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

Looks like the recently concluded Florida Film Festival helped whet the appetite for independent cinema in Central Florida judging from the past weekend's numbers for both THE BAND'S VISIT and the April edition of FilmSlam. The gentle Israeli/Egyptian comedy had a huge opening weekend, an unusual occurrence coming on the heels of the film festival where local audiences have traditionally shown a post-festival "burn-out" factor with foreign films and skewed a bit more commercial with their filmgoing. What a pleasant surprise!

And what a showing for April's FilmSlam, the monthly program consisting of Florida-made shorts competing for a spot in the end-of-the-year's Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase. A record 166 tickets were sold for Sunday afternoon's offerings, the most in the history of the event (and certainly the most in the last 16 months that Enzian has served as its home). So congratulations to all of the filmmakers and community supporters, as well as FilmSlam producer John Thiesen--obviously everyone's efforts to make this a vital part of the Orlando indie film scene are paying off.

So let's not forget April's winners. First place (and that automatic bye into Brouhaha, time permitting) went to Art D'Alessandro's THE MESS, a story about a man freaking out who fails to see the bigger picture. Second place went to Bill Clar and Donald Lee's FINAL TOLL, a two-girls-in-a-cemetery story, while Banks Helfrich's music video, POOCH SMOOCH, took third in the audience voting.

Mark your calendars now for FilmSlam # 5, Sunday, May 11 at 1:00 PM. Yes, it's Mothers Day, so bring Mom after you take her to breakfast or before you take her to brunch or dinner. Or better yet, treat her to some of Enzian's gourmet offerings and have a delicious lunch at the theater.

--Matthew

After four days of going dark to recover and clean up after the just-completed and stunningly successful 17th annual Florida Film Festival, Enzian Theater is back in business this weekend with yet another great film and some special programming. A huge FFF thank you to all of our die-hard, film-loving patrons as well as our visitors and special guests such as Anthony Bourdain, Malcolm McDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson, Don Mancini, Jennifer Tilly, Rex Reed and dozens of attending filmmakers and panelists--every single one of them was generous with their time, nice, passionate about film, and a helluva lot of fun to be around. Bravo!

Friday April 11th marks the long awaited opening of Eran Kolirin's THE BAND'S VISIT, once slated to premiere locally back in mid-March but pushed back due to the success of MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY and the impending Florida Film Festival. Never fear--it was worth the wait! This Israeli charmer, winner of over 35 international film awards (and the country's original choice for Best Foreign Film Oscar consideration until the Academy dissed it for having too much English), is a delightful and gentle dramatic comedy about a small Egyptian police band en route to a gig that gets stranded overnight in a remote Israeli town. Much more than your standard fish-out-of-water tale, this is a cross-cultural fable that resonates with universal truths and lovely moments. And festival burn-out or not, you won't want to miss it.

And don't forget that this Sunday afternoon, 4/13, at 1:00 PM, it's the return of FilmSlam. The fourth edition for 2008 features seven brand new Florida short films, including such provocative titles as POOCH SMOOCH, THE TERROR OF COCKROACH BEACH, and THE MESS. So come on out and support your local indie filmmaker--it's a lot of entertainment for a mere $5, and you'll feel glad that you did.

Enzian--back in bidness, dynamite new outside bar and all. Come join the fun.

--Matthew