After more than five years of Popcorn Flicks--the monthly series of free outdoor movies produced by Enzian and the City of Winter Park--we finally got around to screening BATMAN: THE MOVIE (the 1966 camp classic) in May. And what do I see recently in the Orlando Sentinel? A 3-way lawsuit is taking place in a Daytona Beach courtroom over the botched auction of what was supposedly an authentic "atomic-powered" Batmobile.

The litigation stems from a 4-year-old dispute when a group of celebrity vehicles went up for auction upon the closing of the Klassix Auto Attraction museum. We're talking a GHOSTBUSTERS ambulance, the coach from "The Munsters," a FLINTSTONES car (from the 1994 movie), a car from Woody Allen's SLEEPER, and motorcycles from TV's "Chips." But undoubtedly the star of the show was the Batmobile, said to be one of only five originals designed for the series by converting the 1955 Ford Lincoln Futura. Attending the auction was Hollywood's self-described "King of Kustomizers," George Barris, who apparently (and curiously) didn't prevent the Tallahassee Antique Car Museum from making a high bid of $189,750. But then the auction fell apart amid questions of the car's authenticity and finger-pointing and accusations about lies and misrepresentations.

The Tallahassee museum ended up getting a refund (though the promisory note remains unpaid), and the auctioneer still has the car at the company headquarters in Indiana. Reportedly they tried to sell it another time since and a heckler dressed as Robin crashed the auction (you gotta love this!) and screamed to potential buyers that the car was a fake. While the judge on the Daytona Beach auction case is not going to rule on whether or not the car is an original (too bad), he has to sort out all of the contractual and legal obligations between the museum, the auctioneer, and Barris. That should be fun--wonder if this one will make Court TV?

By the way, Bat-fan Eric Seltzer, who runs the 1966batmobile.com website, estimates there could be as many as 50 replicas of Batmobiles throughout the world selling for up to $200,000. So if you have some extra cash and are in the market for one, you may want to make sure it's the Real McCoy--good luck!

--Matthew

With the end of the month quickly approaching and June right around the corner from the holiday weekend, I figured it was about time to finally post the results from the most recent FilmSlam (# 5 if you're counting). The winner of May's local film showcase (and future participant in December's 16th annual Brouhaha) was Sebastian Azicri's horror film, THE SWEET TASTE OF FLESH. Second place went to Brett Ryan Bonowicz' DASTOLI KISSIE MOVIE, with a third place mention going to Erin Pyne's ambitious "Harry Potter" knock-off, THE MARAUDERS' WORST MEMORY. Congratulations to you all, and keep those original short works coming in Orlando--FilmSlam is working!

--Matthew

Ha! See, the way the NBA draft lottery works is that all of the teams that miss the playoffs find out what order they will be picking in for the upcoming draft of prospects out of college and overseas. The crappier your record, the more ping-pong balls with your name on it go into the hopper. This is the flawed system that the NBA utilizes to help restore the balance of power in the game, so that the bad teams can get a superior player and improve themselves. But (and it's a big but) even the worst team still only has a 25% chance of getting the first pick, and since they started this system 20-something years ago, more often than not the balls never come up in the order you'd expect based on percentages.

So what happens last night? The two worst teams in the NBA this year, Memphis and Boston, both of which curiously didn't suit up some of their best players down the stretch (can you say "tank?"), were salivating at the chance to pick first or second and get a potential franchise player/superstar in Ohio State's Greg Oden or Texas' Kevin Durant. Call it luck of the draw (or perhaps the long arm of Commissioner David Stern pulling strings to discourage teams from tanking games), but the Portland Trailblazers (with only a 5% chance of winning) will have the No. 1 pick and the Seattle Supersonics will pick 2nd, with the Atlanta Hawks continuing the surprises by coming in 3rd. This means the Grizzlies will pick 4th and the Celtics will pick 5th--sweet! So much for the lottery favorites. And Portland, who had the worst record two years ago but didn't get to pick first, gets their turn in the sun. Maybe the system's not so bad after all...

How's that taste Celtic fans? Can you tell I no longer have any animosity toward the team that kicked the Knicks' asses the whole time I lived in NYC during the 1980s?

--Matthew

Way to go NBC! Nothing like cutting away from an NHL Conference Final playoff game as it heads into overtime to go to a horse race. While it's admirable you're the only major network still televising the sport, who's the moron that decided it was a good idea to have the second leg of the Triple Crown, The Preakness, scheduled 2 1/2 hours after the start of a potentially decisive Game 5 between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottowa Senators this past weekend? It's not like every other hockey game in the playoffs doesn't go to overtime or something. And sending viewers over to Versus (do all cable systems even carry it?) to finish the game is just lame. I guess it's "viewer beware" if you plan on watching or setting the DVR for a Stanley Cup Final contest--better check the TV Guide for what's up next that they'll be cutting to, overtime be damned!

--Matthew

This Sunday, May 20 at 12:30 PM, Enzian hosts a special "Meet the Filmmaker" event featuring BRATS: OUR JOURNEY HOME, the first documentary about growing up military. Following the screening, Director Donna Musil, Co-Producer Tim Wurtz, and interviewee Margot Knight (President and CEO of United Arts of Central Florida) will field questions about this award-winning film. With narration and music by Kris Kristofferson (himself a well-known brat), this accomplished doc feature (called "splendid" and awarded 4 stars from Orlando Sentinel Film Critic Roger Moore) both entertains and informs. Admission is free to Enzian Film Society members and $6 for the General Public (can't beat that!), and you can find out more about the film at www.bratsfilm.com

--Matthew

Over the years, we have had many film students as interns here at Enzian and the Florida Film Festival. We are always proud of their achievements, but we wanted to send a special congratulations to Christy Rubenstein, our marketing intern/Festival assistant from two years ago who just got in to AFI as both director AND producer...decisions, decisions. Christy is immensely talented and we wish her well (and fully expect her to world premiere her first feature at FFF...).

Other UCF students have been getting into AFI over the past few years and most have had at least some association with Enzian. John Rutland not only had screened films at the theater, but appeared nude except for his shoes on the 2004 FFF poster (see below!) and clothed on a recent Variety cover promoting AFI. And of course, Aaron King (UCF '04), whose film REDEMPTION MADDIE just screened at the 2007 FFF. We hope that all of them keep returning to O-town with their work.

History is being made tonight in Orlando and I'm having a hard time getting excited about it. For the first time ever, the area is hosting a regular season Major League Baseball game when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays open a 3-game series against the Texas Rangers at The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports. That's the same 9500 seat Spring Training stadium where the Atlanta Braves play every March, making this relatively intimate facility the smallest ballpark to host a regular season game since the Oakland A's played a bit in Las Vegas in 1996 while the Oakland Coliseum was being repaired.

Tampa Bay picked a mid-week series against an opponent that would be a lousy draw at the Trop in St. Petersburg for their little experiment, with the goal of getting the Orlando area more interested in the team and ultimately, more willing to make road trips to attend their home games a couple of hours away. So while it's exciting (and perhaps even momentous) to have professional games that actually count in the standings taking place a half hour from my home, the bottom line is that we're talking about two lousy teams here--the Devil Rays are 15-22 and the Rangers are 15-23, with neither really having an affect on the teams I care about, the Twins and the Yankees. Granted, Tampa Bay at least has some good young talent on their squad like Carl Crawford, Delmon Young, and B.J. Upton, but the only player from Texas that I can name off the top of my head is that cheater, Sammy Sosa.

Therein lies my predicament. I love the game and the fact that this is finally happening here, but this match-up is about the most boring and meaningless I could ever imagine. And the tickets ain't cheap either. So considering I usually work Tuesday and Thursday nights, and I got a preview screening of KNOCKED UP on the schedule for Wednesday, it looks like I'll be sitting this one out. But I hope the series is a hit and they want to come back and do it again some time--but against a different opponent please.

--Matthew

For those of you who've been out of the country or just out of touch with goings-on in the world of Major League Baseball, the best pitcher of my generation and one of the greatest of all time--Roger "the Rocket" Clemens--announced earlier this week that he was coming back to play the final 2/3 of the season with the New York Yankees(rather than Boston or Houston). This partial season stuff is nothing new. The last couple of years with the Astros he did this (without much run support unfortunately) to skip Spring Training and keep himself strong for the stretch run at the end of the season and the playoffs. When Roger made his surprise announcement from Steinbrenner's box during the 7th inning stretch of a home game, the crowd went wild, as did some female Yankee announcer (? Waldman I think) on the radio whose rants bordered on hysteria. In fact, her hyperbole was rivaled perhaps only by original MTV-VJ Martha Quinn when she went ballistic as the reformed Led Zeppelin took the stage (with Phil Collins, poor guy, filling in for John Bonham) during Live Aid in the early/mid 1980s.

But I digress. Knowing the Yankees were strapped for starting pitching and falling further and further behind the hot-starting Boston Red Sox, the Rocket and his agent set up a nice little deal for themselves. Besides the perks and bennies such as being able to go home to Texas or just not be with the ballclub on days he's not pitching, Clemens will earn a pro-rated $28 million dollar salary, or almost $19 million for 4+ months of work. With the Yankees 5-man pitching rotation (which has already seen nearly a dozen different players take a turn, most in the majors), that means the most starts Roger can have in a month would be 6--for approximately $4.75 mill! That's almost $800 grand a start kids. Let's hope he still has it, even in his mid-40s, and can help get them into the playoffs.

Clemens' first start is rumored to be at Fenway in early June against the Red Sox--think that'll get some ratings? Good stuff!

--Matthew

Now in its sixth year of free movies and free popcorn under the stars, Enzian Theater and the City of Winter Park's monthly Popcorn Flicks series kicks it into high entertainment gear this Thursday with the first of what promises to be a fun-filled summer calendar. A camp classic of the sixties superhero genre, Leslie Martinson's BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1966) was based on the hit TV series of the day and featured Adam West and Burt Ward as the not exactly ripped Caped Crusader and his exclamatory sidekick, Robin. Even more fun is the all-star lineup of villians and the infamous cast that set the standard for quite a few years (at least until Tim Burton got his hands on the franchise): the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), the Joker (Cesar Romero), and Catwoman (Lee Meriwether here in case you're expecting Julie Newmar or Eartha Kitt). Bat-time is 8:00 PM, and Film Threat staff writer and ex-Florida Film Festival Programming Coordinator Mike Ferraro will be doing the intro remarks--let's see if he can resist taking any shots at Spidey 3 while he's up there.

On deck: Frankie and Annette in BEACH BLANKET BINGO (1965) on June 14, co-starring Paul Lynde, Don Rickles, Linda Evans, Harvey Lembeck, and Buster Keaton (!); at long last, Harrison Ford and Karen Allen in Steven Spielberg's original RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981) on July 12; and back after a five year absence in Central Park, the Marx Bros. in A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935), arguably their best film (flip a coin with DUCK SOUP) and one of the great comedies of all time, on August 9. Let's all think good thoughts and pray to the weather gods that the summer storms cooperate--remember, makeup dates for rain-outs are one week later. See you in the park!

--Matthew

This is why I think all those people who dismiss the NBA and can only talk about the virtues of college ball are full of crap. Did you happen to catch any of the Golden State/Dallas series? In perhaps the greatest upset in NBA playoff history, the 8th seeded, 42-40 Warriors (in the playoffs for the first time in 13 years!) took out the # 1 seeded, NBA best 67-15 Mavericks in 6 surprise-filled games. Even with a gimpy Baron Davis, this band of castoffs and misfits ran the Mavs off the floor and became the first 8th seed to ever eliminate a # 1 seed in a best-of-7 series. Except for Game # 2 in Dallas and the last 3 minutes of Game # 5 when they blew a 9-point point lead and got outscored 15-0 down the stretch, the Warriors unorthodox (and incredibly fun) style of play totally frustrated the heavily favored Mavs (who had no answer for their speed and versatility).

So Dallas and the Miami Heat (who got swept 4-0 by the young and talented Chicago Bulls) become the first pair of teams from the previous year's Finals to bow out in the first round of the playoffs since 1957--it's kinda cool to watch stuff that hasn't happened for 50 years! And the Warriors catch two breaks: Utah and Houston are going to a Game 7 on Saturday night, giving Golden State an extra couple of days to rehab their injuries (Matt Barnes has hamstring issues as well); and they play the winner of that series rather than Phoenix or San Antonio, both of which would be a much bigger challenge--if it's Houston, it should be fun to see what this team can do against Yao and T-Mac. With the Magic swept out of the playoffs by the far superior Pistons, I just got me a new underdog to root for.

--Matthew

On Sunday, May 13 at 3:45 PM, Enzian will be one of approximately 100 theaters nationwide (and the only one in Central Florida) to host an extra special, Mother's Day matinee screening of WAITRESS. An unqualified hit at this year's Sundance (and along with IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON, the film I heard the most positive feedback about), this romantic comedy with a twist (or is that a slice?) is a fitting testament to the wonderful talents of the late writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelly. Along with Shelly in a supporting role, the film stars Keri Russell, Jeremy Sisto, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, and the one and only Andy Griffith.

Besides gettting to see the film nearly two weeks early (Enzian opens it exclusively in the Orlando area on May 25), Fox Searchlight will be providing goody bags for all attendees that will include cosmetics, magazines, coupons, recipes, and perhaps even a frozen pie. It should be lots of fun, so take your beloved Mom out for something truly delightful on Mother's Day (she deserves it!)--maybe Chef Josh will even whip up a special dessert for the occasion.

-- Matthew

Congratulations are in order for a number of filmmakers whose work graced this year's Florida Film Festival a little over a month ago. This past weekend, Arturo Cabanas' MAN UP (which first stunned me in the video library at the IFP Market last September and ended up preceding ROW HARD NO EXCUSES at the FFF) won the award for Best Short Documentary at the recently completed Hot Docs in Toronto. And the juries at the Independent Film Festival Boston (IFFB) just unloaded a bunch of hardware on some familiar names and faces: Seth Gordon's THE KING OF KONG won Best Documentary Feature, Moon Molson's POP FOUL won Best Short Film, David Redmon and Ashley Sabin's KAMP KATRINA won the Special Jury Prize for Doc Feature, and John Thompson's SONGBIRD won the Special Jury Prize for Short Film.

Needless to say, you should jump at the opportunity to see any of these brilliant and accomplished films if they come to your town...or if you're lucky enough to be visiting a city with a festival or theater (in the case of the upcoming release of THE KING OF KONG) with them in the program.

--Matthew