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The Romance Will Poke Yer Eyes Out!: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is now enhanced with 3D.

Does Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST need to undergo digital conversion to the 3D format in order to lure audiences back into the theater? It shouldn’t, not really. BEAUTY is a certified classic, the first animated film to net a “Best Picture” Oscar nom and the one that re-energized the Disney animation division. To think that it has to go through a “It’s the film you’ve known and loved, back on the big screen where it belongs… now with candy,” process in order to get butts into seats says more about the current theories of film marketing than it does about what was lacking in the movie itself.

Nevertheless, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is back, and Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons have strapped on the 3D goggles to determine whether the film prospers or suffers from the tweaking, as well as discussing whether the film’s stature still holds some twenty years later, and examining how the contributions of the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken permanently transformed animated storytelling.

Plus: Steve delivers his capsule judgement on the apocalyptic thriller THE DIVIDE, and the CFQ team discuss their reactions to the animated short TANGLED EVER AFTER. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.

GOING TO SEE UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING THIS WEEK?
TWEET YOUR “WALK-AWAY REVIEW” TO @cfqspotlight.
(Please don’t tweet during the film!)

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Gears Set in Motion: Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz uncover the true heart of film in HUGO.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like there’d be much intersect between HUGO — the fanciful film based on Brian Selznick’s vividly illustrated novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret — and director Martin Scorsese. It’s set in a Parisian railway station circa the 1930’s, so there’s little opportunity for Brooklyn accents; it’s about an orphan boy (Asa Butterfield) who tends to the clocks in that station while hiding out in its secret passages, so there’s little chance we’ll be seeing Joe Pesci kick someone’s ribs in; and it’s driving force is an automaton that contains within its works a secret about the station’s not-so-kindly toy vender, Papa Georges (Ben Kingsley), so forget about hearing any of the traditional, four-letter-word-laced dialogue this time around. It’s only when you find out what that secret is that you realize not only why Scorsese is the perfect choice for this film, but why this may be the film he’s been waiting his entire career to make.

beabetterbooktalker.com’s Andrea Lipinski joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons to explore how a tale about the founding father of fantastic film has stirred a legendary director to create his sweetest and most enchanting work, and how it in turn pays tribute to those who seek to instill the sense of wonder in audiences around the world.

Also: Andrea gives her take on THE MUPPETS. Plus: What’s coming in theaters.

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And What Did You Do This Weekend?: Chris Evans wins the war for the Allies in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER.

We’re betting Paramount would’ve preferred that CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER had come out on the Memorial Day or July 4th weekends. However, martial-arts-happy animals and big-ass robots claimed those two slots, so here we are in later summer, trying to get our patriotism back for a red-white-and-blue bedecked super hero doing his bit for mom, apple pie, and gas-guzzling cars in the thick of WWII. Does director Joe Johnston’s ROCKETEER-tested period style work its magic for this final bit of table setting before next year’s THE AVENGERS? Are two hours enough time for an origin story, rescue adventure, and ultimate clash between good and evil? And where the hell are all the Nazis? Join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons as they discuss these issues and more.

Also in this episode: Dan gives his capsule review of the moody, science-fiction drama, ANOTHER EARTH.

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Together Again for the Really, Truly Last Time: Daniel Radcliffe (left) faces down Ralph Fiennes in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2.

And so it comes to this: one determined, no-longer-a-boy-wizard versus one living incarnation of evil, facing off in a battle to the death. Meanwhile, millions of loving fans watch on, thinking, This is the culmination of all my dreams made real, while a smaller contingent of more critical spectators settle into their theater seats praying that, after ten years of set-up and a preceding film that wasn’t much more than an overextended tease, HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 just pays off for all the hours invested. Come join our special guest, Be a Better Booktalker’s Andrea Lipinski, as she joins Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons in a spirited discussion of the grand finale of the Harry Potter saga, and discover whether a mammoth budget, a dedicated director, and a talented cast lead to a worthy send-off.

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Guillaume Dolmans in Heineken's "The Date."

So, another fun little sponsored post for y’all. This time Heineken’s the backer: They’ve got a new episode in what appears to be their ongoing series of “Nightlives of Really Cool Guys” videos. This one’s called “The Date,” and in about a minute and a half it depicts the kind of night you’ve always wished you could show your date — you know: become the life of the nightclub, wow the kitchen staff, best a magician, battle a paper dragon, invent your own geeky-neat dance moves — but probably can’t. The star is French actor Guillaume Dolmans, who’d probably have a nice career ahead of him if only there was some place in show biz for a remarkably handsome guy who looks like he knows all the right moves. Pffft, as if.

We got a chance to talk to Dolmans about his rather unusual transition to the acting world and his experience shooting “The Date.” Click on the player to hear the interview.

HEINEKEN’S
“The Date”

Guillaume Dolmans in
NOIR STANDARD

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

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A Royal Awakens: Lambert Wilson (right) mentors Melanie Thierry in THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER.

Supposedly, when Madame de Lafayette wrote her 17th century novella, The Princess of Montpensier, she was chronicling the romantic intrigues of her own time. Propriety, however, prevented her from making the parallels between her fictional characters and their real-life counterparts too obvious, so she displaced the drama some sixty years earlier, when France was torn apart by a civil war between Catholics and Protestants.

Come the twenty-first century, and director Bertrand Tavernier is able to bring some modern insight — plus a love for John Ford’s way of weaving strong character with historical action — to his lush, stylish adaptation of the tale. With Mélanie Thierry as the young princess trapped between duty to her family and a growing realization of her own identity, Lambert Wilson as the guardian who instills the spark of autonomy in her, and Gaspard Ulliel and Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet as the men who fall in love with her almost in spite of themselves, THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER is an ambitious melding of history and romantic drama.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Tavernier.

THE PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER
Trailer

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Official Website at ifcfilms.com

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A Roll in the... Hey!: Carla Gugino and Tim Olyphant sweat up the sheets in ELECTRA LUXX.

Should a movie about a pregnant porn star fleeing her past and questioning her future be this much fun? If it’s Sebastian Gutierrez’s gleefully frisky ELECTRA LUXX, yeah, sure. As he did with this film’s predecessor, Gutierrez has gathered a talented, largely female cast, including Carla Gugino as the titular Electra, Adrianne Palicki and Emmanuelle Chriqui as a couple of colleagues trying to suss out the depth of their friendship, Marley Shelton as a desperate stewardess, and Kathleen Quinlan as an ambitious author. To add to the fun, he also fortifies the cast with some notable male participants, including Tim Olyphant as a charming detective, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Electra’s video-blogging chronicler, and Justin Kirk as a melodramatically righteous husband. What with Levitt’s frequent, Greek chorus interjections, sexy musical fantasy numbers, and even a side-trip into South American melodrama, the narrative through-line is, shall we say, a little eccentric, but no less fun for all its tagents.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Gutierrez.

This Episode is Brought to You by:
RANGE ROVER
Feel the Pulse of the City!

ELECTRA LUXX
Trailer
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www.elektraluxx-movie.com

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And They're Off! Way, Way Off: Visualizing the race to claim female pleasure in ORGASM INC.

And you thought Restless Leg Syndrome was a boondoggle. Undaunted by the tsunami of ridicule that greeted such a dodgy prognosis, the pharmaceutical industry is at it again, floating a new disease — female sexual dysfunction, or FSD — and proposing a dazzling array of costly pills, creams, inserts, and worse — much, much worse — to “cure” it.

Documentary filmmaker Liz Canner wasn’t having it. She took her camera into the testing rooms and clinics, spoke to doctors, researchers, so-called sufferers and determined debunkers, and came up with ORGASM INC, a sometimes funny and frequently provocative exposé of the corporate franchising of female sexuality and the battle to prevent the redefinition of “normal” pleasure as something dispensed from your local pharmacy.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Canner.

ORGASM INC.
Trailer
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orgasminc.org

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Waiting for the End of the World: (l to r) Juno Temple, Thomas Dekker, and Haley Bennett in KABOOM.

His previous film, SMILEY FACE, seems to have perked director Gregg Araki up considerably. There’s a fatality to his newest, KABOOM — dealing with the imminent end of the world and all that — but there’s also an antic attitude to it that pulls the proceedings away from the darkness. Granted, when your story is about an “ambisexual” (that’s the way the notes put it) college freshman (Thomas Dekker) who’s getting premonitions of an impending apocalypse in between bouts of sex and copious drug use — all while his best friend (Haley Bennett) is being stalked by a jealous witch and his surfer-cute roommate (Chris Zylka) is sending out decidedly mixed signals — it’s hard to keep a (forgive us) straight face. This may be another of Araki’s doomed generations, but they’re not gonna mope around about it.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Gregg.

KABOOM
Trailer

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www.ifcfilms.com/films/kaboom

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Bloody Good Monster: James Nesbitt in JEKYLL.

And the dream comes true for one young, idealistic podcast host. After months of campaigning, Dan finally gets a chance to bring Steven Moffat’s (DOCTOR WHO) BBC series, JEKYLL, to the table for an extended discussion. Listen in as CFQ editor Steve Biodrowski and theofantastique.com’s John W. Morehead join Dan Persons in a spirited and detailed appraisal of this updated sequel to Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella, and learn whether this radical reenvisioning — featuring standout performances by James Nesbitt (BLOODY SUNDAY) and Gina Bellman (COUPLING), plus corporate conspiracies, weird science and, oh yes, lesbian private detectives — is worth your time.