See Earth Days Before It Comes To TV

By T. R. Septaric

Earth Days was written and directed by Oswald’s Ghost and Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst director Robert Stone and when it was presented and it made a major impact with the audience. Earth Days follows the history of the green movement from its origins 40+ years ago up through the present day efforts.

The film stars Stewart Udall, Denis Hayes, Stewart Brand, Hunter Lovins, Rusty Schweickart, Stephanie Mills, Dennis Meadows, Pete McCloskey, and Paul Ehrlich

Earth Days draws heavily on eyewitness testimony and a wealth of never before seen archival footage, Stone examines the revolutionary achievements—and missed opportunities—of a decade of groundbreaking activism. The result is both a poetic meditation on man’s complex relationship with nature and a probing analysis of past responses to environmental crisis

On April 19^th Earth Days will be shown on PBS but you don’t have to wait to see it…at least not that long. On April 11^th the film will be shown in its entirety through the film’s Facebook page.

The showing is scheduled to start at 8:00 PM and will run until 9:45 PM. That showing of Earth Days is free and open to all. The only cost to see the film is you have to become a fan of film’s Facebook page and all that takes you to do is to go to their page and click on a button. If you are interested go to www.facebook.com/EarthDays for more information.

Obama Appointee Leaves White House For 2^nd Sequel

Apparently, White Castle trumps the White House.

Hollywood Insider brings news that Kal Penn will be leaving his current post as President Barack Obama's Associate Director of Public Engagement to reprise his role as Kumar Patel for a third 'Harold & Kumar' comedy. Penn's co-star, John Cho, will be returning as Harold Lee. 

Penn joined the administration last year, thus putting his acting career on hold. At the time, he was appearing on the hit Fox medical drama 'House,' and shocked everyone when his character, Dr. Lawrence Kutner, committed suicide.

The third 'Harold & Kumar' will be Christmas-themed, with New Line Cinema eyeing a holiday 2011 release. Newcomer Todd Strauss Schulson will be directing, as original 'Harold & Kumar' creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg are moving to Universal to direct the fourth 'American Pie' movie. 

Production on the new 'Harold & Kumar' will commence in late June -- and it might even be in 3D.

The 'Harold & Kumar' movies chronicle the surreal misadventures of two stoner pals who always seem to run into Neil Patrick Harris playing a strange meta version of himself in their travels. 'Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle' was a sleeper hit in 2004, earning over $23 million in worldwide box office, on just a $9 million budget. The 2008 sequel, 'Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,' earned over $43 million.

Movie Review: Clash Of The Titans

By Keith Phipps, www.avclub.com

Though it became a reasonable hit when released in 1981—and a served as a whole generation’s first taste of classical mythology thanks to incessant cable airings—Clash Of The Titans was also the end of the line for a certain kind of big-screen fantasy. Stop-motion wizard Ray Harryhausen, who’d been bringing fantastic beasts to life since Mighty Joe Young in 1949, made it his valedictory effort, ceding special effects extravaganzas to new kids like Steven Spielberg and sailing off to a retirement he’s still enjoying today. While calling the original Clash a great movie would be a stretch, it’s still pretty charming, and filled with Harryhausen’s lovingly handcrafted special effects, from the towering Kraken to a clockwork owl. The latter makes an appearance in this remake, only to be tossed aside with a scoff by one of the heroes, which says pretty much all that needs to be said about director Louis Leterrier’s muscled-up revamp. Never mind the whimsy: Let’s get to the clanking swords.

Sam Worthington plays Perseus, the demigod son of Zeus (Neeson)who finds himself stuck in the middle of an ill-advised war between gods and men. (Note to humanity: It’s best not to take on foes capable of smiting you with thunderbolts.) Hoping to save a princess from being devoured by a sea monster, he sets out on a quest that takes him to the underworld and back, and which occasionally takes the film to an Apple Store-white Mt. Olympus, where Neeson and Ralph Fiennes (as Hades) attempt to overact one another. It’s a generally more entertaining contest than the action on the ground.

Which isn’t to say the new Clash isn’t modestly entertaining by the low standards of spring blockbusters. As with Transporter 2 and The Incredible Hulk, Leterrier aims no higher than competence and achieves just that, shepherding a series of slick, CGI creations across the screen to the accompaniment of an organ-rattling sound design. He’s a professional seat-filler, as is Worthington who again proves—after Avatar and Terminator: Salvation—that charisma isn’t always a prerequisite for movie stardom. Together they get the job done efficiently and with minimal personality. If Clash were a meal, it would come in a paper bag and have some grease stains near the bottom.

A Serialized Story: The Diary Of Sister Elizabeth

 

She woke up sometime around 7:00 and remembered something…she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. The book was still there on the coffee table. It was calling to her, begging her to read more but, for the moment, she knew that she had to eat and go to the bathroom…she hadn’t done that either since breakfast. After that was all done she would get back to Elizabeth Schaffer’s story. She did just that. The minute she took the last bite and the last drink of Diet Coke she rushed right over, grabbed the book and started reading.

“January 18, 1942 – James’ funeral was this morning. His mom set it to be at sunrise. It was truly beautiful. I sat with Mr. and Mrs. Whitney just as if I was one of the family. She even gave me the flag the navy presented her with. She said that she knew how much James loved me and she knew that he would want me to have it. I tried to say no, that she deserved it but she insisted. I will tell you one thing…there is no arguing with a grieving mother. You won’t win.”

Adria was still reading and what she was reading was really sad but that one comment got her laughing. She’s probably right, Adria thought with a slight smile across her face. I’ll have to remember that if the situation ever comes up…and with my luck it will. Somebody is going to have to die someday and now I’ll know what to do. I won’t even try to say anything other than what she has to say. That might be the safest thing to do. She couldn’t help it. She thought it was funny. All she could imagine was that crying girl making a joke that she probably never realized was funny. After she relaxed with a sip of Jack she went back to reading.

“I cannot believe how many people were there. There must have been four hundred people at the funeral parlor. They couldn’t all fit in the building. I think they set up speakers outside so everyone could hear the eulogy. Then, I swear that there were a lot more at the cemetery. I couldn’t believe it. I think every one of them came up and talked to me…telling me how sorry they were for my loss. You know what…I appreciate them but I really didn’t want to hear it much less even talk to them. I just wanted to sit with Mr. and Mrs. Whitney and mourn. Why didn’t anyone see that?”

I hate that at funerals, Adria thought. When my grandmother died there were people I didn’t know coming up to me and talking to me, kissing my cheek and telling me how sorry they were. I just wanted to say “I don’t know you. Get the hell away from me.” I felt the same way she must have felt. All saying that would have done was hurt there feelings and I doubt that it would have worked anyway. People just think that is the way you act at those things.

“January 20, 1941 – I went back to work today. It was hard. I had to drive past the places we went to and even the place where we met. I can’t do this anymore. I have got to do something and I think I know what it’s going to be.”

It was a short entry and it ended very abruptly…too abruptly for it to be anything good. Adria’s mind was spinning. She had way too many thoughts that Elizabeth was going to kill herself or maybe just disappear or God only knows what else that poor girl was thinking. But, she noticed that the diary still had a lot of pages left with writing on them so it obviously wasn’t suicide. Her curiosity, although a bit on the morbid side, was peaked so she kept reading.

To be continued....