AMBITION, ACCOMPLISHED
Meet Worcester screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy
By Robert Newton

The reluctance to self-promote is something that hobbles far too many artists, preventing their talents from being appreciated by an audience. Most mistakenly consider it shameless and unbecoming, forgetting the almost famous words of one gentle self-help maven, Stuart Smalley: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Worcester screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy knows no such obstacles. In fact, with four screenplays and significant accolades to her credit, the Worcester Technical High School English teacher is a world-class hurdler.

“In this day and age,” the 37-year-old Tampa-born multi-tasker explains. “You need to be not only an artist, but a promoter, as well. You really need to be of two minds; an artist first, where you find a place that is comfortable, but then you need to start investigating your outlets.”

[READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE IN AT OUR SISTER MAG, THE PULSE.]

SANTA’S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG
5 Oddball Takes on the Jolly Christmas Icon
By Robert Newton

Anyone who wants to continue to know Santa Claus as the benevolent elfin beacon of goodness, go ahead and enjoy ad nauseum the wacky exploits of Tim Allen in The Santa Clause or any number of animated Rankin-Bass Christmas specials. However, if you’re in the mood for something slightly weird to downright unsettling, sample these slices of fruitcake and change your view of St. Nick forever.

The Movie: SANTA CLAUS [1959]
The Santa: Creepy. Not to be confused with the perennial cult favorite Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964), this Mexican fantasy is perhaps the Holy Grail of all weird Santa Claus movies. This laugh-hardy Santa Claus gleefully spies on children, particularly a poor young girl named Lupita who wants nothing but a doll for Christmas, with a gi-normous telescope. And if Santa (and his robotic department store proxy) weren’t off-putting enough, there’s Pitch, Satan’s mischievous minion who must get the children of the world to do evil, else he be force-fed chocolate ice cream. Seriously.

[READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE IN AT OUR SISTER MAG, THE PULSE.]

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5 - HARRY POTTER YEARS 1-5
The last Harry Potter book may have come and gone, but studio Warner Brothers apparently still has a lot of magic up its wizard’s sleeve to be able to rearrange and repackage its Harry Potter movies on DVD. This issue features 2-disc editions of all five movies to date, bundled in a trunk and emblazoned with the Hogwarts crest. There is about three hours worth of bonus material in total, though much of it is like the lightweight HBO “First Look” featurettes. The coolest bonus item in the set is an interactive DVD game, much like the popular Scene It! Series. For the three children who have not read the books yet, there are five collectible bookmarks, plus 16 collectible trading cards. Not included is a copy of the spell that will continue to convince audiences that the three young leads are still young and unsullied, don’t take their clothes off on Broadway, and are years away from being able to legally buy a round at the premiere after-party.

6 - HELP! [2-DISC EDITION]
The Beatles’ 1965 follow-up to A Hard Day’s Night, previously available as a barebones single platter from MPI, has gotten a gorgeous restoration and the Special Edition treatment (and boy, is it special). The second disc includes a 30-minute making-of featurette, a missing scene, a look at the restoration process, reminiscences from the cast and crew plus trailers and radio spots. Die-hards might spring for the Deluxe Edition, which features a copy of Richard Lester’s annotated shooting script, 8 lobby card repros, a poster and a 60-page book featuring a lot of rare photographs, though casual fans will find it difficult to justify the $100+ price tag. McCartney fans will surely enjoy the 3-DVD collection The McCartney Years, featuring a bounty of visual material from The Cute One’s career, post-Fab Four. The late George Harrison’s supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys (featuring Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison), has a 2 CD/1 DVD collection featuring all their music, behind-the-scenes video footage and 5 music videos. Ringo fans with children (or who were children in the early ‘70s) should pick up Fred Wolf’s enchanting animated feature, The Point (1971), which features a Ringo narration and the music of Lennon pal Harry Nilsson.

7 - HAIRSPRAY [LIMITED EDITION GIFT SET]
If the single- or double-disc versions of this summer’s musical hit (a movie adaptation of the Broadway musical based on John Waters’ 1988 movie) does not slake the good, mostly-clean funster in you, then upgrade to this real purdy gift set. It includes the 2-disc, feature-rich “Shake & Shimmy” edition of the movie, a customizable mini school locker (with keys) that comes in “Penny (Pingleton) Pink” or “Link (Larkin) Lime,” six sheets of stickers with which to decorate and an exclusive tote bag. For those John Waters fans who prefer their oddball hero naughty, check out the riotous one-man show, John Waters: This Filthy World. Waters narrates a documentary about a filthy world of another kind – the ecological disaster known as the Salton Sea in Christopher Metzler’s fun and fascinating film festival favorite, Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea.

8 - LED ZEPPELIN: THE SONG REMAINS THE SAME [2-DISC SPECIAL EDITION]
Anyone who could get a ticket/mortgage their house for a ticket to see the one-time-only Led Zeppelin reunion show – and that’s most everybody – will want to own this document of the legendary trio of 1973 shows at Madison Square Garden. Three decades of grousing by ZepHeads over the 1976 theatrical release’s incomplete presentation must have struck a power chord, because the Brothers Warner have restored all the songs that had remained unnamed (on the cutting room floor). It looks and sounds amazing, and Jimmy Page’s guitar solo on “Over the Hills and Far Away” is so nad-slamming that you’ll begin to consider that maybe he did sell his soul to The Devil just before Led Zeppelin IV came out. Other additions include “Misty Mountain Hop,” “The Ocean” and “Celebration Day” (also available on the new 2-CD soundtrack), with 40 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD. The pricier Collector’s Edition includes all this, a bigger box and a T-shirt (that you very likely won’t be wearing to the reunion show).

TOMORROW (AT NOON): Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon, the massive United Artists’ 90th Anniversary Mega Set, the friggin’ awesome Family Guy: Friggin’ Party Pack and Heeere’s Johnny: The Definitive DVD Collection From The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

[READ THE PREVIOUS INSTALLMENTS.]

Children, Germans and anyone who has seen Bad Santa starring Billy Bob Thornton will know of the Advent calendar. It is a 24-day calendar, used to mark the December days until Christmas, by opening one door every day to reveal a picture or chocolate treat. Considering that tomorrow is December 1 and we have exactly two dozen holiday gifts on DVD to recommend to you, consider the following WorcesterMovies’ Advent Calendar for 2007 (but feel free to jump as far ahead as you’d like):

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1 - SESAME STREET OLD SCHOOL, VOLUME 2
It’s hard to believe that shortly, the Children’s Television Workshop (and anyone who owns its subsequent toy franchise rights) will be celebrating 40 years of the groundbreaking “Sesame Street.” Up until last year, though, there was not a single classic episode, short of 1978’s “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street” available. This year, another five representative episodes hit stores, covering the second five years, 1974-79, and fans will just love revisiting friends long thought lost to time. Also included is the pilot episode (used to sell the series) and the best sketches from each season, highlights of which include songs by Paul Simon, Ray Charles and an absolutely adorable bit with the late Madeline Kahn performing “Sing After Me” with furry blue worrywart, Grover. If 2008 holds a Volume 3, then get ready for the Street-shaking 1983 episode, “Farewell, Mr. Hooper” which deals honestly with the death of kindly storekeeper, Mr. Hooper (Will Lee). It makes us cry just thinking about it.

2 - PIXAR SHORT FILMS COLLECTION - VOLUME 1
The studio that brought us Toy Story, Finding Nemo and the recent best-selling marvel, Ratatouille, started out making CGI shorts, and this is a wonderful collection of 13 of them, dating back to 1984’s pre-founding Lucasfilm collaboration, “The Adventures of André and Wally B.” The rich promise of the fledgling medium started to become evident after the brief but hilarious debut “Luxo Jr.” (1986), the film about a mischievous little desk light from which the company took its “I”-stomping lamp logo. While these shorts became film festival staples during the ensuing years, the company eventually started pairing them up with their theatrical features. There are three Oscar winners in the bunch, including the riotous “For the Birds” (2000), as well as ruthlessly efficient branded vignettes like “Jack-Jack Attack” (The Incredibles) and “Mike’s New Car” (Monsters, Inc.) For the technically minded, there is commentary on nearly every short, plus four Luxo bits produced for “Sesame Street” and a nice documentary on the company itself. Here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait until 2028 until these comically gifted digital wizard create enough content for a Volume 2.

3 - TREASURY OF 100 STORYBOOK CLASSICS
Be the hero of any early reader by wrapping this vast compendium of Scholastic’s greatest hits this year. With stories like “Where the Wild Things Are,” “Make Way For Ducklings,” “Harold and the Purple Crayon” and 97 more, this 16 DVD set will keep the wee ones starry-eyed and grateful until they are old enough to pass it on to their own children. Some stories are animated, and some just feature illustrations from the book, but all are engaging, featuring celebrity narrators like James Earl Jones, Forest Whitaker, Cyndi Lauper and Sarah Jessica Parker. The keenness of DVD technology allows for a helpful read-along option, which might even lead to the eager readers asking for books for their next year.

4 - THE BRADY BUNCH: THE COMPLETE SERIES [+SHAG CARPET COVER & BONUS DISC]
As innocuous and commercially middling as this 1969-74 sitcom was, there is no denying how ingrained its whitebread high-silliness has become, from Jan’s imaginary boyfriend George Glass to the boys’ volcano fiasco to Marcia’s broken nose. While all 117 episodes have been released over the last few years, they are considerably discounted here, and in a really groovy shag carpet case. The Brady faithful will likely eBay their previous five full-season sets in favor of this one, as it contains an exclusive 21st DVD featuring nearly four hours of cheese and saccharine: a two-part episode from the animated “Brady Kids” spin-off series from 1972, the highly-rated 1988 TV movie, A Very Brady Christmas and the two-part pilot “The Brady 500” from the 1990 revival series, “The Bradys.” Alas, the 1976 “Brady Bunch Hour” (a train wreck of a variety show that was mercifully put down after nine episodes) is available separately, with the annulled 1981 “The Brady Brides” still MIA. Completists will already own the three Paramount-produced spoofs, The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), A Very Brady Sequel (1996) and The Brady Bunch in the White House (2002). Gift this and make someone’s holiday a sunshine day, indeed.

TOMORROW AT NOON: Harry Potter Years 1-5, The Beatles’ Help! [Deluxe Edition], Hairspray [Deluxe Gift Set] and Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same [Collector’s Edition]

[READ THE ALL SIX INSTALLMENTS.]

WorcesterMovies.com is proud to present a new feature from writer JoAnn DiVerdi Miller, “Four Hour Film School.” Each column will not only focus on two like-themed films, exploring the connections between them, but will suggest an appropriate meal during intermission. With our coverage of next year’s Star Trek prequel and the recent premiere of the exquisite fan-produced “Star Trek: New Voyages” premiere, the theme of this week is space, so prepare to release your inner geek as we cry to the heavens…

“I NEED MY SPACE!”
by JoAnn DiVerdi Miller

THE MOVIES:

(1979); Starring Sigourney Weaver and Tom Skerritt; Written by Dan O’Bannon; Directed by Ridley Scott.

(1999); Starring Sigourney Weaver and Tim Allen; written by David Howard and Robert Gordon; Directed by Dean Parisot.

THE CONNECTION: One’s a heart-thumping, sci-fi thriller set in outer space showcasing Sigourney Weaver as supremely well-trained; the other’s a knee-slapping, sci-fi comedy inspired by television’s take on the final frontier, showcasing Weaver as supremely well-coiffed.

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Now that final casting of “Lost” and “Alias” creator J.J. Abrams’ Christmas 2008 Star Trek prequel has been announced, one former “Trek” star is none too pleased that he is not included in the mix.

Emmy-winning “Boston Legal” actor William Shatner, who played Captain of the Starship Enterprise James Tiberius Kirk on the Original Series from 1966 to 1969 and in seven feature films between 1979 and 1994, told TV’s “Extra” last week, “How could you not put one of the founding figures into a movie that was being resurrected? That doesn’t make good business sense to me! I’ve become even more popular than I was playing Captain Kirk. I’m good box office and I get publicity… But, they are going in a different direction and it’ll be a wonderful film.”

The only original “Trek” star who is due to appear in the new film, which will hit theatres on December 25, 2008, is Boston native Leonard Nimoy, who played the iconic Vulcan, Mr. Spock. The rest of the cast is as follows:

•James T. Kirk - Chris Pine [age 27] (Smokin’ Aces)
•Mr. Spock (the younger) - Zachary Quinto [age 30] (Sylar on “Heroes”)
•Montgomery “Scotty” Scott - Simon Pegg [age 37] (Hot Fuzz)
•Leonard “Bones” McCoy - Karl Urban [age 35] (Pathfinder)
•Hikaru Sulu - John Cho [age 35] (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle)
•Pavel Chekov - Anton Yelchin [age 18] (Alpha Dog)
•Nyota Uhura - Zoe Saldana [age 29] (Drumline)

Also starring are Bruce Greenwood (Deja Vu) as the Enterprise’s previous captain, Jeffrey Pike, Winona Ryder (The Ten) as Spock’s mother, Amanda Grayson and Eric Bana (Lucky You) as the villain, Nero.

Let our readers know what you think of the casting by clicking on “Comments” below.

[READ OUR MEATY COVERAGE OF THE RECENT
‘STAR TREK: NEW VOYAGES’ PREMIERE.]

SLEEK, GEEK, CHIC
‘Star Trek’ fans go where few have gone before with new movie
by Mark Volpe

Once there was an Elvis impersonator who wanted to be a part of the original “Star Trek” universe. Seriously. You can’t make this up.

Using the original series blueprints (acquired via his role as a costumer on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”), James “Kirk” Cawley and his friends rented a studio flat to construct their scale model of the Enterprise NCC-1701’s bridge and began shooting a fourth season of the original “Star Trek” as if the show had never been cancelled in 1969. Under the title “Star Trek: New Voyages,” their pointillist, pointed-eared attention to detail caused a Trekkie sensation. Cawley’s gamble that the original series characters could be personified by fresh faces paid off, producing the finest “Star Trek” fan films (fan-produced tributes) to date. The four films to date are greatly ambitious in their production design and perfect in their homage to the original, so professional and well-produced, in fact, that many original cast members of “Star Trek” rekindled their old stereotyping roles to beam aboard.

Tonight, Cawley gets to play Kirk opposite original series stars George Takei (”Captain Hikaru Sulu”), Grace Lee Whitney (”Commander Janice Rand”) and Majel Barrett Roddenberry (”Computer Voice”). Rod Roddenberry (son of Gene) is onboard as Consulting Producer, and veteran television writer Marc Scott Zicree directed and wrote “World Enough And Time.” Walter Koenig (”Chekov”) is also here to lend his support to the “New Voyages,” having appeared as Ensign Chekov in the previous episode feature-length episode, “To Serve All My Days.” And all this because a group of fans’ will to hit the sky trail again was so strong? Strange new worlds, indeed.

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INTO GREAT SILENCE [NR]

This wondrously meditative documentary is an artistic portrait depicting solitude. There is a monk deep in prayer. A flame burns. Snow flakes are falling. We enter long gothic arched corridors where light filters through the windows in geometric shapes. Bells are pealing and we hear the tranquil sound of the monks’ chants. Shot over a six month period inside the Grande Chartreuse, nestled in the French Alps and far away from prying eyes, Into Great Silence allows us to experience the way of life of men who dedicate their lives to God. Theirs is a life of restraint and discipline, where all their energies are channeled into their thoughts and being.

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Disney’s self-effacing “up yours!” to all the other studios that have parodied the House of Mouse turned to be an “and your mother’s, too!” after the long holiday weekend, as the self-referential (but not self-reverential) spoof scored big with audiences. The PG-rated hit matched the combined box office of the #2 surprise This Christmas and the #3 former champ, Beowulf. Another holiday release, the high-octane R-rated action-thriller Hitman scored a #4 slot, with #7 August Rush trumping #9 The Mist. Apparently, the highly touted horror show, based on the bestseller by Stephen King, proved to be too glum and gory in this traditional time of togetherness (there is hope for the world). Don’t count on much of a change for next weekend, as this rare five-Friday November holds only one new release for November 30 – the medical thriller Awake starring Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen.

•••TOP 10 MOVIES FOR THE WEEKEND OF NOVEMBER 23-25, 2007•••

1. ENCHANTED - $34.4M ($49.1M total)

2. THIS CHRISTMAS -$18M ($26.3M total)
3. BEOWULF - $16.5M ($56.6M total)
4. HITMAN - $13.2M ($21.1M total)
5. BEE MOVIE - $11.8M ($111.9M total)
6. FRED CLAUS - $10.6M ($52.9M total)
7. AUGUST RUSH - $9.4M ($13.2M total)
8. AMERICAN GANGSTER - $9M ($115.6M total)
9. THE MIST - $8.9M ($12.9M total)
10. MR. MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUM - $7.9M ($22.2M total)

“Most Extreme Challenge” is a “game show,” hosted by Vic Romano and Kenny Blankenship, in which two or three teams of contestants compete in several turn-based and head-to-head challenges. While some matchups, such as Democrats vs. Republicans vs. Third Party, have a real life meaning, most of them, such as Inventors vs. Ex-Child Actors, and Malcontents vs. baked goods do not.

Win a copy of Volume 3 of “Most Extreme Challenge” (known as “Takeshi’s Castle” in its native Japan), by correctly answering the question below via the e-mail address below. Multiple entries will be disqualified, and all entries must be received by 11:59pm on Monday, November 26th. Winners will be selected at random from all correct entries. And the question is…

Johnny Knoxville starred in what extreme MTV show from 2000-2002?

E-mail your answer to RNewton (at) PagioInc.com, with the subject head “Contest” no later than 11:59pm EST on Monday, November 26th.