Central Florida has gone crazy for THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Talk about "Held Over By Popular Demand!!" The Coen Brothers' classic 1998 comedy about bowling, mistaken identity, kidnapping, and (of course), The Dude, was originally booked to play the Tuesday night late show at 9:30 as part of our monthly Cult Classics series, complete with a costume contest to come dressed as your favorite character. When that sold out in advance with still a couple of weeks to go, we figured what the hell? Let's see if we can add a Saturday midnight encore showing later the same week (that's tomorrow, March 1, at 12 midnite by the way). Guess what? That sold out as well (standbys only please) with a few days to spare, so now we've added a Sunday matinee (3/2) at 12:30 PM.

That's right! You Dude lovers have one more chance to hang out with Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Thewlis, and Sam Elliott (how's that for an amazing cast?!) in one of the great cult films of our era. Thanks to Paul Ginsburg at Universal for being so cool about letting Enzian hang on to the print. Maybe there's room for a repertory cinema in Orlando after all...

--Matthew

Congratulations to both Chris Eska and Cynthia Wade for their triumphs this past Saturday and Sunday nights. First Chris wins the John Cassavetes Award (for best feature made for under $500,000) at the Independent Spirit Awards, where his film, AUGUST EVENING, was also nominated for Best Actor. This beautifully shot, touching work about families, children, responsibility, and love focuses on an aging, undocumented farm worker and his young, widowed daughter-in-law as their lives are thrown into upheaval. With its honest relationships and superb acting, this is a stunning feature debut. AUGUST EVENING screens Saturday, March 29 and Friday, April 4 as part of the Narrative Feature Competition in this year's 17th annual Florida Film Festival.

The next night Chris' victory was followed by Cynthia Wade's emotional win of the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar at the Academy Awards. Her outstanding film, FREEHELD, which I'm proud to say Enzian helped qualify by booking it for a 2-day run this past summer, chronicles the poignant story of terminally ill New Jersey Police Lieutenant Laurel Hester as she struggles to fight discrimination and transfer her pension to her domestic partner Stacie before she dies. Already a winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize in 2007, it was no surprise that the combination of such an important subject and such skillful filmmaking (already on display years ago when Cynthia's doc feature, SHELTER DOGS, played the 2003 FFF) brought home the gold.

--Matthew

Mother Nature reared her sometimes ugly head last night, and the special Popcorn Flick in Shady Park-screening of Alice Walker's THE COLOR PURPLE (via Steven Spielberg) was a wash out. As usual with the regular monthly free movies under the stars in Central Park, Winter Park, the rain date is exactly one week later--same Bat time, same Bat channel. So let's try again next Thursday, February 28 at 7:00, and pack the park to watch this stunning Southern family saga in honor of Black History Month.

--Matthew

Actually, just down the block a little ways. For the first time ever, Enzian and the City of Winter Park's monthly outdoor movie will be in a new location this Thursday. In honor of Black History Month, the special presentation of Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning THE COLOR PURPLE (1985) at 7:00 PM will take place not in Central Park, but rather in Shady Park (by Pennsylvania and New England, near Dexters).

Nominated for a whopping 11 Academy Awards (and just as incredibly, not winning a single one!), this deeply moving period piece tells the story of a black family's growth and struggles in the rural South over a 40-year period. Filled with great performances, including Whoopi Goldberg in her screen debut and Danny Glover, along with Margaret Avery, Oprah Winfrey (also in her screen debut), Adolph Caesar, Willard Pugh and Rae Dawn Chong, this sprawling saga is stunningly shot by the great cinematographer, Allen Daviau, and has a rich musical score by co-producer Quincy Jones.

Prof. Julian Chambliss from Rollins College is kind enough to do the introductory remarks, and it should be a gorgeous night under the stars. Let's see everyone out there!

--Matthew

Enzian announced today the nine industry professionals who will make up the three juries for the American Independent Competition at this year's 17th annual Florida Film Festival, now just a little over six weeks away (March 28 - April 6). A process that begins every year at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, I couldn't be happier with the end result--this is a great and diverse group of individuals who will add much to the festival, not to mention have a whole lot of fun and watch some terrific new films.

The Narrative Features jurors are Effie T. Brown, Producer (REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES, ROCKET SCIENCE); David Laub, Acquisitions Manager - THINKFilm; and Rex Reed, Film Critic - New York Observer.

The Documentary Features & Shorts jurors are Brian Brooks, Managing Editor - indieWIRE; Kate Davis, Filmmaker (SOUTHERN COMFORT, FFF 2001 Grand Jury Award - Best Doc Feature, and PUCKER UP: THE FINE ART OF WHISTLING, FFF 2005 Audience Award - Best Doc Feature and Special Jury Award for Excellence in Filmmaking); and Greg Rhem, Manager - Original Programming, HBO.

The Narrative & Animated Shorts jurors are Karen Durbin, Film Critic - Elle Magazine; Nat Baruch, Regional Publicity Manager - IFC Films; and Cara Longo, Manager - Acquisitions & Programming, Sundance Channel.

Two narrative features, three short films, and three documentaries will be receiving Grand Jury and Special Jury Awards from these folks (and I'm sure they'll have to earn it), and there will also be three Audience Awards sponsored by JetBlue Airways given to one film in each category. Results are announced at the big closing weekend party known as "The Revel" on Saturday night, April 5. You don't want to miss it--or for that matter, the approximately 160 new films that are coming to town.

--Matthew

The monthly FilmSlam on second Sunday afternoons at Enzian is definitely back in the swing of things. This past weekend nearly 100 local film supporters came out to enjoy a diverse program of short films hand picked by Programmer/Host John Thiesen. When all was said and done, the audience voted on their favorites, with the 1st place winner automatically receiving a "bye" to participate in the Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase at the end of the year. Once in Brouhaha, films are chosen by an industry jury to make up the "Best of Brouhaha - Florida Shorts" program in in Florida Film Festival. The 2008 FFF coming up March 28 - April 6 includes four FilmSlam winners from 2007--not a bad ratio at all.

So the lucky winner of audience honors for the February FilmSlam is...Will Malone's mock batteries commercial called BATTERIES MADE EASY. Congratulations! 2nd Place went to Glenn Bain and Jorge Maura's action spoof, CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT AND THE SECRET SQUADRON: ZERO HOUR, and 3rd Place went to SOLMI's SUPERHERO, about friends and secrets. Nice work, everyone. Let's keep submitting those short films!

--Matthew

Don't forget to join United Arts of Central Florida, Enzian Theater and the City of Winter Park on Friday night, February 8th, for the annual Popcorn Flick kickoff of ArtsFest. This yearly event launches a fundraising and awareness campaign for United Arts by presenting a whole weekend of diverse artistic and cultural offerings at no charge whatsoever--that's right, it's all free! Seating is limited at some of the thearical offerings, but not outside in Winter Park's Central Park for a special screening of the original WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY.

While Tim Burton's recent remake with Johnny Depp had its own perverse and freaky charms, there's something about Mel Stuart's original from 1971 starring Gene Wilder that keeps it a classic for the ages. And what's a showing of WILLY WONKA without a contest to find a golden ticket? Peterbrooke Chocolatier will provide a sweet surprise for the lucky winner. The festivities begin at 5:30 PM with a variety of arts and cultural activities, and the film should start around 7:00. So grab the kids, a blanket, and a well-stocked cooler and start the weekend off right with just a touch of magic.

--Matthew

The complete and utter domination of the sports universe by Boston teams over all comers took a huge hit last week, much to the delight of New Yorkers everywhere. Beginning with the Orlando Magic's buzzer beater victory over the mighty Celtics (courtesy of a Hedo Turkoglu jumper with Paul Pierce in his face) last Sunday, the upsets continued during the week with the Mets ending up with Twins ace Johan Santana instead of the Red Sox (though Boston fans had to be happy the Yankees didn't get him). And the of course the biggest shocker of them all--the Giants stunning victory over the seemingly invincible 18 - 0 Patriots in Super Bowl 42, one of the greatest upsets in sports history. The G-men did exactly what they had to do--eat up the clock, harass and pressure Brady all day (5 sacks certainly helped), and come up with two incredibly clutch 4th quarter drives to snatch victory away from the poised to be perfect Patriots. What a game! Maybe it still doesn't make up for the Yankees choke losing four straight to the Red Sox on the way to their first World Series in 80 years (or whatever it was), but it helps balance the recent scales just a little bit in the best city rivalry in sports.

The commercials weren't bad either, but taken as a whole maybe not as interesting as in years past. I did however, love the E-Trade ads with the dubbed baby at the computer talking about trading stocks into the webcam. The first one had the spit-up punchline and the second one had the "creepy" clown in the background--classic. And you had to laugh at the smarmy Will Ferrel SEMI-PRO basketball player--all you can say is "Bud Light--Suck One!"

--Matthew