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Just before St. Patrick's Day, Dance Lord Michael Ryan Flatley held court at the Regency Hotel with a small set of select journalists and waxed on about his career of breaking boundaries and a few bones. The boisterous 52-year-old became internationally known for creating and performing in the Irish dance-based shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames and Celtic Tiger.
Born on July 16th, 1958, in Chicago, this Irish-American took traditional Celtic step dancing beyond its traditions and established an international audience for the form. First, he created a dance portion for touring with the Chieftains, the legendary Irish folk-rock group. Then as an actor, choreographer and musician, this dancemeister extended the idea into several long-form shows that has made him one of the richest men in Ireland.
This occasional television presenter has now memorialized his current long-running show in a film, Lord of the Dance 3D. The movie theatrically debuted in New York this week for a limited run. Filmed during Flatley's return tour in the fall of 2010, it features new sets, costumes, performers, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics and projections.
When it debuted at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, Monogamy seemed more like a fiction film done documentary style than a highly stylized indie feature. No wonder, for director Dana Adam Shapiro had done a highly stylized doc, Murderball, as a sports action feature. And it snagged an Oscar nom in 2006 -- deservedly so.
In Monogamy, actors Rashida Jones and Chris Messina portray a couple, Nat and Theo, grappling with the very meaning of that word. Interfering with their relationship is Theo's obsession with a woman he has been stalking from a distance behind his camera lens.
A professional wedding photographer, he now spices up his business with this racier assignment (a stalker-for-hire) and finds an irresistible muse (Meital Dohan) in this fetching blonde who engages in sexually compromised situations. Though framed as a suspense story, the film is essentially about long-term relationships and what can preserve or destroy them.
Pina Premieres
Wim Wenders made his 3-D debut in Berlin with the documentary Pina, a tribute to the choreographer Pina Bausch. A mix of performances and interviews – lacking an interview with Bausch – it’s an admiration rather than an archivally-driven bio-doc.
Pina is sure to be seen in the US, first in a theatrical run in 3-D, and then probably on PBS. David D’Arcy saw Pina at the Berlinale.
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Twisted metal, slow-motion explosions, outrageous gunfights, and more bodies than you can count – some naked, some bloody, some both – and all of it in 3D! It’s a rip-roaring trip down the Road to Hell as the Cinefantastique Podcast crew (Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and Steve Biodrowski) hitch a ride with Nicolas Cage for Drive Angry 3D, the movie that dares to reveal what Satan really thinks of Satanists. Is this the film that Grindhouse tried (and failed) to be? Listen in, and find out!
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