Four-Warned: June 2013

Every month I’m going to look at every movie on the release schedule and try to assign them a numerical value corresponding to how anxious I am to see it. The lower the number, the more I want to see it. A one means I would walk through hell and high water to see it; a four means there’s no interest whatsoever. The numbers are not arrived at scientifically but they aren’t arbitrary either.

The numbers aren’t a reflection of the artistic merit of any of these films, but merely a reflection of my willingness to go to a movie theater and see it. The top four scores will be gathered as a means of reflecting the movies I’m anticipating the most; you may use that as a guide or not.

Each entry is broken down as follows:

NAME OF FILM (Studio) Genre A brief description of the plot. Release plans: Wide = Everywhere, Limited = In selected markets. RATING A brief comment

Keep in mind that release dates are extremely subject to change, even at this late date.

FOUR TO SEE
1. MAN OF STEEL (1.0)
2. THIS IS THE END (1.3)
3. WORLD WAR Z (1.6)
4. WHITE HOUSE DOWN (1.8)

FOUR TO SEEK OUT (FILMS NOT IN WIDE RELEASE)
1. THE ATTACK (1.0)
2. 20 FEET FROM STARDOM (1.1)
3. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (1.3)
4. A HIJACKING (1.4)

RATING SYSTEM: 1) Must-see, 2) Should-see, 3) Perhaps-see, 4) Don’t-see

 

 

AS COOL AS I AM (Radiant Films International) Genre: Dramedy. A middle aged couple, married too young, try to recapture their lost youth while their teenage daughter struggles to define who she is. Release Strategy: Limited . RATING: 2.4 Claire Danes and James Marsters make a compelling couple and Sarah Bolger has near-limitless potential.
EVOCATEUR: THE MORTON DOWNEY JR. MOVIE (Magnolia) Genre: Documentary. A look at one of the early conservative TV pundits. Release Strategy: New York City/Los Angeles. RATING: 2.9 A train wreck, sure, but one we should all know to understand modern media politics.
FINDING JOY (Kreate) Genre: Comedy. A writer uses his eccentric family to help make the life of a dying woman better. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.3 Looks pretty offbeat – maybe too offbeat.
HEY BARTENDER (4th Row) Genre: Documentary. In this era of craft cocktails, bartending has changed and this film looks at two very different bartenders; one an injured war veteran trying to realize his dreams, the other trying to keep a neighborhood bar afloat. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.4 Looks far more fun than Cocktail.
THE INTERNSHIP (20th Century Fox) Genre: Comedy. A pair of out of work salesmen who are somewhat old school get an internship at Google realizing this might be their last chance. Release Strategy: Wide. RATING: 2.2 I liked Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in The Wedding Crashers but this doesn’t look half as good.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Roadside Attractions) Genre: Romantic Comedy. A pair of mismatched lovers tumble headlong into love. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.3 Shakespeare as interpreted by Joss Wheden? Color me intrigued…
PASSION (eOne) Genre: Thriller. Two women – a mentor and her protégé – fight for corporate dominance and for a shared lover. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.9 A remake of the French thriller Love Crime with Brian DePalma at the helm and Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace in front of the camera – sounds like a winner to me.
THE PURGE (Universal) Genre: Thriller. In the near future, one night a week crime is neither policed nor prosecuted and Americans retreat into heavily fortified bunkers but when one family open up theirs to a desperate man, they put all their lives at risk. Release Strategy: Wide. RATING: 2.0 Looks not unlike The Strangers meets Hostage.
RAPTURE-PALOOZA (Lionsgate) Genre: Comedy. After the rapture actually occurs, those who remain behind discover that the post-Apocalypse is nothing like what they thought it’d be. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 3.1 Great idea but the trailer doesn’t look particularly funny.
SYRUP (Magnet) Genre: Comedy. A wide-eyed college graduate enters the world of marketing and discovers that his quest for fame and fortune may cost him more than his integrity. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.8 Does the world need a movie about how cynical marketing is? It’s like shooting fish in a barrel isn’t it?
TIGER EYES (Freestyle) Genre: Drama. A teenage girl mourning the violent death of her father meets a teenage Native American boy who leads her to find her inner strength and the path into life and love. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.9 Based on a Judy Blume-penned bestselling novel for young adults and directed by her son Lawrence.
VIOLET AND DAISY (Cinedigm) Genre: Comedy. Two teenage assassins take a surreal and violent trip through New York City. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.0 Looks like something that defies categorization and with a cast including Saoirse Ronan and James Gandolfini could be worth a look.
THE WALL (Music Box) Genre: Fantasy. A woman, left with only her dog for company after a mysterious invisible wall cuts her off from the rest of the world, embarks on a journey of spiritual growth. Release Strategy: New York City (opening in Los Angeles June 14) RATING: 1.8 Sounds a lot like Stephen King’s “Under the Dome” until you realize that the Marlen Haushofer novel that this is based on predate King.
WISH YOU WERE HERE (eOne) Genre: Thriller. The lives of two couples are irrevocably changed on a fateful night during a vacation in Cambodia. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.7 A clever-looking Australian film starring super-hot Joel Edgerton.

 

 

PUSSY RIOT: A PUNK PRAYER (HBO) Genre: Documentary. Three young Russian women, an art collective known as Pussy Riot, performed a 20 second Punk Prayer in the main cathedral in Moscow and would be put on trial for religious hatred. Release Strategy: New York City only. RATING: 2.0 A very thought-provoking conversation on freedom of speech, the limits thereof and whether laws protecting that freedom actually prevent it.

 

 

MORE THAN HONEY (Kino Lorber) Genre: Documentary. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Markus Imhoof looks at why bees worldwide seem to be going extinct and the disturbing answers he discovers. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.7 A chilling message beautifully photographed.
THIS IS THE END (Columbia) Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy. The apocalypse is visited upon us during a really good party at actor James Franco’s house. Release Strategy: Wide. RATING: 1.3 Could very well be the best comedy of the year – at least it looks like the least self-indulgent.

 

 

APOSTLES OF COMEDY: ONWARDS AND UPWARDS (XLRator) Genre: Romantic Comedy. A look at Christian stand-up comics. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 3.8 Not really my thing but some of the acts looked pretty funny.
BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (IFC) Genre: Thriller. A sound engineer working on an English horror film in 1976 begins to blur the line between film and reality. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.3 Has the vibe of the European thrillers of the late 60s and 70s; could have been a Polanski film back in the day.
THE BLING RING (A24) Genre: Crime Dramedy. Based on actual events, a group of bored Southern California teens begin burglarizing Hollywood stars for the connection to their fame. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.7 Sofia Coppola’s commentary on our obsession with celebrity taken to extremes.
THE GUILLOTINES (Well Go USA) Genre: Martial Arts. Assassins for the former emperor of China have become hated and feared by the new regime; they relocate to a small village where they will be attacked by both sides. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.2 I have a soft spot for these martial arts epics and with Andrew Lau at the helm it should be a particularly good one.
HATCHET III (MPI/Dark Skies) Genre: Horror. Survivor Marybeth teams up with a vengeful cop and his ex-wife to end the hatchet-wielding madman’s reign of terror in the Louisiana swamps once and for all. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.6 Looks pretty much like standard slasher fare. Nice to see Zach (Gremlins) Gallagher onscreen again though.
MAN OF STEEL (Warner Brothers) Genre: Superhero. The legend of the iconic American superhero Superman is retold. Release Strategy: Wide (Standard, 3D and IMAX 3D). RATING: 1.0 Zack Snyder looks like he’s hit a home run with this one.
STORM SURFERS 3D (XLRator) Genre: Documentary. A pair of surfing legends track huge Pacific storms to find the ultimate waves to ride. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 3.3 Not a big surfing fan; it will depend on how engaging the subjects are.
THE STROLLER STRATEGY (Rialto) Genre: Romantic Comedy. When a baby unexpectedly enters the life of a bachelor, he pretends to be its real father in order to win back the heart of an ex-girlfriend. Release Strategy: New York city only. RATING: 2.4 Meh. The French excel at this kind of thing but the trailer left me flat.
TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM (Radius) Genre: Documentary. The most heralded and respected backup singers in the history of rock are profiled in a “you know their voices but not their names” celebration. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.1 This year’s opening night film at the Florida Film Festival; you can read my review of it here.
VEHICLE 19 (Ketchup) Genre: Action. A parolee picks up the wrong rental car and realizes that the woman tied up in the trunk is being chased by corrupt city officials who want to silence her. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.9 A Luc Besson-style action film; could be good.

 

 

A HIJACKING (Magnolia) Genre: Drama. When Somali pirates hijack a freighter, a psychological game of cat and mouse ensues between the pirates and the cynical CEO of the company that owns the freighter with the crew caught in the middle. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.4 Looks absolutely riveting; could well be one of the best movies out there this month.
THE ATTACK (Cohen Media Group) Genre: Drama. A Palestinian surgeon living in Tel Aviv is shocked to discover that his wife, who perished in a suicide bombing, may have been the bomber. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.0 Wow! Incredibly intense trailer, wrenching concept, might this be the movie of the year?
BETWEEN US (Monterey Media) Genre: Drama. Two couples who’ve known each other a long time discover that their lives haven’t gone according to plan. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.4 While listed as a comedy, this looks more like a drama; good cast, worth checking out.
LIARS ALL (Phase 4) Genre: Psychological Thriller. A party game goes horribly wrong when it turns out that one of the players is a killer. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 3.1 Dunno bout this one; has the air of a generic thriller about it.
MANIAC (IFC Midnight) Genre: Horror. The women of Los Angeles are stalked by a serial killer who was abused by his own mother. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.6 A remake of a 1980 horror classic but this time the killer is…a hobbit?!
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Disney*Pixar) Genre: Animated Feature. Future scarer Sully and his handler Mike Wazowski are initially rivals in college but must work together in order to get themselves reinstated after their rivalry gets out of control. Release Strategy: Wide (Standard, 3D). RATING: 1.9 Is it just me or is Pixar getting a little too involved with sequels lately?
RUSHLIGHTS (Vertical Entertainment) Genre: Thriller. A pair of delinquent teen lovers try to falsely claim a dead friend’s inheritance in a small town in Texas and get in over their heads in a web of corruption and greed. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.9 While I generally like Aidan Quinn, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be the top of my list of my favorite movies that he’s in.
UNFINISHED SONG (Weinstein) Genre: Drama. An elderly curmudgeon finds solace singing in a choir. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.5 One of the more moving films from this year’s Florida Film Festival.
WORLD WAR Z (Paramount) Genre: Horror. A United Nations employee must race against time to save the world from a zombie plague that threatens to end life as we know it. Release Strategy: Wide. RATING: 1.6 While I’m eager to see this, I have to admit the buzz on this hasn’t been positive.

 

SING ME THE SONGS THAT SAY I LOVE YOU: A CONCERT FOR KATE MCGARRIGLE (Horse) Genre: Musical Documentary. The late folksinger is honored with a concert organized by her children. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 3.1 A genuinely moving tribute but I have only been able to catch a brief excerpt of the film.

 

 

A BAND CALLED DEATH (Drafthouse) Genre: Musical Documentary. In the mid ’70s, an African-American rock trio bucked convention by making violent, loud, fast music that would later be called punk but the world wasn’t ready for it quite then. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.5 A testament to family and great music; initially I was wary of it but after watching the trailer I’m really curious to see it.
BYZANTIUM (IFC) Genre: Gothic Horror. Two mysterious woman take refuge in a crumbling resort turn out to be vampires. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.7 Neil Jordan is an amazing filmmaker and the trailer tells me this might be one of his very best.
COPPERHEAD (Brainstorm) Genre: Drama. A stubborn farmer in upstate New York defies neighbors and state in the early days of the Civil War. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.1 From the director of Gods and Generals comes a look at those who opposed the war and the consequences they faced.
THE HEAT (20th Century Fox) Genre: Buddy Cop Comedy. A by-the-book FBI agent and a loose cannon Boston cop reluctantly join forces. Release Strategy: Wide. RATING: 2.2 Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy make about as odd a couple as they come but I’m fond of both actresses.
I’M SO EXCITED! (Sony Classics) Genre: Comedy. When mechanical problems imperil a flight bound for Mexico City, the passengers and crew work out their own personal problems in unique ways as they wait for salvation – or death. Release Strategy: New York City/Los Angeles. RATING: 2.7 Director Pedro Almodovar is something of an acquired taste but at his best he’s amazing.
LAURENCE ANYWAYS (Breaking Glass) Genre: Drama. A loving couple find their relationship challenged when the man reveals his desire to live as a woman. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.6 Xavier Dolan has some of the most potential of any director in North America.
REDEMPTION (Roadside Attractions) Genre: Drama. After returning home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan, a homeless vet gets caught up in a web of crime and revenge. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.6 Could well be one of the best performances of Jason Statham’s career.
SOME GIRL(S) (Leeden Media) Genre: Romantic Comedy. A successful writer on the eve of his wedding travels cross country to make amends to various romantic interests that he wronged in some way. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 2.3 A pretty decent cast actually; hopefully this one turns out a cut above most of the rom-coms we’ve seen lately.
WHITE HOUSE DOWN (Drafthouse) Genre: Action. While touring the White House with his daughter, a cop rejected for the Secret Service may be America’s only hope when the building is attacked. Release Strategy: Limited. RATING: 1.8 The second of two similarly themed movies to be released this year will do well if it’s as good as Olympus Has Fallen.

SCHEDULED TO BE REVIEWED HERE AS NEW RELEASES
The Internship, Much Ado About Nothing, The Purge, This is the End, Man of Steel, Monsters University, Unfinished Song, World War Z, The Heat, Redemption, White House Down

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Twenty Feet from Stardom

Sweet harmony personified.

(2013) Musical Documentary (Radius) Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fisher, Judith Hill, Tata Vega, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, Bette Midler, Chris Botti, Lynn Mabry, Claudia Lennear, Sheryl Crow, Patti Austin, Gloria Jones, Janice Pendarvis, Stevvi Alexander. Directed by Morgan Neville

We all know the stars. Their faces, their voices, their music. We can hum their songs in our sleep. We don’t always get the full components of what goes into that classic music however. We rarely know who the backup singers are.

This documentary aims to rectify that. Focusing mainly on four African-American women, the movie looks at the importance of back-up singers to popular music of the last say, 50 years or so. There’s Darlene Love, for example, who not only sang leads on a lot of classic songs (“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” comes to mind) but her voice can be heard on some of Phil Spector’s classic hits – as part of The Blossoms, an early girl group she fronted, her powerful voice decorated some of the classic songs of the ’60s. Still, she’s primarily known as playing Danny Glover’s wife on the Lethal Weapon films.

Merry Clayton, like many of the great backup singers the daughter of a preacher, is perhaps best remembered as the female voice on the Rolling Stones classic “Gimme Shelter” for which she was awakened in the middle of the night to do and sang in pajamas and curlers.  She’s sang for some of the biggest names in music and while her face may not be familiar, I guarantee you’ve heard her voice many times.

Lisa Fisher may have the most amazing voice of them all. While much in demand (she has been the Stones’ touring backup vocalist for more than 20 years) she has for the most part shunned a solo career (although she won a Grammy for her lone solo album). She prefers to sing for the simple joy of singing, preferring to remain in the background rather than pursuing the solo career she more than has the talent to achieve.

Judith Hill famously sang at Michael Jackson’s memorial service and is heavily featured in the documentary of the rehearsals for his final tour that never happened due to his untimely death. She writes and performs not only for herself but for other big stars and recently became a contestant on the singing competition The Voice which I would count her a heavy favorite to win it all.

These women and many others like them (and a few men too) may not be well known but they are absolute titans in the industry. The respect that is paid them by the stars who are interviewed is palpable and as is mentioned by Claudia Lennear during the film, most people when they’re singing along to a song are singing what the backup singers are singing.

I will confess to having been a music critic for nearly a dozen years in the San Francisco Bay Area and like most people – critics included – I kind of took the contributions of these amazing singers for granted. One of the best thing this movie does is break down the importance of the background singers in the song. One stark illustration of this is found when ”Gimme Shelter” is played with the tracks removed one at a time until only Clayton’s vocal track remains. It’s a very simple yet effective reminder of the power of the human voice.

The human connection through music is universal. There are those who feel a particular passion for it and have the talent and the desire to express themselves through their music. Some of them make it and some of them don’t regardless of how good they are – it’s largely a matter of luck and timing. For my money, regardless of the fame and fortune these ladies and others like them have gathered (or lack thereof) they are every one of them stars in my book. If you love rock and roll or hell, any sort of pop music, you owe it to yourself to see this. It will change your outlook on music – in a good way – forever.

REASONS TO GO: Amazing music and spiritually uplifting. Everything a documentary should be.

REASONS TO STAY: If musical documentaries don’t interest you…

FAMILY VALUES:  There are a few swear words and some brief nudity.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Producer Gil Friesen, the former head of A&M records, came up with the idea and title after attending a Leonard Cohen show with his friend Jimmy Buffett. Unfortunately, Friesen passed away shortly before the film debuted at Sundance earlier this year.

CRITICAL MASS: As of 4/6/13: Rotten Tomatoes: no score yet. Metacritic: no score yet; the film has appeared at Sundance but won’t see theatrical release until June 14th but frankly, I don’t see critics not falling in love with this early Oscar contender.

COMPARISON SHOPPING: Young @ Heart

FINAL RATING: 10/10

NEXT: Nancy, Please and more from the 2013 Florida Film Festival

2013 Florida Film Festival Begins Tonight!

Tonight marks the beginning of the 2013 Florida Film Festival, one of the best in the world and an event we here at Cinema365 look forward to with great anticipation every year. This year is the biggest one yet with 170 films from 23 different countries that cover nearly the entire range of film genre, from animated to horror films to documentaries to dramas to comedies to romances and everything in between. The opening night movie at 7pm tonight (there are only standby tickets available but if you’re interested give it a shot, you never know) is Twenty Feet from Stardom, an acclaimed documentary about backup singers that reportedly had even the savvy audiences at Sundance dancing in the aisles. We’ll be publishing our review of the film sometime late tonight or tomorrow.

My own personal recommendations are The Forgotten Kingdom which might just be the best movie playing at the Festival – a South African film on the nature of the father-son bond that can transcend just about anything, as well as Starbuck which also looks at fatherhood from the perspective of a slacker who finds himself the father of over 500 kids through excessive sperm donation. Documentary lovers should keep an eye out for The Year of the Living Dead which looks at George A. Romero and his iconic film Night of the Living Dead and it’s cultural impact.

We’ll be there to cover all of those and plenty more. So many films that our coverage will extend well past the festival’s end. Each movie playing the festival this year will get the Festival logo on the review, even if the review is published after the festival is history. If you haven’t been to a film festival, this is the one to see – it’s where filmmakers, stars and fans hang out in one big fun party atmosphere.

To get you started, today’s Cinema365 review is of a movie that played at last year’s festival, Your Sister’s Sister. You can click on the link to read the review and get an idea of the kind of movie you’ll see at this year’s festival.

Well, I’m off to the Regal for the opening night festivities. Hope to see you all there or in the upcoming nine days!

UPDATE: Well, if you ever wondered why opening nights are special at film festivals, this is your answer: tonight was simply transformative. Not only was the movie, Twenty Feet from Stardom an amazing documentary that everyone who has ever been inspired by music should see, we were lucky enough to be sitting directly behind one of the subjects of the film, backing vocalist Merry Clayton (you may not know the name but you sure know the voice – she’s the female vocals in the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter”) we were treated to a performance by Ms. Clayton singing Leon Russell’s classic “A Song for You” followed by a wonderfully spirited Q&A session with her and director Morgan Neville fielding questions from the blown-away audience.

A review of the movie will follow tomorrow but I’d have to say that the 2013 Florida Film Festival is off to an amazing start. Whatever you do, find a way to make it down here because this promises to be one of the best (if not the best) festival ever!

Florida Film Festival 2013

The Florida Film Festival will be returning from April 5 through April 14. As in years past, Cinema365 is proud to cover our local film festival and this year will be bigger and better than any year before, with 173 features and short films taking up screen time. Voted one of the 50 best film festivals in the world, it’s different than the industry shmoozefests that are Sundance, Tribeca and TIFF. Those are places where filmmakers go to make a deal. FFF is where they go to mingle with the audience. There is an intimate feel that is missing from some film festivals where there is so much going on that you’re exhausted from day one. There is a more leisurely pace here but even so by the 14th you may well be reaching your limit.

The guest of honor this year is legendary Hollywood actress Tippi Hedren who will be honored with a screening of her classic film The Birds. She’ll be on hand to answer qustions, some of which hopefully will be about her new film Free Samples which will also be playing at the festival. These events always sell out so you won’t want to wait too long before getting your ticket. Also attending the festival will be renowned stuntwoman/actress Zoe Bell who will be on hand for a screening of Deathproof, the Quentin Tarantino-directed half of Grindhouse.  She’s done some of the most amazing stunts of the past decade so you won’t want to miss that either. Finally for those of a more romantic bent, the Festival will have Sunday brunch on the 14th with a screening of one of my all-time favorites The Princess Bride with star Cary Elwes in attendence. This promises to be an unforgettable event and, like the other celebrity appearances, is likely to sell out early.

But a film festival is all about, well, films and as usual there are a plethora of exciting entries at this year’s festival. While I’m not going to preview them all here, I will give you some films that I think are worth looking out for. The opening night slot is always a big deal at any film festival and the FFF is no different. This year the honor goes to Twenty Feet from Stardom, an acclaimed documentary that drew raves at Sundance earlier this year. For those who love classic rock and roll, the film focuses on the backup singers who share the stage and recording studio with some of the biggest stars and on the biggest hits of all time. It’s an amazing get up and dance kind of movie that is bound to have opening nighters boogaloo-ing in the aisles. Opening night is another event that sells out early so you’ll want to order your ticets as soon as you can.

Unfinished Song stars Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave in a film that reminds me a little bit of Young @ Heart, about a grumpy senior whose life is transformed by singing in a chorus. Lore takes place at the end of World War II in occupied Germany when a group of children whose parents were arrested as Nazis try to make their way across the country to their grandmother’s. Renoir is the story of the love triangle between the great Impressionist, his son and his model slash muse. It looks achingly beautiful. Mud stars Matthew McConaughey , Reese Witherspoon and Sam Shepard in a thriller about a couple of kids who befriend a man on the run from the law, who is haunted by the woman who may have inspired him to do wrong.

V/H/S 2 is the sequel to the hit indie horror anthology and should be packing them in at midnight showings. So too should Cockneys vs. Zombies, a East End-set zombie flick that looks to be a worthy successor to Shaun of the Dead with a wicked sense of humor that had preview audiences laughing til they screamed. Starbuck is a French-Canadian film about a man who is ready to be a father of his girlfriend’s child although she is none too certain about his paternal skills. Matters aren’t helped when it is discovered that as a repeated sperm donor back in the day he had wound up fathering over 500 children. I’m sure his tie collection will be legendary.

SOMM is a food documentary chronicling the difficult process of becoming certified as a master sommelier. In the music realm Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me and AKA Doc Pomus look back at legendary figures in classic rock and roll while Bad Brains: A Band in DC looks at one of the most influential punk bands of all time.

The narrative competition films have some real promising entries this year, with The Forgotten Kingdom following a young man’s journey to reconnect with his family in Leostho, Putzel which is a different kind of romantic comedy (I know a lot of rom-coms claim that but this one really looks like the real deal), The History of Future Folk which has the daft premise of an alien invasion which goes awry when the aliens decide to become folksingers, All the Light in the Sky in the meantime follows an aging actress who is watching her indie career dwindle as younger actresses nab the roles that once went to her. Nancy, Please is a terrifying thriller about the roommate from Hell who goes to extreme lengths to reclaim the book she left behind and Be Good which observes new parents adopting to their changing roles.

The documentary competition is equally impressive with Year of the Living Dead which looks back on the lasting impact of George A. Romero’s legendary Night of the Living Dead while Magical Universe explores the bizaare world of artist Al Carbee’s Barbie-centric art. Shepard and Dark explores the unique and moving friendship (mostly expressed through correspondence) between actor/playwright Sam Shepard and Johnny Dark who was at one time married to the mother of Shepard’s wife. Informant traces the path of Brandon Darby from respected activist to FBI informant while Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story traces the career of revolutionary children’s book illustrator Tomi Ungerer.

And that’s just scratching the surface. Films like 8 1/2, Sleeper, The Sting and Pulp Fiction will also be screened as well as a plethora of foreign films, short films, documentaries, narrative features, family films and animated shorts. Individual tickets will go on sale on March 17th (this Sunday) although you can still buy passes and packages of five, ten and twenty vouchers which can be redeemed for individual films right now. For more details on the festival, ticket purchase information and directions to the festival venues, click on the logo above which will take you right to the Festival website. That same logo will appear on all festival film reviews even after the festival is over.

It should be noted that nearly every year since I started attending this event my number one movie on the year-end countdown has played at the Festival. Some of the films that have played here have gone on to commercial success (The Blair Witch Project) or Oscar nominations (Winter’s Bone). While there are no guarantees, I can tell you that this is one of the best-curated festivals that I’m aware of and the overall quality of the films that play it are nothing short of spectacular.

Enzian president Henry Maldonado liked the Festival to a gathering of friends, not unlike a reunion and he’s right. The atmosphere at the Festival is like none other I’ve experienced. Part of that is due to the bucolic scenery at the Enzian itself (although the atmosphere at the neighboring Regal multiplex in Winter Park Village where many of the screenings take place is no less idyllic) but most of the credit goes to the staff, volunteers and the attendees themselves. This is the kind of thing that loses something in the translation but once experienced for yourself will hook you for life. Even if I were to move out of the Orlando area, I’d come back every year for the FFF. I hope I’ll see some of my Orlando-area readers at the Festival; those who can travel to come see it should make the effort to do so. This is no theme park but if you’re a movie buff, this is so much better.