Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

Best wishes to each and everyone of you for a healthy, safe and prosperous 2008. As many of you know, I have just returned from a glorious winter holiday in South America. My first trip there, and definitely a place I recommend to others. Rather than visiting Paris, visit Buenos Aires; rather than visiting London, try Rio de Janeiro. We visited some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen that seem to reach forever. Ihla Grande, Porto Belo, Punte del Este – and more. And, I found film festivals everywhere – from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo. Just wait as you see our plans to expand our partnerships this year to international venues.

While away, I have been tracking entertainment news from home. I see that writer-director, Brad Bird (“The Iron Giant,” “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”) has been in the news extoling the virtues of animation writers. Yesterday, I saw my first feature film of the year, the Disney sequel “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and hoped to see the new release, “P.S. I Love You” which my daughter worked on. Unfortunately, we purchased tickets for the 1:30 screening of the former and 4:00 of the latter and when we tried to get in to see “P.S. I Love You” there were no seats left. I have never seen our local UA/Regal Cinema so packed as it was New Year’s Day. As we left the theater, the line for tickets wrapped around the outside of the building – this in single digit temps! Who says that no one goes to the movies anymore.

Last, I turned to updates on the writer’s strike. Looks like Jay Leno’s show has been spotlighted as WGA West abandons pickets at all other locations the rest of this week in order to focus on NBC Studios because Jay returns to The Tonight Show tonight. Although Leno helped out the Guild in the early days of the strike, apparently there’s a rift between his show and the guild because of the WGA’s decision to make an interim agreement with David Letterman’s group allowing The Late Show and the Late Late Show to return to the air with scribes.

WGA Agrees To Allow Dave’s Late Night Shows To Return With Writers Jan. 2
Late Night Breakthrough; Dave Cooks Up WGA Deal That NBC & ABC Won’t Enjoy

Holiday wishes to everyone from sunny Brazil. I am off on holiday til December 25 in South America. Recently, I spent the day in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – Porto Belo, Brazil. A small port town south of Rio de Janeiro. If you ever have a chance to visit it, do so. I would love to come back here and spend a month! Especially during American winter.

Happy Holidays from Ranny and everyone at KIDS FIRST!

Human rights leaders and peace educators have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to particiate in the International Center for Tolerance Education’s International Guest Program for 2008-09. ICTE just announce that the deadline for applications for their 2008-09 cycle is January 21, 2008.

Eeach year the International Guest Program welcomes 20-25 human rights leaders and peace educators primarily from the Global South. These activists come for a 2-3 month residency in Brooklyn, working within the ICTE community. The program aims to support each guest’s commitment to empowering local communities in the promotion of tolerance, human rights, respect for diversity and social justice. Individualized work plans are created with the guests that involve networking, professional skills training, opportunities to present their work, and time to reflect on their ongoing efforts.

This year, ICTE is placing a special emphasis on “Scholars and Practitioners in the field of Tolerance Education.” Therefore, they are reaching out to people in the field and in academia. Please pass these guidelines along to your colleagues who you feel are interested and qualified for the program. The guidelines can be found on their website: http://www.seedsoftolerance.org/fgp.html.

The deadline for applications is January 21st, 2008.

Goofy, silly and fun. That’s how I’d have to categorize “Enchanted” which my 30 something daughter, six-year-old grandson and I took in this weekend. My daughter, home from the Big Apple where she lives, particularly enjoyed all the NYC sites and the absolute fantasy of this movie. She commented, as she we were driving to the airport for her return trip, “if only New York was really like that, it would be a kinder, gentler place.” My grandson laughed out loud throughout the entire thing, repeating certain phrases from it the rest of the weekend.

This film blends Disney’s cartoon format with real live action in a clever and universally appealing, musical comedy. Bill Kelly’s script is fantastic. His blending the adsurd sacharin sweetness of classic Disney animation with the “real” world is so well done that it almost becomes believable. After a brief 2D animated opening, the sweet Gizelle (Amy Adams) is pushed by the evil step-mother (Susan Sarandon) into a deep well, only to emerge in real life, through a manhole in the middle of times Square. The innocent Gizelle, dressed in her fairytale wedding dress mistakes a billboard for the Palace Casino as the Prince’s palace and climbs up the rigging in the rain where she is rescued by divorce attorney, Robert (Patrick Dempsey aka McDreamy from Grey’s Anatomy) and his 6-year-old daughter Morgan (Rachel Covey).

Robert reluctantly allows her to spend the night at their apartment. When Gizelle wakes up the following to the disarray of a single Dad’s pad, she summons her animal friends to clean it. An array of CGI rats, pigeons, mice, birds and cockroaches enthusiastically spiff up the place while Gizelle sings merrily along.

Shortly thereafter, Prince Edward arrives through the same manhole in search of his beloved followed by Nathaniel (Timothy Spall) and later, the evil queen (Susan Sarandon).

After successfully interceding in the divorce of Robert’s clients, Gizelle pulls off a stunning musical number in Central Park that brings together an ensemble of musician, dancers and others in a full blown musical production that is straight out of 60s Broadway.

This movie so surpassed my expectations, and those of my cynical daughter. It’s truly family-friendly fare and kitch enough to be cute while being clever. You can argue that it’s predictable, which it is. But, in this case it is the process, not the ending, that’s thoroughly enchanting.

From all of us to all of you – wishing you a very wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and familiy. Thank you for being part of our family. You are what keeps us going.

Love

Ranny

Thanks Fox Walden, for giving us a fun new family film for the holidays. Congratulations Zach Mills for a great job playing Eric Applebaum, the Hat Collector. In this film, Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman) is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store (Dustin Hoffman), bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once remarkable Emporium. This morning, a visitor to the KIDS FIRST! website wrote: “My family absolutely loved the film-Mr Magoriums Wonder Emporium. It is filled with imagination. It is filled with a rich vocabulary. It is inspiring. I was dissapointed some critics gave it a low rating. It is a wonderful film and would somehow like to pass my comments on to the talents that created it. “

In other news, Reuters/Hollywood Reporter wrote that Universal Media Studios on Thursday began notifying the regulars on NBC’s “Bionic Woman,” “The Office” and “30 Rock” that the studio is suspending them on half-pay for five weeks, citing the force majeure provisions in their Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contracts.

As of today, studios could start terminating their overall pacts with writers. Since the beginning of the strike on November 5, TV studios have been debating how to deal with series regulars — whether to invoke the force majeure clause that allows them to terminate actors for unanticipated or uncontrollable reasons put them on hiatus or do something else.

On Friday, Sony Pictures TV took a different tack, notifying the regulars on two of the sitcoms it produces– Fox’s “‘Til Death” and CBS’ “Rules of Engagement” — that they are being put on unpaid hiatus, remaining exclusive to the studio.

To be continued….