Cinema 16:9
35 N. Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, PA
‎4:00‎ ‎6:00pm‎

The Great Liberation follows an old lama and his novice monk as they guide a Himalayan villager into the afterlife using readings from The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The souls 49-day journey towards rebirth is envisioned through actual photography of rarely seen Buddhist rituals, interwoven with groundbreaking animation by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Ishu Patel. This is just part 1 of 5. To see more click here.

This video chronicles the life and times of the noted African-American historian, scholar and Pan-African activist John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998). *

Both a biography of Clarke himself and an overview of 5,000 years of African history, the film offers a provocative look at the past through the eyes of a leading proponent of an Afrocentric view of history. *

From ancient Egypt and Africaâs other great empires, Clarke moves through Mediterranean borrowings, the Atlantic slave trade, European colonization, the development of the Pan-African movement, and present-day African-American history. *

“Powerful people will never educate powerless people on what it means to take the power away from them. The aim of powerful people is to stay powerful by any means necessary.” *

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Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond as a modern re-imagining of early silent film, LOUIS is an homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin, beautiful women and the birth of American music. The grand Storyville bordellos, alleys and cemeteries of 1907 New Orleans provide a backdrop of lust, blood and magic for 6 year old Louis (Anthony Coleman) as he navigates the colorful intricacies of life in the city. Young Louis’s dreams of playing the trumpet are interrupted by a chance meeting with a beautiful and vulnerable girl named Grace (Lowry) and her baby, Jasmine. Haley, in a performance reminiscent of the great comic stars of the silent screen, plays the evil Judge Perry who is determined not to let Jasmine’s true heritage derail his candidacy for governor.

The world premiere of “Louis” will take place this Wednesday night at the Symphony Center. What will make the night truly special is that the accompanying music will be performed by Wynton Marsalis and a ten-piece jazz band.

Marsalis composed much of the music himself; the nine-time Grammy winner will also lead the band in compositions by jazz legends like Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton. Pianist Cecile Licad will bring a classical flavor to the night, playing selections from Brahms, Chopin and others to add to the film’s soundtrack.

For more info go to http://louisthemovie.com

Across the street from Capitol Records’ tower, outside the Avalon Hollywood club, a line of green autos included the Tesla, Prius and luxury Audi A3 TDI from LA Car Guy, the biggest green car dealer in the US. GM also displayed its Chevy Volt as celebrity guests arrived in a variety of hybrids for Global Green’s 7th annual Pre-Oscar bash last night, raising awareness for climate change solutions. Strolling down the lead-free green carpet, eco-minded stars shared stories, such as the set of Valentine’s Day had solar powered trailers and no bottled water. Suzy Amis Cameron, wife of Avatar’s director, unveiled her “green” Oscar gown , Leonardo DiCaprio snuck in and surprise guests took the stage for a jam session.
The head of Global Green USA, Matt Peterson, spoke of the changes over the years that he has run the organization with its all-encompassing efforts from affordable green housing to green schools. In 2010, the theme for the evening’s fundraiser was Greener Cities for a Cooler Planet. “It’s a broader perspective this year. When we started the green carpet campaign seven years ago, we managed to squeeze stars like Cameron Diaz and their gowns into the small first-generation Prius. Harrison Ford, Calista Flockhart, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins were real pioneers.”

“The good news now there’s more coverage than ever before. The movement doesn’t need celebrities to get attention.” But he looks ahead with “calculated optimism.” There’s a lot of great stuff going on but its still challenging.” Hollywood won’t change environmental policy, he admits, “Though this year Avatar has a strong environmental message.” Attitudes have shifted, he says, as evidenced by the Cocktail Party Test: “When I’d mention I worked with an environmental organization it used to be a tune-out, but now people are really interested and ask questions. That’s a big difference.”

The only comedian who isn’t a veteran SNL regular is Jim Carrey who appears as Ronald Reagan. He takes the place of “SNL” funny-man, Phil Hartman, who typically played Reagan on the show. Hartman died in 1998.

Of course, there’s a reason behind this video and it’s not just a reunion of SNL cast members. Directed by Ron Howard, the video is made in association with Americans for Financial Reform, a pro-regulation coalition of labor and consumer activists.

Watch It @ FunnyOrDie.com

By DAVID GERMAIN (AP)

LOS ANGELES — It’s the end of the world as we know it, and Hollywood feels fine.
Global warming, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing terrorist threats and the economic meltdown have people in a gloomy, even end-of-days frame of mind. Filmmakers are tapping into worries about humanity’s future with apocalyptic sagas such as “2012,” “The Road” and “The Book of Eli,” along with documentaries about environmental or economic doom.
End-of-the-world stories have been a cinema subgenre since the early Cold War days with such nuclear-war movies as “On the Beach,” “Fail-Safe” and “Dr. Strangelove.” The advent of environmentalism and overpopulation concerns resulted in another wave of films depicting bleak futures, among them “Soylent Green,” “Silent Running” and “The Omega Man.”

“We always need a boogeyman, we always need the end of the world,” said Terry Gilliam, whose films include 1995′s “Twelve Monkeys,” about a world where plague has wiped out most of humanity. “I think it’s the problem of being in a Christian society. It’s based on it. If you don’t have the end of the world, you don’t get heaven and eternity.”
On the heels of Al Gore’s global-warming alarm “An Inconvenient Truth,” doomsday is an especially fertile subject today, and current tales of the apocalypse take many forms:
_ Plagues of vampires with Ethan Hawke’s upcoming “Daybreakers” and zombies with the horror comedy “Zombieland” and “George Romero’s Survival of the Dead.”
_ Economic calamity with the documentary “Collapse,” a portrait of a pessimist convinced industrial civilization is poised to crumble.
_ Environmental catastrophe with the part-fiction, part-fact “The Age of Stupid,” about a mid-21st century archivist looking back on our times from a world ravaged by global warming.
_ Devastating warfare between humans and machines with the sci-fi sequel “Terminator Salvation” and the animated adventure “9.”
“The big difference now is it’s multiple things,” said John Hillcoat, director of “The Road,” opening Nov. 25 and starring Viggo Mortensen in an adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel about a father and son trekking across a decimated America.
The Cold War “was all about Russia and America and the nuclear threat, but now it’s on so many levels. The environment, there’s still the nuclear threat in a way that’s more viable with rogue terrorists, and there’s kind of the economic thing,” Hillcoat said. “Also a decade I think of the Bush administration is enough for anyone to seriously contemplate it on a daily basis.”
Denzel Washington’s “The Book of Eli,” opening Jan. 15, also is a post-apocalyptic road trip across America. He plays a warrior-prophet traveling the land as keeper of knowledge that can save humanity.
In theaters Friday, “2012″ is the latest disaster story from director Roland Emmerich, this one taking the devastation even beyond what he depicted in the alien-invasion tale “Independence Day” or the global-warming saga “The Day After Tomorrow.”
Pretty much all of us would be condemned to a nasty death in the scenario laid out in “2012″ — the Earth’s crust shifting and tumbling into the oceans after solar neutrinos heat up the planet’s core. Yet the filmmakers also see it as a fresh start of sorts, at least for a few lucky survivors.
“The disaster on our film, I see it as a backdrop of a much bigger story, which is a new beginning, not the end,” said “2012″ producer and composer Harald Kloser, who co-wrote the screenplay with Emmerich. “How do you handle a new beginning after a disaster of this magnitude?”
The answer is to build giant arks complete with a Noah-style menagerie of wildlife and loaded with the best of our artworks and the best — or at least, the richest — of humanity to carry on the species.
John Cusack, who leads the “2012″ cast as a writer struggling to find room on the arks for his family, said another hopeful aspect the movie depicts is governments leaving behind ideology to work together on saving what they can of humanity.
“Cutting through all the kind of petty divisions. No more China, Russia, United States. Jew, Palestinian, Christian, Muslim,” Cusack said. “It’s just people.”
“The Road” presents an unspecified disaster that has caused an entire collapse of civilization, the landscape scorched and barren, handfuls of survivors scrabbling for food and water.
Mortensen represents the Everyman best of us, a man with nothing left to hope for who nevertheless tries to instill virtue and goodness in his young son.
The film also shows the worst of humankind, packs of roving brutes resorting to savagery and cannibalism.
“Most people like to think that they’re decent, but I think it’s one of those situations that you really don’t know until it happens,” said Mortensen, who is hopeful that the nightmare vision of “The Road” will never come true. “I think essentially that people are good and resourceful everywhere in the world, not just in America. I tend to think it’s going to be all right.”
Whatever our fate, Hollywood can give audiences a taste of doomsday, then cut them loose to return to their lives.
“In disaster movies,” Cusack said, “you can get that without having to pay the price of a real disaster.”

AT&T has leapt into the texting-while-driving debate, launching a campaign to educate the public about the danger.
“Texting has increasingly become the way to communicate for many people, and the urge to quickly read and respond – even while driving – can be tempting,” said Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. “Our goal is to send a simple, yet vital, message to all wireless users: don’t text and drive.”
The campaign has a number of elements. First, like Caesar’s wife, AT&T staff are expected to be above reproach – although with nearly 290,000 employees, there’s surely a PR disaster waiting to happen.
The company is also going to label its handsets ‘don’t text and drive’, and stick the message into its catalogs, in-store signs and bills.

It plans to produce a series of public service announcements – some with high-profile spokespersons, it says proudly – and aimed at a variety of audiences including parents and teens. It will also create an online resource center for downloadable tools and tips for parents and teachers.
Presumably it will stop short of sending out text alerts on the topic.