 Honda Accord (new)

45. 1979 Honda Prelude

46. 1982 Volvo 4-door sedan

47. 1981 Volvo 240 wagon

48. 1986 Volvo 740 GLE wagon

49. 1952 Willys Wagon (at Hillsboro)

50. 1971 Toyota Corolla 2-door (Battered Bruce, pd $175)

51. 1968 Ford pick-up (the beater). Mercury OHV V-8

52. 1970 Ford Eonoline Van (Mondo I) pd $200

53. 1969 Ford Econoline Van (Mondo II, 302 V-8 stick) pd $400, sold $275

54. 1971 Ford Econoline 300 Van (Mondo III) pd $250

55. 1979 GMC Vandura 10 (Mondo IV) Pd. $800, sold $550

56. 1990 Volvo 745 GL wagon- sold $2,600

57. 1972 P 1800 ES Wagon (pd $1,300, sold $1,100)

58. 1957 Chev 4-door V-8 (pd $400, sold $650)

59. 1985 Mazda RX-7 (pd. $1,000- stolen Feb. 2000)

60. 1993 Volvo 940 wagon (pd $9,000)

61. 1954 Ford station wagon, V-8 stick. (free)- sold $1,200 April, 2002

62. 1982 Mazda 626 convert. (pd. $1,800, sold $600)

63. 1986 Volkswagen Jetta (pd. $600, sold $500)

64. 1974 MGB roadster (pd. $700. sold $1,200)

65. 1972 Dodge Monaco wagon (The Whale) pd. $300 Sold. 11-10-2000 $750

66. 1988 VW Jetta GL (pd. $850, sold $800)

67. 1988 VW Cabriolet (pd. $1,000, sold $800)

68. 1984 Chevy S-10 pickup (free, sold $100 Dec. 17, 2001)

69. 1989 Mustang convertible 75K original (paid $1,500 March 2002), sold $1,200 Jan. 2010

70. 1985 Toyota Supra, Canadian edition- given to Mary Ruth- sold $600

71. 1993 Ford Mustang coupe (paid $1,300), sold $900 (Laura)

72. 1992 Ford Tempo 83K original Paid $1,600 (Laura, wrecked)

73. 1998 Nissan Sentra- paid $3,000- for Anna

74. 1984 Datsun 300 ZX, paid $50 May 9, 2004

75. 1996 Volkswagen Jetta- Laura's car- paid $3,000 Nov. 15, 2004- demolished

76. 1993 Mazda MX-6- Laura's car- paid $3,550 Feb. 2005- sold $2,300 March, 2006

77. 2006 Toyota Highlander, Lynda's car, bought new $22,000

78. 1996 Honda Accord 4-door, Laura's car, paid $800

79: 1990 Mazda Miata, paid $3,600 Jan McArt, Jan. 2010

Homemade Go-Cart (1960-1961)

Bikes

1. 1959 Puch Allstate Mo-Ped (pd $80 1961)

2. 1958 Cushman Super Eagle (pd $75 1962)

3. 1962 Ducati Bronco (pd $175 1966)

4. 1959 Harley Hummer 125 cc

5. 1968 Suzuki 125 cc

6. 1966 Honda 160 (pd $160)

7. 1969 Honda 350 (pd $350)

8. 1971 Honda 360 (pd $75)

9. 1970 Triumph 650 cc (pd. $600)

10. 1972 Honda 750

11. 1979 Honda 750

12. 1981 Yamaha 650 Maxim

13. 1983 Honda Magna 750

14. 1985 Suzuki Madura 700

15. 1983 Honda Shadow 750

16. 1985 Yamaha Virago 700 (pd $1,900)

17. 1970-71 Honda CB 350 (pd $50)

18. 1990 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 (Pd $5,000, sold $6,000)

19. 1994 Suzuki Intruder 800 (pd $4,450, sold $3,000)

20. 1967 Honda 305 Scrambler (pd $140 White River Junction, VT, sold $400)

21. 1961 Triumph Bonneville chopper (pd. $800, sold $700)

22. 1971 Norton Commando 750 (pd. $2,200, sold July '00 $2,700)

23. 1978 Yamaha XS 650 (pd. $375, sold $500)

24. 1982 Kawasaki 1000 (titled as 1981, pd. $1,600, sold $1,500)

25. 1988 Suzuki Intruder 750 (pd. $700, sold July '00 $2,000)

26. 1979 Yamaha 750 Triple (Pd. $915 in June, 2000, sold $800 July 2002)

27. 1982 Honda Sabre 750 V-4 (pd. $1,200 July 27, 2002, sold $900 March 2003)

28. 1978 Kawasaki KZ 750 (pd. $78 March 1, 2003, traded in on '92 Suzuki)

29. 1992 Suzuki 500 E 2-cylinder (pd. $900, Motorcycle Mike)

30. 1975 Yamaha 650 (pd. $350, E. Randolph, VT, sold 2005 $500 Jack Zink)

31. 1975 Norton Commando 850 (pd. $1,000, plus Suzuki trade, sold May 2009 $6,500)

32. 1975 Honda 750-4 Super Sport (Pd. $800 Stuart FL Nov. 8 2003, sold $1,500 Feb. 11, 2005)

33. 1966 Honda Dream 150 (Free from Marty, Oct. 7, 2004, sold Oct. 8, 2005 $900).

34. 1981 Suzuki 650 4-cylinder. Paid $750, sold to brother John.

35. 1985 Honda Magna 65 V-4 1100, bought Nov. 25, 2008.

2011-12-18T11:09:00.000-08:00

Butch Cassidy Rides Again in “Blackthorn”

By Skip Sheffield

What if Butch Cassidy did not die in a hail of bullets in 1908 in Bolivia?
That is the simple high concept of “Blackthorn,” a film that picks up years after the alleged death of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The story, written by Miguel Barros, begins in 1927 with Cassidy, born Robert LeRoy Parker in 1866, living as James Blackthorn (Sam Shepard) in a small Bolivian town with his much-younger girlfriend Yana (Magaly Solier).
As so often happens in later life, Butch gets a hankering to return to his homeland to see friends and family. So he withdraws his life savings from the local band, and sets off on horseback. Butch doesn’t get very far before he is ambushed by a young man who needs his horse. In the scuffle Butch shoots the young man and his horse runs off, money and all.
For an outlaw Butch is an old softie. He learns the young man is named Eduardo Apodaca and he is from Spain. Like Butch he is on the run because he has embezzled the equivalent of $50,000 from a mining company. Eduardo says if you help me I’ll help you, and we’ll split the loot.
So begins an unlikely friendship. Director Mateo Gil often flashes back to the past of Butch’s heyday as bank and train-robber. The younger Butch is played by Nikolai Coster-Waldau and Padraic Delaney plays the Sundance Kid.
It is kind of ironic the American myth of the Wild West has been recycled by two Spanish guys in South America. I have a soft spot for Westerns, and the scenery looks great, so I don’t mind.
Sam Shepard is a better playwright than actor, but he certainly looks the part of a grizzled yet still virile hero. There are certainly worse ways to spend an hour and a half.

Two and a half stars

A Sour and dark “Young Adult:”

Like your comedy dark and sour? One “Young Adult,” coming up.
Charlize Theron stars as eternal prom queen and spoiled princess Mavis Gary.
Mavis has made a living writing fairy tale romances for young readers, but her series is winding down and her marriage has ended. What is a 37-year-old girl to do?
For Mavis it is a return to past glories in her small hometown of Mercury, Minnesota- or so she thinks. Specifically, Mavis wants to win back her high school sweetheart, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). No matter that Buddy is happily married and has just become a father, Mavis thinks she can lure him away from his “trapped existence” with Beth (Elizabeth Reaser).
In reality Beth is way cooler than Mavis ever will be. She even plays drums in a girl band.
If Mavis had any sense she would consider Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), the crippled, bitter loser who has adored her since high school. Mavis is a fool. She just doesn’t realize it.
“Young Adult” is written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman, the same team that created “Juno.” Leave it to Diablo to find the humor in teenage pregnancy or a woman so vain and obnoxious her beauty disappears before your eyes. For gorgeous Charlize Theron that is a powerful bit of acting.

“Shame” on the Sex Addict

It’s hard to pity a sex addict. Likewise it is hard to embrace the character of Brandon Sullivan, a Manhattan junior executive who is obsessed with sex of all kinds regardless of the consequences.
The role is played by Michael Fassbender, an intense Irish actor who previously teamed with British writer-director Steve McQueen with “Hunger,” about a hunger-striker.
Brandon has a way with women. He can seduce a total stranger in minutes, as is so graphically depicted onscreen. Brandon gets no joy from his conquests, but he is helpless to stop.
“Shame” is the first mainstream movie rated NC-17 since “Midnight Cowboy,” and it is much more gritty and graphic than that rather idealized fable of friendship. “Shame” is exclusively playing the Gateway Theater, which specializes in films you are unlikely to see in the neighborhood multiplex. If you can steel yourself to the sad spectacle of a man destroying himself and anyone close to him, you will appreciate the incredible performance of Carey Mulligan as his equally-damaged sister.

2011-12-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Sheffield Brothers Band circa 1990. Mark is the smiling guy down front.

By Skip Sheffield

How do pastors, priests and rabbis console the inconsolable?

I pondered that question as I listened to Pastor Forrest “Buddy” Watkins, who was officiating at the funeral Dec. 17, 2011 or our dear friend Mark Winans. Mark was only 56-year-old. He was loved by so many the chapel was overflowing and standing-room-only.
Buddy Watkins, 89, had known Mark since Mark was a child in the “King’s Kids” choir of his Baptist church in West Palm Beach. That’s where Mark first started playing piano. I never knew that about him.
I guess there were a lot of things I could never know about Mark, although he was a friend of 30 years and a band mate of 25. I know there were a lot of people thinking the same thing. What went wrong? Why did I not see the signs? How did I fail him?
Grieving is for the survivors. In a way it is feeling sorry for ourselves. Mark is out of his pain.
Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it is the only way we know we are alive. There are many things I will never understand; but there is one thing I know for certain: life is precious. I have a rather special perspective on this because of something that happened to me at age 7. I survived a near-death experience and lived to tell about it. I learned on that day that miracles do happen. One can never give up hope, but even as life ebbs away, peace comes. It is called “the peace that passeth all understanding.”
So I know in my heart Mark is at peace. We are the ones who have the problems, but we will work through them. The pain may never end for Mark’s widow Donna, his daughter Lindsay and the rest of his family, but over time it will lessen. Life without pain is not life at all. To live in one’s memory is to live forever.
I know I could never be a pastor because I have no easy platitudes. I am not 100 percent certain about anything. I am in no position to judge or even give reliable advice. Life is fully of mystery, and that is what makes it so fascinating. I prefer it that way.
So I salute you men and women of the cloth. You soldier on even though you may have doubts of your own, and somehow you make us feel a little more… not exactly better, but more at peace.
Rest in peace brother Mark.

"Into the Abyss" of Life and Death

2011-12-05T10:39:00.000-08:00

“Into the Abyss” a Documentary on Death

By Skip Sheffield

More people are executed in Texas than any other state in the union. Not surprisingly, German filmmaker Werner Herzog set his death penalty documentary, “Into the Abyss,” in Conroe, Texas.
The first person we meet is the prison chaplain, Rev. Richard Lopez.
“Why does God allow capital punishment,” he wonders out loud. “Life is precious.”
Apparently life isn’t very precious in the dusty, run-down town of Conroe. Ten years previously two teenage hoodlums talked their way into a woman’s home and then brutally killed her just to steal her red Camaro. They later return and killed the woman’s teenaged son and his friend.
Now 26, Michael James Perry has been on death row for ten years. His accomplice, Jason Burkett, plea-bargained for a lesser life sentence. Perry has reached the end of the line. He will be executed by lethal injection in one week.
Like many who are facing the final curtain, Perry has found religion. He is contrite about what he has done and resigned to his fate. He is even curiously cheerful.
In painstaking detail Herzog reconstructs the events of that terrible night by interviewing witnesses, survivors and family members. Again it comes as no surprise that both Perry’s father and his brother have done jail time. His father is in for life.
Herzog makes no moral judgments other than to say he doesn’t think it is right for the state to take away the life of a human being. I don’t believe “Into the Abyss” will change anyone’s mind about capital punishment, but it does help one understand how horribly wrong a young life can go, and the damage and pain it inflicts on anyone it touches. The only thing I know for certain is that I am really glad I don’t live in Texas. If ever there were a Chamber of Commerce nightmare, this is it.

“Answers to Nothing” is Nothing Much

“Answers to Nothing” is as vapid and vacuous as it title and setting.
Written and directed by Matthew Leutwyler, “Answers to Nothing” explores the sleazy lives of sleazy characters in the sleazy City of Los Angeles.
All right, not all of the characters are sleazy. One of them is a guy in a wheelchair preparing for the LA Marathon. Another is a cop grieving over the death of his wife. For the record the cast includes Dane Cook, Elizabeth Mitchell, Julie Benz and Barbara Hershey. I would humbling suggest something more uplifting. How about “The Muppet Movie,” or “The Descendants?”

Gorgeous George in Paradise

2011-11-23T07:15:00.000-08:00

George Clooney Does the Right Thing in “The Descendants”

By Skip Sheffield

It was a choice between Martin Scorsese’s family film “Hugo” and gorgeous George Clooney goes to Hawaii in “The Descendants.”
Since Fox Searchlight had invited us to “Descendants’ first, and since Beth was driving, we decided to see what Mr. Clooney is up to.
“The Descendants’ is a breakthrough for Clooney as an actor, as he has to do more than just be handsome and dashing. Clooney’s character of lawyer-father Matt King is in fact not very heroic. His wife is at the hospital in a coma after a boating accident. Matt had been neglecting his wife before the accident. When he collects his sullen teenage daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), she informs him her mother had been carrying on an affair.
Matt’s potty-mouthed 10-year-old daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) is a disciplinary problem and is not doing well in school. When Matt learns his wife will never recover, he must tell his girls the truth.
That is the setup for a drama with ample dashes of comedy, based upon the 2009 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, with screenplay by director Alexander Payne, whose last movie “Sideways” caused quite a stir in 2004.
Like “Sideways” “The Descendants” is about men behaving badly. Over the course of a family trip to the island of Kauai in search of the man who cuckolded him, Matt gains insight into what a crummy father and husband he has been, and how much everyone resents him.
Matt comes from an old Hawaii family that is in part related to Hawaiian royalty. Back in 1860 the family was granted 25,000 pristine acres on Kauai. Now Matt’s family wants to cash out and sell the land, but as executor of the estate, Matt has the final judgment.
Along for the ride at the insistence of Alexandra is her wiseguy boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), who rubs both Matt and Matt’s father-in-law (Robert Forster) the wrong way.
The philandering lover turns out to be Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), a smarmy real estate agent who is also involved in the sale of the King land. Speer is a hypocrite of the worse kind: he is a married man with a loving wife (Judy Greer) and two adoring children.
Matt’s relatives aren’t much better than he. Led by the boozy, blustering Cousin Hugh (Beau Bridges), the clan is practically licking their chops over the prospect of newfound, unearned riches.
I have a particular interest in Hawaii and its history because my mother and her parents lived there for six years, starting in 1941, during the Hell of World War II. My parents first met there and my sister was born there.
Hawaii has some things in common with semi-tropical south Florida; particularly by the way its economy is driven by real estate.
“The Descendants” is ultimately a feel-good movie because characters learn to change and do the right thing. George Clooney did the right thing by choosing this role and proving he really can act.

Welcome Back Muppets

2011-11-21T11:13:00.001-08:00

Triumphant Return of The Muppets

By Skip Sheffield

Who doesn’t love The Muppets?
I sure do. The Muppets bring back fond memories of my three daughters growing up in Boca Raton, watching “Sesame Street” and “The Muppet Show” on television.
Certainly I’m not alone in my nostalgic feelings, and that is exactly why the Jim Henson franchise is being rebooted by Disney in “The Muppet Movie.”
The motivating spirit behind this project to create a seventh Muppet movie 12 years after the last one is writer, actor and producer Jason Segel.
Segel is an avowed Muppets fan, and thanks to the success of his movies he has the clout and financial wherewithal to lead the charge.
Segel co-wrote The Muppet Movie with Nicholas Stoller, with whom he wrote “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” He also stars as Gary, a Muppets fan from Smalltown USA who lives with his “brother” Walter, who is a newly-created Muppet character.
Like Pee-Wee Herman, Gary and Walter lived in a cute little cottage that is more like a boy’s clubhouse. Gary does have a girlfriend named Mary (Amy Adams), but they have been together ten years and Gary has yet to pop the big question.
The setting of Smalltown is like an idealized 1950s TV show, with vintage cars, mom-and-pop stores, and smiling citizens who sing and dance at the drop of a downbeat.
In Fact “Life’s a Happy Song” pretty much tells the story as a song sung by Gary and Walter and later an elaborate dance number in the town square. The song was written by musical director Bret McKenzie, who wrote or co-wrote several other new songs to add to the Muppets musical library.
The set up for the story is Gary’s decision to give Mary her dream trip to Los Angeles. When Walter learns Gary and Mary are going to Los Angeles, all he can think is that it is the home of the Muppet Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. At the last dramatic moment, Gary tells Walter he is going too. Soon a 1950s-vintage Greyhound bus pulls up, and they are off.
Muppet Theater is no longer a working studio, but a museum; a museum which is on its last legs. A wheezy old tour guide (Alan Arkin in the first of many guest star cameos) takes them on a tour of closed offices and broken attractions.
The Muppet Theater is about to be sold to oil baron Tex Richman (Chris Cooper), who lets slip his real intention is to demolish the theater and drill for the oil he knows is below.
What is a Muppet to do? Put on a show, of course, to raise the $10 million it will take to buy the property. So begins a reintroduction to the Muppet characters, starting with an initially reluctant Kermit the Frog. You’ll have to see the movie to see all the comical details that go into reassembling the old gang, but trust me it is very clever and knowledgeable about musical comedy conventions, with characters breaking the fourth wall to talk about plot twists and motivations. I love the map travel concept. I’m surprised no one has thought of it before as a gag.
Muppets have never been real, but they have always represented the best of an optimistic, friendly, generous can-do America. Sly references to the current reality are many. I love that Fozzie the Bear is now performing with a Muppets tribute band call The Moopets. They are Muppets with a cynical edge, you see.
No, there is no room for cynicism in Muppetland, where even villains can see the light and get into the act. Yes, this movie will make tons of money for a corporation that already makes tons of money, but when it’s this much fun, I’ll let it pass. Jim Henson left this world in 1990 at the far too young age of 53. As long as Muppets can bring laughter and love, Jim Henson’s spirit will shine.

"Melancholia" Addresses Big Questions

2011-11-17T11:42:00.000-08:00

“Melancholia” Addresses Cosmic Questions

By Skip Sheffield

When a film is titled “Melancholia” you know you are not in for a barrel of laughs.
“Melancholia” is an archaic expression for depression. It is also the name of a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth in Lars van Trier’s challenging new film of the same name.
“Melancholia” is challenging in a good kind of way. It took me a while before I could see where the writer-director was going in part one, called Justine. The opening sequence is pretentiously arty, with alternately dark and bright, mysterious celestial images, displayed to the tune of Wagner’s tragic, grandiose opera “Tristan and Isolde.”
The setting is an imposing seaside estate so large it has an 18-hole golf course. It is the wedding night of a young couple: Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Michael (Alexander Skarsgard).
Justine is not your typical radiant bride. While she smiles, kisses and show affection for Michael, she is clearly troubled by something. The story begins comically with the couple’s absurdly long limousine having trouble navigating the long, winding, narrow road to the estate.
It is a huge, elaborate wedding with full orchestra, gourmet dinner and scores of guests, overseen by a fussy, temperamental wedding planner (Udo Kier).
Nothing goes right with the wedding or subsequent reception, starting with the late arrival of the couple. It quickly devolves into an uncomfortable wedding hell.
The bride’s sister Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) warily tries to sooth the bride. Her father (John Hurt) seems three sheets to the wind. The mother (Charlotte Rampling) is an obviously embittered mess.
Claire’s husband John (Keifer Sutherland), the guy who is footing the bills, is angry and exasperated. Justine’s boss Jack (Stellan Skarsgard) is an egotistical jerk. Jack’s young assistant Tim (Brady Corbet) has a thing going for the bride.
Weddings tend to be emotional occasions, but this one careens out of control. The whole thing is an embarrassing spectacle. Clearly this marriage is doomed before it ever begins.
Doom is the main subject of the second part of the film, titled Claire. Doom is manifested by the aforementioned rogue planet called Melancholia, which was only hinted at in the first part. It is clearly visible on the horizon and looming larger all the time.
John insists Melancholia will miss planet Earth by miles. Claire isn’t so sure. Their 10-year-old son Leo (Cameron Spurr) simply wonders why everyone is so upset.
Leo seems to have a calming effect on Justine. In fact she seems preternaturally calm compared to her sister, who is falling apart.
If you’ve made it this far, the finale of the film is heartbreakingly beautiful. The performances are searing.
“Melancholia” dares ask the really big questions. What is the nature of happiness? Is true love possible? How does one face the inevitability of death? That von Trier can pose these really vexing questions in such visually beautiful, poetic manner is proof of his artistry. I have found von Trier’s earlier films angry, abrasive and depressing. This one makes up for that. Perhaps it is because von Trier himself was diagnosed with clinical depression, recognized the problem and got treatment for it. True art often come from a very painful place.

Give Me a Head With Hair

2011-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

Skip at age 25

Hair: I’ve always had a thing about it. I like it long and natural, on men and women.
When I was a baby I had platinum curls, like a Botticelli angel. My mother was thrilled, and as I was first-born, my dad grudgingly let her have her wish to leave my hair alone.
By the time I was two my hair was quite long, and I had a sister a year younger. She was born larger than me, and she grew quicker, and more robust. It was not long before people were asking if we were twins.
This became too much for my old man. At age 2.5 he decreed I must have a haircut to look like a real boy. My mom cried copious tears, and saved some platinum locks in an envelope in my baby book.
At age 4, for some reason my dad decided I needed a “butch” haircut. We were living in Narrragansett, Rhode Island in the Dunes Club. At a Halloween costume party, my mom costumed me as Father Time and my 1-year-old brother Richard as the New Year baby. I weighed maybe 32 pounds, and with my shaved head, brown skin from a summer in the sun, and skinny body. I looked like a little Gandhi. We won first place.
When I was 7 my paternal grandfather played a mean trick on me. I was up to 45 lbs., but still wretchedly skinny. He took me to a barber shop in St. Cloud Fla. and said “Give him a G.I.”
I didn’t know what that was, but I found out soon enough. I felt humiliated with my almost bald head.
My dad started going bald in his early 20s, and he despised guys with long hair. I made it through elementary, junior and senior high without any more scalping, then it was off to college. It was the British Invasion era, and all the guys who were allowed were growing long hair. I was the lead singer in a band that had two guys in the National Guard and a third who at age 23 was already bald. They all bought wigs to become The Weeds. I tried a wig, but I looked too much like a girl. I decided to let my own hair grow.
There were strict appearance standards at the time at Florida Southern College, but I ducked under the radar, and transferred to Palm Beach Junior College for my sophomore year.
It was a trying, chaotic year to say the least, but I earned my A.A. When it came time to collect my diploma, the Dean of Men spotted me and said, “Are you a student here?” I said yes, and I was picking up my diploma before I went back to see my family in Columbus, Ohio.
“Oh no you’re not,” he said “Not before you get a haircut.”
Turns out the dean had a sweetheart deal with the barbershop across the street.
I paid my $5 and got a brutal prison shop hairdo. The dean smiled menacingly as he relinquished my diploma.
I returned to Florida Southern for my last two years, and continued to play music as my locks grew longer.
When it came graduation time, my mom beseeched me.
“Please get a haircut,” she pleaded. “Otherwise your father won’t come to your graduation.”
Frankly I didn’t care, but I did it for mom, and I looked like a 16-year-old boy. I vowed at that time I would never again have a short haircut, as long as I had enough hair on my head not to appear foolish.
I broke that promise twice: at my first marriage at age 23 and my second at age 28.
Now I am 64- the same age my mother’s father when he died (with a full head of hair)- and sadly, I am divorced. I have not had a “store bought” haircut in 3 years. My daughter Laura does the honors. I don’t have the luxuriant “Acrylan carpet” of curly hair I once had, but there is something still up there. So with my Native American brothers, I will continue to go natural as long as nature smiles on me. Hair, it’s a beautiful thing.

Racy Fun at Willow Theater

2011-11-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

A Saucy “Tale of the Allergist’s Wife”

By Skip Sheffield

Oh my, Boca Raton Theater Guild has gotten racy in its mature years.
BRTG is producing Charles Busch’s “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” at the Willow Theater. If you know anything about Busch, you know his plays are anything but G-rated.
“Allergist’s Wife” is a solid R for language and subject matter, and that’s fine for broad-minded adults- particularly hip New Yorkers.
The play is set very specifically on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in a posh apartment. Patti Garner is Marjorie, the allergist’s wife of the title. Michael Beecher is Dr. Ira Taub, her doctor-husband of 32 years. Living with the couple is Marjorie’s mother, Frieda (Iris Acker).
As we meet Marjorie she is chatting with the door man, Muhammad (Yusuf Rathmore) and confiding she feels “dissatisfied.”
“Everything today seems so terrifying,” she confesses.
Clearly Marjorie has problems, and they have become manifest in a freak-out at the Disney Store. It is also evident Marjorie longs for some kind of change in her predictable life of shopping, museum and theater-going.
Change arrives in the form of Lee (Barbara Sloan), a childhood friend.
One guesses that Lee, who used to be Lillian Greenblatt, was an ugly ducking that grew into a swan. Lee is forceful and self-confident; maybe a little too forceful.
Much like the man who came to dinner Lee moves in and brings about some marked changes in the lives of Marjorie and Ira. Some make them downright uncomfortable.
Lee is the kind of person who enjoys luring people out of their comfort zone. This is a comedy about self-styled sophisticates, and it’s fun to watch them squirm.
It’s also fun to watch Iris Acker cheerfully play one of the saltiest mothers-in-law you can imagine.
Everyone in the cast is a seasoned professional save Yusuf Rathmore, an FIU chemistry major who is making his stage debut. Rathmore is just fine, and perfectly cast.
Patti Gardner and Barbara Sloan must be friends in real life, because they have that all-important chemistry in their character’s relationship, which makes their rather surprising Act Two plot twist believable.
Michael Beecher has less to work with as his do-gooder doctor, but he pulls off a few surprises of his own.
Above all everyone seems to be enjoying themselves under the direction of Genie Croft, who has directed three previous shows at BRTG.
“Allergist’s Wife” is a far cry from the community theater-level productions done by BRTG in its formative years more than 20 years ago. Like Karen Stephens’ “Bridge & Tunnel,” this is an entertaining professional show, and worthy of your support.
Shows are at 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Sugar Sand Park, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton. Tickets are $18. Call 561-437-3948.

A Heist, a Downer and French Sex

2011-11-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

“Tower Heist” Another Caper Movie With Big Stars

By Skip Sheffield

Everyone likes a good caper movie. That’s why Hollywood keeps making them.
The latest is “Tower Heist.” The only original twist is the unique form of the fortune the heisters seek. I won’t give it away.
“Tower Heist” is light, entertaining fare with a decent cast. Ben Stiller is Josh Kovacs, the harried manager of a Donald Trump-type Manhattan high-rise.
Alan Alda is Arthur Shaw, the Bernie Madoff-like tenant who owns the building and lives in the penthouse suite.
Alda seems to relish this kind of capitalist-pig role, and he makes Shaw really reprehensible and ripe for a fall. Shaw has bilked investors for millions, maybe billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme. The losers include his employees, who stand to have their pension fund wiped out.
That fund figures out to about $20 million, which is the sum Kovacs calculates Shaw has stashed in his penthouse safe.
So Kovacs enlists fellow employees and losers to cook up a scheme to break into Shaw’s penthouse and steal the stash. The guys include Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick and Michael Pena, and since none has criminal experience, Kovacs enlists recently-released convict Slide (Eddie Murphy) to pull off the caper.
The presence of Eddie Murphy doing his wiseguy thing guarantees some chuckles. Gabourey Sidibe, the young woman who was so moving in “Precious,” shows she has comic chops too in her small role of Ponzi loser Odessa.
Like most caper movies the premise is wildly improbable, but under the direction of Miami Beach native Bret Ratner, at least it’s fun.

"Gainsbourg" a Musical, Sexy French Romp

Love a sexy French film? “Gainsbourg” is your ticket.
“Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life” is the ironic title of a film by comic book artist Joann Sfar, inspired by the real life of French-Jewish artist, pianist, songwriter, singer and lover, Serge Gainsbourg.
Born Lucien Ginsburg to Russian-Jewish parents, Serge (Eric Elmosino) as he later re-named himself, was precocious musically and sexually. Lucien had an enormous hooked beak of a nose, which we see parodied in a cartoon puppet figure which represents his alter ego. We see Lucien rejected by girl because he is “too ugly,” but that never stopped the confident Serge-to-be.
Once Serge Gainsbourg became a musical star, women were only too happy to jump into his bed. In one notable scene we see him happily fornicating on the bed of rival artist Salvatore Dali.
“Gainsbourg’ is studded with celebrities of the 1960s era; most noticeably Brigitte Bardot (Laetitia Casta) who then was at the peak of her movie stardom. Other beauties he wooed and won were Juliette Greco (Anna Mouglalis) and Jane Birkin (Lucy Gordon).
Serge Gainsbourg never made much of an impact in the USA. The only song of his I remember is the torrid “Je T’Aime,” with its breathy feminine spoken lyric, which was banned in many parts. Judging from this film, Serge (he died in 1991 at age 63) was quite a guy. Eric Elmosino has already won Best Actor awards in France and New York’s Tribeca Film Festival). Serge Gainsbourg is vivid proof you never know what a woman is attracted to. His legacy lives on in his daughter, singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Too Happy? "Son of No One" Will Bring You Down

“Son of No One” is a gloomy little film that reminds one how bad in was in New York City just a decade ago.
Channing Tatum stars as Jonathan “Milk” White, a rookie cop assigned to New York’s notoriously rough and violent 118th Precinct. It’s 2002 and Milk lives with his lovely young wife Kerry (Katie Holmes) on Staten Island.
When mysterious hand-written notes begin arriving at the office of much-raking newspaper reporter Loren Bridges (Juliette Binoche), evidence of a cover-up of two murders that occurred in 1986 begins to emerge. That’s all you need to know to realize this is probably not going to lead to a happy ending.
Writer-director Dito Montiel has Katie Holmes and Juliette Binoche playing against type as tough, angry, foul-mouthed women. Also playing against type is Tracy Morgan as a docile grown up but broken childhood friend of Milk.
Playing the types for which they are so well-known are Al Pacino, chief of the 118th in 1986 and Ray Liotta as his 2002 counterpart.
If nothing else, “Son of No One” is gritty and seems real. That’s what makes it such a downer.

"Mozart's Sister," "Margin Call" and "Take Shelter"

2011-10-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

History, Music and Romance Blend in “Mozart’s Sister”

By Skip Sheffield

Did you know Wolfgang Mozart had a sister? Did you know she may have been a musical genius too?
That is the premise of “Mozart’s Sister,” a beautiful and melancholy film by French writer-director Rene Feret, starring his daughter, Marie Feret, now playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
I did not know about Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (Nallerl for short), born in 1751, four and a half years ahead of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, her gifted, certifiably genius younger brother.
The film begins in 1763 during the rule of King Louis XV of France. The Mozart family is plodding along in their carriage when father Leopold (Marc Barbe) discovers an axle has cracked and must be repaired to continue the tour that will ultimately take them to the Palace of Versailles and an audience with the King and his court,
The main attraction is 7-year-old Wolfgang (David Moreau), who is not only a virtuoso violinist, but composer of the music he plays. Sister Nannerl accompanies on harpsichord and piano and sings. She used to be the star violinist, but stern, chauvinistic Leopold insists violin is not for a woman. Furthermore he refuses to let her compose music or teach her how to write it down.
The family makes a detour to a convent that just so happens to have some very special guests. They are the illegitimate daughters of Louis XV, infamous for his debauchery. The eldest, Louise de France (Lida Feret, another of the directors daughters), takes an instant shine to Nannerl. The girls begin confiding, and Louise gives a letter to Nannerl to deliver to the boyfriend of her dreams at Versailles.
It is through this boyfriend the Nannerl, disguised as a boy, meets the Dauphin (Clovis Foulin), the only surviving son of Louis XV.
The Dauphin, shy and insecure, finds himself attracted to the messenger “boy.” When Nannerl confesses her true identity, the Dauphin is even more intrigued and asks her to compose something that can be played at his court.
“Mozart’s Daughter” is a frothy mix of history, romance and feminism. It is sumptuously beautiful, as much of it was filmed at Versailles. Music lovers will adore its soundtrack. It is highly doubtful how historically accurate it is, but it is a delicious “what if?”

A Tough "Margin Call" About the Financial Mess

“Margin Call” is a tough film about tough, deceitful characters much like the people who got us into our current financial mess.
An impressive debut by writer-director J.C. Chandor, “Margin Call” boasts a high-powered cast to match its manipulative, treacherous characters.
It is the eve of the 2008 financial meltdown at a financial firm a lot like Lehman Brothers. Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), a risk management specialist, is being rudely shown the door after 19 years of service. So are some 80 percent of the staff, without explanation.
On his way out Dale passes a flash drive to his young assistant, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto of “Stak Trek”), and warns, “Be careful.”
While his friends go out to carouse, Peter goes back to work on his own. Peter is a very bright guy; brighter than his boss, and it doesn’t take him long to have a “Eureka!” moment. It is bad, very bad. According to the projected losses of high-risk home loans, the whole company will soon be “upside down,” or owe more than it is worth.
“Margin Call” becomes a 24-hour race to make the best of the inevitable disaster at any cost.
Company man Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) feels anguish even as he instructs his staff to dump loans that will surely burn the buyer. CEO John Tuld (a steely Jeremy Irons) feels no such qualms, and coolly goes about his business as if it were another day at the office.
Another Briton, Paul Bettany, plays Dale’s amoral boss, Will Emerson like the villain he is.
Demi Moore pops up somewhat out of place as Sarah Robertson, a risk officer playing as tough as the boys.
This movie is filmed and presented, without musical soundtrack, as starkly as its subject. It provides no answers but it graphically depicts the nest of vipers that is Wall Street.

Acting Phenomenal in Troubling "Take Shelter"

The title “Take Shelter” does not give a clue as to its real subject, so I will cut to the chase. It’s about the onset of mental illness.
I am very interested in the subject myself, as I deal on a daily basis with mental health professionals. They do not have an easy job.
Michael Shannon is a powerhouse of an actor who has taken on a complex, conflicted character: Curtis, a manager at a sand mining company in Ohio. Curtis is a good husband to his lovely wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and a devoted father to his deaf young daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart).
“You’ve got a good life” says Curtis’ best friend and co-worker Dewart (Shea Whigham) admiringly.
Unexpected storms brew in even the best of lives. The fierce, terrifying storms that begin to menace this tornado-prone part of the country are symbolic of Curtis’ inner life, which is teetering on the brink of sanity. Curtis becomes obsessed with building out his house’s storm shelter. He is convinced a storm of apocalyptic proportions is on its way.
Writer-director Jeff Nichols uses some of the tricks of horror-thrillers to depict the turmoil of Curtis’ mind represented in terrifying nightmares as he descends deeper into fear and paranoia.
“Take Shelter” is a bit long at two and a half hours, but Shannon and Chastain are fascinatingly emotive as the embattled father and the devoted wife struggling mightily to understand and sympathize him. Even the little girl is convincing without a word of dialogue.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with the sorrow of mental illness, this is a good film to help laymen understand the very real terrors, hallucinations and delusions that plague the paranoid-schizophrenic.

Altered History "After the Revolution"

2011-10-27T06:28:00.000-07:00

Keeping the Light Aflame “After the Revolution”

By Skip Sheffield

Memory often distorts reality. Some good things become better than what they really were. Some bad things become worse, but as a rule we idealize the past.
“After the Revolution” is a thought-provoking play by Amy Herzog, running through Nov. 20 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
Emma Joseph is the main character in this work, impressively played by Jackie Rivera in her Caldwell debut. There is another main character we never see: Emma’s grandfather Joe, who died a year and a half before the setting in New York City in 1999.
Emma is a proud, idealist leftist who has just graduated from law school. Emma has established a legal defense in her grandfather’s memory. One of its first cases is a Black Panther Party member accused of murdering a Philadelphia policeman.
Joe Joseph was one of those Americans who became involved with the Communist Party in the USA, and as such he was summoned before the court of the House Un-American Activities Committee, headed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Like many of the accused at these hearing, Joe plead the Fifth Amendment and refused to name names of alleged Communists. Because of this he lost his politically sensitive government job.
Sen. McCarthy and his zealous prosecution of “pinkos and Commies” have been largely discredited, but not all his targets were blameless, innocent victims of right-wing politics. There were Marxists who sincerely believed the Soviet Union had a better solution, and its dictator, Joseph Stalin, was not such a bad guy.
The truth is often found between extremes. Joe Joseph’s school teacher son Ben (Gordon McConnell) knows some things about his father that are not very flattering. In fact some things old Joe did were quite disturbing and even shocking. Worse, everyone in the family except Emma knows these secrets.
“After the Revolution” examines what happens to a character whose faith in her family is betrayed; not maliciously but out of misplaced loyalty and kindness. Events unfold quickly in the 11 scenes of Act One, which sets up the big reveal detailed in the six scenes of the shorter Act Two.
While the main thrust of the play is the anger, disappointment and disillusionment of Emma, there also is humor and wry wit in the script, played to maximum effect by the polished, experienced cast. There is authentically warm banter between ultra-liberal crusader Ben Joseph and his stalwart wife Mel (Nancy Barnett). This does not come as a surprise as they are married in real life. Barnett was an administrator for many years for Florida Stage, and this is her first acting job in quite some time. You can tell she relishes it.
Tiffany-Leigh Moskow makes the most of her screwed-up, druggy Jess, younger sister to Emma.
I’m sure Harriet Oser doesn’t mind being called an “old pro” since she is, and her comic sense is impeccable as Emma’s elderly hard-of-hearing step-grandmother.
Handsome Arturo Fernandez manages to find humor in his role of Emma’s paramour Miguel, the world’s most patient, perfect boyfriend.
Howard Elfman makes the best of his small role as a former friend of and potential donor to Joe’s foundation.
Guest director Margaret M. Ledford brings a deft touch to the proceedings, and as always Tim Bennett’s set is fine. Good show, ladies and gentlemen.
Tickets are $27-$50. Call 877-245-7432 or go to www.caldwelltheatre.com.

Fiddler on the Roof: The Back Story

2011-10-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

“Sholem Aleichem” Documents Celebrated Yiddish Writer

There is a lot more to Sholem Aleichem than “Fiddler on the Roof.” Tevye the careworn Russian dairyman was just one of thousands of characters and yarns created by the most prolific, celebrated writer in Yiddish literature.
“Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness” is his story, now playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
The writer was born Sholem Rabinovich near Kiev, Russia in 1859. Early in his career he adopted his pen name, which loosely means “peace be with you.”
There was little peace for Russian Jews in the 19th century. Aleichem was born into a fairly prosperous family, but it was not immune to the political, religious and economic oppression of the Russian Empire in pogram after pogram. This is a well-researched and beautifully presented documentary by Joseph Dorman, with appearances by actors Peter Riegert as Tevye and Jason Kravits as Menachem-Mendl. Aleichem’s own 100-year-old granddaughter Bel Kaufman is a major source of recollection, and “Fiddler on the Roof’ lyricist Sheldon Harnick tells how the writer inspired him. Other scholarly sources are Aaron Lansky, founder of the Yiddish Book Center and Mendy Cahan of Yung Yiddish, an Israeli center for the preservation of Yiddish culture.
You don’t have to be Jewish or speak Yiddish to appreciate the accomplishments of this endlessly-creative, hard-working artist. Sholem Aleichem is a writer for all time who crosses all political and cultural boundaries. This documentary is a fitting tribute.

"The Way" Earnest Family Project

2011-10-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

“The Way” an Inspirational Film for Non-Religious People

By Skip Sheffield

“The Way” is tangible proof Martin Sheen is a good father. He’s a good grandfather too.
“The Way” is a family project for acclaimed actor Martin Sheen, his son Emilio Estevez and grandson Taylor Estevez.
Taylor Estevez, then 19, in 2003 undertook an 800-kilometer pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, from the French Pyrenees to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Actually Taylor drove the route with his grandfather, Martin Sheen, but the trip so inspired him his convinced his father, director-actor-writer Emilio Estevez, the subject was worthy of a film.
You could file “The Way” under “I” for inspirational, but it is not that simple. Emilio Estevez has crafted an entertaining fable about ordinary, non-religious people looking for meaning in their lives.
Tom Avery (Martin Sheen) is a California eye doctor whose son Daniel (Emilio Estevez) perished at the outset of a pilgrimage on “The Way” to Santiago. Avery drops everything to fly to France to identify his son’s body. When the body is cremated, Tom is inspired to undertake the pilgrimage himself to better understand his long-estranged son.
Along the way Tom meets three central characters who travel with him. The first is Joost (Yorick van Wageningen), a jolly Dutchman who is doing the pilgrimage simply to lose weight and get in better shape. Joost has an ample supply of pot and other mind-altering substances to make the journey easier.
Sarah (Deborah Kara Unger) is an angry divorced Canadian woman. Her quest is to stop smoking. Why she has to go all the way to Spain to do this is never explained.
Finally there is “Jack from Ireland,” a blocked writer of travel stories who would like to write a great novel.
Estevez freely admits he was inspired by “The Wizard of Oz,” with naïve Dorothy and three ragtag oddball characters she meets on a quest to see the Wonderful Wizard.
There is no Wizard in “The Way,” but there is a physical goal and an unspoken spiritual message to make the most of whatever life throws at you. This is a religious movie for non-religious people, anchored by the quiet power of Martin Sheen, an actor who knows how to convey grief, anger, frustration and joy without making a big show of it.

Good Germans as "Saviors in the Night"

2011-10-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

By Skip Sheffield

Not all Germans were Nazis in World War II. Not all Germans were anti-Semitic either. A very small number of Germans risked their lives to save Jews from extermination camps. “Saviors in the Night,” playing at FAU’s Living Room Theaters, is the story of one such family.
“Saviors” is based in the best-selling memoirs of Marga Spiegel, played by Veronica Ferres in this Franco-German movie by Ludi Boeken.
Veronica Ferres is a delicately beautiful, blond, blue-eyed woman who like the woman she portrays, does not come across as the stereotypical “Jewish type.”
This was probably key to her survival, for Marga could move amongst the farmers and villagers of Westphalia and blend right in. For her husband Menne (Armin Rohde) it was a different matter. Menne was a horse-trader and looked the part of a Jewish entrepreneur. While Menne was popular and well-liked, his “Jewishness” forced him to go deep into hiding to survive.
The story begins in early 1943, as the Nazis were rounding up the last remaining Jews in Germany for death camps in “the East.” In the middle of the night Marga tells her young daughter Karin “We have to go!” Menne knew the Nazis were approaching, and in desperation he approached a local farmer, Herr Aschoff (Martin Horn) asking if he could take in his wife and daughter.
Aschoff agrees, though his wife (Margarita Broich) is fearful and his daughter Anni (Lia Hoensbroech), a loyal member of the Hitler Youth, is suspicious.
Because of her physical appearance Marga obtains Aryan papers through a ruse and clutches an Iron Cross for protection. The Aschoff family is Roman Catholic, and they take their Christianity seriously.
Marga is forced to disavow her husband and act like a loyal German, but there are many close calls as time wears on, eventually for two full years before the Allied liberation.
Not all of “Saviors” is grim. There are moments of humor and good cheer and even a little romance. In short “Saviors of the Night’ is not just another Holocaust story. It says in the Talmud “He who saves a single life saves the world entire.” This is an extraordinary tale of three lives saved at the risk of an entire community.

Real Steel Not Really About Battling Robots

2011-10-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Humans the Best Part of “Real Steel”

Would you play good money to watch robots box?
That questioned bugged me when contemplating whether or not to go to an advance screening of “Real Steel.” Since the screening was conveniently at the Cinemark Palace in Boca Raton, I thought OK, I’ll bite.
As it turns out, I enjoyed “Real Steel” more than expected. I am no fan of boxing or the Transformers movie series about giant fighting robots, but “Real Steel” has a more human component to it, thanks largely to the performances of Hugh Jackman as a has-been boxer and fight promoter and Dakota Goyo as his 11-year-old adoring son.
The screenplay was inspired by a 1956 short story by noted science-fiction writer Richard Matheson.
Charlie Kenton (Jackman) is in desperate straits when we meet him. He has borrowed money from everyone he knows, including shady characters who vow to extract their pound of flesh. His ex-wife (Hope Davis) has married a rich, obnoxious older guy (James Rebhorn) who plans an expended honeymoon in Europe.
That leaves Max Kenton, (Goyo) in the lurch. The older man takes Charlie in confidence and says he will give him $50,000 up front and another $50,000 on their return if Charlie will take Max, the son he abandoned not long after his birth, off their hands.
In a plot that much resembles “The Champ,” father and son
build a relationship while Charlie tries to rebuild his career with an obsolete old robot called Atom.
The computer-generated robot action looks pretty convincing, but it is the father and son stuff that give this otherwise silly movie its warm appeal.

Restless Not for everyone

2011-10-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

“Restless” an Offbeat Romance Not for Everyone

By Skip Sheffield

Perhaps it takes a near-death experience to fully appreciate “Restless.” This very offbeat young romance is preoccupied with death, near-death, and what it means to be fully alive.
A couple of my writing colleagues felt it was boring, self-consciously arty and disconnected from conventional reality.
I on the other hand was quite drawn in to this far-fetched tale of doomed love, written by Jason Lew and directed by Gus Van Sant.
“Restless” marks the screen debut of the late Dennis Hopper’s son Henry. Hopper plays Enoch Brae, an alienated high school drop-out who has been in shock and withdrawal from ordinary life since both his parents were killed in a car crash he alone survived.
Enoch lives with his Aunt Mable (Jane Adams) who has moved into his parents’ house to take care of him.
It’s a thankless task for poor Mabel. It would be easy just to brand Enoch as a self-absorbed, self-pitying brat, but what Enoch has going for him is his imagination. Enoch’s best friend is imaginary: a dead Japanese Zero pilot named Hiroshi (Ryo Kase).
Hiroshi is a very friendly ghost, and he is Enoch’s best and only real friend until he meets a pretty young woman at a funeral. Enoch has the macabre habit of attending funerals of people he doesn’t even know.
To most people this would be pretty creepy, but not to Annabelle (the peerless Mia Wasikowska). Death is very much on her mind, because she has a tumor on her brain that will kill her within three months.
I never liked “Love Story,” which had a similar weepy scenario, or “Terms of Endearment,” which was also moving but manipulative.
The character of Annabelle is no typical victim or object of abject pity. Annabelle has accepted the fact that death is a natural part of life. Unlike a victim of accidental death she knows what is in store. Instead of wallowing in despair she is determined to live every day she has left to its fullest; like the songbird who every nightfall thinks he has died, only to awake every morning singing a joyous song of rebirth.
Those of us who have faced the end and emerged miraculously on the other side know there is a clear choice on how to live life. Like Annabelle’s character, who admires Darwin and sees the incredible beauty of nature in everything around her, I choose to be grateful and glad to be alive.
Corny? You bet! “Restless” maybe be sentimental and unbelievable, but it is a fantasy I embrace, and these two fantastic young actors beautifully embody that fantasy.

A Comedy (Sort of) About Cancer

2011-10-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Cancer No Laughing Matter, But is it Better to Cry?

By Skip Sheffield

Cancer is no laughing matter.
How then, does “50-50” find nuggets of humor in such a serious situation?
This is the most amazing thing about “50-50,” inspired loosely by screenwriter Will Reiser’s real-life battle with the deadly disease. Reiser was just 24 when a large, cancerous sarcoma tumor was discovered in his back. Helping him cope with this crisis was Reiser’s good friend Seth Rogen. Both Reiser and Rogen are funny guys by nature, and when this diagnosis came in 2003, they were both writers for Sacha Baron Cohen’s satirical television show “Da Ali G Show.” The germ of the idea to create a serio-comic look at cancer was born.
Seven years later the idea has come into fruition under the sensitive direction of Jonathan Levine. Likeable Joseph Gordon-Leavitt plays Will Reiser’s alter ego, Adam and Seth Rogen basically plays himself under a different name, Kyle.
At age 27 the otherwise healthy Adam is diagnosed with a cancerous sarcoma tumor in his spine. If diagnosed early enough, sarcoma is treatable with surgery, but because of the location of the tumor and the danger of the surgery, Adam is given only a 50-50 chance of survival.
A cancer diagnosis is awkward no matter how you look at it. If you are the person diagnosed, once you get over the initial shock and sorrow, a fear of the unknown sets in. You feel almost embarrassed to admit to your fragility.
For friends and family there is a tendency to over compensate with sympathy and/or total avoidance of the matter at hand.
All these things factor into Adam’s story. He undergoes the delicate surgery and his friend Kyle is grossed out when he has to change his dressing.
Adam’s girlfriend Rachel (Bryce Dallas Howard) seems ill-equipped to deal with the seriousness of Adam’s condition.
Adam is assigned Katie (Anna Kendrick), a therapist just out of med school. Adam is only her third patient.
Adam’s mother Diane (Angelica Houston) goes into full denial mode.
It is only through a support group of fellow cancer patients that Adam gets some real understanding and tolerance.
I know none of this sounds very funny, but somehow it is. His head shaved as a consequence of chemotherapy, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt is fearless and engaging. Seth Rogen, who is also producer of this film, puts his money and talent where his heart is as Kyle. Anna Kendrick is absolutely adorable as the wide-eyed, still innocent therapist.
Perhaps I am biased. It was almost eight years ago that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I opted for the radical solution of surgery. Sometimes you have to pay a steep price to keep on living. Through tears and laughter, “50-50” beautifully illustrates that process.

"My Afternoon with Margueritte" Romances Books

2011-09-23T13:13:00.000-07:00

By Skip Sheffield

Love to read?
A romance does not have to involve sex.
“My Afternoons with Margueritte” is a very romantic film. Though sex is mentioned, it is irrelevant to the central story of an overweight, middle-aged loser and a highly educated, intelligent and compassionate 95-year-old woman.
Co-written and directed by Jean Becker, “My Afternoons” is a romantic fable about the joys and rehabilitative powers of literacy.
Germaine Chazes (Gerard Depardieu, fatter than ever) lives in a trailer in the garden behind his mother’s house in a small French town.
Bullied and humiliated as a child by other children, his teachers and his own parents, Germaine has withdrawn so much that he is functionally illiterate. Everyone in town thinks he is stupid except for Annette (Sophie Guillemin), a young woman who drives a bus. Germaine’s self-esteem is so low he does not appreciate Annette’s attentions.
One afternoon Germain sees an old lady in the park, counting pigeons. Viola! Germaine counts pigeons too, so he strikes up a conversation with Margueritte (Gisele Casadesus), a woman of great learning and experience.
Like Germaine, Margueritte is under-appreciated; by her nephew, who grudgingly looks after her at an assisted-living facility.
Another afternoon, Germain notices Magueritte reading a book. It is Albert Camus’ existential classic “The Plague” of all things. Germain asks Margueritte to read some of it to him. He is transfixed by the prose of Camus about a horrendous plague that struck Algeria, spread by rats. Margueritte offers to lend him the book, but he says no- ashamed to admit he can’t read Camus’ complex, metaphorical sentences.
So Germain’s afternoons are spent listening to Margueritte read rather than counting pigeons. Inspired, he goes to the library and asks for something simple and easy to read.
Running parallel with this blossoming friendship is the decline of Germain’s tyrannical, abusive mother (Claire Maurier).
There are a couple convenient plot twists that change the course of Germain’s life by film’s end, and it’s not just that Germain does indeed learn to read. This film has been criticized as being too treacley and sweet, but a little sweetness sometimes is good for the soul. I’ll admit I love reading, and I love the thought that people can change for the better late in life, even if it is just a movie. That’s why I loved this film.

"Moneyball" a Winner on All Counts

2011-09-22T10:36:00.000-07:00

By Skip Sheffield

The premise doesn’t sound all that exciting. Manager of a cash-strapped baseball team hires a statistics whiz to help him scientifically predict the likelihood of success for any given player.
The good news is “Moneyball” is a rousing success, and you don’t even have to like baseball.
Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane is played by one Brad Pitt. Pitt had so much faith in the project he signed on as co-producer.
The Yale University statistics wizard, Peter Brand, is played by Jonah Hill.
Pitt and Hill are a Mutt ‘n Jeff duo. Pitt as a former player is ramrod straight, chiseled, and good-looking just this side of beautiful.
Hill is short, dumpy and pudgy, but behind his wire-rimmed glasses he radiates fierce intelligence.
“Moneyball’ is based on a true story, chronicled by Michael Lewis in his 2003 book: “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game.”
The unfair part of all professional sports is twofold: the very best command the best salaries and the teams with the largest budgets can afford the best players.
As the 2001 season ended for the Oakland Athletics, they were reeling from the loss of their three star players to richer teams. Oakland was operating on a budget of $39 million. The New York Yankees had $141 million to play with.
Realizing he couldn’t compete in the money game, Billy Beane felt it was time to think outside the box. On his own initiative Beane went to the East Coast and hired recent Yale graduate Peter Brand on the spot as his assistant manager. Brand had no experience with baseball, but he did know his statistics. Using computer models, he could gauge the likelihood of any given player to hit or get on base. This cold logic ignores a player’s age, experience, attitude, physical appearance or injuries.
The conventional wisdom of baseball veterans making the decisions is subjective and therefore flawed. We meet the old pros who guide the Athletics, and watch them bicker, disagree and backstab. Nobody likes change. Billy Beane received formidable opposition for his revolutionary scheme to recruit undervalued players who given the chance, may play as well or better than the multi-million-dollar stars.
The screenplay by Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List”) and Aaron Sorkin (Social Network”) is a classic underdog story, but it is also a story of courage, ingenuity, heroism and true team spirit. Those who know baseball already know the outcome. I didn’t, so I got caught up in the Athletics’ uphill, against-all-odds battle.
Director Bennett Miller, who amazed Hollywood by winning an Oscar nomination for his debut film, “Capote,” understands a David vs. Goliath story, and unfolds the dramatic action accordingly.
Pitt the actor has never been better than in this immersion into the role of Billy Beane. Beane is far from perfect, and Pitt makes his flaws increase his appeal.
Like a veteran vaudeville team, Pitt and Hill have perfect comic timing, with knowing glances, pregnant pauses, and surprise quick decisions.
“Moneyball” is no simple “Rocky” story. It is about the harsher reality of 21st century life; the ruthlessness of business; the inevitability of change, and the crippling that comes with inability to adapt. Oh, but it still makes you feel good. Now that is an amazing accomplishment.

2011-09-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

Dweezil Zappa Offers a Fitting Tribute to his Brilliant Dad

By Skip Sheffield

Photos by Michael Gora

For those of us not lucky enough to have seen Frank Zappa and his bizarre musical group the Mothers of Invention live, we have Dweezil Zappa, Frank’s son, carrying the torch for his dad with his Zappa Plays Zappa show, which played Mizner Park Amphitheater this past Saturday.
Zappa was the opening act for the renowned progressive rock-jazz group Return to Forever, but for this musician, Zappa was the main attraction.
The music of Frank Zappa is very complex, often funny and unpredictable Dweezil Zappa spent an entire year listening and playing along with his father’s recordings to perfect his sound.
Zappa recruited a first rate band to fill out the myriad sound landscape. They include Scheila Gonzalez on sax, flute and vocals; Pete Griffin, bass, Billy Hultin, marimba and percussion, Jamie Kime, guitar, Joe Travers, drums and vocals and Chris Norton, keyboards and vocals.
Dweezil Zappa doesn’t sing and he didn’t do much talking either. He left that up to his lead vocalist, Ben Thomas, who has a gregarious, engaging stage presence.
For me the highlight of Zappa’s set was when he invited RTF pianist Chick Corea onstage, and the two traded licks on “King Kong.” It was a virtuoso experience. As good as Return To Forever is (especially with special gust violinist Jean-Luc Ponty), their music is not as compelling, exciting or purely entertaining as Zappa’s.

Forthcoming Mizner Park Amphitheater events are a “Kingdom Call” fund-raiser at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8; the 2011 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 22 and Rick Springfield and Jack Wager in concert at 8 p.m. Nov. 4. Tickets for that Live Nation event are $38.50-$98.50.

“Cloud 9” Opens Theater Season at FAU

Florida Atlantic University opens a new theater season with Caryl Churchill’s gender-bending satirical play, “Cloud 9,” opening Friday, Sept 23 and running through Sunday Oct. 2 in the Studio One Theatre.
“Cloud 9” is set in colonial Africa in Victorian times and roughly 100 years later in London circa 1979. The same actors appear in each act, but in different roles and in some cases different gender. For the actors only 25 years have passes, further compounding the surreal aspects of the play.
Director Desmond Gallant cautions this is adult stuff, with rough language, sexual references and general hanky-panky, and it is recommended only for those 16 and older.
Tickets are $20 general admission, $12 FAU students, and $16 for staff and alumni. Call 800-564-9539.

A French Thriller American-Style

2011-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

“Point Blank” Violent French Thriller American-Style

By Skip Sheffield

“Point Blank” is one of those “ripped from headlines” kind of stories reflective of our violent, cruel, chaotic world. It opens Friday at FAU’s Living Room Theaters along with the eye-opening documentary, “If a Tree Falls.”
This French thriller from Fred Cavaye begins with a bang: the attempted hit on a motorcyclist, and does not slow down until the final credits.
Gilles Lellouche plays Samuel, a young male nurse trainee who attends to a wounded man brought to the hospital under heavy guard. The victim is a tough criminal boss named Hugo Sartet (Roschdy Zem). He was wounded in an attempted assassination and there is a whole squad of bad guys who want to finish the job.
If this weren’t trouble enough, when the bad guys botch another attempt to kill Sartet, they snatch Samuel’s very pregnant wife (Elena Anaya) from the hospital and seize her as a hostage.
Fred Cavaye in 2008 wrote and directed a film called “Anything for Her” which was remade American-style as “The Next Three Days,” with Russell Crowe as a mild-mannered professor who is forced to take extreme measures to free his unjustly accused wife from jail.
In much the same spirit Samuel is compelled to rise to the occasion, forced into an alliance with the vengeful criminal Sardet to save his wife as bullets fly, bad guys chase, and cars screech and skid, fly through the streets while killers invade the subways of Paris.
Cavaye certainly keeps up the tension and the pace, but the incredible plot turns strain credulity. It’s as if Cavaye is trying to outdo the Americans in violence and high-speed mayhem.
Though I have not had a chance to see it, “If a Tree Falls” seems a much more worthy prospect for a thinking adult. It’s inspired by the true story of the rise and fall of the radical Earth Liberation Front, which resorted to violence and sabotage to further their radical environmentalist goals. Does the end justify the means, or were they just home-grown terrorists? Perhaps this Marshall Curry film will spur debate.

A Tough But Admirable "Six Years" at Caldwell

2011-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

“Six Years” Admirable, Tough at Caldwell Theatre

By Skip Sheffield

“Six Years” is a production to be admired, not loved. The heavy-hitting drama by Sharr White continues through Sept. 4 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
The title refers to the six-year-intervals of the play’s five scenes. Scene one is set in 1949 in a St. Louis motel. Phil Granger (Todd Allen Durkin), a dazed and confused World War II veteran, has returned to his distraught wife Meredith (Margery Lowe). Meredith is distraught because Phil simply disappeared in 1944, when he stopped writing home. Phil never told Meredith where he was or what had happened to him.
Phil has a really bad case of what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Back then he would been labeled “shell-shocked.”
While the couple has been reunited, their relationship will never be smooth. Phil has a volatile temper and severe mood swings. Meredith has filed preliminary divorce papers.
The role of Phil is a challenging opportunity, and Todd Allen Durkin runs with it in his Caldwell debut. He can be charming and funny one moment, acidly sarcastic the next, and frighteningly furious without warning.
The role of Meredith is much less flashy. Mostly it is that of quietly suffering, but Margery Lowe conveys real pain, and when she finally begins to stand up for herself, we feel her pride.
Other roles are more sketchily drawn. The Grangers’ son Michael (Michael Focas) is hardly there; a casualty of war if you will.
Meredith’s brother Jack Muncie (Gregg Weiner) has some short, powerful moments of interaction with unpredictable Phil.
With their marriage in shambles, two additional characters are introduced into the Grangers’ marital drama. Tom Wheaton (David Perez-Ribada) is only too happy to provide a shoulder to cry on- and more- for Meredith. Dorothy (Betsy Graver) is a seductive character who is shocked witness to one of Phil’s scariest breakdowns in a California motel.
Director Clive Cholerton uses video projections and vintage recordings to depict the five different eras. Tim Bennett’s set utilizes a turntable to enable quick, smooth scene changes.
“Six Years” is mostly about bad stuff: war, mental instability, infidelity, cruelty, divorce, the rise of cookie-cutter suburbs and even the effects of bad diet. In short it is a lot like real life, and real life, as most of us know, is never a picnic.
But if you are looking for thought-provoking commentary, heartfelt acting and historical reference, you should find much to admire in “Six Years”
Tickets are $38-$50. Call 561-241-7432 or go to www.caldwelltheatre.org.

Same Time, One Day

2011-08-19T06:11:00.000-07:00

If You Love Love, You’ll Love “One Day”

By Skip Sheffield

A lot can change in one day. In the romantic comedy “One Day,” two college graduates meet on St. Swithin’s Day, July 15, and have an impetuous fling that changes their lives- but not right away.
St. Swithin has no bearing on University of Edinburgh graduates Emma Morley (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter Mayhew (Jim Sturgess) other than it is a funny name reference in David Nicholls’ novel “One Day.”
Nicholls adapted his novel and tapped Danish director Lone Scherfig (“An Education”) to helm this project. While the story somewhat resembles the play “Same Time, Next Year,” there are important differences. This is not about an affair. It is about friendship that blossoms into love.
The fact that Scherfig is a woman with subtle sensibility helps balance the equation. “One Day” is equally about man and woman, and how they love.
On that fateful graduation day July 15, 1988, Emma and Dexter meet. She is a serious-minded scholar with big Harry Potter wire-rim glasses and minimal makeup. He is a glib, handsome, frivolous playboy type rather spoiled by his doting mother (Patricia Clarkson) and a gruff but loving father (Ken Stott).
Even when she is dressed-down, Anne Hathaway (with convincing British accent) is a radiantly beautiful woman. Jim Sturgess is a remarkably good-looking guy, so they make an appealing couple. When they impulsively make love on the night they meet, we intuit this will be more than a one-night stand, even though the morning after in the glare of day they vow to “just be friends.”
And so on July 15 over the course of 20 years, Emma and Dexter meet and part again and again. Her trajectory is upward. She becomes a teacher, then writes the book she has always been threatening to do.
Dexter’s personality and good looks make him ideal for television. For awhile Dexter’s career and finances soar as host of his own vapid, glitzy TV show.
Emma acquires a determined admirer in Ian (Rafe Spall), an aspiring comic who works a day job at the same restaurant Emma works.
Ian is a fool, but he is played with great dignity by Spall, and Emma is such a compassionate person, we can see her befriending him out of pity.
But we the viewers and readers know Emma and Dexter are destined for each other. When they meet in picturesque locales such as Paris and Calais, the mood is rapturous. Guided by Scherfig, Hathaway and Sturgess make us feel the giddy elation of love. Conversely, we feel love’s flip side, the depths of despair.
“One Day” is a first-class weeper. It is also an ideal date movie. I suggest seeing it with someone you love. You may just get lucky.

Cowboys, Aliena and Incurable Romantics

2011-07-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

A Fine Madness Called “Crazy, Stupid Love”

By Skip Sheffield

Is there one perfect soulmate for every person? A lot of people think so. They are called “incurable romantics.”
“Crazy, Stupid Love” is a very funny romantic comedy that has fun with the notion there is that perfect person, and if you find him or her, you should hang on for dear life and never give up.
That incurable romantic is named Cal Weaver and he is played by Steve Carrell, who also co-produces. Cal’s soulmate Emily, with whom he fell in love at age 15, is played by Julianne Moore.
Both Cal and Emily Weaver have good jobs and two great kids who live at home and another who has already left the nest. What could possibly go wrong? In Dan Fogelman’s clever script, plenty. Fogelman is a bit of a Cinderella story, having struck it rich first as an unknown with the surprise hit “Cars.” He is now one of the hottest young screenwriters in Hollywood. Fogelman has a way of stating simple, obvious truths in a very funny, ironic way.
Without warning Emily drops a bombshell: she wants a divorce. She has lost sight of what she had and lost her head over a snarky co-worker.
Kevin Bacon is quite adept at playing snarky. His David Lindhagen is a jerk of the first order and a perfect foil for the impossibly pure, squeaky clean Cal, who has been with only one woman in his life.
“Twenty-five years of marriage, and you have nothing to say?,” Emily demands her shell-shocked mate.
True, most guys tend to clam up in this kind of emotional situation, and Cal is more tightly-jacketed than average. Jumping out of a car is pretty extreme, but here quite funny.
In real life it would be hard to imagine some studly dude noticing the morose Cal nursing drinks in a bar every night and deciding to do a Henry Higgins makeover on a complete stranger.
That is just what happens in this fantasy, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the same guys who directed the gay romance “I Love You Phillip Morris.”
Jacob (Ryan Gosling) is a chick magnet with killer pickup techniques. He decides to impart his ways with women on the hapless Cal, and bit-by-bit it works.
This gives Carrell ample opportunity to do his bumbling geek schtick that he honed in “40-Year-Old Virgin,” “Dinner for Schmucks” and “Dan in Real Life.” The funniest of these bits co-stars Maria Tomei as a spitfire eighth grade teacher.
Cal is not the only incurable romantic in the story. So is his 13-year-old son Robbie (Jonah Bobo), who is smitten with his 17-year-old babysitter Jessica (Analeigh Tipton). Also discovering her possible soulmate is Cal’s eldest daughter Hannah (Emma Stone), a junior lawyer.
This is shaping up as the summer of Emma Stone, and once again she and her gorgeous blues eyes acquit themselves well.
“Crazy, Stupid Love” is not going to change anyone’s notion of romantic love, but it may help those who have been romantic saps recognize and laugh at themselves.

“Cowboys and Aliens” Neither Fish Nor Fowl

When I did an advance on “Cowboys and Aliens” for Atlantic Ave magazine earlier this summer, I thought to myself this could be daringly brilliant or really dumb. The answer lies somewhere in between. This Steven Spielberg production looks great, has a dynamite cast and a script that both honors and spoofs the movie Western traditions, but it gets headed off at the pass once those darn aliens start jumping around.
Steely, blue-eyed James Bond actor Daniel Craig looks good in a cowboy outfit, and does some convincing choreography as badass gold-robber Jake Lonergun. Harrison is more grizzled than ever as his nemesis, Col. Woodrow Dolarhyde, and Olivia Wilde is stunningly lovely as the obligatory babe, Ella Swenson. Ella has a very special secret in this tall tale adapted by director Jon Favreau from the 2006 graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.
“Graphic novel” is just a nicer way of saying comic book. Like “Super 8’ earlier this summer, “Cowboys and Aliens” goes off the rails- way off the rails- and off a cliff. The advance screening crowd seemed to enjoy it and even applauded after the grand finale, but they didn’t pay for tickets. This movie will please neither fans of Westerns nor alien monster movie fanciers. I guess that leaves fanboys (the film debuted last week at Comic-Con). We’ll see if there are enough of them for this film to earn back its production costs.

"Anita" a Tale of Survival and Hope in Argentina

2011-07-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

“Anita” a Story of Survival and Hope

By Skip Sheffield

Argentina is a fascinating country on the other side of the world from the USA, yet in many ways familiar.
There are probably more European immigrants in Argentina than any other South American country. Both former Nazis and Jews fleeing from persecution resettled in Argentina before, during and after World War II.
I offer this as background for an Argentinean film called “Anita.” The Anita of the title is a young Argentine woman with Down syndrome. Anita lives with her mother (award-winning Argentine actress Alejandro Manzo) in Buenos Aries. Anita’s mother runs a small stationery shop she inherited from her late husband. One morning her mother leaves Anita in the shop so she can attend a Jewish anti-defamation league meeting. She locks the door and cautions Anita not to leave.
A horrendous explosion occurs while Anita is up on a footstool. The blast blows out the windows and door of the shop. Anita is knocked unconscious, but she recovers and wanders out through the wreckage in search of her mother.
Writer-director Marcos Carnevale was inspired by an actual anti-Jewish terrorist attack in Buenos Aries on July 18, 1994. The attack claimed the lives of 86 innocent victims and injured hundreds more. It was the single deadliest terrorist attack in Argentine history. The perpetrators have never been located or prosecuted, though the origins of the attack are strongly suspected to be in the Hezbollah anti-Israel, anti-West hate group in Iran.
But “Anita” is not about politics, violence or religion. It is about one mentally-challenged woman’s survival, with the help of complete strangers. “Anita” celebrates human compassion. Not all of Anita’s protectors are willing or selfless. Some pass the buck, so to speak, but conscience inevitably draws them back in.
For this reason I find “Anita” a wondrously hopeful film. If you believe in the inherent goodness of human beings, it is the “feel-good” movie of the season.

into eternity

2011-07-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

“Into Eternity” a Truly Scary Movie

By Skip Sheffield

Forget your monsters, aliens, giant righting robots, vampires or zombies. “Into Eternity” is one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in years.
“Into Eternity” is a documentary film by Danish multimedia artist Michael Madsen. It is only 75 minutes long in English, Finnish and Swedish language, with subtitles, but it will stop and make you think for a long, long time.
Onkalo is the name of a subterranean storage facility on a remote island in Finland. “Onkalo” means hiding place in Finnish, and that is what the government intends to do with the radioactive nuclear waste from its power plants: bury it in bedrock far below earth and then seal it up for all eternity- or at least for 100,000 years, which is how long it takes for radioactivity to dissipate from plutonium and uranium. The huge challenge is that humans have never constructed anything that has endured even a tenth of that time. What will the world be like 100,000 years hence? Will there even be human life?
“Into Eternity” poses very basic philosophical questions as the director films the work in progress at the gloomy, eerie site. Excavation for Onkalo began in 2003, and construction won’t be finished until the 22nd century. There is a debate as to whether the site should have prominent warning signs on it, or be totally unmarked. Given the curious nature of humans, some future treasure-hunter could discover the concrete seal and think great riches are contained inside. Because language and communication is always changing, would humans understand any of the current languages or international symbols?
The tragic recent earthquake in Japan has driven home the very real threat of radiation sickness and death unleashed from the world’s nuclear reactors after natural disasters. Finland is only 16th in the world in nuclear power. The USA is No. 1, with France and Japan in second and third place. How safe are the current above-ground nuclear waste storage containers? How long will they remain safe?
These are very troubling questions. It is a credit to the people of Finland that they have decided to do something about it. We face serious potential problems here in America that could affect us and our offspring for all eternity.
“Into Eternity” is the opposite of an escapist movie. It is a film that challenges, frightens, troubles and angers the viewer, yet there a spooky beauty to it, accompanied by an equally spooky soundtrack contemporary composer Karten Fundal and the great Finnish
composer, Jean Sibelius. Proceed at your own risk. Life is complicated, and growing more complex every year.

2011-07-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

Waldermar Torenstra and Karina Smulders in "Bride Flight"

As Newspapers Go, So Goes the New York Times?

By Skip Sheffield

Love it or hate it, the New York Times sets the standard for US journalism. What would happen if the great gray lady of newspapers sickened and died?
That is the disturbing question posed by the documentary “Page One: Inside the New York Times,” opening at FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
Filmmaker Andrew Rossi uses a kind of scattershot approach, starting with gloomy obituaries on once-great newspapers, then focusing on talking heads such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, then moving on to editors, reporters, editorial writers, pundits and famous authors like Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe.
One guy who keeps popping up is NYT columnist David Carr, a raspy-voiced guy who is a self-admitted former crack addict. Carr has a wry sense of humor, but he is an odd choice to represent the most respected news source in America. More conventional is current executive editor Bill Keller, whom we see holding editorial meetings, but we don’t really learn about the complexities of gathering the news worldwide. We do see the NYT’s gorgeous new headquarters, which ironically has already been sold and leased back to the newspaper
It helps to care about print newspapers to be interested in “Page One.” I care deeply about newspapers, though I no longer make a full-time living as a journalist. I think a transition to mostly online is inevitable. I subscribe to New York Times online, and it helps me feel plugged in.
For the foreseeable future I think we will still have flagship print papers such as New York Times and Washington Post, but smaller, lower level papers such as the entire now-bankrupt Tribune Company will continue to close their doors. However, I think community newspapers such as Boca Raton Tribune will continue to be read as long as they are supported by advertising.

“Bride Flight” Sprawling, Sexy and Soapy in New Zealand

“Bride Flight’ is a big, sprawling, soapy, sexy saga using a real event as a springboard: the final 1953 Great Air Race from London to Christchurch, New Zealand aboard the winning KLM Dutch airliner.
Aboard the plane are three women who strike up an instant friendship. Esther (Anna Drijver) is a Jewish fashion designer whose family was wiped out in the Holocaust. Marjorie (Elise Schaap) aspires to conventional marriage and motherhood, but it will not turn out exactly as she hoped. Ada (Karina Smulders) is a dewy beauty who instantly falls for handsome passenger Frank (Waldermar Torenstra) although she is promised to another man in New Zealand.
That man is Derk (Micha Hulsof) is a priggish ultra-conservative minister who spurns Ada’s advances on their wedding night, yet becomes a stern father to three kids.
It is the on and off relationship between Ada and Frank that provides the sexy part of the story. Marieke van der Pol’s screenplay veers between 1953 and sometime in the 1960s, when Frank has become a successful winery owner. The very beginning and very end of the film is set near the present and the death and funeral of Frank.
Director Ben Sombogaart has a way with the camera and the scenic vistas of New Zealand. “Bride Flight” is gorgeous and a bit too long at two and a half hours, but between the soap opera-complicated plot devices, there is some hot stuff, Dutch-style. Yes, Smulders smolders.

Cars 2 a Flimsy Retread

2011-06-21T11:58:00.000-07:00

“Cars 2” an Unreliable Re-Tread

By Skip Sheffield

“Cars 2” just isn’t the same without the voice and presence of Paul Newman. The young audience won’t notice or care about this, but an old gearhead like me is affected adversely. Movie star Paul Newman, who died Sept. 26, 2008, was probably the most famous non-career car racing enthusiast in America.
Newman’s character of Doc Hudson, represented by a 1951 Hudson Hornet, was the heart and soul of “Cars,” the 2006 Pixar computer-animated release. Doc was both a doctor and a judge in the fictitious town of Radiator Springs, Arizona. The town was located on the once busy Route 66, which famously “winds from Chicago to L.A.” When the new and improved Interstate 40 was built, it by-passed Radiator Springs and many other small towns like it.
“Cars” was an unexpected hit because there are so many car freaks in America, and the story, written by Pixar founder John Lassiter and Joe Ranft, honored history and folklore while providing light entertainment by an all-star cast of anthropomorphic motor vehicles.
Alas “Cars 2” is a shoddy re-tread of the original concept. Lassiter is back as co-director with Brad Lewis, but Joe Ranft was killed, ironically in a car accident before the first film was released.
Lassiter and screenwriter Ben Queen must have felt the need to transplant the two main characters: young racer Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and his tow-truck sidekick Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) to foreign locales for fun and merriment. The fatal flaw in this plan is that it gave way too much screen time to the comedian who calls himself Larry the Cable Guy. Larry is a one-trick pony; which is drawling, dim-witted rube.
Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer voice two new characters: Finn McMissile (Caine in James Bond mode) and Holly Shiftwell (Mortimer as a Bond babe).
These characters get sidetracked as Lightning and Mater blunder their way through Japan, Italy and the U.K. Returning voices Cheech Marin, Jeff Gordon and Bonnie Hunt are largely ignored.
The film is in 3-D, which I am told by my fully-sighted friend Beth, is quite effective. The theater which hosted our advance screening chose to play the film at deafening volume, perhaps in an effort to keep everyone awake. Sorry kids, I’m afraid “Cars 2” will try the patience of even the most loyal Disney/Pixar fans.

Live Life Long and Love Horses

2011-06-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

Forever is a Long Time

By Skip Sheffield

Who wants to live forever?
Not I, but hmm, the older I become, the more I realize life isn’t just for the young.
“How To Live Forever” is a documentary about really old people. We are talking seriously old, like 100 years or more.
Once he passed the half-century mark and his mother passed away,filmmaker Mark Wexler began seriously contemplating his mortality. Why do some people live much longer than others? There is no simple answer, though it is obvious if you abuse your body you will lessen your chances of longevity. Yet in his three years of world travels Wexler found some confounding contradictions. Take Buster, a 101-year-old British bloke who has been smoking since age 7 and still enjoys pints of beer when not running marathons. If there was ever a pillar of health and physical fitness in was Jack LaLanne, but the beloved fitness guru died after this film was made, of pneumonia at age 96, on Jan. 23, 2011.
Wexler visited the world oldest woman, Edna Parker, in a nursing home in Shelbyville, Ind. She too has died since this film’s completion, at age 115.
Wexler visited Okinawa, which has some of the happiest, healthiest senior citizens in the world. Wexler noted they kept busy; they had good nutrition and low-stress lifestyles.
On the other side of the coin is actress Suzanne Somers, who advocates ingesting massive amounts of hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, human growth hormones and melatonin.
It would seem that attitude has a lot to do with longevity. Food critic Jonathan Gold declares the eating is the “great pleasure of life,” and you can tell it’s the truth for him.
You will find no hard, fast certainties in “How To Live Forever,” but it certainly is food for thought.

“Buck” a Real Horse-Whisperer

“Buck’ is another documentary opening in our area. Buck Brannaman is a lifelong cowboy and horse trainer who has a well-documented reputation as an effective “horse-whisperer.” Brannaman became a national figure when he signed on as a consultant to writer Nicholas Evans and film producer Robert Evans for Redford’s 1998 film “The Horse Whisperer.”
If you love horses, you will love “Buck.” I happen to love horses, and I discovered quite early I have an affinity with the magnificent creatures. As it turns out that is the key to understanding horses. You can’t fear them and you can’t force them to do your will.
“Everything is a dance,” Brannaman explains, and he proceeds to show how with love and gentle persuasion you can get a horse to bend to your will.
Brannaman specializes in re-training damaged, unruly horses in clinics he teaches all over the country. He is a mild-mannered man, but Brannaman can scarcely conceal his contempt when he learns a horse owner has abused her horse. In the course of filming, director Cindy Meehl uncovers the fact that Buck and his brother, who were childhood rodeo stars, were beaten regularly by their alcoholic, abusive father.
So “Buck” is as much about the man as it is about his near-mythical powers with horses. Brannaman may be the first cowboy in America who is as much at home with Oprah Winfrey as he is in the saddle.

Three and a half stars

How To Succeed in Boca

2011-06-21T11:45:00.000-07:00

“How to Succeed” a Big Success

By Skip Sheffield

In the wake of the sad news of the Chapter 7 bankruptcy and sudden closing of Florida Stage, it is gratifying to report live theater is alive and well in Boca Raton. A terrific production of “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” continues through Sunday, June 26 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway.
The show is produced by Vicki & Peter Halmos Family Foundation, parent corporation of Entre’Acte Theatrix, which is in turn an offshoot of Palm Beach Principal Players: a “Conservatory for the Serious Young Actors.”
There are a lot of serious actors in this production, and yes they are younger than what you typically see in professional productions. Make no mistake though, these kids are pros, and the production values are first-rate, from costumes to sets, props, lighting and sound.
“How To Succeed” is a chestnut from 1961 that made a Broadway star of Robert Morse as a conniving corporate climber, J. Pierpont Finch.
Here Finch is played by Shane Blanford, who studied at the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. The title of the show comes from a manual that Finch, a window-washer who would be a CEO, is reading chapter by chapter. The character of Finch breaks the “fourth wall” regularly by looking smug and smiling directly at the audience (with pinpoint spotlight to make sure we’ll notice) every time he advances up the corporate ladder of the “World Wide Wicket Company.”
Finch’s rapid rise from lowly mail room clerk comes at the expense of anyone who gets in his way, but the biggest casualty is Bud Frump (Greg Halmos), the newly-hired head of the mail room. Bud isn’t exactly a ball of fire. The fact of the matter is the only reason he has a job at WWW is because he is the boss’s nephew.
That boss is J.B. Biggley (John Costanzo), a pompous, insincere and easily flattered jerk; in other words, a typical boss.
The first person to notice Finch is Rosemary Pilkington (Leah Sessa), a corporate secretary who longs for marriage as a traditional wife and helpmate, as expressed in the self-deprecating “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm.” Rosemary’s best buddy Smitty (Lisa Kerstin) has similar 1950s domestic aspirations. Yes, this is a dated show, and some of the references will be missed by the younger audience, but the basic satire on corporate structure is still solid and applicable.
Frank Loesser’s catchy songs are beautifully sung by the ensemble cast and fervently played by a four-piece onstage combo. The score isn’t in the category of all-time classics, but the two best-known tunes, “I Believe in You” and “Brotherhood of Man” are like old friends come by to visit.
The wardrobe, particularly the dresses on the women, is a colorful rainbow riot, and Kimberly Dawn Smith’s choreography, which is a big part of the production, is on target and graceful. The original choreography by the way was by Bob Fosse, who refused credit because he didn’t want to slight the published choreographer.
“How To Succeed” was adapted from a satirical book by Shepherd Mead, published in 1952. The revamped book musical by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, was good enough for a Pulitzer Prize in 1962. I don’t know if producer Vicki Halmos is clairvoyant or simply in-the-know, but a new Broadway revival starring Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe opened March 27, 2011 and is a big hit commercially and critically.
Here’s hoping for everyone in the South Florida Theater community that Entre’Acte Theatrix has a big hit on its hands, for it certainly is well-deserved.
Tickets are $25 and $30 ($10 student rush) and may be reserved by calling 561-241-7432 or 877-245-7432.

Good Hair in South Florida

2011-06-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Best “Hair” Ever at Broward Center

By Skip Sheffield

When the musical “Hair” made its debut at Joe Papp’s Public Theatre in October, 1967, it was already dated. The hippie era it celebrated- if it ever existed- had fizzled out into violence, crime and acrimony.
Yet the characters created by Jerome Ragni, James Rado and Galt MacDermott lived on to become a part of American culture.
In a sense “Hair” is as much a period piece as “Oklahoma” or “South Pacific,” but it is back, younger, livelier and sexier than ever in a revival that continues through Sunday, June 5 at Arsht Center in Miami. The show moves to Broward Center June 7-19.
This newest version of this modern, mythical, free-form classic combines various incarnations of the story, including the original stage show and the 1979 movie, with added songs and dialogue.
Though it makes for a longer show, this is the best all-around “Hair” I have ever seen. The two male leads, the draft-fearing slacker Claude and free-loving hedonist Berger are powerfully realized by Paris Remillard and Steel Burkhardt.
Peace activist Sheila, who is loved by Claude but lusts for Berger, is realized with sexy sweetness by Caren Lyn Tackett.
Jeanie is pregnant and proud, and Kacie Sheik brings good humor to what could be a troubled character. Matt DeAngelis nicely brings out the sexual ambiguity of Woof.
One of the members of the “tribe” is played by Olympic Heights High School and proud FSU graduate, Mike Evariste.
There is a terrific band up on scaffolding onstage, lead by pianist David Truskinoff and complete with horn section.. The band doesn’t really let loose until Act II, when guitarist Josh Weinstein begins unleashing power chords and Hendrix-flavored feedback.
“Hair” is an in-the-aisles, in-your-face and tousle-your-hair experience. If you are nervous about having your comfort zone invaded, this is probably not a show for you. If nudity and sex offend, by all means stay away, for the Act I finale includes nude bodies of all shapes and sizes, in their newborn glory.
It seems almost quaint now the way “hair’ celebrates pot-smoking, free love and civil disobedience, but if you enjoy it as a period piece you see the cartoonish aspects of this wacky mid-American “tribe.”
There is a serious side to “Hair” that is not lost. Young lives were being sacrificed to what turned out to be an unwinnable war, and Claude becomes the martyr symbol for soldiers offered up for sacrifice.
For sheer joy and entertainment, it is doubtful you will discover any show this year that tops this “Hair.”
Tickets are $25-$69 at Broward Center. Call 954-462-0222.

Kevin Bacon Provokes Cuban Missile Crisis

2011-06-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Super Powers Explained (sort of) in “X-Men: First Class”

By Skip Sheffield

So now we know: Kevin Bacon provoked the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
It’s hard to take any Marvel Comics fantasy very seriously. “X-Men” is amongst the most far-fetched of the Marvel universe. “X-Men First Class” provides a back story for the characters previously chronicled in three movies and one spinoff since 2000.
The common thread with X-men (and women) is that they are all genetic mutants. In comic book logic that’s all the explanation you need to account for people who can throw fire, freeze objects and move things just by force of the mind.
“First Class” begins in Poland and New York in 1944.
Erik Lehnsherr (Bill Milner as a youth, Michael Fassbender as an adult) is being pressured by a Nazi scientist to make German coin move just by concentrating on it. Erik tries but fails. Then his mother is brought in and a gun is put to her head. The coin still doesn’t move. Then his mother is shot dead and the coin flies as if shot from a cannon. The key to Erik’s power is rage. He will grow up to be the character known as Magneto.
In Westchester, New York rich kid Charles Xavier (Laurence Belcher as a child, James McAvoy as adult) discovers a girl rummaging for food in his kitchen. When he catches her the girl turns blue and scaly.
The girl’s name is Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) and she becomes Charles’ best mutant friend.
We shift a few years ahead to 1962. Charles is now a student at Oxford. He amuses himself by reading minds and hanging out with Raven, drinking and making witty quips.
Charles will grow up to be mutant ringleader Professor X. Shape-shifting Raven will become Mystique.
Shift to Argentina and we find Erik hunting for and finding former Nazis who were responsible for the death of his parents.
Meanwhile in Miami mastermind bad guy Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon) is hatching a plot to join forces with the Russians and control the world.
Bacon has the bonus of playing two really bad guys: the sadistic Nazi scientist met earlier and Shaw, an inventor who has designed a goofy helmet that makes him impervious to mutant attacks. He has a dandy bad-girl sidekick-villain too; a beautiful and sexy babe named Emma Frost (January Jones).
In the illogical world of comic book superheroes, it is unusual to find such convincing explanations for the mutating power of rage, greed and extreme genius, and vintage news footage adds an authentic touch.
As a kid growing up in Florida during the Cuban missile crisis, it would have been nice to simply blame the whole scary mess on a single fiendish villain, but as cartoonist Walt Kelly so drily observed in his Pogo comic strip: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”
Have fun with this escapist, noisy, violent fantasy but remember the scariest creature of all is Homo Sapiens.

Hangover 2 Deja Vu; Ed Asner is FDR

2011-05-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

One Gross “Hangover”

By Skip Sheffield

Memorial Day is a solemn, serious occasion.
“Hangover Part II” is about as un-solemn and un-serious as a movie gets.
The makers of the surprise hit “The Hangover” are trying to duplicate their success by making it cruder, grosser, more salacious and socially shocking than the first time around.
My friend Beth remarked on how social mores have slipped so much that a movie as tasteless and deliberately disgusting as “Hangover II” can slip by with an R-rating.
Enough of the soap box. Like "Pirates of the Caribbean,” there is nothing a film critic can say to deter an audience from attending. The coveted 17-25 age group loves booze, drug and gross-out humor, and this movie delivers. Hundreds were turned away from an advance screening at CityPlace in West Palm Beach.
Basically this is the same movie as the first with the same cast and same premise. Only the locale has changed: exotic Thailand instead of tawdry Las Vegas.
Once again Stu (Ed Helms), the nerdy dentist, is getting married, this time to a Thai beauty named Lauren (Jamie Chung). Once again the guys decide to have “just one beer” and once again they wake up in a strange place with no memory of the previous night and one of the party missing.
“It’s happened again,” mutters Phil (Bradley Cooper), the hunky handsome one. This time the missing person is Teddy (Mason Lee) the brainy 16-year-old brother of the bride-to-be. Once again with the inept assistance of prissy Alan (Zach Galifianakis, more annoying than ever), the guys will search for Teddy in the apparently lawless, often powerless and debauched city of Bangkok.
Comic drug mob boss Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) is back too, but the funniest player is a small monkey named Crystal, who delivers drugs, smokes cigarettes and helps thwart bad guys.
What can one say about a movie whose most startling gag involves a trans-gender prostitute?
Enough said. This week’s other choice is another sequel: “Kung-Fun Panda 2.”

Ed Asner is “FDR” at Caldwell Theatre

At the other end of the artistic spectrum we have the beloved, respected and acclaimed actor Ed Asner as America’s 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in “FDR,” playing five performances Wednesday, June 1 through Sunday, June 5 at Caldwell Theatre Company in Boca Raton.
Based on Dore Schary’s play “Sunrise at Campobello,” “FDR” covers the perilous years from Roosevelt’s inauguration in the depth of the Depression in 1933 to his death in the final year of World War II in 1945.
Asner has won seven of television’s Emmy Awards for the classic series “Mary Tyler Moore” and “Lou Grant,” but he is an accomplished stage actor as well. Performances are 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $45, $60 and $75. Call 877-245-7432 or visit www.caldwelltheatre.com.

Is Will Ferrell the New Jack Lemmon?

2011-05-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

Some Light in Dark Tale Starring Will Ferrell

By Skip Sheffield

Will Ferrell explores his serious side in “Everything Must Go.” You could call it a public service message that entertains.
Ferrell is Nick Halsey, a once hotshot salesman whom we meet on the worst day of his life. First he is fired by his much-younger boss. Then he goes home to discover the locks have been changed and all his possessions thrown out on the front lawn.
How does Nick respond to this calamity? He picks up a couple of 12-packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.
Nick is a recovering alcoholic who has fallen off the wagon about as far as you can fall. His incensed and unseen wife has cancelled his credit cards and frozen his bank account. Nick’s car is repossessed. His only friend seems to be Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace), a chubby, lonely black kid who is kind enough to lend him his bicycle for trips to the mini-mart.
You could call this a contemporary “Days of Wine and Roses,” except it isn’t a married couple on the skids, just a sick, weak-willed man played by Will Ferrell.
Director Dan Rush expanded a bleak short story by Raymond Carter and lightened up its dire spirit. Ferrell can find comedy in the darkest places. Waking up to his front lawn’s automatic sprinklers splashing becomes a running joke. A grown man riding a child’s bicycle lugging 12-packs is a good sight gag, but there is nothing funny about alcoholism. Ferrell and his writer-director have the good sense to add fragments of hope to this forlorn character and his cautionary tale. Nick becomes a kind of mentor and father to Kenny, who has no dad. We learn Nick’s father was a raging alcoholic who abused his family.
Samantha (Rebecca Hall), a pretty, lonely and pregnant new neighbor across the street, sees beyond Nick’s pathetic situation. So does Delilah (Laura Dern), an old high school classmate who seems willing to overlook Nick’s shortcomings.
When we learn Nick’s A.A. sponsor, a local cop named Frank Garcia (Michael Pena) may not have Nick’s best interests at heart, we feel even more sympathetic toward the fallen man.
In short “Everything Must Go” is a downhill slide that stops short of falling off a cliff. Just it case we don’t get the message there is one of Bob Dylan’s finest songs, “I Shall Be Released,” to drive it home. It’s a remarkable dramatic turn by an actor who wants to do more than just make people laugh.

Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider

2011-05-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful, Poetic “Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider”

By Skip Sheffield

“Some people believe poetry can alter reality,” says Bethany, the plucky heroine of “The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider,” the final play of Florida Stage’s 24th season, through June 5 at Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. By play’s end I felt inclined to agree.
Carter W. Lewis’s “Camel Spider” is about the nasty business of war and its collateral damage, but it also celebrates the beauty of the spoken and sung word.
As a one-time poet and lifelong journalist I greatly admire the tapestry of gritty reality and gauzy fantasy Lewis has woven out of thin air, with a minimum of hocus-pocus and special effects. The effect is achieved through the sympathetic, knowing guidance of director Louis Tyrrell and a wonderful cast, his fully inhabiting his or her character.
Bethany is played by newcomer Elizabeth Birkenmeier, a tiny, highly-intelligent and gifted actress currently working on her MFA at Carnegie Mellon school of Drama.
Bethany is 22, but Birkenmeier appears even younger; a childlike waif adrift in a cruel, harsh world.
The setting is a stark, unspecified military training facility somewhere in the USA. Bethany is seeking to discover the truth about her father, who was killed by “friendly fire” in Afghanistan.
I have always appreciated the irony of the term “friendly fire.” The end result is the same as hostile fire: injury and/or death. The weapons just happened to be in the hands of the soldiers who are supposed to be on your side.
In the case of Bethany and her deceased father, two of the soldiers who were on his side were eyewitnesses to the incident.
Stack (Todd Allen Durkin) and Denny (Eric Mendenhall) are “soldiers of fortune” to express it euphemistically, or mercenaries, to be more direct.
Stack is older and more cynical. Denny still clings to youthful idealism and conscience.
Bethany will use her womanly and poetic wiles to touch the men and appeal to their sense of decency. A lot is at stake. Bethany racked up a bill of $200,000 earning a BFA in “spoken word poetry,” and there is a wrongful death insurance policy.
They didn’t have such a thing as a spoken word degree when I was in college. It was called English Literature.
In the context of this play the term is perfect, because in between her cross-examination of the soldiers, Bethany embarks on wild flights of poetic fantasy.
There are two other characters: Bethany’s protective mother Loretta (Laura Turnbull), representing practical reality, and Ahmad Ahmadazi (Antonio Amadeo), an Afghan taxi driver who inhabits a realm somewhere between the reality of driving a cab and the dream world of the lyrics of the British musical group Led Zepplin. Ahmad also provides much-needed comic relief.
How this all melds together is hard to explain, but trust me: it works. “Camel Spider” is the most fantastic piece of theater I’ve seen so far in 2011. I think it is by far the most beautiful offering of Florida Stage’s 24th season, and a note-perfect finale for the first season at Kravis.
Tickets are $25 and up. Call 561-832-7469 or visit www.floridastage.org.

A Deep, Beautiful and Joyous “Color Purple”

“The Color Purple” is also a beautiful show, continuing through Sunday at Kravis Center in the larger Dreyfoos Hall, but that beauty is laced with pain and suffering and ultimate triumph.
Part of the Kravis on Broadway series, “The Color Purple” is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Alice Walker movie and the Steven Spielberg film, as combined by playwright Marsha Norman.
Set in Georgia from 1909-1949, “Purple” is the story of two black sisters: Celie (Dayna Jarae Dantzler) and Nettie (Traci Allen).
Celie has the misfortune of being impregnated twice while young and forced into an abusive relationship with a tyrant called Pa Mark Hall). Her children are taken from her, and Celie is reduced to what amounts to slavery.
Sister Nettie on the other hand gets an education and goes to Africa as a missionary.
“Purple” is the story of Celie’s trials and sorrows, portrayed beautifully through song and dance. It is also the story of Celie’s friendship and love for Shug Avery (Tarena Augustine), a beautiful club singer who drifts in and out of her life and encourages her liberation.
“Purple” is filled with a large cast of colorful characters, in the best sense of the word, with many very funny and joyous moments balancing the drama.
Dayna Jarae Dantzler is a performer who grows before your eyes both in stature and voice, until by the finale she is a tiny, triumphant dynamo capable of raising the rafters of that beautiful hall. Catch it, as they say, while you can.
Tickets are $25 up. Call 800-KRAVIS-1 or go to www.kravis.org.

Uma Seduces, Cave Dazzles

2011-05-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Uma Thurman a Femme Fatale in “Ceremony”

By Skip Sheffield

Every since she played the bad girl in “Kill Bill” I’ve thought of Uma Thurman more as an action figure than a sensitive, beautiful woman.
“Ceremony” corrects that misconception. Thurman plays a femme fatale named Zoe pursued by two men.
One is her fiancé, a famous filmmaker named Whit Coutell (Lee Pace).
The other is Sam Davis (Michael Angarano), a younger guy with whom Zoe had a brief fling.
Sam, a not-very-successful writer of children’s books, still secretly carries the torch for Zoe.
Sam hatches a crazy plot in which he convinces his friend Marshall (Reece Thompson) to join him in a beach getaway for the weekend. Unbeknownst to Marshall, Sam plans to infiltrate Zoe’s wedding and head it off at the pass.
Anyone who has tried to rekindle a love affair from the past knows it is difficult, if not impossible.
On one hand Sam is a quixotic, romantic idealist. On the other he is a pathetic, laughable loser.
Michael Angarano is such a skilled young actor that he makes his Sam appealing to both the “older woman” and to us. We laugh at his absurdity, yet we feel sympathy for Sam.
Much of the credit must go to writer-director Max Winkler, who must have inherited some of his dad Henry’s comedy instincts.
“Ceremony” is a wry and somewhat raunchy R-rated romance that jokes about delusions without heaping scorn. Oh, and Uma Thurman has never looked lovelier. The film is playing FAU’s Living Room Theaters.

Astounding “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

As a filmmaker, Werner Herzog is no wimp. He searched for El Doraldo in “Aguirre, Wrath of God.” He built an opera house in the middle of a jungle in “Fitcarraldo.” He documented the wrath of wild animals in “Grizzly Man.”
Now Herzog combines his love of art, history, naturally beautiful places and music in “Cave of Forgotten Dreams,” playing Shadowood and Regal Delray Theaters.
Chauvet Cave in France was sealed by a landslide for 20,000. In 1994 scientists discovered the entryway to a cavern as large as a football field. As extraordinary as that is, what makes Chauvet Cave unique in the world is its collection of cave paintings, some more than 30,000-years-old, as determined by carbon dating. This is more than twice as old as any previous archeological find. Furthermore there are petrified remains of Ice Age animals. Finally there are incredibly beautiful stalactites and stalagmites that glisten like jewels.
Thanks to his solid reputation, German filmmaker Herzog was given permission to film in the priceless, fragile treasure trove which will never be seen by masses of people, and to film in 3-D to appear more real.
For all this, Herzog has made an incredible gift of beauty, love and knowledge to the people of the world.

Circus, Trains and Romance

2011-05-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

Circus, Trains and Love in “Water for Elephants”

By Skip Sheffield

If you love the circus and you love trains, you are already halfway to loving “Water for Elephants.” If you love an against-all-odds love story, then you are virtually guaranteed to love this movie, based on the best-selling novel by Sara Gruen.
Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson are the lovers: circus star Marlena and veterinarian Jacob Janowski.
The story is told by the elderly Jacob, played by Hal Holbrook in the present. Jacob alludes to a young circus employee that he knows about the terrible Benzini Bros. circus disaster of 1931. Not only does he know about it; Jacob was there when the disaster happened and he knows what caused it.
So begins Jacob’s yarn and a movie that careens from dramatic adventure to comedy, romance and melodrama, and back again under the direction of Francis Lawrence (“I Am Legend”).
It is the depths of the Depression and Jacob is taking his final exam to become a Doctor of Veterinary Science at Cornell. Jacob never takes the test, as he is interrupted by the terrible news both his parents have been killed in a car crash. If that weren’t bad enough, Jacob’s generous veterinarian father has mortgaged everything for his son’s education, and now the bank is taking everything.
This has a very 2011 ring to it, but that is one of the attractions of a story set in that terrible time in America. Everyone is needy, hurting and growing more desperate.
On an impulse Jacob hops on a train that turns out to be the Benzini Bros. circus train.
Jacob has the good fortune to fall under the protection of a genial alcoholic called Camel (Jim Norton), and that’s a good thing. August (German actor Christoph Waltz), the cruel, autocratic circus owner, regularly has his employees thrown off the moving train for reasons as simple as he can’t afford payroll.
Yes, August is a very bad guy and he is married to the very beautiful star of his show (Witherspoon), an expert equestrian and gymnast.
My opinion of Reese Witherspoon has shot up at least 30 points for pulling off this role and making it look easy. Reese rides trick horses, flies through the air, twirls on metal bars, and as a coup de grace, rides a 4-ton elephant named Rosie.
The pachyderm is as impressive as Reese. Where did they ever find an elephant that understands Polish?
Robert Pattinson is less impressive. His character is younger than Marlena’s and less sophisticated, but he seems a bit out of his league. The least successful part is his romantic scenes with Reese. I felt uncomfortable for him.
On the other hand Waltz is one dandy villain, full of pride, vanity and rage. The German accent doesn’t hurt either.
“Elephants” has many delights visually and dramatically. I loved the dwarf actor Mark Povinelli, who played Walter, a clown who loves his little dog.
So while this movie appeals more to women than men, I’m with the girls on this one.

Three stars

Bill Cunningham’s New York

So you think you are frugal?
After seeing the Richard Press documentary “Bill Cunningham’s New York” you may not be so smug.
Until recently Cunningham lived in a tiny artist’s apartment above Carnegie Hall. He has never owned a car. He travels New York City on a bicycle day and night, in all weather conditions. He always wears the same outfit, topped with a blue street sweeper’s smock he bought in Paris.
Cunningham is a photographer; a world-class fashion and lifestyle photographer for the New York Times. His photos chronicle the rich and famous as well as the poor and unknown. He has an uncanny fashion sense, and for this reason Cunningham is welcome at the highest-level fashion shows of the world. He knows the great designers, socialites and members of royalty, and they sing his praises in archival footage.
Cunningham prefers to find the beauty of street life amongst ordinary people living their lives. Because he has no material desires or social needs, Cunningham cannot be bought. He is 82-years-old, yet he continues to work. For his birthday he is honored at a surprise party at the New York Times. The love and respect for the man is palpable.
“I never miss a good picture,” he says modestly. Bill Cunningham is New York personified.

Four stars

Jeff Beck Rules

2011-05-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

Photo by Tom Craig

Jeff Beck Rules Kingdom of Guitar

By Skip Sheffield

Ladies and gentlemen: Jeff Beck rules the Kingdom of Guitar.
This is no idle boast. I am one of the fortunate few who saw Jimi Hendrix live in concert with original sidemen Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding in 1968. Five of us traveled from Boca Raton to Tampa and back again the same night; a 400-mile round-trip, and totally worth it.
I was at the wheel of my friend Marty Caron’s 1967 for the trip back because everyone else was so tired. I was wired from the experience of seeing the most incandescent musician and stage performer I had ever seen in my life. As Jimi would have said, I was Experienced.
I thought of Jimi when Jeff Beck took to the stage for the SunFest finale on Sunday, May 1 in downtown West Palm Beach. Technically, Beck is the equal or possibly even better than Hendrix as a player able to coax the sounds of the universe out of a simple Fender Stratocaster. What made Hendrix one of a kind was his stage presence. “Electric” doesn’t begin to explain the incredible charisma Hendrix had.
Jeff Beck is not electric in that sense. He is a modest, humble, 66-year-old man of few words. He lets his guitar say it all. It is not just his speed or dexterity; it is the astonishing rage of Beck’s tonal landscape. I don’t know what kind of gadgets and gimcracks Beck might have had between his white Stratocaster and giant Marshall tube-type amplifier, but it really doesn’t matter. Beck does not sing and he barely speaks, yet he holds the audience transfixed through his endless riffs, no two of which are alike.
The first saw Beck live several years ago at Mizner Park Amphitheater. He played as a power trio, with a guy on bass and another on drums. This time it was a quintet, and what a quintet! Beck recruited Prince bassist Rhonda Smith for the bottom end. Ms. Smith can pluck, thumb and slap was well as any bassist of any sex, and furthermore the gal can sing. So can drummer Narada Michael Walden. If that weren’t enough, Beck also recruited former Sing sideman Jason Rebello, one of the finest British jazz pianists playing today, on key boards.
As much as I enjoyed Gregg Allman on Friday night, for me nothing could top the Jeff Beck experience.
At one point Beck said, “Bless You.”
Yes Jeff, I felt blessed. I hope you come back to Florida again sometime soon; perhaps for your “Rock & Roll Party to Honor Les Paul,” which recently came out on DVD.
For more on the sights and sounds of SunFest, go www.Sunfest.com.

Happy Birthday Flossy

2011-04-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Flossy Kelly’s Gala Concert April 15

By Skip Sheffield

Flossy Keesly has another birthday coming up, and that means another treat for all the people of Boca Raton.
On April 18, Flossy will turn 97. At 7 p.m. Friday, April 15 she will present “Flossy Keesly’s Gala Concert- Pathway to the Stars” at Mizner Park Amphitheater. Admission is free.
“Florida’s First Lady of Musical Theater,” Jan McArt will host and the show stars Flossy’s favorite singer, Canadian baritone Doug Crosley; along with two-time Academy award-nominated singer-songwriter Carol Connors; popular Branson entertainer Michelle Sevryn, the Broadway Ziegfeld Dancers and 9-year-old violin sensation, Brianna Kahane. Also featured are several young performers who rated high at the Rotary Club’s Future Stars Competition, which kicked off Festival Boca in March.
A show business veteran herself as dancer, singer and television personality, Flossy Keesly has always had a fondness for actors, singers, dancers and all kinds of show biz types. Over the years she has presented a number of concerts.
“I think it’s the best one ever,” said Flossy recently. “Carol Connors is a highly respected songwriter, and little Brianna Kahane has been big news ever since she appeared on Oprah. Then there are the talented kids the Rotary Club is bringing in. It will be something for everyone.”
Last year there was a big birthday reception for Flossy, but she prefers this one to be low-key.
“I don’t want anything special this year,” she avers. “It would be too much excitement on top of the show. There were so many people there last year.”
Flossy Keesly is a tiny woman with a big heart. She commissioned the fountain statue created by sculptor Yaacov Heller that adorns the amphitheater entrance. The gold feminine figure holding a star aloft looks suspiciously like Flossy. The statue will be there for years to come. Flossy won’t be here forever, but at this point in her life she is amazingly limber, mentally sharp and cheerful.
“I don’t think genetics is the most important thing for a long life,” she offers. “If you are blessed with a good attitude, you can be happy. I had an eye checkup the other day, and the doctor was amazed to discover I still have 20-20 vision.”
Happy Birthday Flossy, and many more.

New Film Releases

Of the three commercial film releases this week, the one that looks the most promising is “Soul Surfer.” Unfortunately I missed the advance screenings, but everything I’ve heard about this film indicates it is well-made and very inspirational.
It’s the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a girl who became a surfing champion at age 8 in Hawaii. Tragedy struck when Bethany was 13. While she was out surfing, a 14-foot Tiger Shark attacked and bit off her left arm. Bethany was rescued by fellow surfers, but nearly died from blood loss before she could be stabilized.
AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany, Helen Hunt is her mom and Dennis Quaid is her dad. Sean McNamara directed his own script. It doesn’t dwell on the tragedy, but Bethany’s amazing rehabilitation and subsequent return to surfing as well as other sports.
At the other end of the spectrum is “Arthur,” which by all accounts is an entirely unnecessary remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film. This time Russell Brand steps into Dudley’s dainty shoes.
James Franco goes for broad laughs in “Your Highness,” an historical; farce co-starring Natalie Portman and Danny McBride.
I did see the French art film “Heartbeats,” which is playing FAU’s Living Room Theaters.
It’s a ménage a trois story involving Francis (Xavier Dolan), a gay-curious young man; his best girlfriend Marie (Monia Chokri), and Nicholas (Niels Schneider), the golden, curly-haired Adonis who captivates them both.
“Chacun a son gout” as they say in France (To Each his Own). Writer-director Xavier Dolan has crafted a quite lovely little film about his own conflicted passions.

Wicked Fun in Ft. Lauderdale

2011-04-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

Good and Evil Trade Places In “Wicked"

By Skip Sheffield

“Wicked good!”
That’s what they say in New England when something is exceptional, and that aptly describes the national tour of “Wicked,” running through April 24 at Broward Center for the Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale.
Based on the 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire and written by Stephen Schwartz (music and lyrics) and Winnie Holzman (book), “Wicked” provides the back story of the characters immortalized in the 1939 MGM film classic “The Wizard of Oz,” which in turn was based on L. Frank Baum’s 1900 fantasy, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”
“Wicked” focuses on the two girls who would grow up to become symbols of good and evil.
Galinda (Chandra Lee Schwartz) is a peppy blond-blue-eyed beauty destined to become the most popular girl on campus and Glinda, the Good Witch.
Elphaba (Jackie Burns) is intelligent, caring and gifted in special ways, but she is shunned by other kids because she was born with green skin. Through no fault of her own she becomes known as the Wicked Witch of the West.
Glinda and Elphaba are thrown together when they are assigned as roommates by Madame Morrible (Randy Danson), their mysterious school headmistress.
As different and opposite as they are, Glinda and Elphaba become best friends and rivals for the affection of Fiyero (Colin Hanlon), the handsome, vain playboy-type who will become Captain of the Guard of the Land of Oz.
Novelist Maguire created new characters to flesh his fantasy of romance and class conflict: Nessarose (Stephanie Brown), the crippled younger sister of Elphaba, and Boq (Justin Brill), the Munchkin she fancies but who in turn has a crush on Glinda.
Who knew that animals could talk? In this revisionist Oz they even teach school. Doctor Diamond (Paul Slade Smith) is a pedagogue and a goat, but lately he has been enduring anti-animal discrimination.
Yes, there is a lot of metaphorical stuff going on that can be related directly what is going on daily in our world. As in the original, the “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is neither wonderful not brilliant, but as portrayed by Mark Jacoby, he has a sinister side too.
All the comedy and dramatic intrigue is played out to a wonderful score by Stephen Schwartz that is better than his “Pippin” and equal to the memorable “Godspell.” When anthems like “No One Warns the Wicked,” “Defying Gravity” and “I’m Not That Girl” are delivered by vocalists as powerful as Jackie Burns and Chandra Lee Schwartz, it is powerful stuff indeed. Add to that incredible settings by Eugene Lee, eye-popping, hilarious costumes by Susan Hilferty and sublime lighting by Kenneth Posner and you have something wicked excellent, all under Joe Mantello’s sure direction.
Tickets are $29-$89. Call 954-462-0222 or go to www.browardcenter.org.

2011-04-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

“Jane Eyre,” “Potiche” in Theaters

By Skip Sheffield

When Palm Beach International Film Festival is in fsession it’s easy to forget what is going on with commercial releases. Here are a couple of films worthy of mention.
The first is “Jane Eyre.” Yes, this is the umpteenth film remake of Charlotte Bronte’s beloved 1847 novel, but I think this one is special. So do publications as influential as the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly.
Mia Wasikowska is a Jane Eyre for the 21st century, working with a smart, condensed 21st century script and a brooding-creepy, Gothic atmosphere imparted by young director Cary Fukunaga (the immigrants-in-peril “Sin Nombre”)..
Jane Eyre is famously described as “plain.” Mia Wasikowska is a perfectly attractive young woman (cute as a button in “Alice” and “The Kids Are All Right”), but she is made mousey up for her plain Jane, with dark hair tied back tightly in a bun (when it isn’t soaking wet), drab, frumpy clothes and sallow makeup.
The most important character of Jane is her native intelligence, and that is what shines in Wasikowska’s large, light brown eyes.
Jane is first and foremost a survivor; first of the death of her parents and then a tyrannical aunt (Sally Hawkins) who served as a stepmother, and a strict religious schooling bordering on the sadistic.
We meet Jane in flight from her terrible situation, soaked to the skin, trudging across sodden moors.
She finds a safe harbor in the cottage of St. John Rivers (Jamie Bell), who lives with his two sisters.
The aptly-named St. John is a nice enough guy, but Jane is destined for greater things; namely the brooding aristocrat Edward Rochester (Michael Fassbinder), lord of a sprawling, gloomy estate.
Anyone who has had even the most elementary education knows how the story turns out, so there is no point in dwelling on that. What we can dwell on is the wonderful chemistry between Wasikowska and Fassbender. This is a Jane Eyre with passion and seething emotion. Who would have thought such a plain Jane was such hot stuff?

Catherine Deneuve is a Trophy Wife

“Potiche” is a pleasant feminist comedy by French director Francois Ozon, starring France’s favorite movie siren, Catherine Deneuve.
A potiche literally is a decorative vase, but in French slang it means “trophy wife.”
Ozon’s adaptation of a play by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy
though set in 1977, it has a distinctly modern, familiar feel.
Suzanne Pujol (Deneuve) is a trophy wife who rebels, in her own quiet, competent way.
When her husband Robert (Fabrice Luchini) is laid low by a heart attack, Suzanne takes over the reins of his umbrella factory. This is a feminist fable, and therefore Suzanne is more capable, courageous and creative than her autocratic, misogynist husband ever was. Furthermore she involves her son and daughter in the family business; a feat Robert could never pull off.
To add a soupcon of romance to the tale, there is Maurice Babin (equally famous French movie star Gerard Depardieu), a former lover who is now the town’s mayor and a champion of the workers of the world. Will Suzanne be seduced by her own new power or the powerful attraction of Maurice?
The movie still seems like a play; a kind of French farce, but if it appeals to American audiences, writer-director Ozon will be very happy.
“Catherine Deneuve has never been a stage actress, and to the French audience it was quite shocking to see her take on this role,” said Ozon during Miami International Film Festival at the W Hotel. “There is something magical with her and the camera. In America you have Meryl Streep, who has a similar quality.”
Ozon worked with Deneuve previously on “Eight,” when she was but one of eight actresses and stories.
“This time it was different; she is the star,” declares Ozon. “She is very realistic. She is more interested in power than sex. The play is more of a farce, but I see the husband as more of a tragic figure. I think you find trophy wives everywhere in the world, and certainly in America. Catherine is the ultimate trophy wife.”

Over the Hill Band

2011-03-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

Music Knows No Age

By Skip Sheffield

It’s never too late to rock ‘n’ roll. If you don’t believe me, look at me. Better yet look at the Belgian film “The Over the Hill Band,” which opens this Friday at Shadowood Theatres.
“Over the Hill” is in Flemish and French, with English subtitles, but it has subject matter American audiences- particularly older people- can easily understand.
Claire (Marilou Mermans) is a woman facing her 70th birthday when her husband suffers a heart attack at the wheel of their car. Not only is Claire injured in the ensuing crash, she is rendered an instant widow.
Mermans is a woman with a beautiful face who has been a Flemish movie star since age 20. Still, her character looks in the mirror and wonders, “Who’s the old bat looking back at me?”
At the funeral Claire is reunited with her two sons. Michel (Lucas van den Eynde) is the “good son,” always there for his mother, and offering advice even when it is not sought.
Alexander (Jan van Loovern), who insists on being called Sid, has moved to Brussels and hasn’t seen his mother in five years. Sid is a would-be hip hop musician who has yet to score any kind of success.
The sons quibble over their father’s valuable wine collection and part uneasily. While going through her husband’s effects, Claire discovers the old guitar she gave Sid when he was a young man. The guitar brings back memories of her own musical career as one of three singers in a group called The Sisters of Love.
Inspired, Claire decides to revisit her old friends. Magda (Lea Couzin) lives in the shadow of her husband. Lutgard (Lut Tomsin) has remained in music, but she is a spinster church choir director. When Claire suggests the women re-form the Sisters of Love they are skeptical. They are even more incredulous when Claire invites Sid to join the group.
Sid agrees reluctantly on one condition: they must play his style of modern music, and learn some dance moves. Sid goes one step further and insists the group be re-christened as the band of the title.
“Under the skin I’m still 17,” reasons Claire.
Like many an American musical film, the story culminates with a battle-of-the-bands, with the group as a very unlikely top contender. Unlike an American film, the battle outcome is not so predictable.
Director Geoffrey Enthoven and writer-producer Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem have created a film that is funny and entertaining and also touching, pertinent to our aging population, and even romantic, thanks to a side plot involving a “ladies man” (Michel Israel) in the band.

mars needs moms

2011-03-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mars Needs Moms So Does Earth

By Skip Sheffield

Hey there single moms, here is just the movie for you.
“Mars Needs Moms” celebrates all mothers, single or married, but I think it has special meaning for women struggling to fill the role of both parents.
“Mars Needs Moms” is a motion-capture animated comedy from the makers of “Polar Express.” I saw a preview of the movie at the giant screen IMAX Theatre in Fort Lauderdale with a single mom and her two young sons. I think it is fair to say we all loved the film, young and old.
Joan Cusack stars as the mother of Milo, a typically unappreciative nine-year-old boy who gives mom a hard time over his chores.
Mom isn’t even given a name in this contemporary fable by cartoonist Berkeley Breathed. There is a dad, but he is mostly absent.
Breathed won a 1987 Pulitzer prize for political cartooning with his popular strip “Bloom County,” and he retired the strip at the peak of its popularity in 1989.
There are political references in “Mars Needs Moms,” but most of them will fly over the heads of little kids.
The story is set in the present, with very funny blasts from the past adults will appreciate.
Milo is played by Seth Green for his motion and Seth Robert Dusky for his voice.
After complaining about taking out the garbage, Milo blurts out, “My life would be so much better if I didn’t have a mom at all.”
Milo doesn’t realize it, but he just said the magic words. Martians monitor human activity on planet Earth you see, and every so often they swoop down in a space ship and abduct an ideal mother. Milo’s mom is a perfect candidate. When mom is snatched, Milo desperately tries to save her, and he becomes an inadvertent stowaway on the space ship.
Life in Mars is a regimented nightmare. Martian boys and girls are artificially created and the sexes are separated at birth. Girls become sexless worker bees and soldiers and boys become hairy ape-like creatures forced to live in the planet’s giant subterranean garbage dump. The whole planet is ruled by the elderly dictator known as the Supervisor (Mindy Sterling), a nasty, spirit-killing tyrant.
Milo learns all this after he slides down a garbage chute to evade his pursuers and meets Gribble (Dan Folger motion and voice), who is king of the garbage heap.
Gribble is a jolly man whose mom was abducted years ago, when Ronald Reagan was President. Gribble had been part of Reagan’s “Secret Astronaut Program,” and he has been stuck in that era ever since.
Visually “Mars Needs Moms” is a delight, jam-packed with action, colorful costumes that parody the 1970s and 1980s and a musical soundtrack that captures the delicious retro flair.
I’ll let you guess the payoff, but parents and especially moms can rest assured their children will see them in a new, more appreciative light. See it with your kids. If you don’t have a kid, borrow one.

Laughter and Tears at Caldwell

2011-03-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

“Funniest Heartbreaker” at Caldwell Theatre

By Skip Sheffield

It sounds like an oxymoron, but the catch phrase “funniest heartbreaker in town” is a fairly accurate description of “Next Fall,” continuing its Southeastern U.S. premiere through March 27 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
Playwright Geoffrey Nauffts has structured the play in two time frames: the present and the not-so-distant past. The comedy occurs mostly in Act One, followed by a distinctly serious Act Two.
Adam (Tom Wahl) and Luke (Josh Canfield) are a couple. Luke is an unspecified number of years older than Luke and works an unsatisfying job selling scented candles. At one point Adam frets about turning 40 and losing his hair, so one guesses he is at least that age and aspiring actor Luke at least 15 years younger.
The play begins in the present, at Beth Israel Hospital. Luke has been in a traffic accident. Adam is worried sick.
The situation is so serious Adam’s parents have been called in. Also present are Holly (Irene Adjan), the candle shop owner and Brandon (Christopher Kent), a former boyfriend of Adam’s who was first at the scene of the accident.
The mother, Arlene (Pat Nesbit) is a wise-cracking Southern belle. Father Butch (Dennis Bateman) is a stern, politically conservative and fundamental religious businessman from Tallahassee, Florida.
Pat Nesbit is a longtime Caldwell favorite who has worked many times with guest director Michael Hall. Hall is not just any guest director, but Caldwell Theatre’s co-founder and former executive director.
It is Pat Nesbit’s rapier delivery and impeccable comic timing that gives “Next Fall” its best laughs. As the play progresses the viewer realizes the situation is far more serious than it first seemed, but Arlene’s humor disarms.
The other part of the comedy is the odd couple relationship between Adam and Luke. Not only is he older; Adam has a far darker outlook on life than Luke.
Part of his sunny disposition can be credited on Luke’s Christian faith.
So there is a lot of philosophical banter between Luke, who truly believes Christ died for his sins, and Adam, who is an atheist. Like the recent Palm Beach Dramaworks production “Freud’s Last Session” there is a debate on the existence or non-existence of God, but in this case that question is secondary to the matters at hand; not the least of which is Luke’s failure to be honest with his parents concerning the true nature of his relationship with Adam.
So you will laugh and you may even cry as you come to know the characters of “Next Fall,” but you won’t be bored. Don’t be put off by the thought this is a “gay play.” It is about all of us, regardless of sexual orientation, and that’s why it is so appealing and entertaining while provoking thought on some of the biggest issues of life.
Tickets are $38-$50 and may be reserved by calling 561-241-7432 or going to www.caldwelltheatre.com.

A Fresh Look at west Side Story

2011-02-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

“West Side Story’ Finds a New Voice from an Old Source

By Skip Sheffield

As written, “West Side Story” is frozen in the amber of a bygone era of the mid-50s in New York City.
One the other hand the much-beloved musical revival that plays through Feb. 27 at Broward Center is a timeless love story borrowed freely from Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” and updated with some new twists.
The national touring production in residence in Fort Lauderdale is both old and new.
Arthur Laurents, the original librettist (with composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim) rewrote parts of the dialogue and lyrics in Spanish to complement the original English.
Laurents should be considered a national treasure. He also directed the Broadway show that opened in March, 2009 and just closed in January of this year. The national tour is directed by David Saint, the Broadway associate director.
This is the third major revival of a record-breaking, boundary-breaking, multi-Tony Award-winning show that opened on Broadway in 1957. If you count the 1961 movie, this would make it the fourth.
The bilingual dialogue makes sense considering half the characters are Puerto Rican. Most of us, especially down here, are used to hearing Spanish.
The original Jerome Robbins choreography has been restaged and in subtle ways re-envisioned by Joey McKneeley (“The Boy From Oz”).
As a result this “West Side Story” takes a fresh look at a musical theater classic more than 50 years old.
In the Romeo role of Tony is Kyle Harris, who is in a world terrific. I didn’t get to see Larry Kert in the original, but vocally Harris is the strongest Tony I’ve seen. Dramatically, as the smitten, conflicted leader of the Anglo gang The Jets, though a bit pretty, Harris is sufficiently believable as a romantic tough guy.
In the Juliet role of Maria is Ali Ewoldt, a lovely, delicate soprano who thrills the most when she is hitting operatic high notes.
Anita, the fiery older sister of Maria, is played with passion and depth of conviction by Michelle Aravena. This is the spotlight-stealing role that made stars of both Chita Rivera in the original and Rita Moreno in the movie, and Aravena goes toe-to-toe with these theatrical legends.
Anita needs a strong Bernardo, and German Santiago is just that guy; the proud, fearless but fair leader of the Puerto Rican gang The Sharks.
There are other joys in the show: Joseph J. Simeone in the Tybalt role of Riff; Alexandra Frohlinger as the tomboy Anybodys, who stuns with a gorgeous soprano on the reprise of “Somewhere,” and the entire singing and dancing cast, backed by a small but rich orchestra.
There may be some naysayers who contend “This is not the West Side Story I know and love,” but I dissent. Musical theater is a living, breathing, growing thing, and this is proof there is a lot of life yet in this contemporary classic.
Tickets are $25-$69 and may be reserved by calling 954-462-0222 or by going to www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.

Janiva Magness at Boston's

2011-02-14T10:04:00.000-08:00

This appeared in Boca Raton Tribune last week, but I thought I would post it here for local FB friends. Janiva Magness is pretty special.

Speaking of Buddy Guy (who headlined the Garlic Festival in Delray Beach Saturday), he was the headliner at the very first Riverwalk Blues Festival in 1987. Back then the festival was held in the parking lot of the now-defunct Musicians Exchange.
Now the 22nd annual Riverwalk Blues Festival is set in the lovely Riverwalk area of Fort Lauderdale on the New River at Andrews Avenue Friday through Sunday. Music begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday with Big Poppa E and the E Band followed by Blues Dragon at 8:30 p.m. and the John Nemeth band at 10 p.m.
Big City Blues Band leads the action at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Headliners are Janiva Magness at 6:30 p.m. and Robert Randolph and the Family Band at 8:30 p.m.
Gates open at 11 a.m. Sunday Headliners are Superchikan and the Fighting Cocks at 6:30 p.m. and Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers at 8:30 p.m.
There is a lot more than this going on. Go to the web site at www.riverwalkbluesfestival.homestead to check it out.

Singer Janiva Magness is also playing Boston’s in Delray Beach at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 15 as part of Frank Ward’s Blue Tuesday.
Lovely Janiva is a real blues survivor of the suicide of both her parents when she was just 16; an early pregnancy and the trauma of giving her infant up for adoption and homelessness before she found her focus in the blues. She is now one of the shining stars at Alligator Records, the world’s largest blues label, having won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Blues Music Award in 2009. Her latest CD is “The Devil is an Angel Too.”
“I am very grateful,” said Magness in a telephone interview. “I feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I get to do what I love to do and it is transcendent. I feel we need live music more now than ever before.”
As with all Blue Tuesdays at Boston’s, admission is free.
I went down to Fort Lauderdale to see Janiva Saturday. I was not disappointed. Her band is drum-tight and red-hot, and Janiva is pretty hot herself. In fact she’s just about the hottest 54-year-old mama I’ve seen, and when it comes to blues, she’s the real deal. She has lived the life.

Two Contemplative, Downbeat Films

2011-01-28T10:20:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

It’s the opposite of a slam-bang action weekend in new film releases, with two contemplative, dare we say downbeat? foreign films.
The oddly-spelled “Biutiful” is generating the most interest because it has an Oscar nomination as Best Foreign Film (Spain) and its star Javier Bardem is a Best Actor candidate.
There is no question Bardem does a masterful job as Uxbal, a Barcelona hustler involved in shady dealings, mostly involving crooked cops and illegal immigrants.
On the other hand Uxbal is a loving father to two young children, whom he is raising as a single parent because of their mother’s mental illness and utter irresponsibility.
His wife Marimba (Maricel Avarez) has sunk so low she does tricks as a prostitute when she is not sleeping with Uxbal’s no-count brother.
If this weren’t grim enough, Uxbal is trying to carry on his chaotic ordinary life with the knowledge he has terminal cancer and only a couple months left to live.
Yes, Mexican writer-director Alejandro Guillermo Inarritu has really heaped the misery on his leading character, yet Bardem’s Uxbal soldiers on with stoicism and generosity, even as he is entering the terminal stages of illness.
So you see the title, which is Uxbal’s young son’s misspelling on a crayon drawing, is anything but “Beautiful.” The paradox, if you stick with the story through its two-and-a-half-hour length, is that this is a tale of redemption. It is a remarkable performance by Bardem, surely one of the best actors in the world today.

“Another Year” Unexciting but Reassuring

“Another Year” is an unexciting title for an unexciting film by British director Mike Leigh. That is meant in a good way, because “Another Year” is a film of great subtlety, anchored by two fine character actors.
Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) are a long-married couple still in love in the autumn of their years (the film is divided into the four seasons).
By contrast everyone around them is not happy at all. Gerri’s best friend Janet (Imelda Staunton) is almost comatose from depression. Tom’s old friend Ken (Peter Wight) is pretty much a lush with other bad habits. Then there’s Mary (Lesley Manville) who also drinks too much and struggles with depression.
Tom and Gerri, so different from the cartoon characters, are almost apologetic for being so darn content, with fulfilling jobs, useful hobbies, and a good relationship with their grown son (Oliver Maltman). In short, the challenges of life do not get Tom and Gerri down.
For that “Another Year” is a lovely, uplifting and gently entertaining film.

"Company Men" Hits Close to Home

2011-01-28T10:07:00.000-08:00

“Company Men” hit a little too close to home for me.
I was never a high-paid executive, but I had a job that I loved at a newspaper I had served since I was a 12-year-old delivery boy. When the Boca Raton News closed its doors I was not so much surprised as resigned. My worst fears had become a reality.
That was about 18 months ago, but I still miss the old routine.
“Company Men” follows three corporate executives after they are arbitrarily laid off from the fictional GTX ship-building organization.
Writer-director John Wells picked a likely field for downsizing and outsourcing, because American ship-building is as sickly as daily-delivered newspapers.
Ben Affleck plays the archetypical young hotshot: Bobby Walker, regional sales manager of GTX and owner of Porsche, dream house in Connecticut and fat expense account.
“Guess what I shot today?” brags Bobby as he breezes into work.
When Bobby realizes nobody is interested in his golf game, he becomes defensive.
“What happened? Did somebody die?”
Yes Bobby, your career just died along with a host of your best buddies.
“We work for the shareholders now,” announces a grim-faced Craig Nelson as CEO.
Anger, shock, disbelief, rage and sorrow are the immediate reactions of Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), who has been with the company since its formation, and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper), a loyal company man if there ever was one.
For those of us who have been there, it is hard to feel sorry for these guys as they are knocked down to size. It is much easier to sympathize with the women in their lives, who for the most part prove more resilient and adaptable than the men.
It is richly ironic that Bobby is reduced to begging for a construction job from his gruff brother-in-law Jack Dolan, played with relish by Kevin Costner. Bobby deserves an humbling experience.
By contrast it is a lot harder on Phil Woodward, played with great gravity and inner turmoil by the strong, almost silent Chris Cooper.
For Gene McClary it is more a personal betrayal, and Tommy Lee Jones makes us feel his seething rage.
There is a faint uptick of hope in “Company Men” that keeps it from being totally bleak. As our economy struggles to regain its footing we can appreciate any little Atta boy we can get.
“Company Men” has been pretty much ignored in this year’s awards sweepstakes, but it is not a bad film, just very dark, with the cold slap of truth.

Prejudice Then and Now in "Clybourne Park"

2011-01-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

Racial Prejudice Then and Now in “Clybourne Park”

By Skip Sheffield

White Flight: those were explosive works in the South during desegregation.
But white flight was not unique to the South. It happened all over the USA; anywhere citizens were fearful of minorities moving in and “breaking” their homogenous neighborhoods.
“Clybourne Park,” enjoying a premiere run through Feb. 6 at Caldwell Theatre, is about white flight and much more.
Playwright Bruce Norris has crafted two stories in two time periods 50 years apart. The first act is set in 1959 in the Chicago suburb of the title. Act Two is set in the same house in the same neighborhood in 2009. The cast of characters is different in each act, but they are played by the same actors who relate many of the same sentiments.
Russ (Kenneth Kay) and Bev (Patti Gardner) are a married couple on the cusp of major change. Their maid Francine (Karen Stephens) is in the process of packing up the couple’s possessions, for a sale is pending on their house.
Neighborhood vicar Jim (Cliff Burgess) has stopped by to offer some farewells and platitudes.
Russ is in a distinctly troubled state, talking to himself and uttering seemingly nonsense syllables, while his wife seems oblivious.
Russ becomes even more agitated when Karl (Gregg Weiner) and his pregnant, deaf wife Betsey (Margery Lowe) pay a call. It is not just a social call. Self-appointed neighborhood watchdog Karl has learned Russ intends to sell to a black couple. Karl sees the move as the first step in plummeting values and the ruination of the neighborhood.
The smiling reverend is not exactly neutral. He thinks his parish should buy the property to “preserve the character of the community.”
Caught in the crossfire are Francine and her good-natured husband Albert (Brain D. Coats), who are asked their opinions as “good negroes.”
“Clybourne Park” is billed as a comedy, and director Clive Cholerton and his cast do their best to delineate the laughs.
It is a comedy with bite however, rooted in a tragedy that is reveled toward the end of Act One. There are hidden meanings to the increasingly heated conversations, culminating in an explosive finale.
In Act Two Kenneth Kay has been reduced to a bit part as a hard-hat architect named Dan.
Karen Stephens and Brian D. Coats are now Lena and Kevin, head of the neighborhood association of the now black community. Lena is related to the family that moved into the house 50 years ago.
Gregg Weiner plays another pain in the butt character named Steve, who with wife Lindsay (Margery Lowe again) are the new owners of the house. They see it not as history, but a prime piece of real estate ripe for development.
Cliff Burgess plays another obsequious character: a Realtor named Tom. Patti Gardner is now a can-do lawyer named Kathy, representing the new owners’ selfish interests.
Things get darker and nastier as true feelings are revealed. Haunting the proceedings is the character of Kenneth (Andrew Wind) the late Korean War veteran son of the original owners.
“Clybourne Park’ was still finding its sea legs on opening night. The laughs were sometimes uneasy and a bit confused, but two powerful performances were already quite polished: Kenneth Kay’s smoldering, grieving father and Karen Stephen’s dual performance as ironically-knowing servant and a proud preserver of family history. The other characters are not as well-written, but they will no doubt come into sharper focus.
Tickets are $38 and $45 (students $10) and may be reserved by calling 561-241-7432 or visiting www.caldwelltheatrecompany.com.

Bad Stuff in "All Good Things"

2011-01-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

“All Good Things” is the richly ironic title of a movie about very bad things like extortion, racketeering and murder.
“Good Things” is the fiction feature debut of Andrew Jarecki, maker of the unsettling documentary “Capturing the Friedmans” in 2003. The story is based on the real life drama of Robert “Bobby” Durst, the irresponsible, screw-up eldest son of a prominent New York real estate magnate.
The Bobby Durst character of David Marks is played by Ryan Gosling. Daddy Sanford Marks is played by stage and screen great Frank Langella.
The story begins in 1971 after David’s mother has met a violent death, of which we learn more later. Dressed in a tuxedo, David performs an emergency plumbing repair for Katie (Kirsten Dunst), a pretty, free-spirited coed and one of his father’s tenants.
The physical attraction is mutual and strong, giving David direction to his otherwise rudderless life. Against his family’s objections (“She’s never going to be one of us,” dad sneers), David marries Katie and they attempt to carve a new, good life in Vermont, running a health food store called All Good Things.
The idyllic period is short-lived. Dad arrives from New York in a chauffeured limousine. He has become a major landlord of seedy peep shows and questionable businesses in the pre-cleaned up Times Square area, and he demands that David rejoin the family business as a kind of bag man.
David protests weakly, and much to Katie’s dismay they return to New York. David quickly falls into his father’s shady business dealings while Kate attempts to better herself by attending medical school. Then she becomes pregnant and Bobby, to put it mildly, is not happy.
Katie Marks disappeared as did her real-life counterpart in 1982. David Marks is strongly suspected of foul play, but there is no body and no hard evidence. The story picks up again in 2000 when the case against David is reopened. There is no dramatic conclusion to this unsavory story of power, corruption, greed and lust. David Durst is still alive and well and it has been reported that he likes this film. While the powerful acting performances of Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst cannot be denied, the story is a real bummer man; the opposite of the American Dream.

"No Strings" Feel-Good Romp

“No Strings Attached” is the opposite of a bummer. It’s a feel-good, R-rated sexy romp about the power of true romance over mere animal attraction by director Ivan Reitman (“Ghostbusters”).
Adam (Ashton Kutcher) and Emma (Natalie Portman) are friends from early teen years at summer camp. They keep on bumping into each other until they both end up in Los Angeles in their early 20s. Adam is an aspiring script writer and Emma is working toward a medical degree at a teaching hospital. The mutual attraction that has been bubbling under the surface bursts forth in an erotic one-night stand that leads to another and another. In Elizabeth Meriwether’s witty script, the couple’s stereotypical sexual roles are reversed. Adam longs for cuddling and commitment. Emma wants slam, bam, thank you m’am and back to work.
“No Strings” has an entertaining supporting cast, lead by Kevin Kline as Adam’s aging Lothario movie-star dad Alvin. British actress Ophelia Lovibond amuses as Adam’s shallow ex-girlfriend and dad’s new flame. Rapper Ludicris shows he has both acting and comic chops as Adam’s roommate Wallace. Lake Bell is outstanding as Adam’s accommodating boss, who develops an awkward, funny crush on him.
Perhaps because I went into this with such low expectations I was pleasantly surprised at the genuine laughs amidst the raunchy material. “When Harry Met Sally” and “500 Days of Summer” said it better, but “No Strings” continues Natalie Portman’s roll as a formidable, sensuous starlet. Pretty boy Ashton Kutcher knows his limitations, and he cheerfully plays them to best advantage as an incurable romantic.

Pretty People, Pretty Songs, Predictable Story

2011-01-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

The People and the Songs are Pretty, But “Country Strong” Story Weak

By Skip Sheffield

“Country Strong” could have been called “Country Song,” for it is a lot like a country-style weeper… drawn out to almost two hours long.
Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Kelly Canter, a country star who has been in and out of alcohol rehab for an unspecified length of time. We meet Kelly as she is being exhorted by her manager/husband James (real-life country star Tim McGraw) to make a comeback tour.
Kelly’s rehab sponsor, Beau Hutton (Garrett Hedlund) does not think this is a good idea. He feels Kelly is too fragile to face the rigors of the road, especially since the first stop is Dallas, where Kelly’s world crashed eight years ago. In a doubly tragic, foolish move, a pregnant Kelly had too much to drink before a concert and tripped and fell off the stage. The end result was a miscarriage.
This is a heavy burden for any woman to bear, and it would be presumptuous of me to say whether any person could ever completely get over such a trauma, even if she is given a baby quail by her husband to nurse.
Writer-director Shana Feste has already proved she has a way with a weeper with “The Greatest,” and if Kelly’s treatment were successful there would be no country song conflict.
And so with the enticement of an opening slot on the tour, Beau reluctantly goes along with the idea. Since this is a country song, you just know there is more lovin’ and cheatin’ about to go on behind the scenes.
Beau has been getting a little too close to Kelly. James knows this, but he has been messing around with Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester), the beautiful young ex-beauty queen who has also been offered an opening slot on the tour.
In case you are wondering what possibly could be Chiles’ problem, it’s simple: stage fright.
Now don’t laugh folks. Many a potential star has been extinguished because of stage fright, but that particular trauma is not explored. With Beau by her side Chiles is just fine.
But wait, you country-savvy people are thinking, won’t Beau and Chiles inevitably fall into each other’s arms? And won’t Kelly get jealous when she finds out?
Bingo! Go to the front of the country songwriting class.
The good news is that Gwyneth Paltrow has a lovely singing voice, and she is given some good songs to sing.
Garrett Hedlund’s voice is even better: a smooth, deep baritone that makes we green with envy.
As for Chiles Stanton, her strong suit is her beautiful doll-like face. Her voice is okay and she sings on key, but it would have been more effective if she were confident enough to sing harmony with Beau instead of unison.
That’s the musician in me, and most folks won’t be concerned by such matters.
So if you want to see a bunch of pretty people singing pretty, “Country Strong” is your movie. Just don’t go expecting to hear Tim McGraw, because he don’t, er doesn’t, sing a lick.

A Victory for the Gals in "Made in Dagenham"

2011-01-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

“Made in Dagenham” a Cheeky Comedy about Equal Pay

By Skip Sheffield

You’ve come a long way, baby.
That was the patronizing slogan of a stupid cigarette ad campaign aimed at women back in the 1970s.
It came to mind when I saw “Made in Dagenham,” a British film based on a real incident at the Ford motor Company factory in Dagenham, U.K. in 1968.
The “girls” operated sewing machines to create the fabric for seat coverings. Because they were not deemed “skilled” workers, they were paid at a lesser rate than their male counterparts, working under terrible conditions.
Sally Hawkins, who was so terrific as an incurable optimist in “Happy Go Lucky,” plays Rita O’Grady, a typical British housewife who works on the assembly line in addition to her household chores.
The always-reliable Bob Hoskins plays Albert, head of the auto workers union. Albert takes a personal interest in the obvious injustice of the women’s situation, and he makes their cause his own.
Yes, “Dagham” is a bit like a British “Norma Rae” or “Erin Brockovich,” but it is done with inimitable English panache, with script by William Merchant under the direction of film veteran Nigel Cole, who helmed the cheeky “Calendar Girls.”
There is a certain self-deprecating gallows humor that characterizes working class British, and such is the character of the 187 women who at the urging of Albert, go on strike for equal pay.
Rita O’Grady becomes the reluctant leader of the movement. She finds more powerful allies in the beautiful wife of the factory boss (Bond girl Rosamund Pike) and the concerned government minister of labor (Miranda Richardson).
The ladies of Dagenham are a sight in their shellacked bouffants, 1960s attire and unflappable attitude. When it becomes unbearably hot in the summer, they doff their blouses. When it rains they unfurl umbrellas to protect against the leaky roof.
“Made in Dagenham” is a feel-good movie of downtrodden rising up and overcoming their powerful oppressors with good cheer and determination. Even if you don’t care much for feminism, it’s hard not to root for these feisty ladies, who in reality were instrumental in convincing Parliament to pass the Equal Pay Act of 1970.

Three stars

Kevin Spacey is Crafty, Devious “Casino Jack”

“Casino Jack” was a centerpiece film of Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, which was dedicated to the memory of director George Hickenlooper, who died in October just before the festival began.
Kevin Spacey plays the supremely confident, thoroughly devious title character, lobbyist “Casino Jack” Abramoff.
“Mediocrity is what most people live with,” Jack lectures his bathroom mirror image. “We do more because we have to.”
This is one of those rise-and-fall sagas, in which we see Jack wheedling his way through the rich and powerful corridors of Washington, D.C. with an air of entitlement and superiority. Born into wealth, Jack became College Republican National Chairman, wielding influence while still an undergrad.
As egotistical as Jack is, Kevin Spacey makes him likeable; a devilish rogue, if you will, and if he is to be believed, a devout Orthodox Jew.
Jack is a gambler at heart, so it came natural that he would conspire with Native Americans to exploit their sovereign nation status to open hugely profitable gambling halls. Jack did not help the impoverished Indians out of the goodness of his heart. He extracted extravagant fees for his services, and his greed would be part of his downfall, thanks in large part to one suspicious, tenacious tribesman (Graham Greene).
Jack had a big Florida connection with his collaboration with a shady gambling cruise line owned by an even shadier character named Gus Boulis (Daniel Kash). Jon Lovitz does a funny turn as the fearful, hapless low-lever shyster Adam Kidan, who helped Jack get hooked up with Gus (with disastrous results).
Kelly Preston personalizes the damage inflicted by Jack’s selfish ways as his long-suffering son Pam, and Barry Pepper poignantly bears his betrayal as his business partner and protégé, Michael Scanlon.
But mostly “Casino Jack” is played for laughs, and it may well be Jack Abramoff who has the last laugh. After serving minimal time for conspiracy tax evasion, he was release Dec. 3, 2010 and is now back in circulation.

Three stars

1980s Rock with "Rock of Ages"

2011-01-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

Where were you in ’82?
If you are like me, no matter where you were or what you were doing it was to the beat of bombastic 1980s “big hair” bands like Foreigner, Night Ranger, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Pat Benetar and Whitesnake.
“Rock of Ages,’ running through Jan. 9 at Broward Center for the Arts, takes some of the greatest hits of these groups and incorporates the lyrics into a boy-meets-girl tale of fortune-seeking, bitter disappointments and rueful life lessons.
Yeah, Chris D’Arienzo’s book is pretty clichéd and corny, but the production itself is a catchy, guilty pleasure wave of comedy, wailing vocals, gymnastic dance moves and thundering heavy metal rock music.
The nominal star of the show is Constantine Maroulis, who plays nice-guy everyman Drew Bowie, a waiter and aspiring musician at a Los Angeles Sunset Strip club called the Bourbon Room (think Whisky-a-Go-Go), run by a towering hulk of man named Dennis Dupree (Nick Cordero).
Drew’s female counterpart is star-struck Kansas cutie Sherrie, played by Rebecca Faulkenberry.
Maroulis, an “American Idol” finalist, originated the role of Drew Off and on Broadway and was rewarded with a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor. Maroulis has the requisite long mop of curly dark hair and a piercing tenor voice that easily penetrates to the back of the balcony.
Narrating the show, which is set in 1987 but has some songs into the 1990s, is a character named Lonny (Patrick Lewallen). Lonny often breaks the “fourth wall” and talks and jokes in a conspiring fashion with the audience.
Pop songs are often blended in a clever manner, as when Drew and Sherrie have a picnic and sip wine coolers overlooking L.A. while singing “More Than Words” (Extreme, 1990), “Heaven” (Warrant, 1989) and “To Be With You” (Mr. Big, 1991).
There is an inevitable girl-loses-boy twist when Sherrie unwisely has a fling with Stacy Jaxx (Mig Ayesa), the preening, egotistical lead singer of house band Arsenal. Sherrie also loses her gig as a waitress, and she is reduced to working as an “exotic dancer” (stripper) at the disreputable Venus Club, run by the commanding Justice (Teresa Stanley).
Things get rocky at the Bourbon Room when father and son German developers Hertz (Bret Tuomi) and Franz (Travis Walker) threatened to tear the joint down and redevelop into a Disney-style sanitized playground.
Love makes unexpected turns when Lonny declares devotion to Dennis and light-in-the-loafers Franz takes up with Casey Tuma’s Regina (rhymes with vagina), a crusading, socially-conscious city planner.
None of this matters very much. What does matter is the anthemic songs, played with expert bravado by a precision band, highlighted by lightning-fast guitar-shredding by Chris Ciccino.
Director Kristin Hanggi was nominated for a Tony Award, but this is not the kind of show that wins Tonys. It’s the kind of show that sells tickets. If you loved the extreme looks, music and attitude of the 1980s, you’ll love this show.
Tickets are $25-$65. Call 954-462-0222 or visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.

Big Hair and Big 1980s Sounds at Broward Center

2010-12-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

Where were you in ’82?
If you are like me, no matter where you were or what you were doing it was to the beat of bombastic 1980s “big hair” bands like Foreigner, Night Ranger, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Pat Benetar and Whitesnake.
“Rock of Ages,’ running through Jan. 9 at Broward Center for the Arts, takes some of the greatest hits of these groups and incorporates the lyrics into a boy-meets-girl tale of fortune-seeking, bitter disappointments and rueful life lessons.
Yeah, Chris D’Arienzo’s book is pretty clichéd and corny, but the production itself is a catchy, guilty pleasure wave of comedy, wailing vocals, gymnastic dance moves and thundering heavy metal rock music.
The nominal star of the show is Constantine Maroulis, who plays nice-guy everyman Drew Bowie, a waiter and aspiring musician at a Los Angeles Sunset Strip club called the Bourbon Room (think Whisky-a-Go-Go), run by a towering hulk of man named Dennis Dupree (Nick Cordero).
Drew’s female counterpart is star-struck Kansas cutie Sherrie, played by Rebecca Faulkenberry.
Maroulis, an “American Idol” finalist, originated the role of Drew Off and on Broadway and was rewarded with a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor. Maroulis has the requisite long mop of curly dark hair and a piercing tenor voice that easily penetrates to the back of the balcony.
Narrating the show, which is set in 1987 but has some songs into the 1990s, is a character named Lonny (Patrick Lewallen). Lonny often breaks the “fourth wall” and talks and jokes in a conspiring fashion with the audience.
Pop songs are often blended in a clever manner, as when Drew and Sherrie have a picnic and sip wine coolers overlooking L.A. while singing “More Than Words” (Extreme, 1990), “Heaven” (Warrant, 1989) and “To Be With You” (Mr. Big, 1991).
There is an inevitable girl-loses-boy twist when Sherrie unwisely has a fling with Stacy Jaxx (Mig Ayesa), the preening, egotistical lead singer of house band Arsenal. Sherrie also loses her gig as a waitress, and she is reduced to working as an “exotic dancer” (stripper) at the disreputable Venus Club, run by the commanding Justice (Teresa Stanley).
Things get rocky at the Bourbon Room when father and son German developers Hertz (Bret Tuomi) and Franz (Travis Walker).
Love makes unexpected turns when Lonny declares devotion to Dennis and light-in-the-loafers Franz takes up with Casey Tuma’s Regina (rhymes with vagina), a crusading, socially-conscious city planner.
None of this matters very much. What does matter is the anthemic songs, played with expert bravado by a precision band, highlighted by lightning-fast guitar-shredding by Chris Ciccino.
Director Kristin Hanggi was nominated for a Tony Award, but this is not the kind of show that wins Tonys. It’s the kind of show that sells tickets. If you loved the extreme looks, music and attitude of the 1980s, you’ll love this show.
Tickets are $25-$65. Call 954-462-0222 or visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.

God a Subject in Two Current Plays

2010-12-29T11:27:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

Two plays opened this weekend in West Palm Beach. Coincidentally, both of them debate the existence of God. Even stranger, both are largely comic, but with inescapable philosophical implications.
“Goldie, Max & Milk” is the funnier production, presented at Kravis Center for a long run though Jan. 16.
A woman, Karen Hartman, wrote “Goldie, Max & Milk.” Another woman, Margaret M. Ledford, directs the show, which has four female characters and just one male.
It is interesting and amusing to note the character of Mike (David Hemphill) though played breezily for laughs, is essential to the premise of the play (and to the existence of all men). Mike is sperm donor to the lesbian, atheist single-mom Maxine (Erin Joy Schmidt), whose lover Lisa (Carla Harting) has left her after convincing Max to become a mother. Oh, and by the way Mike, a free-wheeling dope dealer, is Lisa’s ne’er-do well-younger brother.
Max is poor, afraid and insecure in her crummy Brooklyn apartment, and perhaps because of this she is having trouble lactating; producing the mother’s milk essential to the good health of her infant. She doesn’t believe in God, but as an optimist she allows there could be something called the soul.
In desperation Max calls a social worker named Goldie (Deborah l. Sherman), who is an Orthodox Jew and a “lactation coach” for nursing mothers.
Who knew there was such a thing?
I certainly did not, but the device allows for a comedic clash of cultures and beliefs as “New-Agey,” anti-organized-religion Max is forced to cope with a woman whose views are so set and so diametrically opposed to her own.
But wait, there’s more to test Goldie’s mettle. Her eldest daughter Shayna (Sarah Lord) is what you could delicately call “bi-curious,” and she is fascinated by mom’s newest client.
Sex is a funny thing, and playwright Hartman milks the subject (pardon the pun) for maximum effect. On the other hand there is real pain in the characters of down, out, but not defeated Max; loving, nurturing but rigid Goldie, and her uncertain, vulnerable daughter Shayna, who is enduring a painful sexual identity crisis of her own.
At times “Goldie, Max & Milk” is like a TV sitcom, with fast-flung bon mots and quick comebacks, but then it hits back with doses of real emotion. This is not a comedy for everyone, but for people who want to explore and appreciate the greater value of true “family values,” it is reassuring to know we still can laugh.
Tickets are $47 and $50. Call 800-514-3837 or visit www.floridastage.org.

Freud and C.S. Lewis Debate God’s Existence

“Freud’s Last Session” is a paradoxical comedy by Mark St. Germain, playing through Feb. 6 at Palm Beach Dramaworks, 322 Banyan St., West Palm Beach.
The play is paradoxical because it is not really a comedy at all but an extended debate between two intellectuals representing opposing spectrums of human faith, values and belief.
Dr. Sigmund Freud (Dennis Creaghan, uncannily resembling the famed thinker) was the father of modern psychoanalysis and a staunch atheist.
C.S. Lewis was a novelist and allegorist whose works such as “The Chronicles of Narnia” are being read and re-interpreted to this day. Lewis was probably England’s most ardent defender of the Christian faith, which he declared publicly in his apologia “The Pilgrim’s Regress” in 1933.
Playwright St. Germain finds a kinship in these divergent characters through their intellectual brilliance, their restless quest for knowledge, their courage to face and challenge any opponent, and not the least of all, their ready, self-deprecating wit.
The play is set in London at the crucial point in the year 1939 When King George VI is about to make his famous Sept. 3 speech regretfully announcing England’s declaration of war against Germany and its allies.
Freud has summoned the younger professor and writer to his study for an unspecified reason. There is a lot going on at the time. London is evacuating, planes are flying overhead, and air raid sirens are being tested.
As a result Lewis is late, allowing Freud some good-natured scolding. This sets the combative tone of their meeting. Freud has read “Pilgrim’s Regress,” and he wants to know why a highly-intelligent, otherwise rational man can suddenly express a belief in a man who died 2,000 years ago claiming to be the Son of God and the savior of all who would believe in him.
Freud is desperately ill with oral cancer, and only too well-aware of his own mortality, which gives an added edge to the question of where one spends eternity after this physical life is over.
Having been raised in a religious home (I am a preacher’s grandkid), I have heard these debates a thousand times. Rarely have I heard the opposing points of view expressed so eloquently and cleverly.
I think the point of the playwright is that dialogue is essential if opposing factions are ever to live together in peace. This play is performed quickly in less than 90 minutes, without intermission. In that brief interlude it leaves one with the feeling maybe there is hope for communication regardless of poles of belief as long as individuals respect a worthy opponent.
Tickets are $47. Parking is just $1 an hour at the nearby City Center Garage (first hour free) and it is free on Sunday. Call 561-514-4042 or visit www.palmbeachdramaworks.org.

Jack Black Goofs on Gulliver

2010-12-27T08:42:00.000-08:00

This is not your grandfather’s “Gulliver’s Travels.” It’s not your father’s either.
Jonathan Swift wrote “Gulliver’s Travels” in 1726 as a satire of the British monarchy, government and human nature in general. It is by far Swift’s most popular work, and it has been so enduringly loved it has never been out of print.
Perhaps it was inevitable that a Hollywood studio, bereft of original ideas, would adapt the tale as a CGI-gimmicky Jack Black comedy.
A little Jack Black goes a long way. I happen to like his audacity and mischievous grin, but as a romantic lead I find the idea as far-fetched as Swift’s tiny and giant people in far-off lands.
Lemuel Gulliver (Black) works in the mail room of a New York City publishing house. He is a classic slacker and probably would be a mail room boy forever if it weren’t for a crush on Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet), the pretty editor of a travel magazine.
Somehow (this is far-fetched, remember?) he fakes his way into taking a travel assignment to Bermuda that Darcy doesn’t want.
And so Gulliver sets off in a rented road bound for the Bermuda Triangle with no crew or provisions. A storm brews, water spouts, and Gulliver awakes on the shore of an island, tied up by tiny ropes tied by tiny people.
The tiny King Theodore (Scottish actor Billy Connelly) rather likes oafish Gulliver, as does his daughter, Princess Mary (Emily Blunt).
Gulliver also makes friends with Horatio (Jason Segal), who is smitten with the fair Princess.
Ah, but Mary is promised to General Edward (Chris O’Dowd), the egotistical head of Lilliput’s army.
That’s pretty much it, except for a brief detour to Brobdingnag, where Gulliver becomes plaything of a giant little girl, and an absolutely absurd battle royale finale in which Gulliver battles Theodore inside a giant Transformer-type robot contraption.
Who this is supposed to appeal to is anyone’s guess. It’s too mushy for kids, too ridiculous for adults, and too fakey for those who love special effects. Big Jack, I think you bombed out this time.

"True Grit" Truer, Grittier Than Original

2010-12-27T08:37:00.000-08:00

“True Grit” Truer, Grittier Than the Original

By Skip Sheffield

John Wayne is so indelibly attached to the comic Western “True Grit” it seems audacious anyone would have the nerve to remake it.
The Coen brothers have never shrunk from a challenge. They went back to the original source material, the 1968 novel by Charles Portis, to reinterpret the yarn of spunky young Arkansas pioneer Mattie Ross, and the fat, aging, one-eyed, alcoholic bounty hunter Rooster Cogburn to avenge the death of her father.
The 2010 Mattie, played by newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, is tougher, less girlish and altogether more convincing than Kim Darby was more than 40 years ago.
The spotlight is more on Mattie this time around, and deservedly so. She is filled with righteous anger over the murder of her father by the sneaky, cowardly Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin).
The name Cheney has new meaning for this generation, and Josh Brolin sees fit to make his blackguard as reprehensible as possible.
Perhaps because of his Oscar win last year for “Crazy Heart,” Jeff Bridges is relaxed, confident, without shame and very generous to his young co-star as a younger, less spotlight-hogging Rooster Cogburn.
“I intend to kill Tom Cheney with it,” Mattie states to the man she buys a pistol from. Then she bargains to buy back the horse that was stolen from her feather.
When she approaches Rooster Cogburn (she heard he had “true grit”), he looks at her skeptically and demands $100 to undertake the search. He promptly leaves without her.
Mattie cements her determination by fording and swimming a rushing river to chase after Rooster, who has been joined by another bounty hunter, Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon, barely recognizable), who wants the price on Cheney’s head.
This ragged trio takes off across the vast badlands, beautifully photographed by Joel and Ethan Coen’s favorite cinematographer, Roger Deakins.
They meet a catalog of typical Western characters along the way, during which a form of protective parental mode develops in the previously irresponsible Rooster. He still drinks and slouches in the saddle, but this Rooster is no buffoon. Despite all his faults he does indeed possess true grit. So does Mattie.
John Wayne received his Academy Award more for his body of work than his role as Rooster Cogburn. I remember scratching my head at the time and thinking what they say about Academy Awards is true: they don’t always go to the most deserving party.
The competition is too stiff for Jeff Bridges to win a second consecutive Oscar, but odds are better than even that young Miss Steinfeld will be remembered at nomination time.

Festival Boca Returns

2010-12-13T07:42:00.000-08:00

Festival of Arts Boca Raton Back for Fifth season

By Skip Sheffield

Festival of the Arts Boca Raton will return for a fifth season March 4-12 though with a somewhat scaled-down schedule and younger, less famous artists.
“A city must have a cultural arts component in order to be a world-class community,” stated Boca Raton Mayor Susan Whelchel at a press conference at the Mizner Cultural Arts building. “A cultural component is vital to the success of any community. It is fun to see Festival Boca is younger this year.”
At the youthful end of the spectrum, the phenomenal 10-year-old operatic soprano Jackie Evancho will perform with the Young Stars of the Metropolitan Opera at the Festival finale on Saturday, March 12.
Instead of the costly Russian National Orchestra, the Festival has engaged the much more reasonable Boca Raton Symphonia Orchestra, which also gives a boost to the local musical community.
Festival Boca 2010 might not have happened at all with the generosity of Richard and Barbara Schmidt and the Schmidt Family Foundation.”
“We provided seed money to make the Festival possible,” revealed Dick Schmidt. “The city has stepped up its role too by taking over the amphitheater. We would hate to see the Festival fall victim to politics.”
The Festival begins 7 p.m. Friday, March 4 with the traditional Future Stars Competition of young performers, presented by the Rotary Club of Boca Raton.
The literary component begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 5 with a talk by Kate Walbert, author of “A Short History of Women,” in the Cultural Arts Center.
The Canadian Brass Headlines at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Amphitheater.
Literature continues at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 6 with Kevin Bleyer, Emmy Award-winning writer for The Jon Stewart Show and author of “Earth: The Book.”
The musical component continues at 7:30 p.m. Sunday with the American debut of Montenegro classical guitarist Milos Karadaglic, 27.
As the literary program is a “work in progress,” the Monday, March 7 author is to be announced. At 7:30 p.m. Monday evening Ballet Hispanico debuts.
The Latin theme continues 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with Piano Latino, featuring veteran Eddie Palmieri, Dominican Grammy Award-winner Michael Camilo and Cuban-born Alfredo Rodriguez, 24, discovered by Quincy Jones at the 2006 Montreaux Jazz Festival.
Improvisational genius pianist Gabriela Montero of Venezuela plays classics and takes requests at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 10.
An author is to be announced for Friday, March 11.
As the Russian National Orchestra is not touring this year, the Boca Raton Symphonia is providing live music for the family movie classic “The Wizard of Oz” at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Distinguished writer-in-residence Doris Kearns returns at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 12 and the Festival finale, “A Night at the Opera” stars Jackie Evancho and the Young Stars of the Metropolitan Opera with the Boca Raton Symphonia, under the baton of famed French pianist/conductor Philippe Entremont.
Individual tickets are $35-$125 and packages are available. Call 561-368-8445 or 866-571-ARTS or visit www.festivaloftheartsboca.org.

Things are Not Idyllic in “Hemingway’s Garden of Eden”

Ernest Hemingway never wanted his “Garden of Eden” to be published.
Nevertheless his final novel was published posthumously in 1986 Now it is a movie, starring Jack Huston as the Hemingway-like World war I veteran and young novelist David Bourne, Mena Suvari as his young, wealthy, reckless wife Catherine and Caterina Murino as the couple’s sexy, seductive Italian friend, Marita. It is showing at FAU’s new Living Room Theaters.
The newlywed young American couple is enjoying life bombing around the French Riviera in a 1927 Bugatti sports car Catherine bought for David. They rent a seaside villa for the season, and Catherine soon grows bored and restless while David attempts to write.
One afternoon Catherine shows up with Marita in tow, and Catherine practically dares David to have an affair with the Italian beauty.
A ménage a trois develops with predictably unhappy results.
Mena Suvari is no longer the dewy-eyed doll she was in “American Beauty,” and with her hair chopped off and bleached platinum, she looks fairly ridiculous. Jack Huston looks even sillier with his platinum hair and dark eyebrows.
“Garden of Eden” may have been Hemingway’s attempt to emulate his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald, but “Tender is the Night” this is not.

Two stars

"127 Hours" a Test of the Will to Live

2010-11-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

How strong is the human will to live?
It is no coincidence that “127 Hours” is being released at Thanksgiving time. After you see this short (95 minutes) but gruelling and intense film you can’t help but feel grateful to be safe and alive.
“127 Hours” is based on the personal memoir “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” by Aron Ralston.
Never has a cliché been so true.
Ralston, played by a buff and toned James Franco, was a guy who never played it safe. He was an adrenalin junkie, looking for ever more intense and dangerous thrills.
On April 25, 2003, Ralston set off on an adventure Utah’s gorgeous, remote Blue John Canyon. At the outset Ralston broke two cardinal rules of hiking/mountain climbing: never venture into the wilderness alone. If you are foolhardy enough to disregard that stark warning, at least notify friends and family what you are up to and where you are going.
Ralston was no doubt used to people warning and scolding him about his risky behavior, and he probably figured everyone would try to talk him out of his foolhardy adventure.
So off he went, with enough provisions for only a day in the desert.
English director Danny Boyle, who co-wrote the script with “Slumdog Millionaire” collaborator Simon Beaufoy, knows how to stretch a basically static, one-man drama into a gripping, discomforting and at times quite lovely and contemplative tale of survival.
We see Aron, then 28, frolicking with a couple college babes, showing them a secret swimming hole deep in a crevasse and daring them to jump.
The girls are jazzed after swimming and so is Aron as he heads off grinning into the rugged, mountainous terrain.
Then it happens. While testing a large boulder for stability it suddenly shifted, rolled, and left his right forearm wedged between the proverbial rock and a hard place, where Aron will remain lodged for the 127 hours of the title.
With just one bottle of water and a couple energy bars, one has to go to extreme lengths to hold off starvation, dehydration and exhaustion.
“127 Hours” is not a film for the squeamish. The scenes of Aron’s anguish and increasing desperation are interspersed with flashbacks to happier times, which also serve to show the viewer how Ralston came to be the daredevil he is. If there is anything certain in the 2011 Oscar race, it is that James Franco will be up for Best Actor. Franco is certainly not just another pretty face. A highly intelligent scholar and workaholic in real life, Franco is just the actor to capture the bravado, pain and repentance of Aron Ralston. When it comes to the fateful scene in which Ralston snaps the major radius and ulna bones in his right arm, the pain is palpable. The hacking away of the flesh with a cheap, dull, Chinese-made multi-purpose tool is agonizing to watch. In an ironic touch, director Boyle makes a point of showing that Ralston had a sturdy Swiss Army knife back in his truck, which would have made the job much easier.
Because of his pain, endurance and refusal to lie down and die, Aron Ralston is now a successful author and motivational speaker, married, with his first child. And oh yes, he still climbs mountains.
So if you need a jolt of inspiration in this season, and you can take the shock of harsh reality, “127 Hours” should do the trick.

A Lot Happens Quickly in "Next Three Days"

2010-11-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

By Skip Sheffield

Russell Crowe as Mr. Mom?
For awhile that’s what it seems like in “The Next Three Days,” which stars Crowe as tweedy Pittsburgh college English literature teacher John Brennan, married to a lovely, young, temperamental and diabetic Lara (Elizabeth Banks).
This is a Paul Haggis film however, and things won’t remain peaceful for long. We see Lara lift a fire extinguisher from under her car as a woman rushes by and squirts some blood on Lara’s coat.
These seemingly inconsequential actions will change the life of Lara, John and their young son.
One evening the police smash their way into the Brennans’ cozy suburban home, seize and handcuff Lara and haul her off to jail, accused of the brutal murder of another woman.
No matter that the evidence is circumstantial and superficial, Lara is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
For three years John Brennan goes about his daily routine, quietly seething about the injustice of it all. Then one day after Lara attempts suicide he snaps, and after advice by successful escapee Damon Pennington (Liam Neeson), Brennan decides to go all out spring his wife from prison.
“The Next Three days” is an adaptation of the French film “Pour Elle” (Anything For Her), written by Fred Cavye, who collaborated with Haggis (“Crash”) on the American version.
This is a very complex, interwoven, scene-shifting prison break movie, but with split-second timing, chases, gunfire and crashes aplenty, Haggis keeps the viewer on the edge of the seat. It is fun to see a movie set in Pittsburgh, and Haggis makes use of every unique location the city has to offer. If you can brush away the logical and logistical problems of the plot, “Next Three Days” is an exciting, suspenseful rapid ride to an unexpected destination.

The Real Face of Nazisim

2010-11-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

“A Film Unfinished” a Staggering, Devastating Documentary Film

By Skip Sheffield

Be forewarned: “A Film Unfinished” will make you weep.
I have seen dozens of films about the Holocaust, but none as chilling, gut-wrenching, infuriating and heartbreaking as this documentary by Israeli television editor Yael Hersonski.
What separates “Film Unfinished” from most Holocaust films is that it is real footage shot in the Warsaw ghetto in May of 1942. In essence these are outtakes, discovered in 1998, from a larger film commissioned by the Nazi Party as propaganda and discovered just after World War II. This “lost footage” gives glimpses of the reality behind the rosy picture being created to depict cheerful, humanely-treated Jews who have been relocated to their own district in Warsaw, where a half-million human beings were crowded into an area of three square miles.
“This film documents evil, passionately and systematically,” the introduction explains. “This is a rough draft of a film called ‘The Ghetto.’ This systematic deception should not be forgotten.”
Silent black-and-white 16 mm film is juxtaposed with interviews of present-day survivors, most of whom were young children in 1942. Their reactions are varied from anguish to horror.
The “systematic deception” is made apparent by capturing scenes of suffering, diseased, starving ghetto dwellers, many of them dead or dying.
This is contrasted with edited footage that shows parties and banquets choreographed by the Nazi filmmakers. The intention is to show rich Jews living it up while there poorer brethren suffer and starve.
The footage is augmented by narrative: a diary kept by detainee Adam Czernikow; recollections of the Jewish Council leader in Warsaw and court testimony by German filmmaker Willy Wist.
“Film Unfinished” is a perfect example of how truth can be distorted and turned inside out through careful staging and editing. Of course Nazis weren’t the only ones who practiced this deception. Consider the recent political campaigns and the outrageous charges of some of the candidates.
Warsaw was just one example of what went on all over Europe in the name of “racial purity.”
Director Hersonski saves the worst for last: footage of the disposal of those who did not survive to be herded into cattle and hauled to death camps. The inhumanity of it all is staggering and devastating, but the horrifying truth must survive.

The High and Low Road of Entertainment

2010-11-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

“Cane” Brews a Storm at Florida Stage

By Skip Sheffield

For reviews this week we have sort of a ying and yang of entertainment: the lofty and noble new play “Cane” at Florida Stage’s new space at Kravis Center and “Due Date,” a low, vulgar road trip comedy starring the unlikely duo of Robert Downey, Jr. and Zack Galifianakis.
“Cane” is a play by resident playwright Andrew Rosendorf commissioned expressly for Florida and its Florida Cycle of plays about the Sunshine State.
The title has a double meaning. It refers to the murderous hurricane of 1928 that devastated much of Palm Beach County- especially in the region near Lake Okeechobee, which overflowed its flimsy dike and flooded the communities of Belle Glade, Pahokee and Canal Point.
The second reference is to the cash crop of sugar cane, the harvesting and refinement of which is the leading business in the area.
The play is equal parts history lesson and morality tale. Unfortunately for theater goers, there is not much in the way of fun.
Act One is set in 1928. Eddie Wilson (Gregg Weiner) is a successful, ambitious bean-farmer turned-merchant. His neighbor Noah Brooks is in financial peril, and Eddie is bullying him to sell off his land at a dirt cheap price.
Meanwhile an unnamed hurricane is traveling their way.
Newspaper editor Jacob Gold (Dan Leonard) warns there will be Hell to pay in the likely event the earthen dike fails, but nobody cares to listen.
The women folk are Eddie’s loyal wife Ruthie (Julie Rowe), and Harriet (Trenell Mooring), a pregnant tenant farmer’s wife.
Act One has the most action, sound and fury as Eddie and Noah grapple while thunderclaps and lightning flashes signal the advance of another storm.
Act Two forwards to the present day. Eddie’s great-grandson Junior (Weiner) is more successful than ever and greedy for yet more. Junior thinks there is gold in the sugar cane fields if he can just wrest the land away from Harriet’s descendant, Zora (Mooring).
Noah’s descendent Isaac (Nail) is a local cop strongly protective of Zora. Dan Leonard’s character has devolved into a crazy old coot spouting dire warnings of certain destruction coming from both the fury of Mother Nature and the greed of venal men like Junior Wilson.
Those of us who know a thing or two about Florida history will find no surprises in the script. Mankind has been foolishly trying to conquer, rather than work in concert with nature for over a century. What is highly unlikely is the prospect of suburbia spreading to a place as impoverished and desperate as Belle Glade.
Then again I never thought I would see giant urban malls at the very edge of the Everglades, so what do I know?

Is Zach Galifianakis The New “Great One?”

Could Zach Galifianakis be a Jackie Gleason for a new generation?
That thought occurred to me after seeing the raucous, raunchy, hilarious “Due Date;” a road trip comedy that reunites Galifianakis with “Hangover” director Todd Phillips.
Like Gleason, Galifianakis is a large, rotund man. He uses his bulk to comic effect in surprisingly delicate ways, and he is utterly fearless to do anything for a laugh.
Robert Downey, Jr. is the straight man of this piece: Peter Highman, an uptight Los Angeles entrepreneur with a young wife Sarah (Michelle Monaghan) expecting their first child.
Sarah’s due date is in just a few days. All Peter has to do is board a flight in Atlanta non-stop to L.A. and everything will be peachy.
Then Ethan Tremblay (Galifianakis) careens into the picture.
Ethan is, improbably, an aspiring actor who is convinced fame awaits him in Hollywood.
Even more improbably, Ethan is traveling with the ashes of his recently-deceased father, stored in a coffee can.
In situation comedies, all the situations are a setup for a gag later on. The first setup is crazy circumstances that not only get Peter and Ethan thrown off their plane but get them branded “no fly.”
So the guys are forced to rent a car, and the fun really begins.
Ethan is the kind of guy who has no clue how irritating or obnoxious he is. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say Peter is appalled and disgusted with Ethan and his little dog. However, circumstances continue to conspire to keep the men together through car crashes, chases, drug busts and even the threat of a jail cell in Mexico.
Jamie Foxx has a small role as Peter’s best buddy whom Peter fears may be a little too friendly with his wife.
Yes, there are gags that are in very bad taste and situations that would never happen in million years in real life, but darn it, it’s funny. That’s all that really matters in “Due Date.”

Loose Ends Are Tied in "Hornet's Nest"

2010-10-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

By Skip Sheffield

“You came to kill me” are the first words heard in “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” as hero Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) lies in a hospital bed, bruised and swathed in bandages, emerging from a coma.
The statement is pretty much the essence of all three parts of the Millennium Trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Professional computer hacker Lisbeth was abused by her father as a child, and she retaliated by trying to set him on fire at age 12. For poor Lisbeth it is kill or be killed.
Since her violent incidents with dad (she later went at him with an ax), Lisbeth has been in and out of mental institutions, and under the care of dubious guardians who have abused her further.
No wonder Lisbeth distrusts and dislikes men in general.
There is one notable exception: Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), a crusading investigative journalist at Millennium magazine. In installment one, “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Lisbeth helped Mikael uncover a half-century old Nazi plot involving mutilation and murder of women. In the course of their perilous investigation they have a torrid fling.
“Dragon Tattoo” remains my favorite of the Millennium trilogy because it combined mystery, suspense, blistering action and hot May-December romance. In part two, “The Girl Who Played With Fire,” Lisbeth took center stage to become kind of an avenging feminist supergirl. As a result of her desperate altercations, she has a bullet in her head and two other parts of her body, and at age 27 she is accused of three counts of murder.
In this final installment, Mikael moves back to center stage as Lisbeth’s steadfast defender and protector, though feisty Lisbeth hardly needs to lean on any man for support. Her conscientious Dr. Jonasson (Askel Morisse) does his best to shield her from police and bad guys alike while she is helpless.
The Millennium series has made a star of Lisbeth Salander, a thin, slight, dark-haired beauty who does martial arts moves with a ballerina’s grace.
The problem with “Hornet’s Nest” is that it is much more static than either of the earlier chapters, and it is bogged with plot details that clutter its two hours-plus length under the direction of Daniel Alfredson.
The person who must be killed is Lisbeth’s purely evil father, Russian immigrant Alexander Zalachenko (Georgi Staykov). Zalachenko revels in his own evil, and he is contemptuous of anyone who thinks he can be defeated.
On that account there is some satisfying closure regarding the fate of Zalachenko, but there are oodles of other bad guys who must be dispatched by Ms. Salander.
Paramount among these is Niedermann (Micke Spreitz), a hulking platinum-haired giant who just happens to be Lisbeth’s half-brother. Other nasties include crooked psychiatrist Dr. Peter Teleborian (Anders Ahlbon), and Evert Gullberg (Hans Alfredson) and Fredrik Clinton (Lennart Hjulstrom), former heads of the shadowy, sinister “Section” political faction.
Once Lisbeth regains her health and readies to face the music in court with her compassionate lawyer, Mikhail’s sister Annika Giannini (Annika Hallin), she struts her all-black colors, teases her hair into a Mohawk, and re-inserts all the hardware into her various piercings in defiance of courtly decorum.
Plot threads tie up a little too neatly in this finale, but it still has action, intrigue and style. I cringe to think what is in store when this series is remade in the USA with American actors, so catch the real thing while you can.

Strong Leads Help Conviction

2010-10-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Swank Convincing, Rockwell Surprising in “Conviction”

By Skip Sheffield

The advance buzz on “Conviction” concerns Hilary Swank as possible Oscar contender, which would make her a three-time Best Actress winner. The real surprise is Sam Rockwell in his strongest screen role to date.
Swank and Rockwell play sister and brother, Betty Anne and Kenny Waters in this truth-based screenplay by Pamela Gray.
Director Tony Goldwyn establishes from the beginning this brother and sister are extremely close, probably out of self-protection due to an absent father and neglectful mother.
It is established that Kenny and Betty Anne were getting into mischief at a very young age. They were no strangers to the local police in their small town of Ayer, Mass.
It is also established that Kenny has a hair-trigger temper that can flare up suddenly regardless of consequences. We see it happen in a bar when Kenny violently threatens a guy who has made a disparaging remark about his young daughter.
In short Kenny is no angel and nobody’s role model, but is he a murderer?
First degree murder is what Kenny was accused and convicted of in 1983, two years after Katharina Brow was discovered murdered in a most horrific manner, with 30 stab wounds to her body.
Kenny had been questioned at the time of the crime, and he had the bad sense to wise off to the police investigator, Nancy Taylor (Melissa Leo).
Taylor was the wrong cop to mess with we learn later in the story, with Kenny in prison and Betty Anne obsessively working to get him a new trial.
Like the strong women Swank portrayed in “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Million Dollar Baby,” Betty Anne is a self-made, doggedly determined underdog who got her GED, went to college, and then law school to become a lawyer with just one client: her brother Kenny.
None of this happened overnight. It was 18 years of struggle that cost Betty Anne her marriage and nearly cost the embattled woman her two sons.
In this dramatization Betty is spurred on by her best friend Abra, played by Minnie Driver.
Heroes and villains are drawn quite literally. The former is a lawyer named Barry Scheck (Peter Gallagher), who pioneered using DNA testing to disprove convictions. The latter is Nancy Taylor (Leo) and the unseen district attorney Martha Coakley, who was loath to admit a mistake could have been made. Playing a most intriguing coerced false witness is a scarcely recognizable Juliette Lewis.
In the hands of less-skilled actors this could have been just another TV drama, but Swank and Rockwell, both affecting convincing heavy Mass. accents, draw the viewer into what is ultimately story of love transcendent, a sister for brother, against all odds.

Old Pros at Play in "Red"

2010-10-18T10:57:00.000-07:00

By Skip Sheffield

First you should know “Red” stands for Retired Extremely Dangerous.
“Red” is a CIA conspiracy plot spoof adapted from a DC Comics graphic novel. It stars Bruce Willis as retired but extremely lethal black ops agent Frank Moses. Frank is bored and out of sorts in his quiet Cleveland suburb. His only diversion is lengthy phone calls to Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker at her dewy-eyed best), a government pension employee who works in Kansas City.
The second thing you need to know is that this has an incredible cast of old pros having the time of their lives acting out ridiculous revenge fantasies.
You know this is a comic book right away when a squad of black-suited, masked gunman descend on Frank’s little house and riddle it with so many bullets the front porch falls off.
Frank Moses is of course unscratched, and he proceeds to dispatch his attackers one by one, as well as a second backup squad.
Then it’s off to Kansas City where Frank suddenly appears inside Sarah’s locked apartment. When she gets understandably alarmed, he gags her, binds her, throws her in the car and takes off for New Orleans. You just know this is comic book love at first sight.
First stop is Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), age 80 with stage 4 liver cancer, living in a nursing home. When Frank tells Joe the CIA has tried to kill him and he may be next, Joe is in.
Robert Schwentke directs at blistering speed, interspersing witty one-liners with amazing collisions, near-misses and huge fireball explosions.
Next up in Pensacola is Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich in his funniest, most over-the-top role ever) a wacky, paranoid survivalist who mistrusts cell phones, computers, the Internet and the modern world in general. Marvin has achieved his unique vision having been fed LSD experimentally for 11 years. He is perfect for this mission.
In Virginia the team picks up Victoria (Helen Mirren), a polished Brit with a lethal knack with a machine gun. Later Victoria’s former lover, Russian agent Ivan (Brain Cox) joins the band.
With a little help from Henry (venerable Ernest Borgnine), keeper of records deep in the bowels of the CIA, Frank will get the lowdown as to why CIA agent Cooper (Karl Urban) has been ordered to assassinate him. The trail will lead to arms dealer Alexander Downey (Richard Dreyfuss, as a snarling, sniveling villain), and up to the office of the Vice President of the USA.
The plot is patently absurd nonsense, with our heroes dodging bullets, missiles and flying vehicles and batting them away as if they were flies.
This is great stuff for the over-50 set, and I think kids can enjoy it too for all the action and mayhem. No one will ever mistake this for great art, but as slam-bang entertainment, at this moment in time it can’t be beat.

Young Frankenstein Invades Ft. lauderdale

2010-10-09T06:51:00.000-07:00

Giddy, Bawdy Fun with “Young Frankenstein” at Broward Center

By Skip Sheffield

Is there anything Mel Brooks cannot do?
We know and love him for his witty and humorous writing, but Brooks has also acted, sung and danced, directed and produced film, television and theater, and he composes music and lyrics too.
“Young Frankenstein” the stage musical is Brooks’ latest creation, after the huge success of “The Producers” on Broadway.
“Young Frankenstein” runs through Oct. 17 at Broward Center for the Arts. It’s a giddy, silly, sexy explosion of song, dance and mock science fiction.
“Young Frankenstein” has inspired the kind of devotion that leads to word-by-word recitation of key gags by loyal fans.
The book, by Brooks and Thomas Meehan (“Hairspray”) is as true to the 1974 movie as is possible on a theatrical stage.
It is director Susan Stroman’s choreography that raises the stage show above the movie. This touring company features a bevy of beautiful, saucy dancing babes and an equally agile company of athletic young men.
Playing the guileless young Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced “Fronk-en-Steen) is boyish Christopher Ryan.
The opening scene is set in Transylvania (“The Happiest Town”) in 1934, and Frederick’s grandfather, Dr. von Frankenstein, has just died, leaving New York Dr. Frederick the sole surviving heir.
Frederick is engaged to frosty Elizabeth (Janine Davita), who demonstrates her attitude with “Please Don’t Touch Me.”
When Frederick dutifully travels to Transylvania, he fist encounters Igor (That’s Eye-Gore) (Cory English), his grandfather’s faithful hunchbacked assistant (Hump, what hump?) and a luscious young Fraulein named Inga (Synthia Link), who is only too willing to be Frederick’s favorite laboratory helper. We can see where things are going with the corny, bawdy “Roll in the Hay.”
A scene-stealer in this show is Joanna Glushak as the haughty Frau Blucher, whose very name causes horses to whinny.
Another outstanding player is baritone David Benoit in the dual role of Inspector Kemp and the lovelorn, blind Hermit.
Then of course there is the monster himself, played by strapping Preston Truman Boyd, a creature first barely coherent but ultimately supple enough to tap dance to “Puttin’ on the Ritz” in a tuxedo while reciting in Shakespearean tones.
“Young Frankenstein” is closer to burlesque than classic musical theater, but it sure is fun with its barrage of singing, dancing and cheerful innuendo. After all, a spoof is a spoof, and Mel Brooks is the spoofmaster general.
Tickets are $25-$65. Call 954-462-0222 or visit www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.

A Horse, Schools and Clones

2010-10-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

“Secretariat” a Winner for All Time

“Secretariat” is a good, old-fashioned, rah-rah sports movie, but it is more; an emotional underdog story about a determined woman and her equally determined horse.
The woman is Penny Chenery, portrayed by Diane Lane.
I have admired Diane Lane ever since I saw her in “The Outsiders” when she was only 17-years-old. Lane has paradoxical qualities: she is beautiful and feminine but a little rough and tough, worldly, and above all, sexy.
These are the perfect qualities to play Penny Chenery, who is described as an “ordinary housewife,” but really is a most extraordinary person.
Chenery was the owner of Secretariat, one of the most extraordinary racehorses of all time, and the last one to win the Triple Crown of the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and the Preakness in 1973. Secretariat set records in the first two races that stand to this day.
As magnificent as Big Red (Secretariat’s nickname) was, the movie is as much about Penny Chenery’s personal struggle to train, compete and triumph in a lame-dominated sport.
The story begins back in 1969 in Virginia with an agreement struck by Penny’s father (Scott Glenn) and his wealthy, friendly rival, Ogden Phipps (James Cromwell). A coin toss was proposed to determine the pick of the next two foals of two championship horses. Phipps chose a weanling filly he thought was a sure thing. Chenery “lost” with the colt that would change the fact of American horse racing.
Adapting from journalist William Nack’s non-fiction book, Mike Rich has devised a gripping double underdog story that builds under Randall Wallace’s direction through trials, tribulations, setbacks and finally edge-of –the-seat racing triumphs. John Malkovich lends humor, pride and determination to his French-Canadian trainer, Lucien Laurin
Particularly rewarding is the final display of photos of the real characters, including the fabled horse.
“Secretariat” is inspirational in an old-fashioned, can-do American way. It seems a miracle that Penny Chenery’s marriage survived all the challenges of her husband’s skepticism, the expenses of thoroughbred racing and her own defiant self-determination. But as the movie poster declares, this is “The Impossible True Story.” You will laugh, thrill and probably weep. This is Walt Disney entertainment at its best.

“Waiting for Superman” a Disconcerting Documentary

“Waiting for Superman” is the most important film documentary since “An Inconvenient Truth.”
It is no coincidence that both films were directed by Davis Guggenheim, a man who really knows how to make a point forcefully.
“Superman” should do for American public education what “Inconvenient Truth” did for global warming.
Guggenheim accomplished his goal by finding five appealing, typical kids facing challenges in obtaining a quality education and following the children through a school year in home towns of The Bronx, New York, Harlem, Washington, D.C., Detroit and Los Angeles.
Guggenheim barrages us with grim facts and figures between scenes showing the children at home and in schools labeled as “drop-out factories.”
Contrasting the stories of failure is that of Bronx inner city native Geoffrey Canada, who rose above his circumstances and started a miraculously successful charter school in the worst part of Harlem.
Why a charter school, you might ask?
The simple answer is teachers’ unions and tenure rules. Defending the teachers’ point of view is teachers’ union president Randi Weingarten.
There is no simple answer to the fact of why America has slipped behind so much of the civilized world in education over the past 50 years, just as there is no simple answer regarding global warming.
“Superman” promises to be as controversial and volatile as “Inconvenient Truth,” but for those of us who have children in the public school system, or simply care about the kids struggling now, “Superman” is a ray of light shed on a very dark issue. Let the debates begin.

“Never Let Me Go” a Mournful Horror Film

“Never Let Me Go” is a mournful, melancholy melodrama based on the 2005 novel by Japanese-born British author, Kazuo Ishiguro.
Carey Mulligan stars as Kathy H, a girl raised in a sequestered boarding school in Hailsham, England.
Kathy’s best friends are Tom (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightly). What the kids don’t realize until too late is that they are clones being cultivated expressly as donors of organs for ailing human beings.
As horrifying as that thought is, screenwriter Alex Garland and director Mark Romanek pour on the melodrama with the specter of a doomed romantic triangle with all its regrets.
What “Never Let Me Go” does prove is that Mulligan, Knightly and Garfield are three of the best and brightest young actors of their generation,

The Face and birth of Facebook

2010-10-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

Like or Unlike, “The Social Network” is One Good Movie

Are you on Facebook?
Many people are still holdouts, although FB claims a membership of 500 million and counting.
“Social Network” will leave FB naysayers declaring “I told you so.”
You could call “Social Network” the ultimate Revenge of the Nerd.
That nerd is Mark Zuckerberg, played with prickly precision by Jesse Eisenberg.
We meet Mark in the fall of 2003 at Harvard, where he is an undergraduate. Mark is dumped by his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara), who has had enough of his short attention span, social awkwardness and obsession with computer programs.
Reeling from Erica’s rejection, Mark plays a cruel Internet prank that infuriates the female population of Harvard and crashes the university’s computer servers.
Perversely, the handsome, identical Winklevoss twins (Cameron and Tyler, both played by Armie Hammer), who are in every way Mark’s opposite, are impressed with Mark’s programming genius, and ask him for some help with a social dating network for Harvard students.
Mark accepts the challenge and goes one step further to create his own social network, which he calls The Facebook. He takes on as a partner his roommate Eduardo Savererin (Andrew Garfield) a wealthy Cuban-American from Miami who puts up $1,000 as seed money.
The Winklevoss twins, who epitomize the W.A.S.P. ideal, will spend the rest of the story using their wealth and privilege to force a legal judgment again Zuckerberg.
As the film’s slogan goes, “You can’t get to 500 million friends Without Making a Few Enemies,” and Zuckerberg proceeds to wrong his best friends on his way to becoming the world’s youngest billionaire and worldwide, certifable cultural phenomenon.
Based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires,” Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay is clever, suspenseful and ironically comic, featuring Eisenberg reciting complicated computer jargon with the speed of an auctioneer.
Some of the choicest comedy comes via Justin Timberlake, who plays Napster founder Sean Parker. Mark clearly develops a man crush on Parker, who is Mark’s gregarious, cocaine-fueled, womanizing opposite.
Parker was just another stepping stone for Mark, who can’t be bothered with the high life.
This movie was directed by David Fincher (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) without any cooperation from Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg. Some have called it a hatchet job against Zuckerberg, but I don’t think so. If anything, it will only increase public admiration for the distant, mysterious, obviously brilliant Facebook creator.
I don’t think it will change any minds about Facebook. There are plenty of people who couldn’t care less about what other people are doing, and there are even more who simply use it as a tool for their own self-promotion.
So like it or unlike it, “The Social Network” is a heck of a good movie that should entertain even the worst skeptics.

Aborigine Musical "Bran Nue Dae"

2010-09-30T11:18:00.000-07:00

In America, African-Americans were (and sometimes still are) treated like second-class citizens.
In Australia it is the Aborigines, the indigenous people of the islands of Australia and New South Wales, who lived happily before the white Europeans came along and made life miserable for them.
“Bran Neu Dae” is the modern Australian version of an American minstrel show, the minstrels being Aborigines.
Set in the late 1960s, “Bran Neu Day) (Brand New Day) is a politically-charged fable with music about an Aborigine boy who dares to stand up to the Colonial establishment. The story adapted from the songs and stage act of an Aboriginal band called Jimmy Chi and Knuckles and fashioned into a screenplay by Chi, Reg Cribb, and Rachel Perkins, who also directs. The movie has elements of road trip, coming-of-age and rebellion in a Wizard of Oz kind of fashion.
Willie (Rocky McKenzie) is a model son and student who lives with his mother in the Outback in the tiny town of Broome. Willie has never met his father, who he has been told is dead.
Willie is sweet on Rosie (Jessica Mauboy), a childhood friend who has blossomed into womanhood.
Rosie is pretty and very good singer, which has attracted the attention of Lester (Dan Sultan), the egotistical Caucasian leader of a band and the club he plays in.
Willie is such a good student he has been accepted into a strict Catholic prep school in the big city. The school is ruled by the tyrannical Father Benedictus (Geoffrey Rush), who treats his students with patronizing condescension.
When Willie endures all that he can, he decides to make a break for it and somehow make the 3,000-mile trip back home. Father Bend ictus is not about to let that happen, so he takes off in pursuit in his old Mercedes.
Early in his journey Willie meet an older Aborigine he calls Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo).
Tadpole has a fondness for booze, but he feels protective of the boy and decides to help him on his quixotic journey. Also the way they hook up with a couple hippies in a ragtag VW bus, an Annie (Missy Higgins) and Slippery (Tom Budge) reluctantly join the quest.
“Bran Neu Dae” is old-fashioned and corny, with characters breaking into and dance at the drop of a hat.
You just know it will all lead to a big-finish production number, and so it does. Don’t be too surprised if you find yourself saying, “I’m an Aborigine too.”

Ben Affleck's Bloody Boston Baby

2010-09-17T11:33:00.000-07:00

“The Town” is Ben Affleck’s baby. Affleck directs, co-wrote and stars in this gritty crime drama, set on the bad side of Boston in Charlestown, Mass.
Charlestown, referred to just as The Town by locals, is a one-square-mile breeding group for crime, specifically bank robbers.
Based on the novel “Prince of Thieves” by Chuck Hogan, “The Town” tells the story of Doug MacCray (Affleck) and his gang of tough townies. Jem (explosive Jeremy Renner from "Hurt Locker"), the meanest, toughest of the lot, took a fall for MacCray and has just gotten out of nine years in prison. If anything, the jail experience has made Jem more violent and reckless than ever.
“The Town” is a tense, suspense-filled series of daring bank heists, desperate escapes, and spectacular, vehicle-destroying chases.
Contrasting the ultra-violence is MacCray’s blossoming relationship with winsome Claire Keesey (Rebecca Hall), a bank manager who was taken hostage by the masked desperadoes, but does not realize MacCray was one of them.
It comes as no surprise that as MacCray’s affection for Claire grows, so does a decision to renounce his life of crime and run away with Claire.
Sadly for MacCray one can’t just walk away from the Irish gang lords who have bought and controlled everyone for years.
“The Town” builds to a fever pitch just on the right side of ridiculous, but very satisfying.
Be warned it is a bloody, brutish tale, but well-told and with passion by the star and all his swaggering supporting cast.

A Bittersweet Love Affair From France

2010-09-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

“Mademoiselle Chambon” is an exquisite, bittersweet fable of forbidden love from France via writer-director Stephane Brize.
Based on a novel by Eric Holder, “Mlle Chambon” explores desire, discontentment and the consequences of following rash emotional and sexual impulses.
Jean (Vincent Lindon) is a solid, blue-collar Parisian citizen, married to loving and loyal Anne-Marie (Aure Atika) and father to bright, energetic Jeremy (Arthur Le Houerou).
Jean is a stone mason and all-around contractor. His son’s teacher, Veronique Chambon (Sandrine Kiberlain) invites Jean to lecture Jeremy’s classmates about his practical occupation.
Jean graciously accepts the assignment, and after Mlle Chambon thanks him, she asks him what she might do about a leaky window in her apartment.
This is one of those ah-ha moments, played with great subtlety and delicacy by Lindon and Kiberlain, who were once man and wife. Though nothing has been spoken out loud, we know Jean has already fallen under the spell of Mlle Chambon. Though the request is seemingly innocent, we know it is not, as we can see desire building in the limpid eyes of Veronique, who has had many affairs but never a long-term relationship.
Once a concert violinist, Veronique has been a drifter and a loner ever since she quit music. Jean agrees to install a new window in her house, and when he spots the violin she once played, he asks Veronique if she could play him a tune.
Veronique refuses at first, then acquiesces, only if she can play with her back turned, due to the extreme shyness that sabotaged her career.
The tune is an achingly romantic piece by Ferenc von Vecsey. Again without words, we know Jean is a goner. Their passion is sealed with a kiss. The next day she leaves a simple note: “Thinking of you.” Not long afterward Anne-Marie informs Jean she is pregnant.
There is a reason why forbidden love is called forbidden. It may be wonderfully exciting and invigorating, but it causes terrible pain for loved ones.
Jean is such a good guy he even washes the feet of his elderly father, who is having an 80th birthday party hosted by Anne-Marie. Recklessly, Jean invites Veronique to play her violin at the party. Equally recklessly Veronique agrees.
During the party Jean inexplicably flies off the handle at his wife, who wails, “What’s going on Jean? Where are you?”
Jean is lost in the wilderness of lust and passion, but Veronique calls his bluff when she tells him she has finally decided to settle down and stay at the school where she is.
Anyone who has been tangled in a triangular relationship will react with discomfort to Jean’s dilemma. Will he go with his heart or his head?
You’ll have to see this masterful little film to see the conclusion, but it is not as simple as you may think.

Love from a Distance and Gore Up Close

2010-09-07T07:40:00.000-07:00

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long Retro Romantics in “Going the Distance”

By Skip Sheffield

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long are “Going the Distance” in the rather retro, reasonably pleasant romantic comedy of the same name.
“Distance” seems more authentic because Barrymore and Long were (and perhaps still are) an item when documentary film director Nanette Burstein was filming in New York and San Francisco. It doesn’t hurt that these are two of the most photogenic cities in America.
This movie is retro because Barrymore’s character, Erin, aspires to be a crusading newspaper reporter. For one thing, daily newspapers are quickly becoming a thing of the past. For another, it is mostly older people who still read them.
Yes, 31-year-old Erin is gung-ho on saving, or at least improving the world through the power of the press. She has an internship at the fictitious New York Sentinel and she hopes to go full-time.
Garret (Justin Long) works at a record label (another dying profession) and lives the bachelor life with two goofy roommates.
Erin and Garrett meet cute in a bar over a game of Centipede, a 1980s video game. They click immediately and wind up at Garrett’s and end up making out under a poster of Tom Cruise in “Top Gun” (1986).
Erin says up front she doesn’t want romantic entanglement, as she is going to grad school at Stanford in six weeks.
Of course they do become entangled and enjoy a whirlwind affair to the tune of 1980s song classics.
Erin can’t find a job in New York and Garrett is unwilling to relocate on the West Coast. So beings a long-distance relationship with all its trials and tribulations
Keeping the affair from getting too gloopy is a fine comic supporting cast including Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis as Garrett’s wacky roommates and Christina Applegate as Erin’s sarcastic older sister.
“Distance” is rated R mostly for content and coarse dialogue. Ultimately it has a soft heart for young lovers in love, and that’s what makes this idealist fantasy a perfect date movie.

Three stars

“Machete” Revels in Cartoon Violence, Gore

Fan boys and girls will love the outrageous “Machete.” Tea-Partiers and other conservatives will despise it.
“Machete” is a feature-length movie based on a single 90-second sight gag in Quinten Tarantino’s 2007 “Grindhouse.”
The title character, played by the menacing-looking Danny Trejo, prefers a blade to a gun, but he is adept at all kinds of weaponry, including his bare hands and gardening equipment.
Machete is a former Mexican Federale who is driven out of his country by an all-powerful drug lord Torrez, played by slimy, reptilian Steven Seagal.
Machete is stranded in a Texas border town with no papers and no money; in short an illegal immigrant.
The area is controlled by Von Stillman (Don Johnson, relishing the role of villain), who heads a group of ruthless vigilantes who will do anything, including murder, to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from Mexico.
Jeff Fahey is another American bad guy: Michael Benz, a crooked businessman who supports the equally corrupt right-wing Senator John McLaughlin (Robert Di Niro, also relishing his scene-chewing villain).
In this revenge fantasy by Robert Rodriguez (“Spy Kids") all the Americans are bad; bigoted, greedy, amoral, and all the Mexicans are good souls just looking for a better life.
Rodriguez doles out violence and sickening gore in equal measure with sexy babes. The list includes Michele Rodriguez as the resourceful, fearless taco girl who in reality runs an underground Mexican resistance group; Jessica Alba as an immigration officer with a sense of justice and fair play, and Lindsay Lohan, mocking her image as infant terrible as Michael Benz’s out-of-control daughter.
And then there is Cheech Marin as Machete’s pious brother, a Catholic priest who does not turn the other cheek.
Needless to say this debacle gets a richly-deserved R Rating. If the viewer realizes the whole thing is over-the-top satire about rigid American anti-immigration crusaders then it becomes a funny spectacle of cartoon violence and a clever reversing of stereotypes for ironic effect. If not, you’ll be outraged.

Two and a half stars

Bloody Vengeance in the Dominican Republic

2010-08-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to visit part of the Dominican Republic tourists never see, or what it’s like to be an immigrant from the D.R. in the mean streets of New York City, ‘La Goga” is a film for you.
Shot in the D.R. and The Bronx, “La Soga” is a tale of survival of a tough kid, Luisito (Manny Perez, who also wrote the screenplay), who was 10 when he witnessed the murder of his butcher father in a burst of random violence by local drug lord Rafa (Paul Calderon).
Luisito, known as “La Soga” (the rope) has become a government sanctioned assassin, with a license to kill drug dealers and other baddies at will.
Rafa has fled to New York, and Luisito desperately wants him deported so he can extract his revenge.
So Luisito goes about his bloody business, but he is getting soft and reckless. When he oversteps his bounds and he is called for it, he realizes Rafa may not be the primary source of his country’s misery.
“La Soga” is not for faint hearts. The character of Luisito is a vegetarian for a good reason, and we see explicitly why with a gruesome slow-motion butchering of a life pig and some luckless chickens. This with the conscionless brutality of both the bad and good guys is a bit hard to take.
Director Josh Crook does have a point: violence begets violence and corruption begets corruption. The same dictum applies the world over.

Kevin Kline Just a Gigolo in "Extra Man"

2010-08-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

“The Extra Man” is an old-fashioned comedy of manners. Though it is set in contemporary Manhattan, it has a prelude set in the late 20s or early 30s, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was in his prime.
Fitzgerald is a literary hero of Louis Ives (Paul Dano), a prep school literature teacher who is dropped from his post after an embarrassing incident.
Desperate for a job, Louis finds work as an entry-level employee at an environmental magazine New York City.
Louis has very little money, so he seeks out the cheapest apartment he can find.
When he answers an ad for a room to rent, he meets Henry Harrison (Kevin Kline), the unconventional “extra man” of the title.
An “extra man” is another term for a professional escort or walker. A retired teacher with thwarted literary aspirations of his own, Henry makes a precarious living off rich women who need a man on their arm at social functions.
The role is perfect for Kevin Kline, who is masterful as a rueful, yet dignified Chaplinesque character.
Louis and Henry are an odd but oddly-suited couple. Both men are lonely and both are flawed. Louis is a compulsive cross-dresser; a quirk that doesn’t bother the actor-ly Henry at all.
Henry feels like a failure, and having a young friend and confidant is rejuvenating for him.
This film is dominated by Kevin Kline, but there is a small but interesting supporting role by Katie Holmes as a green-obsessed co-worker and potential love interest for Louis, and John C. Reilly as a flakey neighbor in Henry’s neighborhood.
Based on a novel by Jonathan Ames, “Extra Man” is a small, bittersweet film of interest to people who feel nostalgic about vanishing New York and vanishing dreams.

An Imperfect Affair at Caldwell Theatre

2010-08-19T13:34:00.000-07:00

It’s not a good sign when I don’t know quite what to say after seeing a play.
At least I know what the title, “The Comfort of Darkness,” means. This world premiere production of a play by Joel Gross continues through Sept. 5 at Caldwell Theatre Company, 7901 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
Concert pianist Maria-Theresa von Paradis (Jessalyn Maguire) has been blind since age 3. Blindness has been no impediment to Maria-Theresa’s career. She can read Braille as fast as sighted people can read a book. If anything, the darkness has been a comfort zone into which she can retreat.
Dr. Anton Mesmer (Stevie Ray Dallimore) thinks otherwise. He sees Maria-Theresa’s blindness as a curable mental affliction, and he believes he can cure it through “animal magnetism,” which is his term for an early form of hypnosis.
Maria-Theresa von Paradis and Dr. Anton Mesmer were real-life figures who lived in Vienna in 1777. Mesmer’s name inspired the word “mesmerize;” to put someone under a kind of spell.
Playwright Joel Gross, who visited Boca Raton to consult with director Clive Cholerton on the production, used the story of doctor and patient as a what-if springboard for an unlikely but perhaps inevitable romance.
Thereby perhaps lurks the problem. Broadway actor Robert Cuccioli (“Jekyll and Hyde”) was originally billed as star of the Caldwell production.
For whatever reason Cuccioli bowed out, and now Dr. Anton Mesmer is played by Stevie Ray Dallimore.
Dallimore is a handsome devil, but looks are less important to this role than personal magnetism. Mesmer literally has the power to probe into a person’s psyche and change that person’s mind. Despite dramatic finger-pointing flourishes, Dallimore just doesn’t quite radiate that power.
Jessalyn Maguire has a delicate, fragile beauty that is perfect for Maria-Theresa von Paradis. Though she is only 22, Maria-Theresa is a confident and secure woman who is quite comfortable with her disability.
I think the playwright’s point is that some people use disability as a shield from deeper emotion. When the doctor messes with the patient’s cozy little world, he creates more problems than he solves.
The real Dr. Mesmer died poor and discredited. In this play his best friend, Dr. Otto von Stoerk is the voice of reason and bridge between the medical establishment and Mesmer’s more far-out theories.
It’s a rather thankless role for Ken Kay, who was a stalwart at Caldwell for many years, and is now is executive director of the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training.
Even more thankless is the role of Dr. Mesmer’s patient Francisca Oesterlin, played by Jane Cortney as one of the doctor’s earlier conquest/cures.
I guess the heart of the problem is that Dr. Mesmer is a quack, and his speeches sound like so much poppycock. Why any woman would fall under this guy’s spell is the real mystery of this ornate, beautifully-costumed and designed but oddly unmoving period piece.
Tickets are $38 and $45. Call 561-241-7432 or visit www.caldwelltheatre.com.

Portait of a Wimpy Geek as Superhero

2010-08-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

I loved "Scott Pilgrim vs the World." so did all three of my daughters. Here's what I wrote.

For a movie based on a graphic novel and video game, “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” is awfully clever and entertaining.
Everybody’s favorite wimp, Michael Cera, plays the 22-year-old title character, a dreamy slacker who has no proper job but dreams of fame and fortune with his Toronto garage band, Sex Bob-omb.
In the band are guitarist Stephen Stills (Mark Webber) and drummer Kim Pine (Alison Pill).
If you know about rock culture, you know Stephen Stills as a famous guitarist, singer and songwriter. Equally famous is Canadian singer-guitarist Neil Young, who is referenced in Bryan Lee O’Malley (original story) and Michael Bacall's (screenwriter) script as Young Neil, Stephen’s roommate, played by Jeremy Simmons.
The plot is simplicity in itself. Scott encounters the girl of his dreams; a roller-blading, crazy hair dye Amazon.com delivery person named Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and immediately falls for her.
This is despite the fact Scott already has a girlfriend, “Knives” Chau (Ellen Wong). Knives is only 17 and still in high school, and for that reason Scott gets razzed for robbing the cradle. His relationship is quite chaste however, and it is more a crush on Knives’ part.
Scott and Ramona are connected on some sort of intuitive, cosmic level, despite the fact Ramona is clearly out of Scott’s league.
There is a major roadblock to romantic happiness. Ramona has seven evil ex-boyfriends, and Scott must fight them all to win her hand.
And so the plot is basically an extended fight, with Scott facing a parade of challengers, with fight scenes enhanced by animation, graphics and video game visual and audio effects.
Now I can’t claim to be a part of video gaming, but I know a romantic underdog when I see one, and Michael Cera has that role down pat. The martial arts part is a lot harder to believe, but thanks to the magic of CG effects, Cera seems to rise (literally) to the occasion.
Credibility is not the strong suit for this or any comic book adventure. It’s all about fantasy, and director Edgar Wright blends sights, sounds, music and humor beautifully.
“Scott Pilgrim” is especially meaningful to anyone who has played in a band. I’ve been playing since I was an adolescent myself, and so have my daughters. I’m happy to report all three girls enjoyed this movie every bit as much as I did. A generation gap bridge as good as this does not come along often.

Ringo Starr at Seminole Hard Rock

2010-07-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a piece I wrote for the Boca Raton Tribune. I haven't seen it online yet.
The photos are by Tom Craig.

By Skip Sheffield

Peace and Love.
That was the recurring theme for Ringo Starr’s July 15 visit with his 11th All-Starr Band to the Seminole Hard Rock Live in Hollywood.
In a pre-concert presentation, Starr presented a check for $197,500 to the Yele Haiti relief effort, administered through Hard Rock Charity partner WhyHunger.
“I grew up with the Tribe here when the Seminoles were underprivileged,” said Hollywood Tribe council member Max Osceola. “We got our first new shoes, clothes and education from a group of Ladies called Friends of the Seminoles. Today we are blessed. It is time to give back. The circle is complete.”
And so the upbeat, feel-good mood was set for former Beatle Ringo’s All-Starr Band concert, which featured Ringo singing, playing drums and bantering with his fans and sharing the stage and spotlighting a group of stellar musicians.
The standout players were guitarist Rick Derringer and multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter. Informality and warmth are the hallmarks of Ringo Starr’s shows. He picks some of the best players available, and allows each his moment to shine.
Ohio-born Derringer is best known for his No. 1 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” but he has moved far beyond that as solo artist and one of the best guitarists in America today.
Derringer first worked with Texas-born Edgar Winter and his older brother Johnny in the early 1970s, when the Edgar Winter Group had a string of hits.
Winter’s showpiece is the instrumental Frankenstein, which he plays on a synthesizer strapped around his next (the first to do so, he says) with additional solos on saxophone and trap drums.
Keyboardist Gary Wright was the only Brit other than Starr in an all-American lineup. He shone on his best-known “Dream Weaver.”
Wally Palmer is best known as singing front man of The Romantics of Detroit, Michigan. Of course he played his hits “Talking in Your Sleep” and “What I Like About You.”
Richard Page is better known as Mr. Mister, which had mid-1980s hits with “Broken Wings” and “Kyrie.”
Finally there is Gregg Bissonette, who has been Starr’s regular drummer since 2003. All the boys in the band harmonize vocally, and exceptionally well.
Ever modest of his musical talent, Ringo Starr admits he “Gets By With a Little Help From His Friends.” His fans can only hope there with be a 12th All-Starr Band. At age 70, like fellow surviving Beatle Paul McCartney, Ringo shows no sign of slowing down.
At the end of the tour Starr gave the trap drum he had been playing for display at the Hard Rock’s permanent collection. He also presented his limited edition artwork, which he has been creating on computer since 2005. His latest CD, “Why Love,” was released in January of 2010.
“What ever you choose, choose love,” go the lyrics from one of the songs he wrote for that album. “Peace and Love” was the slogan on hundreds of white plastic wristbands he threw to his fans. Who can possibly argue with that?

The Girl Who Played with Fire

2010-07-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

“The Girl Who Played with Fire” is the second of a trilogy that began with “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and ends with ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest.”
Though not as grippingly suspenseful nor as sexy as “Tattoo,” “Fire” continues to unravel the mysteries of one Lisbeth, the tattooed, fire-playing girl of the title.
Lisbeth is the creation of the late investigative magazine journalist, Stieg Larsson, whose alter ego most likely is Mikael Blomkvist, played by noted Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist.
Mikael has not seen Lisbeth in the year since he first encountered the computer genius hacking into his account. Lisbeth has kept tabs on her onetime lover by cloning the hard drive of the computer he uses at Millennium magazine.
After a short stay in prison on trumped up charges, Mikael is back to his crusading ways. The latest expose in his magazine concerns a sex-trafficking operation with underage girls. The co-authors are Dag Svensson (Hans Christian Thulin) and his girlfriend Mia (Jennie Silfverhjelm), who is doing the research as part of her doctorial thesis. The list of Johns includes some very powerful people in Swedish government, law and business.
Monitoring the project from afar with great interest is Lisbeth, who lives in a fancy apartment with her girlfriend Miriam (Yasmine Garbi).
Before the story can be published Dag and Mia are murdered. Shortly thereafter Lisbeth’s legal guardian, Nils Burman (Peter Andersson) is also murdered. Lisbeth is implicated by circumstantial evidence in all three murders and her face is plaster all over the tabloids.
It is up to Mikael to help Lisbeth clear her name. Unlike the first film, Lisbeth and Mikael are not physically together. Mikael is almost like a bit player, with the focus shifted to Lisbeth, who has becomes like a Swedish Wonder Woman, fighting, boxing and throttling guys three times her size. Poor, abused Lisbeth discovers some unhappy truths about her past even more terrible than in the first film.
In all, “Fire” is a worthy sequel. Now I need to read the book.

Mont Blanc Comes to Summerfest

2010-07-13T14:01:00.000-07:00

Mont Blanc Chamber Orchestra is magnifique!
The Orchestra visited FAU in Boca Raton Sunday, July 11 for a 2010 Summerfest concert sponsored by philanthropist Madelyn Savarick and Symphony of the Americas.
The whole merry band flew in Panama the next day, but there is still one more chance to catch them: at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 21 at Broward Center for the Arts.
This is the 19th season for Summerfest, founded and directed by maestro James Brooks-Bruzzese. The really cool thing about Summerfest is the musicians are generally much younger than you would see at a typical classical music concert.
Mont Blanc is in the French Alps, and that’s where Lorenzo Turchi-Floria founded the chamber orchestra in 2005.
Turchi-Floris is a conductor, concert pianist and composer of note. He treated the Boca audience with an American premiere of his composition, “Tempo di Concerto for Piano and String Orchestra." The piece is rather frantic in it allegro passage, and technically quite demanding, both for the pianist and the players keeping up with him.
The musicians of Mont Blanc are not only young. Some of them are quite beautiful.
Laszlo Pap is not from Mont Blanc (he is Hungarian), but he is a world class violinist and frequent collaborator with Symphony of the Americas, led by Brooks-Bruzzese.
Pap was a featured soloist on two stunning show-off pieces: Paganini’s “Witches Dance’ and Sarasate’s “Introduction and Tarantella.”
Marilyn Maingart is a virtuoso of the flute and one lovely lady in the bargain. A frequent soloist with SOA, she charmed on Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen Op. 20” and Telemann’s “Suite in A Minor for Flute, Strings and Cembalo.”
There’s much more to the show than just these titles, and if you are lucky you’ll here two encores by the whimsical, humorous American composer, Leroy Anderson. The entire concert is available on a CD recording.
Tickets may be reserved by calling (954) 462-0222 or 954-545-0088 or by visiting www.symphonyoftheamericas.org.

Bratt Boys in the Barrio

2010-07-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

LA Mission

“LA Mission” is an entirely different family film that is about family, but not necessarily for the family.
Benjamin Bratt stars (and co-produces) and his brother Peter wrote and directed the story of a single father’s difficult relationship with his teenage son.
Benjamin Bratt normally plays handsome leading man types, but for this ethic fable he grew a Van Dyke beard and covered his body with what I hope are temporary tattoos to play Che Rivera, ruler of the roost in his tough, poor Hispanic Mission District of San Francisco.
Che (his first name is probably no coincidence) is an ex-con and recovering alcoholic who found Jesus while in prison. Now he drives a bus and lectures young hoodlums on how to behave. His big passion is his “low rider,” a beautiful, ornately-painted 1941 Cherolet. Every weekend Che and his fellow low riders perform a very slow parade through town.
Che is not exactly close to his only son Jes (Jeremy Ray Valdez), who does not share Che’s religious fervor, his self-discipline or love of old cars. Not long after the arrival of a sexy new neighbor, an African-American healthnik named Lena (Erika Alexander), Che discovers a suggestive photo of Jes with his Anglo boyfriend Jordan (Max Rosenak).
If this weren’t bad enough, it is not long before someone spray-paints “faggot” on Che’s garage door.
Che is homophobic not just because of his “mas macho” Latin machismo; he feels homosexuality is an insult to God. “LA Mission” is the long (almost two hours) tortuous road to reconciliation between father and son, and a hard-fought moral lesson to a man who has always held rigid beliefs.
This is perhaps the most powerful performance Benjamin Bratt has ever delivered, and it is extraordinarily brave because it dares criticize a very proud culture and a very powerful Catholic Church.

Delightful "Despicable Me"

2010-07-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

“Despicable Me” is the third in a trifecta of fun family films that are brightening the summer of 2010.
This CGI-animated action movie spoof has the added advantage of being a one-off original, with a distinctive French flair.
While it is not as emotionally moving as “Toy Story 3-D,” it is lighter and much funnier than that sequel and superior in every way to the middling “Shrek Forever.”
The title character of “Despicable Me,” Gru, is voiced by Steve Carrell with a vaguely Russian accent.
Gru is further proof Carrell is a man of prodigious talent. Though we never see the actor, he makes us laugh and at the same time feel sympathy.
Gru prides himself on being the world’s nastiest villain. He loves to freeze people simply to cut to the front of a line. Recently he stole the Statue of Liberty (the small one, from Las Vegas, he concedes to his horde of yellow cylindrical Minions), but lately he has been slipping.
Gru has been upstaged by a mysterious new super villain who has stolen the Great Pyramid of Egypt in broad daylight.
That would be a whipper-snapper who calls himself Vector (Jason Segal), a bespectacled nerd with a weakness for video games and Girl Scout cookies.
To reclaim his title, Gru plans to steal the Shrink Ray that enabled Vector to steal the pyramid. Then he will fly to the moon, shrink it to softball size, and bring it home as his trophy.
While Gru thinks he is the world’s baddest, meanest, smartest villain, he is really none of the above. The brains of the outfit is his chief scientist, Dr. Nefario (British comedian Russell Brand) and his brawn is the legion of tiny, blindly loyal Minions.
As for the bad part, Gru’s shaky façade crumbles away when he meets three adorable orphan girls: Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Elsie (Agnes).
How corny is that, right? Yes, it’s corny, but it’s classy corn that openly spoofs and even refers to Orphan Annie from the stage musical and the dread orphanage matron, Miss Hannigan.
In this version, by Sergio Pablos and Ken Daurio, Miss Hannigan is called Miss Hattie (Kristin Wiig affecting a syrupy Southern voice).
To steal the Shrink Ray, Gru adopts the girls and enlists them to unwittingly help him to gain entrance to Vector’s fortress.
Gru’s fumbling efforts to thwart Vector are reminiscent of both Wile E. Coyote and Mad’s Spy vs. Spy. Needless to say, there are many comic complications to Gru’s nefarious plot, and many pitfalls (“I said Cookie-Bot not Boogie-Bot!”), not the least of which is the girls.
Underneath it all Gru is one big softie of course, with a severe inferiority complex due to his frosty, disapproving mother (Julie Andrews).
“Despicable Me” looks great in 3-D, and while it has many thrills and chills, any menace is strictly for comic effect. This is a movie parents can enjoy with even their youngest children

Tilda gets Torrid in "I Am Love"

2010-07-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

The week’s big releases are “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “The Last of the Airbenders.”
While “Twilight” will probably take on a load of money from loyal fans, I just don’t get the fascination with teenage vampires and werewolves, and at more than two hours in length, life is just too short.
The same goes with the elemental fantasy of M. Night Shymalian’s latest attempt to enthrall us with science fiction.
That leaves me with the Italian film “I Am Love;” a pretentious title if there ever was one.
“I Am Love” is a labor of love for star Tilda Swinton, who also produced the film.
Swinton is Emma, Russian-born head of the household of the wealthy Recchi family of Milan, Italy. Patriarch Edoardo Recci Sr. (Gabriele Ferzetti) is having a birthday, and he announces he is handing over the family textile business to his son Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), Emma’s husband.
However, his grandson Edoardo Jr., called Edo (Flavio Parenti) will have joint control, while Edo’s brother Gianluca is left out of the deal.
So far it doesn’t sound terribly interesting, and it is not. “I Am Love” is once of those self-consciously artsy films with beautiful setups and long silences, directed with gravity by Luca Guadagnino.
There is intrigue in the Recchi clan, however. Emma’s daughter Betta has fallen in love with a woman. More scandalous still, Emma has fallen for Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), Edo’s handsome chef friend who wants to start a restaurant with him.
Trust Emma and Antonio to heat up the kitchen and bedroom, and expect more than consternation when Emma’s mother-in-law (the great Marisa Berenson) finds out what she’s up to.
So “I Am Love” is really about the breakup of a family Italian-style, with plenty of food, sex and nudity. If that appeals to you, I say bon appétit.