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A scene from 'Unfrosted'. Photo courtesy of Netflix

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Oh, for the comedic integrity of Sid and Marty Krofft’s 1971 Lidsville. The creators of H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters offered a world populated by talking hats. Compared with Netflix’s Unfrosted, the anthropomorphized Saturday morning toppers were comic gold along the lines of Chaplin, Keaton, and Larry David. 

Unfrosted tells the fictional tale of the creation of the Pop-Tart. The premise hinges on the 1963 toaster pastry battle between Kellogg and Post, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Jerry Seinfeld directed, co-wrote, co-produced, and stars as Bob Cabana, a Kellogg executive. So, guess who is responsible for this overbaked, leaden soufflé? 

The film attempts to be “ZANY!!!” (Yes: all caps, bold, italics, underlined, and three exclamation marks. Perhaps “zzz-any” would have been a better summation.) Rarely has so much energy and celebrity power been squandered on forced, unfunny material as artificial as Pop-Tarts themselves. Strawberry Pop-Tarts contain less than two percent dried strawberries. Unfrosted contains less than two percent real comedy. (Maybe the film needed an injection of soybean and palm oil with tBHQ for freshness.)

The film’s humor is low-hanging fruit (there are those dried strawberries again). Unfrosted spoofs corporate espionage, the moon landing, awards shows (the Bowl and Spoon Awards), genetic engineering (a ravioli stuffed with Sea Monkeys escapes the lab), the Cuban Missile Crisis, and a dangerous milk syndicate. A benign throughline about disgruntled product mascots, led by Frosted Flakes’ Tony the Tiger, becomes a tasteless and horrifying send-up of January 6. 

With witty dialogue including “What are you, some kind of ding dong?” and “Uh-Oh! Spaghetti O’s!” along with punchlines relying on dumpster diving, former Nazi scientists, and high fructose corn syrup, how could they go right? (And just when you think it is over, there is a full-cast song with bloopers and outtakes.)

Seinfeld recruited and sadly misused a first-rate roster. Melissa McCarthy is Donna Stankowski, Cabana’s former cohort who went to NASA. Here, she turns in her standard comedy-for-paycheck performance. Jim Gaffigan blusters as Edsel Kellogg III, playing opposite Amy Schumer’s uncomfortable Marjorie Post. Hugh Grant appears as a version of Hugh Grant as Thurl Ravenscroft, the Shakespearean actor who is the rebellious Tony the Tiger. 

For no apparent reason, the research team is composed of Jack LaLanne (James Marsden), Steve Schwinn (Jack McBrayer), Harold von Brauhnut (Thomas Lennon), Chef Boyardee (Bobby Moynihan), and Tom Carvel (Adrian Martinez). Cumulatively, they do not manage more than one-and-a-half dimensions and two-and-a-half laughs. 

Most of the starry company feature in a handful of brief scenes. Christian Slater as a smilingly sinister milkman. Bill Burr’s sexed-up John F. Kennedy (with the gratuitous Marilyn Monroe references) is matched by Dean Norris’s Nikita Krushchev, a mumbling version of Bullwinkle and Rocky’s arch-enemy, Boris Badenov. Peter Dinklage is amusing as Harry Friendly, leader of the milk syndicate, and John Slattery and Jon Hamm’s Mad Men ad men are a welcome surprise (until they start pitching, and then it’s back to business as usual). Kyle Dunnigan’s Walter Cronkite presents a decent impersonation, but jokes about Cronkite’s bad marriage (huh?) fall flat. Dozens more fill out the cast in supporting roles and cameos. One hopes everyone was well paid or at least given a good lunch. 

Visually, Unfrosted appears in a Barbie style that seems like a brighter version of Asteroid City or Don’t Worry, Darling—that late 1950s/early 1960s hyper vibrance. Cinematographer William Pope, editor Evan Henke, production designer Clayton Hartley, and costume designer Susan Matheson provide what little style the film achieves. 

On April 29, Netflix released a promo explaining that Unfrosted referenced two hundred and twenty-one trademarked breakfast cereals without permission or legal clearance. The promo runs two minutes and thirteen seconds. The film lasts ninety-six minutes. Do yourself a favor: Skip both. 

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Mike Faist and Zendaya in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of MGM Studios

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The plethora of sports films would take up pages, if not volumes. From comedies (Bull Durham, A League of Their Own) to dramas (Rocky, The Boys in the Boat) to the better left undefined (Space Jam?), cinema has often trained its eye on everything from football (Friday Night Lights) to curling (Men with Brooms). While not as popular as baseball or football, tennis is featured in films such as King Richard, Borg vs. McEnroe, 7 Days in Hell, Wimbledon, and even the thriller Match Point. 

Zendaya plays tennis star Tashi Duncan in ‘Challengers’. Photo courtesy of MGM Studios

Challengers presents doubles partners and best friends Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist). After a bold win, they meet superstar Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). All are high school seniors on the cusp of entering college, though Tashi has the skills and ferocity to skip the university level for a professional career. The boys are immediately smitten with the independent Tashi and vie for her affection. Tashi and Art attend Stanford and play college tennis. Patrick turns professional, carrying on a fractious long-distance relationship with Tashi. Early on, Tashi suffers a knee injury, ending her career. She shifts her focus and becomes Art’s coach and then wife.

Challengers is a lust triangle that zig-zags through thirteen years. Beginning in the present of 2019, the film flashes backward and forward through time. Sometimes, the narrative returns to the beginning and sometimes to just a few days prior. Unobtrusive but necessary title cards clarify the time frame, removing the guesswork. Given the short time span and the aging of late teens to early thirties, it would have been almost impossible to follow without them. Notwithstanding changes in hairstyle and facial hair, the outward changes to the characters are minor.

Director Luca Guadagnino is known for his bold style and surprising choices. His most popular film, Call Me by Your Name, garnered numerous accolades, with substantial nominations and awards. His other films have included the violent remake of the horror film Suspiria and the “cannibal love story” Bones and All. He does not shy away from crossing lines or making an impact. 

Josh O’Connor and Zendaya in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of MGM Studios

Strangely, with Challengers, he seems to pull his punches. Justin Kuritzkes’ functional screenplay is at its best when it draws on the similarities between sex and tennis. Perhaps intentionally, it makes the latter far more exciting and passionate. Challengers takes a benign stab at privilege with Art and Patrick as boarding school boys who have been roommates since they were twelve. Later, Patrick tries to put himself forward as the starving athlete living in his car. Tashi calls him out on the façade. This provides one of the few references to the nature of their indulgence and her place as an outsider. Much has been made of the trailer’s indication of another layer to the menage, but the film skirts around this, with nods towards the homoerotic but never fully embracing it. 

Where the film succeeds is in the three central performances (no one else gets much of a look in). Faist makes the sweeter, more conservative Art as likable as possible, showing an easy but often brittle charm. O’Connor gives Patrick a certain amount of doubt and introspection, even when his behavior is terrible. The sense that he is always on the edge softens an otherwise narcissistic individual. 

But Zendaya owns the film, bringing raw energy to the femme fatale struggling with her constantly shifting and mixed feelings about these two man-children. She balances an electric presence with unspoken frustrations and even simmering rage. She makes every moment, every beat count. She is both queen and pawn. Is she a homewrecker or a victim? 

As a tight ensemble, the trio owns the shifting dynamics, which are interesting and intense as they try but fail to define themselves. The repetitions and changing of partners create a sort of interpersonal hell where, ultimately, none are winners. Rages lead to broken rackets; disappointments lead to double-crossing. 

The tennis is filmed with energy and style, bringing as much excitement and edge to the game. Even the peripatetic timeline enhances the somewhat predictable plot. But where the film frustrates is its overuse of slow motion and a heavy-handed, pulsing soundtrack, adding minutes that become endless. Dwelling on predictable cuts, sweaty faces, hard stares, and triumphant grimaces eventually feels like a parody. 

Judicious editing, trimming to a lean ninety minutes, would have made the film a winner. However, Challengers at two hours and eleven minutes is just challenging.

Rated R, Challengers is now playing in local theaters.

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Fathom’s Big Screen Classics series continues with Sony Pictures Entertainment’s beloved 1989 Southern drama Steel Magnolias — returning to theaters nationwide just in time for Mother’s Day in honor of its 35th anniversary on May 5 and 8.

‘Steel Magnolias’

Six icons of the silver screen — Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Julia Roberts — come together in this hilarious and heartwarming story of life, love, and loss in a small Louisiana parish. At the center of the group is Shelby, newly married and joyfully pregnant, even though her diabetes could make childbirth life-threatening. Terrified at the possibility of losing her only daughter, M’Lynn looks to her four closest friends for strength and laughter as she battles her deepest fear of death to join Shelby in celebrating the miracle of new life.  

The Oscar®-nominated film, with a screenplay by Robert Harling (based on his stage play) and directed by Herbert Ross features a star-studded ensemble cast featuring appearances by Tom Skerritt, Dylan McDermott, and Sam Shepard.

Exclusive to each Fathom Big Screen Classic film is a special introduction by esteemed cinema legend Leonard Maltin, this one shedding light on the heartfelt performances and gripping drama that has made Steel Magnolias a cherished favorite for more than three decades.

Locally the film will be screened at AMC Loews Stony Brook 17 on May 5 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and on May 8 at 7 p.m.; Island 16: Cinema de Lux in Holtsville on May 5 at 4 p.m. and May 8 at 7 p.m.; Showcase Cinema de Lux in Farmingdale on May 5 at 4 p.m. and on May 8 at 7 p.m.; and Regal UA Farmingdale on May 5 at 4 p.m. and 7:20 p.m. and on May 8 at 7:20 p.m. To order tickets in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.

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Michael Douglas stars as 'Franklin' on Apple+. Photo courtesy of Apple+

By Leah S. Dunaief

Leah Dunaief,
Publisher

Could the colonists have won the Revolutionary War without the aid of the French? “Franklin” is currently streaming on Apple+ and deals with that question as it also shows that founding father to have been quite human. An eight-episode story, it stars Michael Douglas, and I have watched five installments, starting with Franklin’s landing on the shores of France in December 1776. He did so at great risk, for had he been caught by the British during the voyage, he might have been hanged as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His mission was to get France to supply and join the colonists in their struggle against the British, also enemies of the French.  

The plot, with its court intrigue, violence, spies, and photogenic 18th century clothing and luxury, along with both the brilliance and character failings of its polymath hero, make for good entertainment. And I came to wonder what eventually happened to two others who played a role at that time.

One was Temple Franklin, the illegitimate son of Franklin’s own illegitimate son, William, Governor of New Jersey, and Benedict Arnold, who provided the decisive turning point in France’s decision to join with the colonists.

Temple, who accompanied his 70-year-old grandfather, was 17 when they landed and served Franklin as his private secretary, keeping records as the Franco-American Treaty of Alliance was negotiated in 1778 and then the Treaty of Paris in 1782.

Temple became a European, embracing French culture, values and rakish friends. In no way was he able to emulate his grandfather. When he returned to Philadelphia with Franklin in 1785 at the end of the war, he did not fit in. Despite his grandfather’s efforts, he did not receive a diplomatic post, although he hungered to be appointed to the court of France. He returned to Paris in 1796, after a stint in London with his father, and died there penniless in 1823. A friend had to pay for his burial.

As for Benedict Arnold, he was a British military officer (remember, they were all British before the War) who fought with the Continental Army, and was responsible for the critical victory at Saratoga that convinced the French to join the war. He became a major general, and earned Washington’s complete trust when put in charge of the fort at West Point before defecting to the British in 1780. Later in the war, he rose to brigadier general and led the British Army in their fight against some of the men he had formerly commanded.

His name became synonymous with betrayal and treason.

How could that happen? Many historians say, “Cherchez la femme.”

Arnold mingled in Philadelphia with upper class Loyalists, living well beyond his means. Despite his several substantial military contributions to the Revolutionary War effort, he became enchanted with Peggy Shippen, and married into her staunchly Loyalist family. She was good friends with Major John Andre, who became head of British Intelligence. Arnold was offered 20,000 pounds if he surrendered West Point to the British, and Shippen passed messages between the two men.

As we know from our Culper Spy local history, Andre was caught with incriminating papers by American militiamen as he rode north to meet Arnold, who was warned of the capture. He fled across the Hudson and joined the British camp; Andre was hanged.

Arnold subsequently caused much damage in Connecticut, leading troops that burned down New London and slaughtered surrendering forces after the Battle of Groton Heights, just a few miles down river from the town where he was born and grew up.

In 1782, he and Peggy moved to London, where he was well received by King George III and the Tories, given 6000 pounds and an annual pension of 360 pounds, but shunned by the Whigs and most Army officers. He moved to Canada in 1787 to run a merchant business, but was extremely unpopular and returned to London in 1791. He died there ten years later.

Their lives were footnotes in history with two sad tales.

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Dave Morrissey Jr. as Col. Benjamin Tallmadge in a scene from 'One Life to Give.' Michael Pawluk Photography

By Rita J. Egan

For nearly 15 years, Dave Morrissey Jr.’s career path has taken him from playing Revolutionary War hero Col. Benjamin Tallmadge in independent productions to taking on bad guy roles on television. In a recent phone interview, the actor said he credits his theatrical experiences on Long Island for helping him pursue his acting goals.

Currently living in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Morrissey was born in Port Jefferson and grew up in Selden and Miller Place. He said the seeds of his career were planted during his formative years studying at The Performing Arts Studio of New York in Port Jefferson, which his mother, Terri Morrissey, owns, along with Deborah and Michael Livering.

Playing a hero

A graduate of Suffolk County Community College and Fashion Institute of Technology, Morrissey first had the opportunity to play Tallmadge, who oversaw the Setauket spies during the Revolutionary War, in the independent film The Culper Spy Adventure. He became involved in the movie thanks to his connection with one of the directors, Michael Tessler, who had attended The Performing Arts Studio of New York. He would have the chance to play Tallmadge again for the TBR News Media-produced One Life to Give and its sequel, Traitor: A Culper Spy Story.

Morrissey said being part of the two films with local actors was a fun and “sweet experience.” One of his favorite memories includes the night when the actors decided to sleep over at Benner’s Farm in East Setauket, one of the film’s locations, to get the feel of sleeping in a fort, which was constructed by the crew.

“That was a real fun method-acting experience because it was July Fourth weekend, and it was camping out with a bunch of reenactors,” he said.

Regarding playing Tallmadge, Morrissey said he wished he could do it again. “I still get people reaching out to me, texting me or messaging me on social media saying, ‘Oh, I saw you in The Culper Spy Adventure,'” he said.

One of the things the actor appreciated most about appearing in the independent films was that they weren’t as dramatized as they were in Turn: Washington’s Spies, the AMC series about the Culper Spy Ring.

“The thing that I liked about One Life to Give was that it had a certain level of authenticity,” Morrissey said. “Everyone really loved that time period. Everyone really loved the experience. I don’t know if I’ve ever really had a set that magical.”

Taking on the bad guys

Since his time on the One Life to Give and Traitor: A Culper Spy Story sets, he has had roles on Law and Order: Organized Crime, American Horror Story and FBI, where he has been cast as bad guys.

“I quickly found that casting is going to like me if I play a bad guy, and I’m not a bad person,” he said, adding the roles are fun to play. “It’s a challenge, and it’s complex.”

Having varied experiences when starting a career in movies and television is essential as well as producing content, according to Morrissey. “When I got out of high school, it was right when content creation was kind of starting, and everyone was saying you have to make your own work,” he said. “I really leaned into that.”

It led to the creation of the former Bluebox Theatre Company with his friend Joe Rubino, where they produced what he called “dark” productions. Morrissey also produces, hosts and directs gaming technology and branded content. 

In addition to playing Tallmadge and bad guys, Morrissey said one of his favorite performances has been in the movie Our Lady of Queens, which he produced and acted in along with prolific character actor Austin Pendleton. He described the film as a family drama that delves into the subject of dementia. He recently submitted Our Lady of Queens to film festivals along with a short film he narrated titled Cowboy Killer.

Currently, the actor said he’s been busy completing a documentary series with the United States Space Force and Space.com and a short documentary, Chasing Electric, about the rise of electric motorcycles. Morrissey is also appearing in a play about artificial intelligence titled A Groundbreaking Achievement of Outrageous Importance at Theatrelab in New York City through May that is produced and directed by fellow Long Islander Andrew Beck. 

Sharing advice

His advice for people interested in acting is that they can start at any age, and he said living on Long Island is a good place to start as the “industry is right here.”

“When you really see what the industry is made of, you’ll be less intimidated by it,” he said. “So, you should just go for it 100 percent.”

Among advice such as actors must know what type they are before getting headshots and having the pictures taken before trying to find a manager, Morrissey said it’s important for aspiring actors to “spread yourself out and make your pond as big as possible.”

The actor added that he believes the local Long Island theaters provide different perspectives essential for actors entering the entertainment industry.

“You’ll see there are some people who come out of Long Island who are unbelievable and they succeed,” Morrissey said. “I think it’s because we have the opportunity to really have these different communities that are really so amazing — these theater communities on Long Island.”

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The Cinema Arts Centre will host a five-day celebration of Jewish Cinema and culture, with films that include thoughtful documentaries, captivating dramas, and historically significant films

This May, the Long Island Jewish Film Festival will return to Huntington’s Cinema Arts Centre for the festival’s second year. The second season of the Long Island Jewish Film Festival will span five days, May 3rd – May 7th, and will include screenings of films at the forefront of Jewish cultural storytelling.

The festival will feature films that include innovative documentaries, riveting dramas, and rarely seen pieces of film history, all curated by David Schwartz, Curator at Large at the Museum of the Moving Image, who will also host and lead audience discussions after many of the festival’s screenings.

The Long Island Jewish Film Festival was organized to help celebrate the rich cultural traditions and history of the Jewish community in America and abroad. The films highlighted in the festival represent the apex of both historic and modern Jewish cinema, featuring films from over a 100 years ago, through today.

The Long Island Jewish Film Festival will begin on Friday, May 3rd with a screening of powerful historical drama “Kidnapped”. The second day of the festival will feature screenings of three films: the enthralling dramas “The Other Widow” & “The Goldman Case”, as well as the acclaimed new documentary “How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer”. Sunday, the third day of the festival, will include a screening of the historic 1923 silent film “The Ancient Law”, with a live score performed by pianist Donald Sosin & klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals, a screening of the 1980 documentary “Brighton Beach”, featuring a discussion with director Susan Wittenberg in-person, as well as an encore screening of the film “Kidnapped” for those that observe shabbat and couldn’t attend the Friday screening.

The remaining days of the festival will also feature encore screenings of the films “The Goldman Case”, and “The Other Widow”. The screenings of “The Other Widow” and “How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer” will feature pre-record Q&As with the film’s directors and our host and curator David Schwartz.

Public tickets are $16 per screening with the exception of the film “The Ancient Law”, for which public tickets will cost $18.

The Films:

A scene from ‘Kidnapped’

Kidnapped
Friday, May 3rd at 7 PM
& Sunday, May 5th at 7 PM
$16 Public | $10 Members
The great Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, now 84, has made one of the most stylish and operatic films of his career. Kidnapped depicts the scandalous true story of Edgardo Mortara, a six-year-old Jewish boy who, in 1858, was baptized by his caretaker, and abducted from his family by order of the Pope, to be raised as a Catholic. Edgardo became the center of an international firestorm as his parents fought to retrieve their child from the clutches of a ruthless theocratic government; the case led to historical change. (2023, 134 mins)

Promotional Image from The Other Widow. 2022. Lama Films, Cup of Tea, Tobina Films.

The Other Widow
Saturday, May 4th at 2 PM
& Tuesday, May 7th at 7 PM
Featuring a pre-recorded Q&A with director Maayan Rypp
$16 Public | $10 Members
Nominated for 9 Ophir awards (the Israeli Oscars) including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress, this wonderfully observed comedic drama follows Ella (Dana Ivgy) a costume designer who is in a long-term affair with Assaf, a married playwright. When Assaf dies unexpectedly, Ella decides to attend Shiva while keeping her identity under wraps, diving into a world once forbidden to her. Through intimate encounters with his family, she examines her place in his life and eventually demands her legitimate right to mourn. (2022, 83 mins)

A scene from ‘The Goldman Case’

The Goldman Case
Saturday, May 4th at 4 PM
& Monday, May 6th at 7 PM
$16 Public | $10 Members
This gripping courtroom drama delves into the sensational and widely followed 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman, a Jewish activist defending himself against multiple charges, including murder. Goldman steadfastly maintained his innocence, while the facts of his case became a flash point for a generation, raising questions of antisemitism and political ideology. Directed with vérité realism and pinpoint historical precision, The Goldman Case is both subdued and electrifying, communicating so much about the complexity of Jewish identity in recent European history. It was the opening night film in the Director’s Fortnight section at Cannes. (2023, 115 mins)

Portrait of Norman Mailer featured in How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer. 2023. Zeitgeist Films. Image provided courtesy of Zeitgeist Films & Kino Lorber.

How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer
Saturday, May 4th at 7 PM
Featuring a pre-recorded Q&A with director Jeff Zimbalist
$16 Public | $10 Members
Norman Mailer, a towering figure in American literature, had a life that was certainly stranger than fiction. From his formative years in Brooklyn, through his career as a preeminent cultural voice, we follow Mailer’s life through 6 marriages, 9 children, 11 bestselling books and 2 Pulitzer Prizes as he solidifies his place in the literary pantheon. With access to Mailer’s family and never before seen footage, this biography details the life and times of an American icon. (2023,100 mins)

Still from The Ancient Law. 1923. Comedia-Film. Public Domain.

The Ancient Law
Sunday, May 5th at 2 PM
With live score performed by Donald Sosin and Alicia Svigals
$18 Public | $12 Members
This rarely seen silent film from Weimar Era Germany tells the dramatic story of Baruch, a young shtetl Jew and the son of a Rabbi, who leaves his family and community, seeking a secular career as a stage actor. Featuring wonderful scenes depicting shtetl life, the film paints a complex portrait of the tension between tradition and modernity. Like so many other Jewish artists of the era, director E.A. Dupont and star Ernst Deutsch were both forced to flee their homelands as the Nazis rose to power.  (1923, 128 mins)

Still from Brighton Beach. 1980. Carol Stein and Susan Wittenberg. Courtesy of Indiecollect.

Brighton Beach
Sunday, May 5th at 5 PM
With director Susan Wittenberg in-person
$16 Public | $10 Members
Set against the iconic Coney Island boardwalk, Brighton Beach is a neighborhood in constant re-formation. This 1980 documentary offers a genuine portrait of the immigrant communities that changed the Brooklyn neighborhood—mostly Soviet Jews and Puerto Ricans—as they mingle on the boardwalk with long-time residents, eye one another, and coexist around a shared sense of uprootedness. From directors Susan Wittenberg and Carol Stein, Brighton Beach is an unposed, seductively shot, color film about life’s simple pleasures and the creating of a community. (2080, 55 mins)

Location:
Cinema Arts Centre, 423 Park Ave, Huntington, NY 11743

You can purchase tickets or find more information about these and other events on the Cinema Arts Centre website: www.cinemaartscentre.org

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SKYWALKER SAGA MAY THE 4th MARATHON HEADS TO HOLSTVILLE.

Fans are Invited to Watch All Nine “Star Wars” Movies on the Big Screen on “Star Wars Day” beginning at 8:00 p.m. on May 3 until 6:45 p.m. on May 4

Showcase Cinemas has announced that Island 16: Cinema de Lux in Holtsville, will be one of only 14 theaters nationwide, and the only location on Long Island, to host the exclusive “The Skywalker Saga May the 4thMarathon” taking place on May 3 and 4. Scheduled over “Star Wars Day” (May the 4th), Star Wars fans will have the opportunity to view all nine films from the Star Wars saga together on the big screen during a 23-hour time period, including a special look at the upcoming Disney+ series “The Acolyte.”

Tickets are on sale now, priced at $60 for the general public and $55 for Starpass loyalty program members. Tickets can be purchased via the Showcase Cinemas website at this link. Tickets include all nine movies and exclusive commemorative items including a limited-edition collectible print and a keepsake marathon badge. Marathon guests will also receive a 25 percent discount on food and beverage purchases (excluding alcohol), including on items featured on the special Star Wars-themed menu.

“The Skywalker Saga May the 4th Marathon” begins with “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” at 8 p.m. on May 3 and concludes with “Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker,” ending at 6:45 p.m. on May 4. Short breaks will be offered in between films for guests to freshen up and purchase food.

“What better way to celebrate May the 4th this year than to watch all of the ‘Star Wars’ films on the big screen back-to-back?” said Mark Malinowski, Vice President of Global Marketing at Showcase Cinemas. “This is definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Star Wars fans to celebrate the day in a big way, and we couldn’t be more excited to help them create special memories. It’s going to be an incredible event!”

In addition to Island 16: Cinema de Lux, Showcase Cinemas is also hosting the marathon in two sold-out auditoriums at Showcase Cinema de Lux at Legacy Place in Dedham, Mass. on the same date.

For more information on the “The Skywalker Saga May the 4th Marathon” on Long Island, please visit this link.

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'Food, Inc. 2'. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

In 2008, Robert Kenner co-wrote and directed the documentary Food, Inc., a searing indictment of the food industry that exposed many of the darkest elements of corporate America’s stranglehold. The film laid bare the unhealthy practices and abuse of animals and industry employees. Additionally, it exposed the handful of companies that ruthlessly controlled the entire market. The film mixed interviews with graphic imagery and segue animations. The brutal but eye-opening film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. 

Bren Smith, a fisherman turned kelp farmer, is featured in the documentary.
Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Now Kenner and producer Melissa Robledo have co-directed the sequel: Food, Inc. 2. The film opens with the impact of the pandemic: The consolidated food system revealed itself as too brittle to weather unpredictability. Further, a lack of protocols failed to protect workers from COVID-19 and the spread of contamination. This transitions into an exploration of immigrant workers manipulated by the system and treated as disposable.

Just as in Food, Inc., the film targets the largest companies. In particular, the Tyson Waterloo meatpacking plant in Iowa comes under fire for refusal to contact trace, leading to 1,300 out of 2,500 employees contracting COVID. The illness seeped into the community, causing exponential deaths. Tyson used fear tactics to pressure Washington to enact the Defense Production Act to keep their slaughterhouses open. And perhaps it is this ongoing corruption that is the heart of the sequel—the blood money that keeps monopolies in power. The four largest meat companies control 85% of the market. 

The film is a portrait of David and Goliath, with small farmers and small businesses crushed by the mega-conglomerates. In addition to dominating the markets, these companies drain water sources, destroy land, and raise animals in tortuous conditions. It is a story of nature vs. capitalism and profits vs. sustainability. Commodity crops—notably corn and soybean—are subsidized by the government. These two items are the pillars of the industrialized food system. 

Food, Inc. 2 focuses a great deal on “ultra-processed food” that relies on chemical flavoring and novelty to create synthetic, ingestible products that lead to addiction, obesity, and other systemic health strains. This destructive food environment offers larger portions, obsession with constant eating, and the cry of “Eat more! Eat more! Eat more!” 

The film touches on a workforce crushed by horrific working conditions, wage theft, and even forced labor. Kenner and Robledo address climate change and global warming. However, the film shows changes in the laws, citing the Fair Food Agreement. It offers the alternatives explored in the food sciences: meat without animals, milk without cows, honey without bees, kelp farming, etc. It highlights the closed loop of a sustainable system with a more natural approach to land and sea stewardship. 

In all this is the haunting question of whether there has been any real change over the last sixteen years—or only the appearance of change. 

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivores Dilemma) host the second film. Their incisive and eloquent presences area welcome support to the narrative. There are interviews with farmers, fishermen, doctors, and scientists. An interesting thread deals with a scientist hired by PepsiCo to explore the relationship between sweetness and calories. When she reported her findings to the giant corporation, it cut off her funding.

One of the most effective testimonies is a fast-food worker who shares the plight of many Americans struggling to survive. She lived out of her car for several years, trying to feed her two children. She has worked for McDonald’s, Popeye’s, and Taco Bell. She reminds us that the average fast-food worker is not a teenager looking to break into the job market, but a thirty-year-old woman with no health care or sick leave. “I’m tired, and nobody knows how tired I am except for the people who go through it like me.” Her story is one of the most powerful in the entire film. 

Among the talking heads is New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, a member of the Agricultural Committee, who vocalizes his desire to fix the broken food system. Montana Senator Jon Tester, a farmer with a firsthand knowledge of the death of family agriculture and mass exodus off the land, complements him. 

Food, Inc. 2 is an important film but not a great one. While it covers a certain amount of new ground and ends on a more hopeful note, its impact is “less than,” and its effect strangely tacit. The immediacy is not as present, giving the sequel a meandering feel. It is not that it lacks edge, but the blade is the same and slightly duller. Cinematically, it approaches the material in an almost identical fashion. A sense of visual repetition makes the film less surprising and ultimately less engaging. Repetitive footage of farms, labs, and grocery aisles becomes predictable. 

But the final message is significant: Individuals can make a difference. “Use your fork, your vote, your voice.”

Food, Inc. 2 is now streaming on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Vudu. 

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Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in a scene from the film.

Fathom’s Big Screen Classics series continues with the landmark 1939 drama Gone With The Wind — returning to select theaters nationwide in honor of its 85th anniversary on April 7, 8, and 10.

Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland and Hattie McDaniel star in this classic epic of the American South. On the eve of the American Civil War, rich, beautiful and self-centered Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh, in her Oscar®-winning role) has everything she could want—except Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). But as the war devastates the South, Scarlett discovers the strength within herself to protect her family and rebuild her life. Through everything, she longs for Ashley, seemingly unaware that she is already married to the man she really loves (Gable) — and who truly loves her — until she finally drives him away. Only then does Scarlett realize what she has lost…and decides to win him back.

Recognized as one of the greatest films of all time, Gone With The Wind is the winner of eight Academy Awards® (plus two special achievement Oscars), including honors for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director for Victor Fleming, Best Actor for Clark Gable, Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel.

Each screening includes an exclusive introduction by fan-favorite film historian Leonard Maltin, discussing the tremendous impact that Gone With The Wind continues to have on both cinema and culture over eight decades after its original release.

Locally the film will be screened at AMC Loews Stony Brook 17,  Showcase Cinema de lux in Farmingdale,  Regal UA in Farmingdale, and Island 16 Cinema de Lux in Holtsville. To order tickets in advance, visit www.fathomevents.com.

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Anthony Hopkins stars as Sir Nicholas Winton in 'One Life'. Photo courtesy of See-Saw Films

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Early in One Life, twenty-nine-year-old London stockbroker Nicholas Winton (Johnny Flynn) visits a makeshift camp in the center of Prague in 1938. Here, the mostly Jewish displaced families from Germany and Austria who fled the Nazi regime live in homeless squalor and starvation. 

Encountering child after child, he produces a half-eaten chocolate bar, which he proceeds to divvy among the starving children. Of course, there is not enough. In this moment, director James Hawes brilliantly shows Winton’s tacit epiphany: he must rescue these young victims. 

Above, Johnny Flynn as the young Nicholas Winton. Photo courtesy of See-Saw Films

Over the next ninety minutes, the brisk, brutal, and beautiful film alternates between young Winton and the seventy-nine-year-old Winton (Anthony Hopkins) struggling with divesting remnants of his mammoth undertaking, symbolized by the briefcase given to him when he committed to helping the refugees’ plight. The briefcase is home to a scrapbook chronicling the entire undertaking.

While the film shifts in time, each section proceeds in a simple, linear fashion. The narrative is clear, with the story focusing on the action played out under the shadow of the encroaching Nazi invasion. Winton takes on the British government, negotiating immigration. Additionally, he finds hundreds of foster families. One Life makes paperwork and red tape a visceral issue of life and death. The scenes in Prague are vivid and harsh and truly haunting, calling to mind equally difficult images of current events. 

Winton becomes an active member of the Prague office of the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC), headed by the formidable Doreen Warriner (Romola Garai). Devastating scenes of parents sending their children away and of sibling separation contrast with the cold British offices. 

Winton managed to get eight trains, with six hundred and sixty-nine children, from Czechoslovakia to London. The Nazi invasion of Poland stopped the ninth train, which contained three hundred and fifty children. Their fate, like so many, would be the Nazi death camps.

Anthony Hopkins plays the older Winton.
Photo courtesy of See-Saw Films

One Life is about faith in regular people, a tribute—as Winton declares of their coterie—to “an army of the ordinary.” Quiet but adamantly dogged in his pursuit of humanitarian aid, Winton is joined by his mother, Babi (Helena Bonham Carter). Babi is a Jewish-German immigrant who converted to the Church of England. Both sensitive and a voice of reason, she reminds Winton, “You cannot save them all. You must forgive yourself that.”

The 1988 section of the film shows Winton trying to decide what to do with the final remnants of these historical records. His internal struggle leads to his appearance on the crass but popular television show That’s Life. The recreation of his two appearances highlights the contemporary portion, allowing Winton to reconnect to the lives he saved. (The actual footage of the real Winton is available online and featured in the documentary The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton.)

Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake thoughtfully crafted a tight, taut screenplay from daughter Barbara Winton’s account of her father, If It’s Not Impossible … The Life of Nicholas Winton. James Hawes’ powerful direction is matched by Zac Nicholson’s stark, desaturated cinematography and perfectly complemented by Lucia Zucchetti’s sharp editing.  

The ensemble cast is uniformly strong. Hopkins, one of the greatest actors of our time, offers nuance, introspection, and pain, presented with subtlety and sensitivity. He is the rare actor that you can watch think. Flynn is his equal as his contemplative, anxious, younger self.

As Babi, the terrific Bonham Carter is a matriarchal force of nature, balancing raw honesty and wry humor. Garai brings depth and pain to the no-nonsense Warriner. As Winton’s wife, Grete, Lena Olin provides a luminous grounding, showing her deep love for the conflicted Winton. Jonathan Pryce is warm and knowing as Martin Blake, the older version of one of the BCRC members. Samuel Finzi’s scene as the Prague Rabbi Hertz presents a poignant meditation on complicated fears in the Czech Jewish community. 

But the performances that resonate above all are the children who play the refugees: they transcend the screen to create a heartbreaking reality.

According to the film, twenty-six thousand Jewish Czechoslovakian children were interred in concentration camps. Fewer than two hundred and fifty survived. Sir Nicholas Winton died at age one hundred and six, a man who never wanted the work to be about him. His legacy is some six thousand descendants because of the rescue mission. One Life is a genuine, gut-wrenching, but ultimately uplifting account of the ability of one person to make a difference.

Rated PG, the film is now playing in local theaters.

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