Before I head out to Northern California to meet up for a little vacation with the brothers, there's some good news to announce regarding Enzian's Cult Classics series that's been showing up the final Tuesday of every month for the past year or two. Apparently Orlando has seen the light (amen!) and there's a strong interest in seeing retro films in 35mm on the big screen at Enzian--especially when admission is only $5 and you can drink and eat and have a grand old time with a whole community of film lovers. So...by popular demand (literally), Cult Classics will now be a part of Enzian's programming twice monthly, appearing both the second and final Tuesday of every month in the 9:30 slot. And check out the lineup of titles for the next quarter of the calendar:

May 13 - 30th anniversary screening of one of the greatest concert films of all time, Martin Scorsese's THE LAST WALTZ featuring The Band, Dylan, Clapton, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Emmylou Harris, Ron Wood and many others.

May 27 - George Miller's THE ROAD WARRIOR (MAD MAX 2) starring Mel Gibson (when he was still way cool).

June 10 - The Ramones in Allan Arkush's ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL

June 24 - Richard Linklater's DAZED AND CONFUSED

July 8 - Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION

July 29 - Danny Boyle's TRAINSPOTTING

With the continued support of the Central Florida cult classic-loving community, there should be plenty to look forward to with many more exciting titles to come. So circle your calendars and keep up the good work. We're all excited to be able to supplement our regular, week-to-week programming with such deserving cinematic stand-outs.

--Matthew

Looks like downtown Orlando is going to be waiting a lot longer for the much anticipated return of movie screens in the heart of the city. According to Thursday's Orlando Sentinel Business section, AMC Theatres has opted out of its agreement to manage a 12-screen multiplex in The Plaza office towers because of a lack of progress in completing interior work on the second floor theater complex. Despite the rumors that the only stuff left to do was relatively minor, RP Realty Partners, the owners of the space, haven't even said whether they'd complete the work if they happened to find another tenant. Apparently the crappy economy and the horrible real estate market--in particular condo sales downtown that would house a local audience that could walk to the movies--have got a lot of heavy hitters rethinking their strategies for the entertainment dollar in the city of Orlando.

How many years ago was this thing supposed to open? How many different chains have been attached to this multiplex? Must be pretty frustrating for the locals that did move with the hopes (and shattered dreams?) that downtown Orlando would soon have its first first-run screens since the Beacham Theater on Orange Avenue became a series of concert halls and clubs beginning in the mid-1970s. In the meantime, film lovers can always head 10 minutes north on 17-92 to Enzian in Maitland--you know there'll be a terrific film and great food, beer, wine and snacks waiting for you when you do. And at least you can take comfort in that.

--Matthew

The spoof that launched a thousand spoofs, not to mention a brilliant second career for Leslie Nielsen as a comic actor, lands at Enzian for a rare theatrical screening (in a 35mm archival print no less!) Tuesday night at 9:30 as part of the Cult Classics series. David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the team who wrote KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE three years earlier, pulled out all the stops in AIRPLANE! (1980), a relentless laugh-fest that sends-up every airplane disaster film from ZERO HOUR to AIRPORT.

Robert Hays plays the former pilot who's lost both his nerve and his girl (Julie Hagerty is the flight attendant), now forced to take control of a jet when the crew is hit with food poisoning. The passengers become increasingly crazed and ground support more surreal as our hero struggles to land the plane. No Hollywood cliche is left unscathed in this frequently hilarious parody that literally is so fast-paced and has so many jokes, that when one bombs, it's hardly even noticeable. "Serious" actors Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen, Llloyd Bridges, and Peter Graves, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (!), round out the game cast, and watch for cameos by the likes of "The Beaver's" mom, Barbara Billingsley, and Ethel Merman. And this one ain't over till it's over-- be sure to stay through the end credits to get every last pun.

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"

--Matthew

Despite the best efforts of a crack defense team and 39 pages of testimonials from other show-biz types, friends, and employees, Orlando-born actor/action-star Wesley Snipes was given the maximum sentence Thursday for not filing his taxes for 3 years--an equivalent 36 months in prison. Not even Denzel referring to him as "a mighty oak" (huh?) and Woody's claim that his friend "strives for rightness in all his relations" and that Wesley is "a true citizen of the world" (OK, so?) helped. Neither did celebrity TV judges Joe Brown and Greg Mathis (!!), who both chimed in with the opinion that Snipes didn't deserve prison time. And I'm sure it makes us all feel better to know that fellow tough guy, Chuck Norris, "admires and respects Wesley Snipes...We, in the martial arts, say making mistakes is how you learn to go forward and be a better person." So Walker, Texas Ranger says if I take up karate, I'm cool to cheat the government--awesome.

Whether it's millions of $$$ as the government says or (only) hundreds of thousands as his defense lawyers claim, it's nice to know that justice can't always be bought or celebrity can't always trump right and wrong. In Judge William Hodges own words, "There's nothing unusual about prosecuting a celebrity. [Snipes] never mentioned the words tax or taxes in his apology." The flip side of course, is that the court was sending a little message if its own. But no matter how trusting, gullible, vulnerable, and (let's not forget) rich you are, an educated, grown man has got to be able to figure out that getting involved with sleazes and tax-related schemes to defraud the IRS is not exactly kosher. And now Wesley has to pay the price.

--Matthew

Yes, but has Lowe ever played a disenchanted, alcoholic Broadway composer teaching at a summer theater camp for talented teens like Dixon did in Todd Graff's 2003 musical comedy, CAMP? Check out this clever piece that appeared in Raleigh, North Carolina's The News & Observer--especially timely considering the acclaim for the recently released new R.E.M. (and all the comparisons to their early work), and the new Elvis hitting stores today.

Craig D. Lindsey
Lowe and Dixon: The matchup

For your consideration: Is Don Dixon the American Nick Lowe? Or is Nick Lowe the British Don Dixon? Let's go to the video tape.
•After playing in regionally successful bar bands (Dixon's Arrogance in Chapel Hill to Lowe's Brinsley Schwarz in England), both men produced key albums for future hall-of-famers -- R.E.M. for Dixon, Elvis Costello for Lowe.
•As bass players, support roles come naturally to both. Not coincidentally, each has had success writing hits for others. In 1992, Curtis Stigers' cover of Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" appeared on the mega-massive soundtrack to Whitney Houston's "The Bodyguard," while Joe Cocker had a worldwide hit with Dixon's "I Can Hear the River."
•Both have a quirky sense of humor that sometimes manifests itself in oddball album-title puns -- witness Dixon's "(If) I'm A Ham, Well You're A Sausage" and Lowe's "The Abominable Showman."
•Dixon appears on the 2005 Lowe tribute album "Lowe Profile."
•Both are unafraid to deal with adult themes. A few years back, Dixon put out a song called "All I Wanted," sung as an angry lecture by an 85-year-old man. And Lowe's latest album is a crooning set of classy country soul titled, fittingly enough, "At My Age" (Lowe is 59, Dixon 57).

"A lot of the similarity is we're close to the same age and influenced by a lot of the same records," Dixon says. "He was making cheap records in England at the same time I was making cheap records in the U.S., both of us trying to capture some of the things we liked about old records. I love the records he's doing now, too, although he's way more grown-up than I am."

Touring behind "At My Age," Lowe plays Wednesday at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. Dixon has a new album recorded with his wife Marti Jones just out, "Lucky Stars: New Lullabies for Old Souls," and another on the way called "The Nu-Look" -- which should be out by the time he plays Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe on June 13.

I must say--I've liked both of these guys for a long, long time, from their producing credits to their own bands and solo recordings. Nick was featured prominently in the outstanding BBC music doc, IF IT AIN'T STIFF, IT AIN'T WORTH A FUCK: THE STIFF RECORDS STORY, which had its US Premiere at the 2007 Florida Film Festival, and I got to see him perform solo at the World Trade Center site this past September. I still get choked up thinking of his rendition of "What's So Funny..." Don and Marti haven't been to Central Florida in ages, and they are sorely missed. Any publicity these talented and important artists can get is wonderful--may they keep rockin' for years to come.

--Matthew

Orlando Magic superstar big man Dwight Howard is ready to go. The 22-year-old all-star center just finished a season for the ages, yet he's an afterthought in all the sports talk discussions of the league MVP this year. All Dwight did was average 21 points and 14+ rebounds a game, becoming the youngest person in NBA history to lead the league in rebounding. He also now has over 4000 rebounds in his first four years in the league, the first player to do so since the under-appreciated Buck Williams more than 20 years ago. Dwight also led the league in double-doubles (69) and ferocious jams (269), and carried his team to their best record (52 - 30) since 1996.

The Magic finished third in the Eastern Conference behind the record-setting Celtics (greatest turnaround ever after a suck season--amazing what being handed Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen can do to a franchise) and powerful and consistent Pistons, and will need to earn some respect by winning a playoff series or two. Sunday starts their journey with a home opener against the very talented but sixth-seeded Chris Bosh and his Toronto Raptors. Dwight needs to dominate in the paint (and make his free throws), Turk and Rashard need to carry the rest of the offense, and the barely serviceable group of guards need to hit their 3's and take care of the ball. This should be fun--let's say the Magic in 6.

--Matthew