SEBRING, October 16, 2009 – The Fairmount Cinema 6 continues to rock Sebring with a host of hot movies.

And not only the movies, but the stars you love are there!

Bruce Willis stars in the Surrogates, which plays exclusively in Highlands County at the Fairmount. Surrogates mixes The Matrix with murder and mystery to give audiences one of the most compelling films of the fall.

Academy-award winner Ellen Page stars in Whip It, a fempower, Roller Derby rock ‘em sock ‘em.

And big-time actors Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner bring the laughs and the love in The Invention of Lying (see photo above courtesy of Warner Bros.).

Woody Harrelson is killing the undead and killing audiences with laughs in the wacky Zombieland.

Pandorum and Capitalism: A Love Story round out the offerings.

We apologize as recent events and technical difficulties have precluded a timely update of our site. We are back at full strength and refocused  only on movies. As soon as one or two more technical glitches are resolved, we will update our ads section.

We bemoan the state of affairs at the mall, where teen and young adult mischief continue to plague shoppers and moviegoers alike. Safety remains a concern there, where threats, real and perceived, harangue patrons. We can only hope that that dire situation can be remedied, unless the mall and the Carmike Cinema alike become nothing more than a giant indoor ghost town.

Gamer.

Stud Gerard Butler stars as Kable, a futuristic gladiator in a live-action virtual reality killing game that’s all too real and all too deadly. Forced to be the avatar – the simulated representation – of a young celebrity gamer, Kable seeks a way to save his family and to destroy the wicked mind control technology.

Gamer plays exclusively in Highlands County at the Fairmount Cinema 6.

Also opening are Extract, a comedy of sexual shenanigans, that stars Jason Bateman and Ben Affleck; and All About Steve, wherein Sandra Bullock plays a loony lady who thinks she’s in love with a man who feels like she is stalking him.

All About Steve plays at the Regal Eagle Ridge and the Carmike. Extract plays only at the Carmike.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY/TRISTAR PICTURES

Science fiction abounds in films of distinct character and effects. Some science fiction is visionary (Bladerunner, Colossus); some is fun and adventure (Star Wars, 20,000,000 Miles to Earth); Some is meant to play on the fears of lonely mankind in a big unknown (Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey); while some is social commentary (such as many episodes in the original Star Trek series, The Day After Tomorrow).

District 9 fits into the last category. South African Director Neill Blomkamp has fashioned an earthy story of extraterrestrials into a parable about bad karma. Treat alien refugees stranded on your planet like dung and, guess what? Well, we don’t want to spoil the story for you. We can say that Blomkamp has drawn on his own country’s history of apartheid to paint a richly colored tapestry of human prejudice and discrimination and the natural degradations that result for both the discriminators and the discriminees.

You won’t recognize any of the actors or actresses, but don’t let that deter you from catching District 9. The story is intelligent. The acting is top notch. And so are the special effects. Remember that the hand of Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) is present and helpful in a mighty way with the CGI effects.

This is Blomkamp’s handiwork, however, and he deserves the abundance of credit. Clearly he is clearly influenced by works such as Black Like Me, V, and Cloverfield/Quarantine, but District 9 is unique, and it is one of the best science fiction films we have seen in a while. We highly recommend District 9.

District 9 is rated R and plays at the Fairmount Cinema 6.

Our Sebring Cinema and Sports rating, zero to five reels:

PHOTO COURTESY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Sometimes nothing suits the eyes better than a bit of mindless mayhem at the end of summer. That’s what G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra is.

G.I. Joe is unvarnished eye candy that sports hunky studs (Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans) and shapely cheesecake (Rachel Nichols, Sienna Miller) in tight form-fitting and form-enhancing plastiform suits.

There’s a little bit of story, just enough to provide segues to the extended CGI action sequences – rife with kung-fu swordplay, splatter guns, missiles, and all kinds of punches and explosions – that will keep young or inert intellects drooling down both sides of their chins.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra is easy fun, and it continues to do well at the box office. In fact, despite the presence of better films, the Fairmount Cinema 6 reports that it has been and is, generally, their top ticket seller.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra is rated PG-13, mostly for action violence. Our Sebring Cinema and Sports rating, on a scale of zero to five reels, five being the best:

PHOTO COURTESY OF DIMENSION FILMS

Horror fans, prepare yourselves for a hopeless, humorless world created by rocker turned film director Rob Zombie.

Can’t say there are no scares in Halloween II, for the screams of teens and young adults in the audience showed they were surprised by gut-ripping knife plunges and bone-cracking face stomps more than once.

Zombie’s Halloween II has none of the spooky surrealism of John Carpenter’s original, despite the interjection of the Jason-esque theme of the bloodthirsty dead mama calling her spawn to bring the trashy Myers family back together again.

Where Zombie horrifies you is with his vision of the real world, one that his lens captures painted in red, pale yellow, and dark shadowy tones and spray-painted with graffiti and satanic symbols; and one filled with disturbed characters disconnected from any sense of law or order and attired and cosmeticized as if they all lived at an industrial rock convention. Take, for instance, “Uncle Meat’s Java Hole,” a Haddonfield staple haunted by the town’s dysfunctional metal-pierced faces and an old fart from the LSD farm. It’s as bleak and dark as the underside of an overpass in the Bronx. The “Java Hole” is no Brewster’s Coffee House.

In short, there is nothing and no one normal in Haddonfield, so we are glad when Michael, depicted here as raw rage incarnate (like Jason, he becomes a lost kid dominated by his  mother in place of Carpenter’s silent, remorseless evil that marvels at its own bloodshedding), gets rid of them. It was ridiculous to see tiny men hurl their insults and threats at 7-foot-tall Michael (played by Tyler Manes) only to pay the price, just as it was laughable to see drizzles of blood on the walls near Michael’s victims, the decorative effect of cake tubes. The police do not see the trail of bodies pointing to Haddonfield, and Michael’s psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis, egregiously overplayed by Malcolm McDowell, lacks even the remotest particle of professionalism.

There is a fuzzy twist at the end, but it’s hardly worth the wait.

You won’t find much craft in Zombie’s derivative, hollow Halloween II, but plenty of crap. Caveat emptor.

Halloween II is rated R for extreme violence and gore, profanity.
Our Sebring Cinema and Sports rating on a scale of zero to five reels, five being a classic:

TFD used a variety of ways to kill young adults and teens to earn more than $28 million. The key element in its succes was the picture’s 3D, with 3D showings around the country accounting for 70 % of the film’s gross.

In Sebring, Carmike has 3D capability.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds fell less than 50% to earn more than $20 million and gave Tarantino his best-selling movie except for Pulp Fiction. That strong showing in Week 2 of release helped to give the Carmike a 1-2 punch locally.

However, the Fairmount won the Top Five, as Halloween II, District 9, and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra finished 3-4-5 respectively. Halloween II raked in more than $17 million, District 9 almost 11 million, and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra $8 million.

Have a great time at the movies!

Inglourious Basterds killed Nazis and crowned itself king of the box office for the weekend of August 21-23, 2009.

The darkly comical World War II flick Basterds used grit and gore, (Brad) Pitt and more to earn $38.1 million. It’s Tarantino’s biggest box office coup. We must wait to see whether it will hold, but it’s notable that Basterds drew a considerable number of older male viewers in addition to its younger ones.

Inglourious Basterds plays at the Regal Eagle Ridge and the Carmike.

Rounding out the Top Three were  District 9 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

District 9 was last week’s champ, and the sci-fi social commentary fell a respectable 51% to earn more than $18 million in its second week of release. To date, District 9 has earned more than 72 million – far in excess of its $30 million production budget.

G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra reined in its slide in week Two, falling only 45% and earning $12.2 million. That puts it over $120 million since its release Aug. 7. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra still has a lot of ground to make up to its $175 million budget.

District 9 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra play in Sebring at the Fairmount Cinema 6.

No other films earned double digit millions, but the box office as a whole was up 20% from last year.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. PICTURES

SEBRING, August 20, 2009 – Area residents can choose three more film to attend beginning tomorrow.

Along with recent box office champs District 9 and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, the Fairmount Cinema 6 adds Post Grad and Shorts to its lineup and offers its award-winning service and low prices to customers.

Post Grad, a PG-13 comedy, stars Alexis Bledel as a postgraduate stymied in her job search and forced to live at home with her dysfunctional family. Yahoo! users who previewed Post Grad give it an “A”.

Shorts is a PG-rated action/comedy about human reaction to conformity and nonconformity, and the perils and preciousness of free choice. Yahoo! users give Shorts an “A+”.

Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s R-rated bloody frolic through anti-Nazi sentiment set, of course, in World War II. Tarantino’s wit and creativity are undeniable, and his ability to meld comedy, smart dialog, philosophy, and sophomoric gore is unmatched, but his films have limited appeal and usually end up as DVD cult classics. Inglourious Basterds stars Brad Pitt as the commander of a squad of American soldiers exacting vengeance upon the Nazis in Europe. IB plays at the Carmike and at the Regal Eagle Ridge.

South African director Neil Blomkamp’s story of alien segregation and despair after their accidental arrival on earth dramatized South Africa’s tradition of apartheid. Blomkamp went further, twisting stories such as Black Like Me to create marvelous ironies and conflicts tin District 9 that evoked cries of sympathy from the audience at the Fairmount Cinema 6.

Despite the influences from history and drama, District 9 stands as one of the most creative science fiction films in years. Though it bears no resemblance to Star Trek, District 9 carries on that original series’s effort to flesh out our social conflicts within a science fiction setting.

With District 9, the Fairmount was able to execute a 1-2 punch on archrival Carmike, as G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, finished at No. 2 with 22.3 million. G.I. Joe did drop about 60%, and that’s steep, but typical of action films heavy on the teen demographic. In a manner similar to the latest Harry Potter, though, G.I. Joe’s opening was so strong that it is closing in on $100 million in earnings after only two weeks.

The Time Traveler’s Wife finished a strong third with $18.6 million in earnings. Rachel McAdams performs well and draws well, and Eric Bana completes the pairing, both developing an excellent chemistry with each other.

Overall, Box Office Mojo reported the North American box office rose 14% over last year.

SHOW ME YOUR GREEN, SCALY CARD: Human authorities approach a refugee from another planet in the sci-fi/fantasy film District 9.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY/TRISTAR PICTURES

SEBRING, August 14, 2009 – It’s Friday and time for local theaters to reload their auditoriums.

District 9 opens at the Fairmount Cinema 6. Despite fielding no stars and rookie feature-length director Neill Blomkamp, both critics and Yahoo! users have, in a rare agreement, given District 9, a sci-fi/fantasy film, an A, with critics coming in at an A-.

Blomkamp’s prior work included a stint as the visual arts director for TV’s Smallville.

The Time Traveler’s Wife and Bandslam open at the Regal Eagle Ridge and the Carmike.

The Time Travler’s Wife stars Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams and a fantastical premise that Bana’s character is genetically disposed, or indisposed, as the case may be, to spontaneously travel through time, thus disturbing their romance.

Fans may remember McAdams from The Notebook and Red Eye, as well as Bana from The Hulk and The Other Boleyn Girl.

Bandslam is a musical comedy that will appeal mostly to teenagers interested in a musical battle between boys spurred on by a spurned girl.

Going into the weekend, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, was the nation’s No. 1 film. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra continued to do well through the week. For instance, it earned $4.8 million on Wednesday, nearly twice as much as its closest competitor, Julie and Julia. G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra plays at the Fairmount Cinema 6.