Film

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

Many folks may be traveling on this long Memorial Day holiday weekend, but if you're going to be around, here are two activities not to miss on Saturday. The first one's a snap - you don't even have to leave the house, or get out of your PJs. At 9 a.m Saturday (May 26), local cable, broadcast and satellite TV stations will feature a half-hour documentary about the Healthy Harbor campaign to make Baltimore's harbor swimmable and fishable by the end of the decade.  The algae bloom and fish kills this week are furnishing a pungent reminder of why this campaign was launched.

The reviews are lukewarm at best for "What to Expect When You're Expecting," a movie loosely based on the hot-selling book series by Heidi Murkoff. Charming moms-to-be, including Anna Kendrick and Cameron Diaz, deal with the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy, while their significant others, including Chris Rock, act boorish. Here are excerpts from reviews: -- Los Angeles Times: As Murkoff knew and mined so well, there is a lot of nature-made comedy to be found in the discomforts of distended bodies, raging hormones and altered relationships.

The moviemakers behind "Crooked Arrows" take square aim at making a "Mighty Ducks with lacrosse. " Is it fair to say a film hits the bull's-eye when the target is so easy? You wish this movie had focused on its fresh material about lacrosse's Native American roots and ditched its dark-horse cliches. Screenwriters Todd Baird and Brad Riddell bank that familiarity will breed affection rather than contempt. They adhere so strictly to the teen-sports genre that audiences can predict every turn as the struggling team from the Sunaquot reservation in upstate New York (a fictional seventh part of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois, Nations)

Only people who know where to look would be able to pay respects to Norman Chaney, who is buried in an unmarked grave in Baltimore. But if fans of the chubby "Our Gang" star have their way, he'll soon have the headstone he's done so long without. Chaney, the son of a Baltimore electrical worker, won a national contest in 1929 to become "Chubby," the new "fat kid" in the popular film series, replacing the original Chubby, who had grown out of the role. But with his impossibly round face and impish charm, Chaney eclipsed his predecessor - becoming the fat kid people remembered.

Eric Buarque hears it all the time: He looks just like that actor from those Die Hard films. You know, Bruce Willis. "One time I was traveling, I can't remember what airport it was, I had a bunch of young girls who were literally trembling who came up to me," the Columbia resident says. "I had my picture taken with them; it kind of made their day. As far as they know, they had their picture taken with Bruce Willis. They were happy." This week, Buarque has turned his resemblance to the rich and famous into a profit-making enterprise, landing a job as the actor's stand-in during the Baltimore shoot of the fourth Die Hard film, Live Free or Die Hard, which pits Willis' NYPD Detective John McClane against terrorists looking to wreak havoc on America via the Internet.

Max Payne is back. Trading his badge for what appears to be a cushy gig in Brazil guarding socialites, our titular character seems to spends much of the game working on a pretty steady cocktail of booze and pills. In between the drunken hazes and flashbacks rests a gritty third-person shooter that tells a story unlike almost any other game out there. “Max Payne 3” is cinematic in the best ways possible, never wasting the player's time with a cutscene that doesn't mean something or keep the action moving.

The Howard County Student Film Festival is seeking original film submissions from high schoolers. The festival is open to students from public and private schools. Films must be three to 10 minutes in length, original and family friendly. Submission deadline is Feb. 26. For more information, go to hocofilmfestival.com. div.talkforum #creditfooter { display: none; } div.talkforum .feedItemAuthor { display: none; } div.talkforum div.feedburnerFeedBlock ul li span.headline { font-weight:bold; margin:0; font-size: 12px; }

"House of Cards," the Netflix series starring Kevin Spacey, will be filmed in part in the Calvert Street offices of the Baltimore Sun, it was confirmed Friday. “We are pleased that we were able to accommodate the production needs for this series," said Steve Seidl, senior vice president of operations and technology for The Baltimore Sun Media Group. "It is always exciting when our city is chosen as a film location, and we are looking forward to being a part of the project. " The production contract with the Baltimore Sun runs through the summer.  Soundstages are also being built in Harford County for a 26-episode order on the American remake of a critically acclaimed political thriller done by the BBC in 1990.

Decades ago, a trip to segregated Ocean City presented far too many challenges for African-American families. Instead they went to a sandy peninsula near Annapolis, known as "the beach," for a day's outing. Carr's Beach - its proper name - offered swimming, picnics and entertainment. Many recall performances by up-and-coming stars such as Louis Armstrong, James Brown and Ray Charles, who, while touring on the Chitlin' Circuit, stopped at Carr's, one of the few local venues open to black entertainers of that time.

The reviews are lukewarm at best for "What to Expect When You're Expecting," a movie loosely based on the hot-selling book series by Heidi Murkoff. Charming moms-to-be, including Anna Kendrick and Cameron Diaz, deal with the emotional and physical challenges of pregnancy, while their significant others, including Chris Rock, act boorish. Here are excerpts from reviews: -- Los Angeles Times: As Murkoff knew and mined so well, there is a lot of nature-made comedy to be found in the discomforts of distended bodies, raging hormones and altered relationships.

Max Payne is back. Trading his badge for what appears to be a cushy gig in Brazil guarding socialites, our titular character seems to spends much of the game working on a pretty steady cocktail of booze and pills. In between the drunken hazes and flashbacks rests a gritty third-person shooter that tells a story unlike almost any other game out there. “Max Payne 3” is cinematic in the best ways possible, never wasting the player's time with a cutscene that doesn't mean something or keep the action moving.

Only people who know where to look would be able to pay respects to Norman Chaney, who is buried in an unmarked grave in Baltimore. But if fans of the chubby "Our Gang" star have their way, he'll soon have the headstone he's done so long without. Chaney, the son of a Baltimore electrical worker, won a national contest in 1929 to become "Chubby," the new "fat kid" in the popular film series, replacing the original Chubby, who had grown out of the role. But with his impossibly round face and impish charm, Chaney eclipsed his predecessor - becoming the fat kid people remembered.

When it comes to lacrosse, all roads lead to Baltimore: That's key to the history of "Crooked Arrows," the first mainstream feature about the sport. It involves a stream of small investors and one genuine big-screen superhero — Brandon Routh, star of "Superman Returns. " But at the start, there was just a boy bowled over by Baltimore lacrosse. Mitchell Peck, a native of Richmond, Va., had the athletic epiphany of his life when he went to Naples, Maine, to attend a summer sports camp called Skylemar.

I still fear the Gray Man. Three out of five days, he invades my dreams. It's always the same. I'm running after him down the mausoleum-dark hallway of the fifth floor of The Sun building. He's solitary, his slumped spine signifying disappointment. "I'm sorry!" I'm yelling, "I'll never do it again!" But he disappears into the elevator and I am left without absolution. I first met the Gray Man in May, possibly June, of 1971. He was the editor of a curious journalistic entity known as The Sunday Sun , internally and culturally distinct from The Sun or The Evening Sun . He had a corner office in a newsroom that seemed staffed by corpses and ghosts.

Station North was abuzz with thousands of cinema addicts and more casual moviegoers this past weekend, for the 14th annual Maryland Film Festival. The Festival brought some 100 films and an even higher number of filmmakers to the neighborhood. As always, the Charles Theatre was the hub for the action, which included favorites such as a screening with devious filmmaker John Waters, and newer fare such as a disturbing flick starring a 12-year-old. Festival director Jed Dietz, who's seen attendance at his annual event grow every year, said he was surprised by the adventurousness of the crowd.

Alice J. Gordon, a film abd television extra who was also a volunteer, died Friday of renal failure at her home in Morgantown, W. Va. The longtime Rodgers Forge resident was 80. The daughter of a movie theater owner and a homemaker, Alice Jean Kamber was born in Winthrop, Mass., and raised in Manchester Depot, Vt., where she attended public schools. In 1956, she married Raymond Jay Gordon, a salesman, and settled in a rowhouse on Old Trail Road in Rodgers Forge. Since 2009, she had lived in Morgantown.

John Waters opened his audience's eyes to a kind of film experience they'd probably never had before. Another writer-director raised in Maryland scared a late-night crowd silly. A movie about a sexual assault left some viewers heading for the exits early. Such were the pains and pleasures of the first two days of this weekend's 14th Maryland Film Festival. Running through Sunday night in and around the Charles Theatre , the festival showcases more than 100 films, including documentaries, short subjects and feature-length narratives.

Five short narrative films, on themes ranging from a modern-day urban cowboy to a scamming extraterrestrial, kicked off the 14th annual Maryland Film Festival at MICA's Brown Center Thursday night. Maryland's festival remains the only one of its kind to devote its opening night to short films — works the evening's host, salon.com film critic Andrew O'Hehir, praised as a way for filmmakers to hone their craft. The evening's fare kicked off with MFF alum Christina Choe's "I am John Wayne," a cryptic modern take on the cowboy tradition, complete with a horse, a laconic hero and a two-timing woman, all set against a Coney Island backdrop.