Time to do a little "prep" for your visit to the Opening Night screening of "The Full Monty" and the party that follows. In the hob-nob, chit-chat Florida reception environment, it's always good to have a little Festival banter prepared - one of the traditional "hot topics" at Opening Night is criticizing Orlando film critics.

As far as Festival reviewers go, Orlando's print media is a two-horse town: Rich Grula of the Orlando Weekly and Jay Boyar of the Orlando Sentinel. Both recently published preview Festival articles, but that's where the similarities end. I already know which article will dominate the buzz of conversation of the Opening Night party.

Grula is, essentially, a Festival insider (he's a member of this year's Festival selection committee for features and a writer for last year's cybercast). While his article ("Best of the fest: a top 10 tease", Orlando Weekly, June 12-18) avoids making any sweeping generalizations about the Festival, it does present Grula's picks for the best films screening (the list includes "The Size of Watermelons", "Blowfish", "35 Miles from Normal", Before I Sleep and "Waco: The Rules of Engagement").

Boyar's article, on the other hand, offers little insight into the films of the Festival and concentrates on criticizing Enzian for not appealing to the masses, neglecting foreign and classic films, and focusing overly on filmmakers. Apparently, his central point is that "the festival almost seems designed to alienate" the typical "popcorn chewer" movie fan - a position sure to endear himself to the thousands of movie lovers who will attend the Festival (many of which will probably have some popcorn). Boyar's article is available online for free until June 20th ... then you'll have to pay $1.95 to read it. To Boyar's credit, a follow-up article this week (available online at Digital City Orlando) does offer advice on films to catch at the Festival.

Which one will be the hot cocktail topic at Opening Night? If history is any guide, people will be talking about Boyar's Sentinel article. At last year's Festival, Boyar's description of the Opening Night film "Lone Star" as being "overly literary" was the fuel for a fiery discussion of the role of critics, the relation of "art" to "film", "independent film" versus big studio efforts, and the "dumbing" of American media expectations. Fortunately, such sweeping questions (which Boyar has raised again this year) are seldom settled at a cocktail party, which leaves us something to chat about tonight.

--Brian Clark

Brian Clark I've worked as a professional musician, a pizza deliverer, a graphic designer, a record promoter, a database programmer, a youth empowerment coordinator and a recording engineer (not necessarily in that order.) Other Articles I've Written