2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) is one of the seminal points in the development of film and cinema. Future directors like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and James Cameron, to mention just a few, were  inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece. It’s easy to see why. You’ll have a rare chance  to revisit this majestic cinema classic on the big screen when it plays midnight at the Tivoli in St. Louis as part of their Reel Late Midnight series this weekend (May 24th and 25th).

I’ve watched 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY recently and the positives for me were how good the film looks for something made in 1968. Yes, there are a few scenes that are clearly influenced by 60′s fashion but the past and future sets on the whole have a timeless quality. The use of music and the ballerina-like atmosphere were things of beauty and proof that Kubrick really was a genius.

I will be there with 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY trivia and prizes FRIDAY NIGHT ONLY so bone up on your H.A.L. knowledge!

Admission is only EIGHT BUCKS!

The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar in The Loop. Visit Landmark’s The Tivoli’s website HERE
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the rest of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight schedule:

May 31-June 1 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
June 7-8 BRAZIL (European Cut)
June 14-15 CASABLANCA
June 21-22 BATMAN (1989)

Here’s my 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY poster signed by stars Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea

Review by Sam Moffitt
Men are very protective of their sex organs. From a young age men are all too aware of how vulnerable their junk is and how easily all or part of their manhood can be removed from the rest of our body. But it’s not something we talk about a lot.

Not Suitable for Children deals with a young Australian man, a party animal really, named Jonah (Ryan Kwanten “True blood”) who learns, almost by accident, that he has testicular cancer. The infected one has to be removed, which will not affect his sexual performance but will render him sterile. Then he also finds out that his sperm will not keep if cryogenically frozen.

I was circumcised as an adult, in 1983. I also had a vasectomy in 2001. I can assure you that any surgery to the male sex organs can be traumatic and I assumed that would be the focus of Not Suitable for Children. Nope, this movie has a lot more on it’s mind than male castration anxiety.
Jonah and his two roommates, Stevie (Sarah Snook) and Gus (Ryan Corr) seem to have a found a great way to delay adulthood, party all night and make money at it. Jonah has inherited his family home after the death of his mother. He and his roommates throw parties with light shows and live music and charge money for people to attend. They live the ultimate frat house life style and don’t even have to go to college to do it.

Jonah realizes how shallow his life style is and how much he would really like to be a Father when he finds out he will not be able to get any woman pregnant after his surgery. He starts noticing children and how much he’d like to have one, or two, sometimes to the discomfort of strangers who notice him watching children in a play ground or day care center.

I didn’t think I could find anything to identify with in Jonah’s character. I made the decision in 1968 not to have children. When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were both assassinated in the same year I made the decision not to bring children into this world and I have never once regretted that decision. I also read science fiction voraciously back then and almost every novel of the future predicted what we have right now, massive over population, climate change, exhaustion of natural resources, all that and so much more. Did I want my children to have to deal with all that in the future? Nope!

But if I were faced with the same dilemma that Jonah faces, sterility and not by choice, with no options, might I feel differently? Maybe so, it’s to the movie’s credit that someone with my attitude about reproduction would find Jonah very sympathetic.

Basically the poor guy has three weeks to find a woman willing to bear his child, with or without marriage, or love or even friendship coming into play. This is where the movie has some fun, the different reactions of women from Jonah’s past are priceless when he tries to find a willing partner. This is not however a laugh out loud, gross out comedy, far from it. This is a movie, like many Australian films, that loves its characters, treats them, and the audience, with respect and asks us to think about what is being played out on screen.

Where it gets complicated and messy is in the character of Stevie, very, and I mean very well played by Sarah Snook (what a name!) Stevie and Jonah have been friends for years, never were involved with each other, and neither of them thinks of the other in “that way.” And Stevie has an attitude that seems odd for a woman, she doesn’t like kids and doesn’t want one, (she says.) All that starts to change when she, and we the audience, realize she has serious strong feelings about Jonah.

Stevie changes her mind and, I don’t want to give out any spoilers but as you can guess it does get complicated. Jonah and Stevie’s intimate scenes together are some of the most realistic I have ever witnessed in a movie. All the awkwardness and clumsy moves, on both their parts, are almost too real, too painful to watch. These are the kind of scenes that really make you feel you’re seeing something you shouldn’t. Yet there is a great depth of feeling here. Like I said, this movie loves and respects it’s characters, and wants us to do the same.

Their love making remains humorous in that they have to hide it from Gus the other roommate, who has his own ideas about how Jonah can get the child he wants before he goes under the knife.

I never expected to be so emotionally moved by a movie about a 20 something party animal who is losing a testicle. But Not Suitable for Children is a warm hearted and very intelligent look at an issue that has never been addressed in a movie,(to my knowledge) a man who feels his biological clock ticking and wants to be a Father before that clock’s time runs out.

Well Go USA’s Blu-Ray disc has excellent interviews with the director, writer and principal actors. Sarah Snook is even more delightful in person than when acting a part. Also a making of documentary which reveals that the intimate scenes were tough to do, and a preview trailer, are included.

DARK SKIES was a derivative yet engaging affair that hit the spot and gave me 97 minutes of genuine chills and thrills. It was not well-received when it opened theatrically in February and I never got around to seeing it. Maybe it was bad timing, what with its ad campaign that made it look like the Paranormal Activity movies, which it is similar to except it plays as a thriller instead of a found-footage tape, and with aliens as the home invaders rather than evil spirits. That’s a shame, because despite some forgivable flaws, DARK SKIES is a genuinely scary movie. Now it can be rediscovered on the new Blu-ray disc from Starz/Anchor Bay.

DARK SKIES a supernatural/sci-fi thriller that follows a young family living in the suburbs. As comfortably suburban husband and wife Daniel and Lacey Barret (Kerry Russell, Josh Hamilton) witness an escalating series of disturbing events involving their family, their safe and peaceful home quickly unravels. The younger of the couple’s two sons (Kadan Rockett) begins having strange dreams in which a faux-friendly presence visits and tells him creepy things. The older son (Dakota Goyo) seems somewhat immune to all these mysterious goings-on, but that may be because he’s preoccupied: He’s just at the age where he’s noticing girls, and the soft-core porn he watches while visiting the house of a slightly older pal has put some confused romantic ideas into his head involving a neighborhood cutie. When it becomes clear that the Barret family is being targeted by an unimaginably terrifying and deadly force, Daniel and Lacey take matters in their own hands to solve the mystery of what is after their family.

The roots of DARK SKIES can be traced back to POLTERGEIST, the 1982 shocker that saw the average American family besieged by an unwanted houseguest – a spook that targeted the youngest child. The Barret OF DARK SKIES are normal Americans enjoying the luxuries of suburbia, where the worst threat is a stubborn neighbor or a rude construction worker. The aliens attack pretty much out of the blue and therein lies the chills. Easy jump scares are absent, instead director Scott Stewart actually focuses on building tension and delivering honest payoffs. Stewart orchestrates a myriad of visual and aural delights (the soundtrack of this film is a technical marvel) and sells them hard, even though they don’t add up to anything particularly coherent. We never figure out the limits of the alien’s powers and there are more good ideas here than actual scares. Also, Kerry Russell and Josh Hamilton spend much of the first half of the film bickering in an unpleasant way that’s hard to sit through, but once the alien invasion plot kicks in, you genuinely start to care about the characters. By keeping the audience always on the side of the good guys and investing us in the minutae of their lives, he keeps us rooting for the team. There are some brief CGI effects late in the game, but they don’t submerge the story. Keri Russell is very good as a mother trying to hold everything together, increasingly fearful for her oddly behaving youngest son and there’s a nice cameo from J. K. Simmons, downplaying things effectively as a conspiracy buff who insists aliens are already amongst us.

DARK SKIES has a great 1080p HD transfer presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The image looks gorgeous throughout the 97 minute run-time, with the flesh tones looking natural and smooth. The detail is crisp, with very clean closeups. The colors are well saturated and quite bold, especially in the interiors of the house. The black levels are deep and inky and everything seems to be true to its source. I did not notice any banding, aliasing, or artifacts. This is an outstanding video presentation for a small sci-fi movie and just adds that much more to the film. This release comes with an impressive audio mix that packs a serious punch. When watching this type of suspenseful sci-fi movie, you want your audio to slowly build, add some creepy surround ambient noises, and then pack a loud kick to make you jump out of your seat. This is what DARK SKIES does to a tee. The dialogue is always crystal clear and easy to understand. Even the tiny whispers can be heard clearly and are haunting all the same.

Extras include a feature commentary with Writer/Director Scott Stewart, Producer Jason Blum, Executive Producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Editor Peter Gvozdas as well as alternate and deleted scenes from the film.

“A feast such as this has not been performed in 5,000 years. “

BLOOD FEAST (1963) is the stomach churning movie by “The Godfather of Gore ” Herschell Gordon Lewis that opened the floodgates to the countless blood and slasher movie that followed since its release fifty years ago. BLOOD FEAST was a midnight movie drive-In mainstay for years. No Punches are pulled and no organs left inside from our view in BLOOD FEAST. This film is a true classick in every sense of the word. Remember this was the mid 60′s folks. Sure the effects were cheap & fake, but the bad intentions were there from the get go. Gotta love that Mr. Lewis. 2,000 MANIACS, THE GORE-GORE GIRLS, and COLOR ME BLOOD RED – he cranked ‘em out with no shame. That crazy Egyptian Fuad Ramese and his fowl deeds have kept gorehounds, drives-ins, fans, & curiosity seekers amazingly shocked for five decades and now you’ll have the chance to help celebrate its half century this Saturday night (May 25^th) at GRINDHOUSE NITE AT THE MOVIES at The Way Out Club (2525 Jefferson Avenue in South St. Louis) starting at 9pm.

Get ready for a night of GUNS, GIRLS, and EXPLOSIONS (or, more accurately, Burlesque, Exploitation movies, and live music). So give my regards to 42nd Street – it’s a spectacular not seen since the 70′s!!! The St. Louis band RIVERSIDE NATIVES will open the show their own brand of greasy Rock and Roll and the local band SHADOW THIEVES will perform songs from their upcoming third CD including one inspired by Barbara Steele’s performance in Black Sunday.  In between will be a burlesque set from local beauty Rayna Skye who will be performing her one-of-a-kind special Burlesque tribute to the 1974 Blaxploitation/Martial Arts Masterpiece TNT JACKSON. Between these acts vintage Grindhouse trailers will be screened. There will be lots of great Door Prizes, Giveaways and raffles for some amazing Kung Fu, Blaxploitation, Biker, and Horror Grindhouse Box Sets. All of this amazing entertainment leads up to the midnight screening of BLOOD FEAST.

There will be 5 Grindhouse DVD Box Sets to Raffle off that evening, Savage Cinema (Biker Exploitaion) Dragon Immortal (Bruce Lee Exploitation) Cult Terror Cinema (60′s-80′s B Movie Horror) Drive In Cult Classics (Sexploitation) and lastly Gorehouse Greats (Splatterhouse) To help raise money for the mastering sessions for SHADOW THIEVES third CD. There will also be $1 raffles for a few Vintage 70′s Sexploitation Posters Campus Swingers and The Van. We’ll also have raffles for two Kung Fu Movie Posters; Dragon Vs Needles Of Death and The Iron Dragon Strikes Back. TIckets are $1 a piece or 10 tickets for $5. Winners will be drawn and announced at the end of the SHADOW THIEVES set before Blood Feast is shown.

Admission to GRINDHOUSE NITE AT THE MOVIES is only $7!

Review by Barbara Snitzer

In the House (Dans La Maison) is a crafty, suspenseful yarn that successfully maintains the audience’s engagement throughout its entire 102 minute running time.

Ozon already has his next movie, Young And Beautiful, in the “Cannes”- it’s premiering during the festival.

5 of 5 Stars

IN THE HOUSE opens in St. Louis Friday, May 17th at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater

Lakeshore Entertainment’s horror thriller THE VATICAN TAPES will be written and directed by Mark Neveldine (GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGENACE, CRANK) and will be distributed in the US by Lionsgate with a fall 2014 release. Lakeshore will be starting principal photography in Los Angeles in July. The film is off to a fast start before the opening of the Cannes festival this week, with sales to eOne in Canada, eOne/Hopscotch in Australia, Universum in Germany, Jaguar Film International Distribution in the Middle East, IPA Asia Pacific in Thailand; D Productions in Turkey, and Sun Distribution Group S.A. in Latin America. Lakeshore and Sierra Affinity are formally introducing the film to international buyers in Cannes this week.

THE VATICAN TAPES marks Lakeshore’s third partnership with Neveldine after he penned the screenplays for Jason Statham starrers CRANK and CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE as well as GAMER.  Neveldine’s other films include the Nicholas Cage GHOST RIDER sequel.  In addition to Lakeshore’s bigger genre fare such as the highly successful UNDERWORLD franchise, Lakeshore has also had box office success with moderate budget films in this genre such as THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE, which grossed over $75M domestically and over $69M internationally.

THE VATICAN TAPES follows the haunting tale of 27 year-old Angela Holmes, who accidentally cuts her finger and ends up in the emergency room. Infection leads to erratic behavior, and she begins to have a devastating effect on anyone close, causing serious injury and death. Priests examine Holmes and believe she is possessed, but when the Vatican is called upon to exorcise the demon, the possession proves to be an ancient satanic force more powerful than they imagined.

Upcoming Lakeshore releases include: Lakeshore Entertainment, Hopscotch Features and Lionsgate production I, FRANKENSTEIN with Aaron Eckhart which Lionsgate will release in January 2014 and WALK OF SHAME, starring Elizabeth Banks and James Marsden, which will be released in September 2013.  In addition, the company recently announced the launch of Lakeshore Premium Digital Content, a premier digital distribution strategy for its existing catalogue of motion pictures.

Motion picture and television legend Jerry Lewis will return to Cannes this year for a special screening of Max Rose, a feature film starring Lewis, Claire Bloom (The King’s Speech), Kevin Pollak (Three Nights, The Usual Suspects), Kerry Bishé (Argo), and Mort Sahl. A Lightstream Pictures production, the film is directed by Daniel Noah, from his original screenplay. Max Rose is produced by Lawrence Inglee (The Messenger, Rampart) and Garrett Kelleher (Rampart), executive produced by Paul Currie, Matthew Malek, Charlie O’Carroll, Gaston Pavlovich and William L. Walton. ICM Partners will represent the domestic sale while International Film Trust (IFT) will handle international sales beginning in Cannes.

In addition, Lewis’ The Ladies Man will be screen in Cannes Classics, a program presenting old films and masterpieces from cinematographic history that have been carefully restored.

President Ariel Veneziano of the newly announced IFT said, “To have a title in the Official Selection as part of our debut sales slate at Cannes is a wonderful start for IFT. Our goal is to be a supplier of quality driven feature films across all genres with clear commercial appeal for the right distributors. Max Rose ticks all those boxes.”

In Max Rose, Lewis portrays the title role of Max, an 87-year old jazz pianist who has recently lost his wife of over six decades. A discovery made days before his wife’s death causes Max to believe his marriage was a lie. Max embarks on an exploration of his own past that brings him face to face with a menagerie of characters from a bygone era.

Lewis’ contributions to the entertainment industry are legendary, having made his mark as an actor, writer, producer and director. His films have entertained billions around the globe, and they continue to attract and enchant new audiences and fans.

Three-time Academy Award-winner Michel Legrand composed the film’s score and features the original song “Hurry Home” by three-time Academy Award winners Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Max Rose marks the first time Lewis has stepped in front of a movie camera in 18 years and re-unites him with Mort Sahl, who in 1963, appeared in two episodes of Jerry’s comedy variety show.

Lightstream Pictures (LSP) is a privately funded independent film company with a mandate to develop, produce and finance high quality motion picture properties with mainstream appeal. With offices in Los Angeles and London and a boutique animation studio in Petaluma, CA, the company employs a unique business model that focuses on story development to a “proof of concept” stage.

Though WILLOW (1988) was one of director Ron Howard’s few box-office disappointments, it definitely deserves a second look and you’ll have the opportunity to do so this weekend (May 17th and 18th) when it plays at midnight Friday and Saturday at the Tivoli as part of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight series.

At once an epic celebration and a gentle spoof of the sword-and-sorcery genre, WILLOW was a collaborative effort between Howard and George Lucas and the pair threw an eclectic bunch of elements is thrown into the stewing pot – much like what Lucas did with Star Wars. Val Kilmer as the hero looks like Conan the Barbarian but acts like a clumsy Han Solo; the chief Villainess looks like a real-life version of the evil queen in Disney’s Snow White; the chief baddy looks like Darth Vader. Willow is well, a Hobbit.

There are even some fairies like Tinkerbell. The plot involves a mythical messiah who will rid the land of the despotic queen’s rule. All the first-born are summarily killed, except for the messiah-like figure who is set loose in a cane basket to float down a river and . . . well, you’ve got enough unobtrusive Biblical imagery to go around.

Admission is only EIGHT BUCKS!

I won’t be there this weekend doing my trivia/intro thing because I’ll be at Wonderfest in Louisville as a presenter at the Rondo Awards and as the host of the RAY HARRYHAUSEN SUPER-8 TRIBUTE SHOW, but I’ll be back at the Tivoli Memorial Day weekend for the midnight shows of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY…….also….I have a cat named Willow.

The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar in The Loop.

Visit Landmark’s The Tivoli’s website HERE
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the rest of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight schedule for the next couple of months:

May 24-25 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
May 31-June 1 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
June 7-8 BRAZIL (European Cut)
June 14-15 CASABLANCA
June 21-22 BATMAN (1989)

Besides waiting for a favorite film to pop up on TV, what did movie buffs do before home video? That’s not a rhetorical question because I have the answer: Super-8 millimeter Films! I’m not talking about the kind our dads made of us on vacation in the 60’s and 70’s but the kind that were sold at stores and through mail-order that were condensed versions of popular feature films. Ken Films, Castle Films, and Blackhawk were just some of the distributors of these digest versions of famous movies. I remember the ads that ran in the back of “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine advertising mini horror films and I collected them as a kid. The 200 foot editions ran about eight minutes and the 50 footers just three and they were all silent. I have fond memories of my friends and I huddling in my basement watching REVENGE OF THE CREATURE and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY screened on the wall as these little spools of film ran through my noisy super-8 projector. They were packaged in boxes with sensational, often lurid artwork (I vividly remember the box for THE SPIDER depicting a giant human skull pasted over the spider’s head. I hadn’t seen the film and for many years I thought THE SPIDER was a movie about a giant spider with a giant skull head and the concept haunted me. Frank Darabont’s THE MIST in 2007 had spiders with skull heads and I wonder if he was influenced by this spooky box art) and these have become very collectible now as most baby boomers around my age remember these crude but nostalgic home movie entertainments.

I’ve been collecting the Super-8 Sound films for over 15 years now and have amassed over 500 of them. The first Tuesday of every month I show a dozen or more at my Super-8 Movie Madness show at The Way Out Club.

I’m a big Ray Harryhausen fan and almost all of his films, with the exceptions of BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, VALLEY OF GWANGI, and THREE WORLDS OF GULLIVER have been made available in the Super-8 Sound format (I’ve never run across a sound print of FIRST MEN IN THE MOON but have been told it was made). What’s great about condensed version of films like MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, and THE 7^TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD is that all the animation highlights are intact and very little of the exposition.

I’ve been attending the Wonderfest Model and Hobby Expo in Louisville Kentucky for 22 years and it’s quite a gathering of model builders, special effects fans, and general movie buffs. Ray Harryhausen is a God to this group and was guest of honor at the convention on two occasions. I even had him sign a couple of my Super-8 boxes when I met him there.

Ray Harryhausen passed away earlier this week at age 92 and I have put together a show I’m calling THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN SUPER-8 TRIBUTE SHOW which will be making its debut at Wonderfest this Saturday, May 18th at 11pm. Admission is free to all Wonderfest attendees.

I have the following Ray Harryhausen films in the super-8 sound format:

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA
EARTH VS FLYING SAUCERS
20,000,000 MILES TO EARTH
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD
ONE MILLION YEARS B.C.
SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER
GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD
A ‘Making of GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD’ Featurette
CLASH OF THE TITANS
And a Ray Harryhausen Trailer reel

This all adds up to about 5 potential hours of Harryhausen programming. JASON,  7TH VOYAGE, and GOLDEN VOYAGE are each divided up into four chapters each running 8 minutes. I also have a 20-minute GOLDEN VOYAGE cut dubbed into German with really good color.

Here’s what I’ll be showing May 18^th at Wonderfest all projected on a big screen:

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (17 minutes)
EARTH VS FLYING SAUCERS (8 minutes)
20,000,000 MILES TO EARTH (17 minutes)
7^th VOYAGE OF SINBAD Cyclops vs Dragon (8 minutes)
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (17 minutes)
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS – Talos (8 minutes)
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS – Skeletons (8 minutes)
GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD – ‘Making of’ Featurette (6 minutes)
SINBAD AND THE EYE OF THE TIGER (17 minutes)

I may be able to squeeze another 7^th VOYAGE short in but that’s about a 2-Hour show and will end around 1am. If there is still a crowd of Harryhausen-hungry fans (something tells me there will be) and someone fetches me some coffee, I will then screen my 3-reel, 50-minute cut of CLASH OF THE TITANS.

We’ve just put this show on the Wonderfest schedule just this week for obvious reasons and I thank the Wonderfest organizers for making  a place in their programming for the first organized tribute to Ray Harryhausen.  At last year’s Wonderfest I presented ‘The Super-8 Vincent Price Show in 3-D’, a show I had screened at several conventions and venues in 2011 when I was promoting ‘Vincentennial, the Vincent Price 100^th Birthday Celebration’.

From the WONDERFEST Website:

Just Added! Rondo Award-winning Monsterkid Tom Stockman has risen to the occasion with an all-new retro-tinged salute to the work of the late Master of the Majicks, Ray Harryhausen! Tom wowed the ‘Fest last year with his Vincent Price Super-8 showcase and will be back, starting at 11PM Saturday night with an old-school Late Late Show collection of nostalgic 8MM digest versions of Harryhausen classics like Mighty Joe Young, Earth vs the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Jason and the Argonauts, 7th Voyage of Sinbad and more! See stop-motion animation as it was meant to be screened! Hear the clatter of projectors and let the magic flicker of 24 fps transport you back to a simpler era as you recall the thrills of discovering the magic of Ray Harryhausen for the first time all over again! Not to be missed!

The Wonderfest Website can be found HERE

http://www.wonderfest.com/

I will be doing a 4-Hour version of THE RAY HARRYHAUSEN SUPER-8 TRIBUTE SHOW in St. Louis on July 2nd at the Way Out Club (25252 Jefferson in South St. Louis) as part of my monthly Super-8 Movie Madness series and have already been asked to do a four-hour version in September at a major Horror movie convention in Indianapolis. Stay tuned at We Are Movie Geeks for details on those events.

Review by Dane Marti

At first, the idea of making a 3D film out of ‘The Great Gatsby’ seemed to border on the surreal. However, there have been stranger things in cinema, which have ended up working out, and I wisely withheld judgment.

As most of you are aware, ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a book written in the 1920’s by the author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Along with the work of Ernest Hemingway, it is a novel highly regarded by literature professors, scholars, authors and folks that just like to read a good book. In lists of great 20th Century literature, it normally is near the top of the heap, either number one or two, sometimes right behind another seminal novel by James Joyce.

For me, one of the strengths of the novel is that the prose is spectacular in a poetic way.

Narrated by Nick Carraway—a Midwesterner, WWI Veteran and New York Bond Salesman who looks on the events from the point of view that presumably Fitzgerald would have had. He lives in a small house on Long Island—an imaginary area called ‘West Egg’ in the book.

Next door to his cottage is an awesome, magnificent structure owned by a Jay Gatsby. Even when Nick finds himself as a guest at his neighbor’s party, he finds out that absolutely no one has seen or met the mysterious Gatsby.

However, Gatsby knows who Nick is: they’d served in the same division in the war. For this review, I don’t think I need to elaborate on too much more.

Basically, Gatsby has made money through illegal bootlegging, but he’s at heart a man with qualities that set him apart from the other wealthy riffraff– the novel’s other characters. As a young boy, he had struggled to make something of himself—to become wealthy. He is a person with a dream, a dream to survive, to achieve, to grasp a ‘jewel’ just out of reach. As Carraway observes, he is a man with a lot of ‘hope.’

The conflict of the novel centers on the love affair and obsession that Jay Gatsby has for the lovely young woman, Daisy. Once, Jay and Daisy had been romantically involved, but presently she is married to Tom Buchanan, her husband who attended Yale with Nick. He is ‘old money.’ He is also an unmitigated racist ass. He’s also having an affair….

Daisy and Jay meet once again at Nick’s cottage! Their ‘affair’ begins again, fresh and vibrant and sexy! How will her husband, Tom react? For all you non-lit majors out there reading this, I really don’t think it’s important to know anything else: It’s a love triangle’ set on Long Island and New York in 1922. The story isn’t very complex, but the thematic underpinnings have impressed people for decades. I don’t think a review of the film needs to analyze these elements, but the reader might have many interesting conversations with friends after viewing the movie!

Having seen previews for the film, I wrongly thought that he movie would be similar to ‘Moulin Rouge’, another film directed by Baz Luhrmann. ‘Rouge,’ which took place in Paris around 1900 was a fantastic explosion of fun, but as far as The Great Gatsby was concerned, I felt that the idea of utilizing new music for a film which takes place back in the 1920’s would damage the quality and story ‘ Gatsby.’ Basically, the original novel was powerful enough and a film treatment didn’t need pop-music icing on the cake. Besides, I love the old 1920’s jazz and show tunes.

However, it turns out that I was wrong! The film does use new music, but it is cleverly embedded within the scenes. Through the use of more modern instruments, the film takes on a slightly surreal tinge, with the music enhancing, and modernizing the storyline, but never twisting or mutating the story into something unpleasant.

One of the highlights of the first third of the movie is that Computer Generated imagery of the mansions and parties around long island. Some of the imagery in this section of the movie is stunning and groundbreaking. The compositions, framing jazz babies, trumpets, confetti, art deco architecture and design are really quite impressive and deserve being seen more than once. This is all enlivened by the 3D, as in Scorsese’s ‘Hugo,’ using 3D in an artistic manner.

When the main storyline (the obsession and love triangle) begins, I felt that the actors didn’t seem to inhabit their roles convincingly. It was as if they were superficial cartoon caricatures, and not flesh, bone and sinew.

By the last half of the film, the movie’s acting improves and, when it came to the climactic moments in the film, dynamic and impressive. I was impressed and locked into what was happening on the screen!

One of the wonderful aspects of the novel is its poetic and romantic prose, and at certain crucial moments in the film, moments in which we see author Nick Carraway typing the story that later become ‘The Great Gatsby, ‘ the evocative sentences are artistically superimposed on the screen.

As Jay Gatsby, Leonardo DiCaprio is superb. It’s probably his most impressive role since ‘The Aviator.’ Tobey Maguire is perfectly bland and pleasant as Nick Carraway. I’m not putting his performance down, but he is perfect for the role. Carey Mulligan as Daisy Buchanan actually resembles a jazzy flapper from that era. It might help the viewer to imagine someone whom they have loved and lost. Carey is very cute, and her acting is excellent—especially during the climactic scenes in a New York Hotel Room. At that point, her performance is first-rate.

When it gets going, ‘Great Gatsby’ is a compelling film, a well-made version of the famous ‘ Great American Novel.’ It has flaws, but the overall theme of the film, like the green light over the Bay, is there for anyone who wants to try and grasp it. I won’t attempt to give a long dissertation about the novel/film’s meaning, but this film certainly makes it clear for anyone interested in the thematic meaning behind the tale. For everyone else, it is an entertaining and visually striking motion picture.

4 of 5 Stars

As one of the first major Hollywood filmmakers to launch a paid channel on YouTube, Roger Corman, along with his longtime producer partner Julie Corman, will unveil “Corman’s Drive-In” on YouTube, which reaches more than one billion unique users monthly. Corman’s new channel is part of YouTube’s new platform offering viewers more channels through a paid subscription model.

“Corman’s Drive-In” – set to launch this summer – gives the legendary Oscar winning director the opportunity to take the treasured library of more than 400 classic films directly to his fan base, as well as reach a new millennial audience.

“I have always approached filmmaking with the desire to reach a broad audience, and YouTube is clearly where the viewers are now,” said Roger Corman. “In today’s ever-connected marketplace, I couldn’t think of a better platform on which to unveil “Corman’s Drive-In.”

Under the banner of New Horizons Picture Corp., the Cormans will use this venture to not only expand distribution of these classic titles, but also provide an outlet for new films in production.

Photo: AP

“This exciting launch on YouTube creates a myriad of opportunities for us, especially as we continue to develop and produce new titles to complement the existing film catalogue,” added Julie Corman.

Beyond the extensive library, “Corman’s Drive-In” will feature the Cormans’ personal introductions to these films, as well as fascinating interviews about Roger’s filmmaking achievements and the many stars and directors he has worked with over the years.

Corman’s canon of over 400 films includes such well known and iconic cult titles as “Deathrace 2000″ (voted the greatest ‘B’ picture of all time), “Masque of the Red Death,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Piranha,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” “Grand Theft Auto” (Director Ron Howard ’s feature directing debut), “The Fast and the Furious,” “Crybaby Killer” ( Jack Nicholson ’s first film), “Fire on the Amazon,” ( Sandra Bullock ’s first film), “The Intruder” ( William Shatner ’s first film), and “Jackson County Jail,” (Tommy Lee Jones ’ first film), among many others.

Corman has been a mentor to a virtual who’s who of American filmmakers, including Francis Ford Coppola , Martin Scorsese ,Ron Howard, James Cameron, Peter Bogdonovich, Jonathan Demme, John Sayles, Joe Dante, Gale Anne Hurd and many others. He helped launch the careers of actors such as Jack Nicholson, Robert DeNiro, Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, William Shatner, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and many others.

A longtime champion of the work of such notable international filmmakers as Francois Truffaut, Akira Kurosawa, Frederico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, The Cormans’ New World Pictures was the first distributor of their films in the U.S.

Roger and Julie Corman have worked together since 1972, when they signed Martin Scorsese as the director on “Boxcar Bertha,” a career-launching move. Since then, Julie Corman has produced more than 30 films in the last three decades.

In 2010, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Roger Corman with an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He and Julie continue to produce four to five films a year from their offices in Los Angeles.

http://www.rogercorman.com/

©A.M.P.A.S.

IRON MAN 3 is back, and packed with more excitement than ever! Recently, WAMG was invited to attend the IRON MAN 3 press day where Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Sir Ben Kingsley sat down with members of the media for a press conference. Check out some of the highlights below.

Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

This first question for Gwyneth Paltrow. I wanted to talk about the transformation of your character. Within the span of three films she goes from the assistant, a little bit of damsel in distress into like the president of Stripe Industries, and she wears the pants in the relationship. Can you talk a little bit about like the gradual transformation of your character especially in this film where she really takes power?

GWYNETH PALTROW: Sure. Thank you. I feel really, really lucky that I got to play Pepper for that reason because I think very rarely do you start at one such a distinctive place and end up somewhere else. And I really loved their relationship in the first movie when she was a supplicant, and cleaning up his messes and I loved that. It was very specific, and then, you know, to get all the way to where she is at the end of the trilogy, you know, it was a big transformation. And I think one of the things that I loved the most is that she really steps into her power in all areas. And you do see her as a very intelligent articulate CEO. You see her now in an equal relationship with Tony where she wants her needs met as well while still remaining a very supportive woman in his life. And then, of course, she turns into a super hero or sort of. But it was a great transformation, and I felt really lucky to be a part of it.

Robert, Tony gets to interact with a kid for the first time in this film, which is great I thought. I was wondering if you were happy that was in the script, and can you talk a little about interacting with a young Ty?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Ty Simpkins is great and I think we’ll be seeing a lot of him. Shane Black had this idea of this kind of capraesque departure. I mean a lot of things in Iron Man 3 I think we all knew we were taking risks, and we were kind of out of what would have been the familiar territory. And his idea of a super hero running into a little kid in the heartland of America, I think wound up being a wise choice and kind of a calculated risk.

Now, this question is for Sir Ben Kingsley, and obviously Mandarin is a unique villain, something that we’ve never, ever really seen in a movie like this before. How much of the Mandarin is persona, both of them, was already in the script and how many was your invention? How much of it was your invention?

BEN KINGSLEY: It’s all in the script. Drew and Shane presented us with a wonderful document, and there’s very little straying off the written word. improvise it’s minimal, and just to maybe sharpen one or two ideas that we were playing with on the set, but it’s all there. And I do respond to the written word. I love to see it down there on the page, and it was all there. I tried to give the Mandarin in his political broadcasts a rather unnerving sense of righteousness, and make him almost paternalistic, patriarchal. And that’s where the timbre of his delivery comes from, and weird iconography was there to disconcert and completely scatter any expectations of where he might be coming from. I think again the line, “That you will never see me coming” involves … It sort of voices, that unpredictability that he has. It’s a great script. It was a wonderful read, and we stuck very closely to it.

Robert, will you be filming another scene tonight?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Oh, let me explain this to you, my associate. We shoot those Easter eggs, which is after the credits there’s that little piece that gets everyone real

DON CHEADLE: Oh, I never sat through the end of the whole thing. There’s something at the end? [OVERLAPPING] As soon as Rhodey is off the screen I usually walk out.

The movie is pretty funny. Of course, you’re obviously a funny guy and everything. But you talk about that kind of approach where the producers or the director talks of tone before shooting the movie. Was there any changes? Was it supposed to be darker and then it switched to be like more into like comedy?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Well, yeah, but first I’d like to offer a counterpoint what Sir Ben said because he actually when once we let him off the chain, we found that he was a glorious improviser and a lot of ideas without giving his character arc were just flowing out from what was written. But again, you know, Drew and Shane had a good document. The story is really good. The twists are really good. But I would leave it to my other co-stars to describe what working with me on most of our other scenes was like. And they’ve gotten used to it and they’re great at it. Don.

DON CHEADLE: Do you want me to say what you paid to say or just say what I feel? No, it was great to come back this time around and, you know, Shane almost coined and really put a stamp on the sort of buddy action movies where I was clearly in the pocket with Robert. It was great to see the whole movie put together at the end because we’re in such different tracks. I didn’t know what Gwyneth was doing for half of the movie. It was great to see it all put together and say, “Oh, that’s what you guys were doing over there.” You know. I saw Sir Ben twice on the set. So it would be great to have another bite of the apple personally for me to be able to mix with these guys a little bit more, but we had a ball. And Robert is a prince, as you all know. This question is for Don.

Don, so which one do you prefer, Iron Patriot or War Machine? And also how do you think that Rhodey has evolved in this stuff understanding in terms of just being an integral part to himself or just a companion

DON CHEADLE: Well, the Iron Patriot is about three kilos heavier. So I prefer War Machine. But, you know, this iteration of the film really is something that Robert and I talked about after the second, you know. He came to me and said, “Now, let’s try and really kick this relationship off, and really try to see who these guys are.” And a lot of fun for me in this one was being able to do a lot of action outside of the suit, and getting to work with the stunt team and doing a lot of the cable work. That was just a big thrill for me. It was like, you know, I was big kid being able to play with the best toys. So I think you see the relationship has strengthened in this one, and it’s sort of pays off on the promise that I think was made at the end of Iron Man 2 in the Japanese garden where these guys really started busting each other’s chops, and, you know, back-to-back. You know, they’re friends, but they still really help balance one another, and I thought that really came to fruition in this one.

Robert, so there was a definite finality in this movie, but you know you’re never going to get rid of this character. You’re too perfect for it. So how go negotiations for 4…

ROBERT DOWNEY: I’m not at liberty to discuss that. I do want to say that our stunt coordinator, Marcos Rounthwaite came to me at one point and he said, “You see Don just rolled into the room and fired off all those shots miss all these things. Then the guys feel, and then he went exactly where he was supposed to go?” I said, “Yeah, what are you getting at?” He goes, “Nothing.” The future as usual is uncertain, and I think the great thing is that, you know, we never could have known what and who was going to come together for the third Iron Man. And usually the third of anything struggles to even meet the first two, let alone the first one. So in all earnestness, you know, things are very much in flux right now and Marvel has their plans and we’re all living and growing. We’ll see what happens.

My question I have one for Robert and one for Don. For Robert, your character has dealt with so much. He has, you know, betrayal. He’s dealt with blood poisoning, aliens, the destruction and loss of his home. Where would you like to see Iron Man go next emotionally? And for Don, your character he gets to use his suit more in this film, and you also get to see more of his actual military training. Which do you prefer more? Do you prefer being in the suit more or, you know, showing off what a great solider that he is without the suit?

DON CHEADLE: Do you remember the first one for you?

ROBERT DOWNEY: I seem to have wound up with two glasses of water in front of me. So I’m absolutely out of mind right now.

DON CHEADLE: I prefer being out of the suit. The suit is great, and it’s great to be able to achieve all the things that we want to achieve with the CGI and the motion capture and all that. But like I said, I had the most fun running around with Robert, and us actually physically going after it. So that’s my answer.

And Robert?

ROBERT DOWNEY: I don’t know. I mean it’s funny. These things tend to kind of come out of creative discussions, and there’s always something, you know, when we’re shooting we always say, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great …” But a lot of those things have kind of come true already. You know, I was always saying, “God, I just want to see Pepper in the suit. I want to see her experience with what Tony gets from it, and I want her to help him transcend it, and all that stuff. So it’s kind of like the, you know, wish fulfillment happens pretty quick in the Marvel universe, you know. So I don’t have any particular goals with it right now.

You spend a lot more time out of the suit fighting. Was that a plus for you, and then Gwyneth, we’ve seen your transformation. Any chance of you being part of the Avengers on the next one?

GWYNETH PALTROW: You want to go first?

ROBERT DOWNEY: What studio do you work for?

DON CHEADLE: And I think you want to ask me if I want to be in the Avengers. Weren’t you in the Avengers already?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Let’s give a round. There it is public opinion.

GWYNETH PALTROW: I will say that, you know, one of the most thrilling parts of, you know, having gone all over the place in talking about this movie is that people really love to see Pepper in the suit and like kicking ass. And so, I would come back. You know, in the comic she becomes Rescue, her own person.

ROBERT DOWNEY: And she marries Happy Hogan.

GWYNETH PALTROW: Oh, yeah.

DON CHEADLE: It might be for the adult channel.

Talk a bit about the challenges of maintaining all those different story lines and rooting them in this one film. And also, Robert, you had mentioned, you know, three endings are always difficult, you know. We have to really be careful about a guy leaving the franchise. This seems to be a little bit like a back to basics tone because of everything is taken away from him. So it’s much more stripped down in a sense. So if you guys can expand on that and tell me more on that that would be great.

ROBERT DOWNEY: It’s a complex thing, you know, Kevin Feige. The folks weren’t here, you know, Kevin and Shane. I mean they’re the ones who really had to hammer out where do all these strings go and how does everything move something when you

GWYNETH PALTROW: But if I can interject.

ROBERT DOWNEY: I wish you would.

GWYNETH PALTROW: Thank you. You know, the truth is that these movies work because Robert plays Tony Stark, and not only because like of the similarities in their own lives and not because of his specific brand of vulnerability and strength and humor and all those things. But because Robert has a really big picture creative mind about what these movies should feel like. We all know that Marvel are amazing at, you know, the stunts and the CGI and the action and everything. But I think one particular strength of Robert’s that we don’t see on screen is the fact that he’s always asking like what is the big picture here? How can we make it feel real? How can we make it feel like something we care about and we want to watch? I think that’s why the movies keep working, and they’re not sort of like a weaker carbon copy of the one before.

BEN KINGSLEY: Yeah, I’d agree with that. That’s true.

Getting back to the suits, and Gwyneth, was there a little bit of suit envy here?

DON CHEADLE: Well, I know that when–I know in the second one Robert when he was putting his suit on and just had the top of it on, and I was putting mine on and he said, “Yeah, I told them from one to two that they really had to make these changes and this a lot more lightweight.” And I was like, “Mine weights 7,000 pounds. What are you talking about lightweight?”

GWYNETH PALTROW: You guys are wimps. Okay, the suit is not that bad …

DON CHEADLE: You never wore. You never put it on.

ROBERT DOWNEY: You never wore Don’s.

DON CHEADLE: She was a CGI.

GWYNETH PALTROW: I did wear the suit.

DON CHEADLE: You didn’t wear my suit. I’ll bring out the suit.

ROBERT DOWNEY: I admit we’re wimps, in Iron Man 2 Don’s suit was so hard to even pick up to put on him. And the hardest thing about this stuff is really again it’s like any of this CGI stuff or any of like … You know, I mean Ben was essentially in special effects makeup the whole time.

DON CHEADLE: Yeah.

ROBERT DOWNEY: And he would just come on the set, and we’ve all had these moments, but you always wonder where your lot is going to come grab you. And Don has had that for some reason or other. I promise you my dearest brother I will never allow that to happen to you again. I make all of my commitments in public.

DON CHEADLE: Robert was like, “Is that heavy enough?” Robert said, “Well, shouldn’t you have something else on there? It was fun.

ROBERT DOWNEY: And Gwyneth, by the way, she did come in and she was having a ball, and her kids were there and she was in rocking shape. So it was all nice and easy. I think she wore it once or twice. It’s an accumulative issue.

How will people respond to the film in today’s unsafe world?

DON CHEADLE: Well, sure. I think especially with the events of the last week we’ve been asked a lot. I’ve been a lot, anyway, about if there are any sort of, you know, illusions between what’s happening in the real world and what’s happening in the film and are we trying to make a statement. And clearly this movie was in the can before anything happened, transpired in the last week. But as Robert mentioned earlier, the job of this film is to entertain. That’s what we’re hoping to do. If we’re lucky enough to outside of that have someone’s mind changed about something that’s happening in the real world or sensitivity that wasn’t there before or some deeper understanding, that’s some ancillary bi-product that we couldn’t have anticipated. I couldn’t have anyway. We’re really trying to give people I think the ability to go into a darkened room, and have a couple of hours of just pure enjoyment. And if anything else happens outside of that, that’s an unintended consequence, but one that’s a happy one, I guess.

ROBERT DOWNEY: Yeah, and I think Sir Ben will find this really interesting to have an entire generation of just movie going folk, but also just kids identifying Sir Ben with this character slash characters he’s played. But I think you notice once you have that kind of feedback, it’s not like you don’t figure that into what you’re doing. And Disney acquired Marvel, but Marvel was already mindful of this stuff. These aren’t those kind of like PG-13 bordering on how did this ever get past the Ratings Commission movies? You know, we’re really thoughtful about this stuff. And I think even in your character’s transition, there’s something about it that allows the air to be taken out of the darkness that would otherwise be there maybe.

BEN KINGSLEY: Yeah, also, to pursue Gwyneth’s point that it does come from Robert. Whatever the context, whatever the scene, there’s always a quest for sincerity; a quest for the genuine, a quest for putting the human dance on the screen. And all generations will respond to that. Children do respond to sincerity, and Robert as a guiding actor through our experience will always debate where is the sincerity in the scene, where is its heart? And I think that will appeal to children of all ages. To use a rather hackney

GWYNETH PALTROW: And, you know, we do live in an unsafe world. That’s the truth and I’m dealing with this now with my seven-year-old. fact that the world is unsafe, and there are people who do harmful things. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with presenting that idea. We can’t lie to our children and pretend that the world is perfect and everybody is happy, and everybody is out there to do good. So, you know, it’s just part of a bigger conversation. I know that after my children saw the movie, I had certain conversations with my son about it. And so I think it’s a good sort of contained place to have a conversation.

Robert, since the aftermath of New York has had such an impact on Tony, what was your take on how much you could refer to that in the movie? How much we want to hear about what happened in the Avengers, and how much Tony doesn’t want to talk about it?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Again, we just wanted to play with that in kind of a binary way to be weird. It’s weird when one movie that’s connected to another doesn’t reference that movie at all. You know what I mean? It seems like we were so busy trying to make our thing work that we didn’t have space. So I think it would lack confidence if we didn’t. I thought it would be helpful. I just like the idea of this kid kind of getting under my skin, and I like the idea of kids bringing their parents to the verge of an anxiety attack. And kind of going like, “Oh, what’s wrong with you?” Once they push you there. And I thought that was a nice way to refer back to it. We needed reasons, and sometimes you can just look at the bigger picture of this now kind of like continuance of stories, you He’s sort of grappling with the I was reading this morning about the new Thor and I’m like, “Oh, wow, oh.” You just kind of plug things in like an operator. It’s like, “You know what, that fits here real nice.” And again, we’re always aware. Even more so. You know, Jon Favreau on the first Iron Man we went out and we went to Comic Con, and he had a flip phone in his hand and he goes, “This is how it’s working from now. You know, the filmmakers, the artists, the departments heads they’re all showmen and the audience is talking back, and they’re going to ask you that question. In the post Avengers world, “what was it like for Tony and this and that?” So you kind of have to have thought about, and you have to have addressed it creatively.

I have a question for Robert. You had a pretty fruitful partnership with Shane Black on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Can you just talk about your relationship with him in terms of your creative relationship with him, what he brings to this franchise?

ROBERT DOWNEY: Well, yeah. Well, I think it would be nice to kind of go down the row here and just use describing words or anecdotes. I’d like to say we’re night shooting and he would tend to when they cut he would like run somewhere. Because it was the only time someone couldn’t ask him a question was if he was in a full out run. And he ran across the street. The next thing I knew he was kind of sitting down on the sidewalk, and I would say there was a cable in front of wherever you’re working and he had hit it at such a clip that it had thrown him on his side, dislocated his shoulder.

GWYNETH PALTROW: This is not a funny story, my friend.

DON CHEADLE: It’s kinda funny.

GWYNETH PALTROW: No.

ROBERT DOWNEY: He’s fine.

DON CHEADLE: I thought it was funny.

ROBERT DOWNEY: You know, you would …

GWYNETH PALTROW: Robert, he had cracked ribs and he was all bloody and blue.

DON CHEADLE: Oh, my God, it gets better.

ROBERT DOWNEY: Anyway. You know, by the way, I have a story … Forget what you asked. Here’s what I will say. Sir Ben is correct in some way and I’ve, you know, tried to be some sort of guiding light. Every bit as often I would go to set and Gwyneth would like, “Oh, my God, what are we doing? What is this scene again this time?” Like, “Shooting Pepper.” And she always points true north, and Jon said from the first time she’s the heart of the movie. And this time I’d be working with Don and he’d be like, “You know that thing where you say something funny and I say something, and then you would answer it and we do that?” I go, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He goes, “Okay, can we not do that in one scene?” And I was like, “Oh, yeah, yeah, great idea.” So there was a lot of give and take. Back to Shane. I can’t tell my story so I’ll let the others speak. She’s probably right.

GWYNETH PALTROW: I think the thing is that, you know, at least I can only speak for myself. When I started Iron Man 3 I was very uncomfortable with the fact that Jon wasn’t there directing. And I felt that, you know, Jon cast the movies, and he’s responsible in part for the Avengers. And it was just, you know, and I know lives and everyone is busy, but it was just weird that he wasn’t there directing. But, you know, as we went on and I really warmed to Shane and his terrible outfits. And you know, he is the most–he is so sharp. He is so smart and his dialogue was incredible. And I think what we started with on this movie that we didn’t start with on the first two films was a really excellent finished screenplay. And I think it really shows in the film. I think Shane is really super talented, and he brought something. You know, he took it up a notch, which was really difficult to do. So I ended up having an incredible amount of respect for him.

BEN KINGSLEY: I only remember him being in one terrible outfit. I don’t remember it
being plural outfits.

DON CHEADLE: How bad is that one?

BEN KINGSLEY: He has a great attribute as a director, one of many great attributes is that the director will give you the role and then he will let go. This is a wonderful quality that he has. There are some directors lesser in confidence or skill who make the actor feel very uncomfortable because you feel you’re auditioning for them everyday. And that’s a terrible feeling on the set. But Shane has this wonderful ability in his own confidence, and his ability to cast a movie to say, “There’s your role. I’m just going to film it.” And it’s really good energy to have on the set.

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968.

Visit the website: http://marvel.com/ironman3 

“Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironman

“Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man

IRON MAN 3 is in theaters now

Wow – I had planned a Harryhausen-themed Super-8 show but had put it off until the summer. Wish I had scheduled it for tonight. This is a shock and big news though I guess anyone who’s 92 should be expected to pass at any time. I’ve been a life-long fan of Harryhausen and will plan on writing a detailed tribute here soon.

From the The Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation Facebook page:

Raymond Frederick Harryhausen
Born: Los Angeles 29th June 1920
Died: London 7th May 2013.

The Harryhausen family regret to announce the death of Ray Harryhausen, Visual Effects pioneer and stop-motion model animator. He was a multi-award winner which includes a special Oscar and BAFTA. Ray’s influence on today’s film makers was enormous, with luminaries; Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, John Landis and the UK’s own Nick Park have cited Harryhausen as being the man whose work inspired their own creations.

Harryhausen’s fascination with animated models began when he first saw Willis O’Brien’s creations in KING KONG with his boyhood friend, the author Ray Bradbury in 1933, and he made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured his youthful attempts at model animation. Over the period of the next 46 years, he made some of the genres best known movies – MIGHTY JOE YOUNG (1949), IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA (1955), 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH (1957), MYSTERIUOUS ISLAND (1961), ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), THER VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969), three films based on the adventures of SINBAD and CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981). He is perhaps best remembered for his extraordinary animation of seven skeletons in JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS (1963) which took him three months to film.

Harryhausen’s genius was in being able to bring his models alive. Whether they were prehistoric dinosaurs or mythological creatures, in Ray’s hands they were no longer puppets but became instead characters in their own right, just as important as the actors they played against and in most cases even more so.

Today The Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation, a charitable Trust set up by Ray on the 10th April 1986, is devoted to the protection of Ray’s name and body of work as well as archiving, preserving and restoring Ray’s extensive Collection.

Tributes have been heaped upon Harryhausen for his work by his peers in recent years.

“Ray has been a great inspiration to us all in special visual industry. The art of his earlier films, which most of us grew up on, inspired us so much.” “Without Ray Harryhausen, there would likely have been no STAR WARS”
George Lucas.

“THE LORD OF THE RINGS is my ‘Ray Harryhausen movie’. Without his life-long love of his wondrous images and storytelling it would never have been made – not by me at least”
Peter Jackson

“In my mind he will always be the king of stop-motion animation”
Nick Park

“His legacy of course is in good hands
Because it’s carried in the DNA of so many film fans.”
Randy Cook

“You know I’m always saying to the guys that I work with now on computer graphics “do it like Ray Harryhausen”
Phil Tippett

“What we do now digitally with computers, Ray did digitally long before but without computers. Only with his digits.”
Terry Gilliam.

“His patience, his endurance have inspired so many of us.”
Peter Jackson

“Ray, your inspiration goes with us forever.”
Steven Spielberg

“I think all of us who are practioners in the arts of science fiction and fantasy movies now all feel that we’re standing on the shoulders of a giant.
If not for Ray’s contribution to the collective dreamscape, we wouldn’t be who we are.”
James Cameron

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, in partnership with Bulgari, is pleased to announce a global celebration fit for a queen to commemorate CLEOPATRA’s 50th anniversary and pay tribute to the enduring legacy of its stars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Directed by Academy Award® winner Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the historical epic shot on 70mm film took home four Academy Awards and was the highest grossing films of 1963 earning more than $57 million in its initial release. CLEOPATRA infamously cost an unprecedented $42 million to make (equivalent to over $300 million today) and was racked with scandal as the onscreen love affair between Cleopatra (Taylor) and Mark Antony (Burton) spilled over into real life during the three-year production in Rome. Burton celebrated his great love for Ms. Taylor with exquisite gifts from Bulgari.

Twentieth Century Fox has meticulously restored the 243-minute original theatrical version of CLEOPATRA to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The new digitally restored transfer will receive a world premiere as an official selection of Cannes Classics at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival on May 21 in the Sixtieth Anniversary Theater.

The Cannes premiere hosted by Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain will also include Kate Burton, daughter of Richard Burton, and Chris Wilding, son of Elizabeth Taylor, as well as other representatives from the film and families.

A red carpet reception will follow where Bulgari will display several of Elizabeth Taylor’s most treasured pieces from her personal jewelry collection, which are not for sale, and were reacquired at her highly publicized Christie’s auction — many of them for world-record-breaking prices – after she passed away in 2011. The display includes a Bulgari handheld mirror made of gold and turquoise, a present to Ms. Taylor during the filming of CLEOPATRA that can be seen in the movie, as well as original costumes from the film, on loan from Cinecittà Studios in Rome.

In honor of the 50th anniversary of CLEOPATRA, Bulgari will also unveil an exclusive jewelry piece inspired by Ms. Taylor and the film that will be auctioned off in 2013 with proceeds benefitting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF). Additionally, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has made a donation to ETAF in support of her courageous life’s work in raising awareness and providing care for those affected by HIV/AIDS around the world. Fans can help continue Elizabeth Taylor’s legacy and join the fight against HIV/AIDS by making their own personal contribution at www.ETAF.org.

“My mother would have been thrilled about this spectacular celebration of CLEOPATRA’S 50th anniversary by Fox and Bulgari,” said Chris Wilding. “She would have been especially pleased that they are also supporting The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, a cause she cared about deeply.”

Following the premiere at Cannes, Twentieth Century Fox will re-release CLEOPATRA with a limited theatrical engagement in more than 200 theaters around the world beginning May 22. The film will play in the Cinemark Classic Film Series among other theater chains. In select markets, Bulgari will host receptions in-store in advance of the screenings. Additional details and screening locations to be announced at a later date.

On May 28, CLEOPATRA will make its Blu-ray debut in a 2-Disc 50th Anniversary Edition artfully packaged with a full-color book featuring rare images that provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the making of this legendary film. The Blu-ray is packed with dazzling bonus materials featuring never-before-seen exclusive content including Cleopatra’s lost footage, commentary from Chris Mankiewicz, Tom Mankiewicz, Martin Landau and Jack Brodsky, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and more. Additionally, fans can watch footage from the film’s original theatrical premieres in both New York and Los Angeles.

Bulgari will celebrate CLEOPATRA’S 50 Years of Iconic Style with an exclusive BVLGARI Special Edition Blu-ray that includes an all-new booklet featuring rarely seen photos that tells the fascinating story of these cinematic icons and their fabled connection to Bulgari’s extraordinary jewelry. These exclusive Blu-rays are not for sale but will be made available promotionally for Bulgari customers around the globe.

“CLEOPATRA exemplifies movie making on an epic scale,” said Mary Daily, President and Chief Marketing Officer, Worldwide Marketing, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “Elizabeth Taylor is a cultural icon who has inspired
generations through her work, notable charitable efforts and her legacy, which is as strong as ever. As witnessed by our exceptional partnership with Bulgari, CLEOPATRA is as relevant today across fashion, beauty trends, culture and Hollywood as it was fifty years ago. With the support of the Elizabeth Taylor Trust and Bulgari, we are honored to commemorate this iconic film¹s 50th anniversary with a year-long celebration that includes premiering the film in its original theatrical glory at Cannes and for everyone to cherish forever on Blu-ray.”

Photo Credit: Corbis

The CLEOPATRA 50th anniversary publicity campaign was launched March 1 with a posthumous star ceremony for Richard Burton on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Burton’s star was placed next to Elizabeth Taylor’s, further cementing one of the greatest love stories in Hollywood history.

In 51 BC, Cleopatra became queen of the Egyptian Empire: the wealthiest and most revered kingdom the world has ever known. More than 2,000 years later Twentieth Century Fox Studios set out to tell her epic story in what would become, at the time, the most ambitious and lavish moviemaking endeavor in Hollywood history. Elizabeth Taylor signed a one million dollar contract to play the title role of Cleopatra, becoming the first female star to command such a sum for one picture. Elaborate sets and costumes, production delays and the relocation of principal filming from London to Rome added to the skyrocketing budget. A very public love affair between Taylor and Burton meant that there was as much romance and intrigue off-screen as on-screen. The film remains one of the grandest cinematic spectacles of all time and is an integral part of Twentieth Century Fox’s legacy.

Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

* Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay (All About Eve, 1950); Best Director and Best Writing, Screenplay (A Letter to Three Wives, 1949)

** Best Art Direction (won); Best Cinematography (won); Best Costume Design (won); Best Visual Effects (won); Best Picture (nominated); Best Actor (Rex Harrison) (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Original Score (nominated); Best Sound Mixing (nominated)

*** Best Actress (Zero Dark Thirty, 2012); Best Supporting Actress (The Help, 2011)

“Walter, you’re wonderful, in a loathsome sort of way”

Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell star in one of the fastest-talking screwball comedies–make that movies–ever made. HIS GIRL FRIDAY is a clever script teeming with fab dialogue, delivered by a top-notch cast, and captured by one of the best directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age; Howard Hawks. You can see HIS GIRL FRIDAY this Saturday morning (May 10th) at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, May 10th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117.

Admission is only $5.

The second screen version of the Ben Hecht/Charles MacArthur play The Front Page, HIS GIRL FRIDAY changed hard-driving newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson from a man to a woman, transforming the story into a scintillating battle of the sexes. Rosalind Russell plays Hildy, about to foresake journalism for marriage to cloddish Bruce Baldwin (Ralph Bellamy). Cary Grant plays Walter Burns, Hildy’s editor and ex-husband, who feigns happiness about her impending marriage as a ploy to win her back. The ace up Walter’s sleeve is a late-breaking news story concerning the impending execution of anarchist Earl Williams (John Qualen), a blatant example of political chicanery that Hildy can’t pass up. The story gets hotter when Williams escapes and is hidden from the cops by Hildy and Walter–right in the prison pressroom. His Girl Friday may well be the fastest comedy of the 1930s, with kaleidoscope action, instantaneous plot twists, and overlapping dialogue. And if you listen closely, you’ll hear a couple of “in” jokes, one concerning Cary Grant’s real name (Archie Leach), and another poking fun at Ralph Bellamy’s patented “poor sap” screen image. Subsequent versions of The Front Page included Billy Wilder’s 1974 adaptation, which restored Hildy Johnson’s manhood in the form of Jack Lemmon.

The Hi-Pointe’s website is HERE

http://hi-pointetheatre.com/

and check out the original trailer for HIS GIRL FRIDAY

There was an internet meme floating around a couple of months ago – a photo from BACK TO THE FUTURE II showing that January 4, 2013 was the futuristic date that Marty McFly travelled to! Turns out it was a hoax (and a rather pointless one at that) – the real date was Oct. 21, 2015. What a relief! For a moment, there, I was afraid we didn’t have time to build those flying cars, levitating skateboards, and talking sneakers.

Today, the original BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) is dated only by its Huey Lewis soundtrack and the choice of a De Lorean as a time machine. Except for a needless scene in which an obviously dubbed Michael J. Fox pretends he’s both Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix, there’s little to criticize, and much to admire. One surprise in watching BACK TO THE FUTURE 28 years later is how cleverly the plot and script ties the past and present events together. Watching the film for a second or third time only adds to the pleasure, because references become clear that during a first viewing only seemed like idle dialogue. You’ll have the chance to watch it again on the big screen this weekend when it plays midnight at the Tivoli in St. Louis as part of their Reel Late Midnight series this weekend (May 10th and 11th). I will be there with BACK TO THE FUTURE trivia and prizes so bone up on your McFly knowledge!

Admission is only EIGHT BUCKS!

The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar in The Loop. Visit Landmark’s The Tivoli’s website HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

Here’s the rest of the Reel Late at the Tivoli Midnight schedule for the next couple of months:

May 17-18 WILLOW
May 24-25 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
May 31-June 1 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET
June 7-8 BRAZIL (European Cut)
June 14-15 CASABLANCA
June 21-22 BATMAN (1989)

SUPER-8 MOVIE MADNESS at the Way Out Club will be held on Tuesday May 7th from 8pm to Midnight. These are Super-8 Sound films condensed from features and will be projected on a large screen. Admission is only THREE DOLLARS !!!!

There’s no theme this month but we are showing four films in the jumbo, 2-reel, 35-minute format. They are: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Humphrey Bogart in THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and Michael Caine in THE ISLAND.
The other films we’re showing (average length: 12 minutes) are: Bob Hope and Jane Russell in PALEFACE, THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, The Hammer Horror TWINS OF EVIL, the Marx Brothers in NIGHT AT THE OPERA, TARANTULA, Tura Satana in ASTRO ZOMBIES, the skeleton battle from JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, and the Little Rascals short HOOKY SPOOKY.

The Way Out Club is located at 2525 Jefferson Avenue in South St. Louis (corner of Jefferson and Sydney). There are yummy Way-Out pizzas available. Spread the word to all local movie lovers.

I have always been a fan of short films but never really liked attending shorts programs at festivals because there are usually only 1 or 2 good films sandwiched between 4 or 5 terrible ones. That is one of the reasons why I absolutely love the online press screening room that the Tribeca Film Festival gives us access to every year. Rather than have to watch the films in blocks, you can pick and choose which films to watch and potentially review. Throughout the week I watched (or attempted to watch) well over 25 TFF shorts. I say attempt because there were quite a few misfires that I didn’t think deserved to be in this festival.  Of course there were also some I wanted to see that just were not available, which I believe is a huge mistake made by some of the filmmakers. But there were quite a few that were pretty fantastic. I didn’t just like these films but want to share them with fellow filmlovers which is why I would like to publicly invite these filmmakers to submit these shorts to the Orlando Film Festival this year. For everyone else, keep an eye on these shorts because they are well worth checking out given the opportunity.

FEAR OF FLYING

This stop-motion short absolutely blew me away. It tells the story of a bird afraid to fly south and how he deals with the winter. The technique is flawless, the voice acting is spot on and the film itself is brilliant. I expect big things from Conor Finnegan who wrote, directed and edited this little masterpiece.

FOOL’S DAY

This short directed by Cody Blue Snider (son of Dee Snider) took me completely by surprise. The premise is quite genius, a 3rd grade class accidentally kills their teacher on April Fool’s Day and must hide the body before their D.A.R.E officer comes in for his weekly visit. The execution (no pun intended) is equally genius with some excellent moments of dark humor. Just because you see the ending coming a mile away does not make it any less entertaining.

AB-

Where FOOL’S DAY was a complete story, AB- feels more like the opening to a feature film. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I found myself really wanting to know where this story will go. High production values and an intriguing concept made me really appreciate this short bit of horror. I had the pleasure of meeting screenwriter/director Daniel Klein at one of the TFF parties. He told me to check out his film and send him a little email after letting him know what I think. Hopefully he likes this public pat on the back better. Well done sir.

ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Going to the dentist is never fun and in this slice of 50s suburbia setting, it is downright hell. Ryan Spindell expertly combines wonderful visuals, excellent production design and some dark humor into a fantastic little short of whimsical horror. A greatly look forward to his next short and hopefully a transition into feature filmmaking.

GRANDMA’S NOT A TOASTER

Grandma is in bad shape but her 3 grandchildren are left out of the will. On a stormy night, they are looking to change that and granny isn’t too happy about this. A darkly funny story by itself, this short gets more fascinating because of the manner it is presented to us. The film jumps from each person’s perspective, retelling some of the same moments through the point of view of each character. Although the ending did feel a little abrupt, this truly was a perfect story and technique for the short film format.

FORTUNE HOUSE

What happens when a shy waitress & a unique customer connect at a Chinese restaurant? This charming little simply short kept my interest at first but completely won me over by the end. I’m not quite sure if I will look at fortune cookies the same way again.

Jerry Cavallaro  – @GetStuck  –  www.JerryCavallaro.com

The premise is fertile ground for a high concept, feel-good Hollywood comedy, and STARBUCK plays like one, but it’s a French language Canadian film shot in Quebec, and has been a huge hit there. It’s already been made remade for Hollywood (already in the can, DELIVERY MAN stars Vince Vaughn – once titled the much better DICKIE DONOR) but I recommend going ahead and seeing this original version. It’s good.

The many scenes where David anonymously drops in on his brood are the best part of STARBUCK and elevate the film into something more than fatherhood gags and masturbation jokes. STARBUCK is from writer/director Ken Scott, who maintains a healthy momentum, pumping chuckles and well-timed sight gags into the film skillfully. STARBUCK is full of good intentions but when David accidentally finds himself in the middle of a meeting for the class action targeting him, the story goes in a more serious direction. He visits a nursing facility where one of his progeny is severely disabled and when he pretends to be the legal guardian of his disabled son in order to spend more time with his children without giving away his identity, his deception becomes less endearing.  His story begins generating massive media attention.  “Who is Starbuck? – La Masterbatur!”’ the headlines scream and David soon wonders if this lawsuit could be the solution to his problems.

Much of Starbuck’s success can be attributed to the lead performance from Patrick Huard who strikes the perfect balance between likable loser, irresponsible jerk, and just a troubled fellow trying to do the right thing. STARBUCK carefully straddles a thin line between poignant and maudlin. Some coincidences are ridiculous, like one where David poses as a pizza delivery man to meet a daughter and arrives just as she’s overdosing (she’s about to shoot up – why does she order a pizza? Does heroin give you the munchies?), and the subplot involving David owing money to strong-arm goons is unnecessary and unresolved. A speech about David unfairly favoring his unborn child over his fertility clinic progeny reveals a dumb misunderstanding of the purpose of sperm banks, and the climax featuring the largest group hug in movie history is an eye-roller, but STARBUCK has such a big heart, it’s easy to forgive its flaws.

4 of 5 Stars

STARBUCK opens in St. Louis May 3rd at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater

Review by Barbara Snitzer

While I highly recommend the new French movie Renoir, I feel obligated to caution that my recommendation might not apply to all Movie Geeks.

The most action-packed scene in this movie involves a paintbrush on canvas- no CGI, not even a montage to push the action along. This movie moves at the pace of Heinz ketchup being poured. If the mere description I’ve offered is making you fidget, watching this movie will feel like driving behind an elderly person going 45 mph with their blinker on. This is not the movie for you to go to impress a date; it won’t be long before a more appropriate French movie will be released.

For the rest of us, Renoir is an ambrosial two hour respite on the French Riviera, specifically Cagnes-sûr-Mer, generously offered by director Gilles Bourdos who is a native of nearby Nice. For those who are familiar with the Impressionist movement in art or the artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir in particular, it is an opportunity to see the paintings brought to life.

Auguste Renoir is played by the French actor Michel Bouquet, whose acting career has spanned more than half a century. His performance is understated and commanding.

Renoir does not follow the established trajectory of a biopic; the movie begins in 1915, Auguste has only four years to live, and he is crippled by severe rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. It has not been a year since the death of his beloved wife and muse Aline. Only the French could begin a movie full of life amid such dreadful circumstances.

Before Aline passed away, she met a young woman whom she thought would be a perfect model for Auguste. That this young lady, Andrée (the exquisitely beautiful Christa Theret) arrives at Renoir’s doorstep after Aline’s death portends a special significance for Renoir. She is indeed perfect, according to Renoir’s aesthetic. At this point in his art, he is concerned only with luminous skin and how its appearance is affected by the sun and nature.

So significant is she that Renoir dares not seduce her, as had been his usual practice with models, several of whom have become his housemaids and caretakers. Their devotion to him suggests that his peccadillos were not predatory, even if they were not entirely respectable.

The actress Theret’s resemblance to the women in Renoir’s paintings of this period, such as The Bathers (1918-1919, Musée d’Orsay), is uncanny. It is refreshing to be reminded of what women really look like (Christina Hendricks of Mad Men notwithstanding). While there is a degree of nudity in the film, it is restrained, even by French standards. The only moment of vulgarity involves Renoir’s ten-year old son, Claude (called “Coco,” played by Thomas Doret). Hopefully my above-mentioned warning will prevent any vulgarity that may emerge from immature patrons.

The young Claude is the only of Renoir’s three sons who live with him. The eldest two, Pierre and Jean sustained serious injuries in The Great War. The movie does not focus a great deal on either Pierre or Claude who is practically an orphan.

The sad reason for Coco’s neglect is Renoir’s obsessive race against his own mortality. The arrival of his perfect muse, Andrée, only heightens his urgency.

His middle son, Jean, arrives at his father’s estate to recover from a severe leg injury sustained on the battlefield. Jean appears to be his father’s favorite, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suppose Renoir, while not celebrating the reason for his son’s appearance, might be grateful that the injury is sufficiently formidable to prevent his return to war.

At the time of Jean’s arrival, Andrée has become a fixture in Renoir’s household and Renoir has developed a protective affection for her. Jean’s convalescence is comfortable, but isolating as he re-learns how to walk. The exquisite natural environment that surrounds Renoir’s villa exerts its will as Jean and Andrée interlace as a couple. At first Andrée is disdainful towards Jean, judging him as a trust-fund child and derides him for lacking ambition. She shares with Jean her dream to become an actress. Once Jean is on his feet and able to venture into the countryside, he’s inspired to buy film reels from a street vendor. Jean develops a keen interest in film and Andrée is planning their future in cinema.

Their happily-ever-after is derailed when Jean’s full recovery makes way for his sense of duty to re-emerge; he feels obligated to return to fight for his brothers-in-arms and country. Renoir and Andrée are understandably devastated.

But this is not the end of the story, nor the whole of the movie. There aren’t words to convey the transcendent beauty of this part of the world and the exquisite cinematography that captures it. Words can neither explain the creation and process of painting. The paintings in the movie aren’t real Renoirs, but they are real paintings. The hand holding the brush in the movie is that of Guy Rides, an art forger who created the works seen in the film.

Renoir is a movie to be experienced. So I will stop writing about it.

5 of 5 Stars

RENOIR opens in St. Louis May 3rd at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Theater