Jones Apparel and Adopt-A-Classroom Join the "Waiting for 'Superman'" Cause

Press release:

ADOPT-A-CLASSROOM AND JONES NEW YORK IN THE CLASSROOM PLEDGE TO DONATE $50,000 TO SCHOOLS IN NEED

Join WaitingforSuperman.com “Pledge Progress Meter” at the 80,000 Pledge Level

HOLLYWOOD, CA (September 13, 2010) – Paramount Pictures, Participant Media and Walden Media jointly announced today Adopt-A-Classroom and Jones New York in the Classroom have joined the WaitingforSuperman.com “Pledge Progress Meter” by committing to donate $50,000 to schools in need once 80,000 people pledge to see the award-winning documentary film WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN.”

"Teachers play a critical role in the success of our schools, our communities and our children," said James Rosenberg, Founder and Executive Director of Adopt-A-Classroom. "We, along with our national sponsor Jones New York In The Classroom, are excited and honored to be affiliated with ‘Waiting for “Superman,”’ a film that should enlighten the country about the many challenges students and teachers confront in the classroom everyday."

Adopt-A-Classroom and Jones New York in the Classroom become the fifth notch on the WaitingforSuperman.com “Pledge Progress Meter.” FirstBook, OfficeMax®, DonorsChoose.org and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt have already committed to making a difference in education by taking the pledge.

WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” directed by Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) will be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national conversation, the movie and corresponding “Take the Pledge” campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term solutions to help change the course of our kids’ lives for the better. The “Pledge Progress Meter” launched in May as a way for non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both students and public schools.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 24, nationwide in October.

The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.

For more information about the movie, or to take the pledge go to http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/ or text “PLEDGE” to 77177.

To join the conversation visit us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/WaitingForSuperman

What does your school need? Tell us by Tweeting #MySchoolNeeds at http://www.Twitter.com/WaitingSuperman

For more on Adopt-A-Classroom and Jones New York in the Classroom, visit:
http://www.adoptaclassroom.org/

http://www.jnyintheclassroom.org/


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.

Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs, which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist, Food, Inc., The Informant!, The Cove, The Crazies, Oceans, Furry Vengeance, CASINO JACK and the United States of Money, Countdown to Zero and Waiting for “Superman.”

About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Nim’s Island” and “Charlotte’s Web.” Upcoming films include the third installment in the Narnia series “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

About Adopt-A-Classroom
Adopt-A-Classroom is a national, award-winning 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting classroom teachers and ensuring all children have equal access to a quality education. Since 1998, the organization has raised over $15 million on behalf of classrooms across America. Donations are tax-deductible and 100% is passed through to the teacher. Teachers have the ability to purchase resources that create a more engaging learning environment and also provide valuable new means to inspire children about the wonders of learning. To support a classroom, visit www.adoptaclassroom.org.

About Jones Apparel Group
Jones Apparel Group, Inc. (www.jonesapparel.com) is a leading designer, marketer and wholesaler of branded apparel, footwear and accessories. The Company also markets directly to consumers through its chain of specialty retail and value-based stores and through its e-commerce web sites. The Company's nationally recognized brands include Jones New York, Nine West, Anne Klein, Gloria Vanderbilt, Stuart Weitzman, Robert Rodriguez, Kasper, Bandolino, Easy Spirit, Evan-Picone, l.e.i., Energie, Enzo Angiolini, Joan & David, Mootsies Tootsies, Sam & Libby, Napier, Judith Jack, Albert Nipon and Le Suit. The Company also markets costume jewelry under the Givenchy brand licensed from Givenchy Corporation, women’s footwear under the Dockers® and Dockers® Women brands and infants’, toddlers’ and boys’ footwear (excluding girls’ footwear) under the Dockers® and Dockers® Premium brands, licensed from Levi Strauss & Co., apparel and accessories under the Rachel Roy brand licensed from Rachel Roy IP Company, LLC, and Jessica Simpson jeanswear licensed from VCJS LLC. Each brand is differentiated by its own distinctive styling, pricing strategy, distribution channel and target consumer. The Company contracts for the manufacture of its products through a worldwide network of quality manufacturers. The Company has capitalized on its nationally known brand names by entering into various licenses for several of its trademarks, including Jones New York, Anne Klein New York, Nine West, Gloria Vanderbilt, l.e.i. and Evan-Picone, with select manufacturers of women's and men's products which the Company does not manufacture. For more than 35 years, the Company has built a reputation for excellence in product quality and value, and in operational execution.

Jerry Bruckheimer on Prince of Persia and Producing

Super producer Jerry Bruckheimer talks about PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME in this interview provided by Disney:

QUESTION: You must get loads of film ideas pitched to you. What was the appeal of doing Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: Ithink it’s a throwback to old movies, to Lawrence of Arabia. I love the old David Lean films and this is a fantasy version of it. Jordan [Mechner] did such a wonderful job, the game is so successful, and they gave us such a wonderful pitch that we fell in love with it.

QUESTION: Did you all play the game yourself? And will there be sequels?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: I had played the game prior to Jordan [Mechner] coming in, but not the one that he talked about when he first created it. It was a much more recent version of it.

QUESTION: How do you see your role on a movie, when you’re referred to as the most powerful man in Hollywood?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: That’s fiction by the media, it’s not really true. We just try to have a set that runs smoothly, where people can have a good time even though they’re working very hard. I think that’s because Mike and our actors handled the set so well. Everybody had a good time, and that’s what it’s about.

QUESTION: Was there ever a desire to make Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time in 3D? And how do you feel about the 3D revolution?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: I think we talked about it briefly, but Avatar hadn’t come out, so we couldn’t see the impact 3D would have. Plus Avatar was done all on a soundstage, pretty much, in a hangar and this picture was done in Morocco, the majority of it. So it was much more difficult, with the two cameras and the sand and the heat. But 3D is here to stay, it’s taking over cinema.

QUESTION: How do you feel looking back over your career – does it give you a sense of pride to think that you’re the man who made Top Gun?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: No, I always worry about the next one. It’s never the past. You learn from the past but I worry about this one and Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which is coming up next, and the next Pirates Of The Caribbean is about to start. So I’m always looking way beyond. I don’t look back too much. Maybe someday when I’m in a retirement home somewhere I’ll think ‘Oh wow, I did all these things?’. But not now.

QUESTION: It is said that you have 17 films in various stages of production, plus all your TV work. How do you manage to do all that you do and maintain the standard?

JERRY BRUCKHEIMER: It comes down to working with really talented people, this is a great example of the talent that we create. We create the same kind of talent behind the cameras, so we have a lot of people in our company who are enormously talented. And then the show owners in television run their business along with our executives. So it’s just finding great people to work with.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME Available on DVD and Blu-ray 9/14/10

Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere" Wins Best Picture at 2010 Venice Film Festival

Results of 67th Venice International Film Festival (September 11, 2010):

Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion) for the best film: Somewhere by Sofia Coppola

Leone d'Argento (Silver Lion) for the best director: Álex de la Iglesia for Balada triste de trompeta (A Sad Trumpet Ballad)

Special Jury Prize: Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimowski

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actor: Vincent Gallo, for Essential Killing

Coppa Volpi for the Best Actress: Ariane Labed, for Attenberg

Premio Marcello Mastroianni, for the best emerging actor or actress: Mila Kunis for Black Swan

Osella for Best Cinematography: Mikhail Krichman for Ovsyanki (Silent Souls)

Osella for Best Screenplay: Álex de la Iglesia for Balada triste de trompeta (A Sad Trumpet Ballad)

Special Lion for Overall Work: Monte Hellman

"Luigi de Laurentis" Award for a Debut Film: Cogunluk (Majority) by Seren Yüce

Jordan Mechner Talks History of "Prince of Persia"

Jordan Mechner is the creator of the video game, Prince of Persia, and one of the writers of the film, PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME.  Walt Disney, through its press representatives, provided this interview with Mechner:

QUESTION: What were your feelings when you finally saw the film?

JORDAN MECHNER: Firstly the original Prince Of Persia was a character 40 pixels high on the Apple II screen, running and jumping. The technology at the time was quite primitive, I think in my mind I imagined a much grander spectacle, and to see Jake [Gyllenhaal] in the best shape of his life running around the rooftops of Morocco and doing parkour and all this stuff was more than I could imagine.

QUESTION: What initially drew you to the setting of Ancient Persia? And how does that culture and mythology inspire you?

Mechner: “I was inspired 25 years ago to make the game really by the tales of the Arabian Nights, and by old Persian legends like the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. And also those great old Hollywood swashbuckling movies like the 1940 Thief of Baghdad, by Alexander Korda. As a kid I must have heard those stories, the storybook versions are in all of our cultural DNA. We know of that world without really knowing exactly where or when we first heard it.

QUESTION: How did you start the world of Prince Of Persia?

JORDANMECHNER: You go back to 1985 when I was right out of college and I took my brother down to the parking lot across the street from the high school. He was in a pair of baggy trousers and I had him run and jump and climb and fall down and I video-taped him doing these moves. Then I set about the three year process of bringing these animations into the computer and that was the first Prince Of Persia.

QUESTION: How successful was the game and how come it has taken so long for the movie to be made?

JORDAN MECHNER: It was successful. This was in those days when the industry was one tenth of the size that it is now. It was very much a fringe thing. My friends and I who liked to play games were geeks. We were not in the cultural mainstream. What has happened since then is that video games have evolved technologically and culturally. So we finally came to the point, years later, where a producer and director of the stature of Jerry Bruckheimer and Mike Newell would look at a video game as something worth considering.

QUESTION: Since it started as a video game Prince Of Persia has grown, hasn’t it?

JORDAN MECHNER: Prince Of Persia from its first game has become a franchise. So there are now at least seven or eight versions of the game since then. The one that the movie is based on is also called Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time. That is the first modern console game. It reinvented the old Prince Of Persia game for a new generation of gamers. That was in 2003 and at that point I brought Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney the pitch for the movie along with a two minute trailer that I cut together on my Mac. The screenplay that I wrote is loosely based on The Sands Of Time but the movie production drew on all of those games that came out since then – like Warrior Within. And not just for story…also costumes, weapons, physical action and production design. The whole movie making team was influenced by the games at many levels.

QUESTION: Are you a fan of ancient history?

JORDAN MECHNER: I love research, that’s one of the great perks of this great line of work. You get the chance to go back and try and figure out what things were like in a different time and place. You also get to read the great mythological sources of legends like the Persian Book Of Kings. So you take all that and try to bring it to life.

QUESTION: Why until now have attempts to turn games into movies floundered?

JORDAN MECHNER: It is hard to make a good movie…period! And to make a movie based on a video game is particularly tricky. Novels and stage plays and other things that you might adapt into a movie, really begin with a story and characters. Video games really begin with the game play, that is with the player’s experience – controlling the character and facing the challenges of the game. And that is the one aspect of the game that doesn’t translate to film. No matter how you do it, you are never going to have that attractive element and things that are fun to play are not necessarily fun to watch an actor doing on screen. Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time is the first time that a video game creator actually adapted their own game as a screen play. Even though I have just spent a year adapting the game version of The Sands Of Time, I had to set that aside and put on a different hat and take a different approach to that story, because I was writing a story that was going to be watched by an audience. As opposed to be played.

QUESTION: Was it hard to write a film after doing games?

JORDAN MECHNER: I wouldn’t say that a games story needs to be less complex than a movie story. I am very proud of The Sands Of Time game. It has an interesting relationship between the main characters. There is a romance and a banter and there is a voice over narration. So not only are you playing the game but you are also hearing it narrated. There is a counterpoint between what you are hearing and what you are seeing which is very interesting. It is almost like a literary kind of effect. So it is not that one is more complex than the other, it’s just that they are different. It goes back to the fact that games are played and movies are watched. Even in this case where it is the same world, the same characters and the same type of genre and the same emotional themes – in both the game and the movie – the specifics of how the story is translated into scenes has to be different. The difference in translating a game into a movie is even greater than if you were turning a stage play into a movie. You have to take that extra step of figuring what is it about the material that is going to make a good story; that the viewers are going to connect with emotionally.

QUESTION: Did you have in mind the fact that the characters in the movie are playing games with each other?

JORDAN MECHNER: Of course, we set out to make a movie for audiences that didn’t play games but at the same time, for gamers the movie is full of things that they can enjoy on another level.

QUESTION: What did you think of the cast?

JORDAN MECHNER: Mike Newell put together a fantastic cast. Jake Gyllenhaal makes a terrific prince. He is a very good actor but he also has the right spirit – besides being a warrior and in the best shape of his life, he has got a humanity that is really important.

QUESTION: Are you a fan of DVD?

JORDAN MECHNER: I have a pretty substantial DVD collection which now needs to be a Blu-ray collection. I love all kinds of movies. My favorites include Hitchcock’s North By Northwest, David Lean’s Dr Zhivago and Lawrence Of Arabia…Raiders Of The Lost Ark and then all the old films that influenced Raiders, like Alexander Korda’s Thief of Bagdad. And Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai is one of my all-time favourites.

QUESTION: Are you a Disney fan?

JORDAN MECHNER: Since I was a kid, growing up in New York, I had a map of Disneyland on my wall. I had never been there but I knew where all the rides were. Now that Prince Of Persia is a Disney movie that is really wonderful. If Prince Of Persia was one day to become a Disney ride that would be a dream come true.

QUESTION: How emotional was it for you when you saw Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time for the first time?

JORDAN MECHNER: Oh my gosh there have been so many moments along the way – from the last six years, going from script to screen. Setting foot on the set in Morocco was one of them. And seeing the movie and getting an idea of how it would be experienced by an audience was a huge thrill.

QUESTION: You could never have dreamed of anything like this when you filmed your brother in baggy pants for the first game all those years ago?

JORDAN MECHNER: No, I was just worried about finishing the game while there was still a computer games market! I was afraid I would be too late. It is pretty mind boggling to me that we are still talking about Prince Of Persia 25 years later.


PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME Available on DVD and Blu-ray 9/14/10

"Waiting for 'Superman'" Attracts More Pledges

Press release:

60,000 PEOPLE PLEDGE TO SEE “WAITING FOR ‘SUPERMAN’”

First Book and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt donate an additional $100,000 worth of new books to schools in need – fourth benchmark met on WaitingForSuperman.com “Pledge Progress Meter”

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Sept. 9, 2010 — Paramount Pictures, Participant Media and Walden Media announced today 60,000 people have pledged to see the award-winning documentary film WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” when it opens this fall, making it the fourth goal reached on the campaign’s “Pledge Progress Meter.” As a result, First Book and global education leader Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) will distribute an additional $100,000 worth of new books to schools and programs in low-income communities across the country. First Book and HMH initially joined forces at the 50,000 level by donating 250,000 new books in a similar fashion. The books will be generously provided by HMH and distributed through First Book’s award-winning book distribution channels.

“We’re thrilled by the opportunity to continue our support of WAITING FOR ‘SUPERMAN,’” said Barry O’Callaghan, HMH’s Chief Executive Officer. “Together with First Book, we can use this opportunity to put better educational resources in the hands of the nation’s teachers and students.”

WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” directed by Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”) will be released under the Paramount Vantage banner and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories. Designed to start a national conversation, the movie and corresponding “Take the Pledge” campaign aim to inspire everyone to create innovative and long-term solutions to help change the course of our kids’ lives for the better.

The “Pledge Progress Meter” launched in May as a way for non-profits, foundations and corporations to match individual pledge levels with powerful action items aimed at helping both students and public schools. First Book was the first organization to take the pledge.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 24, nationwide in October.

The film is produced by Lesley Chilcott, with Participant Media’s Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann serving as executive producers. It is written by Davis Guggenheim & Billy Kimball.

For more information about the movie, or to take the pledge go to http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/ or text “PLEDGE” to 77177

To join the conversation visit us on Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/WaitingForSuperman

What does your school need? Tell us by Tweeting #MySchoolNeeds at http://www.Twitter.com/WaitingSuperman


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

About Participant Media
Participant Media is a Los Angeles-based entertainment company that focuses on socially relevant, commercially viable feature films, documentaries and television, as well as publishing and digital media. Participant Media is headed by CEO Jim Berk and was founded in 2004 by philanthropist Jeff Skoll, who serves as Chairman. Ricky Strauss is President.

Participant exists to tell compelling, entertaining stories that bring to the forefront real issues that shape our lives. For each of its projects, Participant creates extensive social action and advocacy programs, which provide ideas and tools to transform the impact of the media experience into individual and community action. Participant’s films include The Kite Runner, Charlie Wilson’s War, Darfur Now, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Night, and Good Luck, Syriana, Standard Operating Procedure, The Visitor, The Soloist, Food, Inc., The Informant!, The Cove, The Crazies, Oceans, Furry Vengeance, CASINO JACK and the United States of Money, Countdown to Zero and Waiting for “Superman.”

About Walden Media
Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Nim’s Island” and “Charlotte’s Web.” Upcoming films include the third installment in the Narnia series “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”

About First Book
First Book provides new books to children in need addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed 70 million free and low cost books in thousands of communities. First Book has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, please visit www.firstbook.org.

About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company that is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. The world's largest provider of educational products and solutions for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt develops and delivers interactive, results-driven learning solutions that advance teacher effectiveness and student achievement. Through curricula excellence and technology innovation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students. With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhpub.com .

Review: "Resident Evil: Afterlife" is Quite Lively

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 75 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)
Running time: 97 minutes (1 hour, 37 minutes)
MPAA – R for sequences of strong violence and language
DIRECTOR: Paul W.S. Anderson
WRITER: Paul W.S. Anderson (based upon the videogame Resident Evil)
PRODUCERS: Paul W.S. Anderson, Jeremy Bolt, and Samuel Hadida
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Glen MacPherson
EDITOR: Niven Howie
COMPOSER: tomandandy

HORROR/SCI-FI/ACTION

Starring: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Spencer Locke, Kacey Barnfield, Norman Yeung, Fulvio Cecere, and Sienna Guillory

Watching the opening act of Resident Evil: Afterlife, I found so many of the action scenes derivative of The Matrix trilogy and even the 2006 film, Ultraviolet, which features the star of the Resident Evil films, Milla Jovovich. But that’s okay; Inception “borrowed” from The Matrix and that did not affect the film’s box office or critical reception. [Afterlife was also released in 3D, but I saw it in traditional D.]

Anyway, Afterlife is the fourth movie in the film series based upon the Resident Evil videogame franchise. In Resident Evil, a pathogen called the “T-virus” escaped into the outside world and led to an apocalypse which turned most of humanity into Undead hordes. As Afterlife begins, Resident Evil heroine, Alice (Milla Jovovich) launches an assault against an Umbrella Corporation stronghold in Tokyo in an attempt to kill primary Resident Evil nemesis, Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts).

Then, Alice begins the search for the friends she made in the previous film, Resident Evil: Extinction, but she only finds Claire Redfield (Ali Larter). The promise of the safe haven known as Arcadia takes Alice and Claire to Los Angeles, where they find a small band of survivors, including a suspicious soldier (Wentworth Miller) and Luther West (Boris Kodjoe), a celebrity and former professional basketball player. The city, however, is overrun by thousands of Undead, and Alice wonders if she has flown into a trap.

As much as the Resident Evil films deal with cannibalism in the form of zombies eating humans, the franchise also cannibalizes other horror, science fiction, and science fiction/horror films. So much of Afterlife, like its predecessors, seems so familiar, that I often spend my time recognizing scenes in this film as being like scenes from other movies.

That’s OK. It doesn’t matter how derivative Afterlife is as long as viewers can enjoy it, and I enjoyed this one more than I enjoyed the other sequels. In fact, I found Afterlife to be the best since the first film in 2002.

Practically everything that writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson does in Afterlife, whether they are his own ideas or borrowed, look good. This is a movie full of well-staged action scenes, and Anderson buries his audience in enough tension and the anticipation of impending doom that they won’t be able to spend much time nitpicking. Plus, that pumping score and soundtrack from the delectable tomandandy make even Afterlife’s mundane moments seem like the height of drama.

One thing that is different in Afterlife is that Anderson’s script is laser-focused on the motivations of each and every character – from the main player, Alice, to a minor character named Wendell (Fulvio Cecere), who tries to turn Alice taking a shower into his own private peep show. Character motivation makes the action, drama, and plots matter, and when those matter, the audience is interested in what comes next.

Resident Evil: Afterlife offers plenty of cool fight scenes, horror movie gore, wicked monsters, etc., but this is also a horror survival movie that will make you care about the poor humans as much as you do the creatures and special effects. Cool, Resident Evil post-apocalypse finally meets character drama.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, September 12, 2010

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"The Exorcist" Returns to Theatres with New Footage in One-Night Event

Press release:

“The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut” Returns to Theaters with Never-before-Seen Footage for Thrilling One-Night Event

NCM Fathom, Warner Home Video and CHUD.com Bring Academy Award®-Winning Thriller Back to Select Movie Theaters Nationwide September 30

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The scariest movie of all time, The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut, returns to theaters nationwide for a one-night special event on Thursday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. local time and again for a second showing at 10:30 p.m. in select theaters. The thrilling special in-theater event, shown in more than 450 select movie theaters nationwide, will feature never-before-seen on-set footage and interviews with Academy Award® winning director William Friedkin, writer William Peter Blatty and actress Linda Blair as well as members of the original cast and crew. Following The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut, audiences will also be treated to a look behind-the-scenes showing how many of the legendary scenes were shot in this classic and thrilling tale of good vs. evil.

Tickets for The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut are available at participating box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com. For a complete list of theater locations and prices, please visit the website (theaters and participants may be subject to change).

Released in 1973, “The Exorcist” caused a cultural earthquake that is still felt today, shocking and enthralling audiences who had never seen anything like it. Many viewers were frightened out of their wits – and literally out of their seats. Some ran out of the theater; others got physically ill or couldn’t sleep for weeks. Now audiences may experience the same visceral emotions again in their local movie theater with this masterpiece of suspense that haunted, intrigued and thrilled the world.

Adapted from the best-selling 1971 novel inspired by an actual exorcism case, “The Exorcist” tells the now-famous story of a young girl’s demonic possession, and her mother’s (Ellen Burstyn) desperate attempts to save her. Blair, in a breakout role, plays the possessed Regan, caught in a gripping fight between good and evil which culminated with an exorcism conducted by two priests. Terrifying audiences and chilling them to the bone, the theological thriller also starred Max von Sydow, Kitty Winn, Lee J. Cobb, Jason Miller and Mercedes McCambridge. “The Exorcist” is still considered one of the most successful feature films of all time, grossing $440 million worldwide and earning 10 Academy Award® nominations (winning Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound).

“The cultural impact of this truly frightening thriller cannot be understated and to experience it in movie theaters on giant, 40-foot screens is amazing,” said Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. “With the stunning quality of this special event, fans will be on the edge of their seats like never before.”

Presented by NCM Fathom and Warner Home Video, in association with CHUD.com, The Exorcist Extended Director’s Cut will appear in 457 select U.S. movie theaters, including AMC Entertainment Inc., Celebration! Cinema, Cinemark Holdings, Inc., Clearview Cinemas, Cobb Theatres, Kerasotes Showplace Theatres, National Amusements, Rave Motion Pictures and Regal Entertainment Group movie theaters, as well as Arlington Theatre (Santa Barbara, CA), The Carolina (Asheville, NC), The Majestic 10 (Williston, VT) and Penn Cinema (Lititz, PA).

“The Exorcist” will be available from Warner Home Video on Blu-ray in a two-disc, high-definition set featuring both the original theatrical version and Extended Director’s Cut of the film plus three new documentaries on October 5. For more information, visit http://www.warnerhomevideo.com/.


About National CineMedia (NCM)
NCM operates NCM Media Networks, a leading integrated media company reaching U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. The NCM Cinema Network and NCM Fathom present cinema advertising and events across the nation’s largest digital in-theater network, comprised of theaters owned by AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) and other leading regional theater circuits. NCM’s theater network covers 172 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50) and includes approximately 17,100 screens (15,600 digital). During 2009, over 680 million patrons attended movies shown in theaters currently included in NCM’s network (excluding Consolidated Theatres). The NCM Fathom Events broadcast network is comprised of approximately 550 locations in 154 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50). The NCM Interactive Network offers 360-degree integrated marketing opportunities in combination with cinema, encompassing over 40 entertainment-related web sites, online widgets and mobile applications. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 48.0% interest in and is the managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com or www.fathomevents.com.

About Warner Home Video
With operations in 90 international territories, Warner Home Video, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, a division of the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

About CHUD.com
CHUD.com (Cinematic Happenings Under Development) is one of the premier entertainment websites, having operated since the late 1990's when the Internet was still an unknown commodity for film discussion and opinion. Over its lifespan it has become a daily bookmark for millions of fans across the world as well as Hollywood's best and brightest filmmakers. Featuring one of the smartest and most diverse communities of film fans, CHUD.com and its brand has a reach that has crossed over into television, print, and the multiplex. “The Sewer,” as it's known to its fans, is constantly evolving to keep its audience energized and its editorial staff on their toes.