Cut down to five days, and minus the glitzy gala that always seemed more important to its organizers than the movies themselves, the Palm Beach International Film Festival at 15 is reportedly on its last legs. After a decade and a half, the event never really caught on with the local public and has become a financial drain on the county as recession-strapped corporate sponsors … [Read more...]
Oscars show still overlong, but much more entertaining
Leave it to Steve Martin to sum up Sunday night’s Oscars ceremony with a final ad-lib, calling the broadcast so long that “Avatar now takes place in the past.” At three-and-a-half-hours, it actually ran longer than James Cameron’s bloated, 3-D science fiction epic, which got left in the dust by the documentary-like The Hurt Locker, directed by Cameron’s ex-wife, Kathryn … [Read more...]
‘Otello’ decent but spotty at Palm Beach Opera
For its first staged production of the season, the Palm Beach Opera on Friday presented a decent, if unremarkable, production of what is often considered Giuseppe Verdi's finest opera. Otello, which for the composer marked a bold advance toward a seamless fusion of music and drama, requires a kind of singing and acting that it only got intermittently on the Dreyfoos Hall … [Read more...]
PB Symphony to play score during ‘Potemkin’ showing
Ramón Tebar has worked with demanding sopranos, played as a soloist and chamber musician, and conducted orchestras in symphony, ballet and opera. But for the 30-year-old Spanish conductor, directing an orchestra as the accompaniment to a soundtrack is the hardest thing he's ever done. "The main reason is that, as a conductor, I don't have the freedom and flexibility that … [Read more...]
‘Up in the Air’ is the year’s smartest movie
For once, we have to give the Golden Globe Awards credit for recognizing the smartest film in this year’s batch, Up in the Air, with a field-leading six nominations. The only catch is they have misunderstood the movie enough to categorize it as a drama, where it is actually a very dark satire of corporate America, recession division, and the “career transition counselors” who … [Read more...]
Lauderdale film fest shorter, but movie quality is high
Now in its 24th year, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival no longer talks about being the Guinness Book of World Records-sanctioned festival of longest duration. Cuts in state government arts funding, the dwindling of corporate donations and the economy in general makes this such a bad year that FLIFF is forced to fall back on touting the quality of its films. … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2009-10: The fall season in film
It used to be that superheroes and special effects went on vacation in the fall, but the studios seem more intent this season on making money than making art. It is hard not to notice, for instance, the barrage of vampire and assorted undead movies (Zombieland, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant, The Twilight Saga: New Moon) coming our way. True, the Oscars have … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: Sept. 18-20
Art: The EG2 Northwood Gallery is hosting a brief solo show for painter Anthony Burks that begins tonight and lasts through Sept. 30. Tonight at 6 p.m., Burks' wife, Trina Slade-Burks, will also be debuting and signing her book of poems, affirmations and art titled What Is My Priority? The book deals with the emotions of a multi-disciplinary artist. The Anthony Burks … [Read more...]