Our first film on our Top 25 Halloween Outdoor Movies is Tim Burton’s celebrated animation, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.  The film was initially conceived as a poem by Burton while he was working for Disney in the 1980′s, but wasn’t considered for a major motion picture until almost ten years later.  Burton is acclaimed by both critics and the public alike, and this past year had his retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York Ciy.  His work can be appreciated for its filmic and artistic qualities – which makes The Nightmare Before Christmas the perfect selection for your Halloween Party outdoor movie!  Here is the theatrical release trailer for the film:

The Nightmare Before Christmas is set in Halloween Town, the magical place where Halloween is planned and undertaken. Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), is the pumpkin king and leader of the town, and is frustrated with Halloween.  He solemnly wonders what the point of it all is, and goes on a walk with his ghost dog Zero (that has a lighted pumpkin nose).  He discovers some doors that lead to the magical worlds of other holidays where he discovers Christmas!  Jack is totally taken away, and desires to bring the spirit of Christmas to Halloween Town.

However, when Jack gets home and tries to explain Christmas to his people, he isn’t able to give them the essence of the holiday.  Jack sets out to capture the Christmas spirit, and eventually to steal Christmas from Christmas Town!  Through the production of scary presents, the kidnapping of Santa Claus, and the staging of a new Christmas, Jack and his townspeople wreak havoc upon a world used to a certain way of doing things.  The Nightmare Before Christmas is a fun musical stop-motion animation about community, desires that are common to all of us, and true love. The film is a perfect pick for the entire family, or for your entire community! It will no-doubt entertain the children in your community, but it will also fascinate parents and individuals of any age!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a great choice for your Halloween Party or Fall community Outdoor Movie! You could invite your community to come dressed in their costumes, and invite them to sing-along with Jack and his friends! Another great opportunity would be to have a haunted-house for children (not too scary of course), and Halloween themed concessions and classic games. Your event will certainly be the place to go this Halloween, and at the centerpiece of the evening will be a movie loved by all- The Nightmare Before Christmas!

If anyone is planning on screening The Nightmare Before Christmas at your Halloween event this year, please send us your images, or post them to the comments section below.  We’d really love to see how your event turned out!  Happy haunting!

At 44 1/2, Creative Time’s presentation of video art on MTV’s outdoor, gilded screen located in the heart of New York City’s Times Square, will showcase the work of legendary artist Bruce Conner (1933-2008) in a mini-retrospective from February 1-28, 2010. Bruce Conner has influenced generations of artists, and his oeuvre spans more than 50 years. Creative Time will present three of his film works At 44 1/2 from the early years of his output to the year of his death: TEN SECOND FILM (1965), CROSSROADS (1976), and EASTER MORNING (2008). “For years we have dreamt of showing the films of Bruce Conner,” said Anne Pasternak, president and artistic director of Creative Time, “an artist who has been enormously influential to so many other artists and whose videos have done so much to shape video art, independent film, and music videos as we know it. And what could be a more interesting place to show a short survey of his emotionally charged and visually stunning works than in the heart of popular culture, Times Square?” TEN SECOND FILM 1965, 16mm, b&w/silent, 10 seconds Bruce Conner’s TEN SECOND FILM was commissioned by the 1965 New York Film Festival, and Conner intended for it to act as a television commercial and a prelude for the film programs in the theater. It is comprised of just ten film strips, each 24 frames long, of “countdown leader”—the universal cinematic signifier that announces the imminent start of a film, causing a hush to fall across the audience as it tics off the final, suspenseful seconds. With his agile re-editing, Conner manages to heighten the energy and exhilaration of this now-obsolete convention. This fervency was lost on the festival, however, which rejected the film for being “too fast.” It seems only fitting that TEN SECOND FILM ushers in this series of Conner’s work, shown on a screen of cinematic proportions amongst the breakneck speed of Times Square. CROSSROADS 1976, 35mm, b&w/sound, 36 minutes Original music by Patrick Gleeson and Terry Riley On July 25, 1946, “Operation Crossroads” detonated Baker, the first underwater atomic bomb test, 90 feet under Bikini Atoll. The bomb forever altered the course of human events and it yielded a horrific vision of the apocalypse documented by 500 cameras on ships, on land, and in the air. Conner’s editing and composition of 27 individual shots from declassified U.S. Government footage of this event from the National Archives transforms nuclear holocaust into hypnotic abstraction, rendering a real-world tragedy amidst the corporate pitch of Times Square. EASTER MORNING 2008, 8mm/Digital, color/sound, 10 minutes Music: “In C” by Terry Riley Departing from an inimitable film repertoire of tour-de-force editing technique, visual comedy, and apocalyptic themes, avant-garde master Bruce Conner envisioned EASTER MORNING (2008)—a metaphysical quest for renewal beyond the natural and ephemeral worlds—to be his last finished masterpiece. Keeping with his ritualistic reworking and re- imagining of his films, the image source originates from the 8mm Kodachrome footage of EASTER MORNING RAGA (1966), expanded in duration, gauge, and frame rate to devise an effect of visual transcendence. EASTER MORNING celebrates Conner’s reverence for experiential cinema, aleatoric sound, and discoveries within the realm of the spirit. EASTER MORNING will be screened At 44 1/2 concurrently in a solo show of Conner’s work at Susan Inglett Gallery, NY, opening January 28. Creative Time kicked off At 44 1/2 with the overwhelmingly successful presentation of Shallow by Malcolm McLaren in June 2008, and was followed by selections from Mark Tribe’s Port Huron Project; early work by the legendary Gilbert & George; a series curated by artist Marilyn Minter; the work of acclaimed artist Steve McQueen; and two series by young artists. The larger than life, high definition 44 1/2 screen is located on Broadway between 44th and 45th Streets, directly across the street from MTV’s offices and studio. At 44 1/2 is part of Creative Time’s long history of presenting public art in Times Square. Bruce Conner (1933-2008) was born in Kansas but spent most of his active career in San Francisco, California. Conner worked in multiple mediums and often combined collage, prints, tapestries, and film in a single piece. He was one of the first to fuse popular music and video and collaborated in his later career with several musicians including Terry Riley and David Byrne. He often incorporated found footage into his films as a way of dealing with media and its effects on culture and society as a subject.

source-http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=35782

Netflix announced that it will treat America to a free and commercially uninterrupted online screening of the newly restored 1939 classic, “The Wizard of Oz,” on Saturday, October 3, 2009. The film, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year and to be reissued later this month by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group, can be instantly streamed for free for 24 hours, from 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, October 3 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern the following day, by visiting www.netflix.com/wizardofoz.

While anyone in America can instantly watch “The Wizard of Oz” online on a computer on October 3, Netflix members on an unlimited plan will be able to instantly watch “The Wizard of Oz” in hi-definition on their TVs via a range of Netflix ready devices. Those devices include Netflix ready Blu-ray disc players and new Internet TVs from LG Electronics; Blu-ray disc players from Samsung; the Roku digital video player; Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console; and TiVo digital video recorders.

To celebrate the iconic film’s return to the spotlight, Netflix also announced it will host a free live concert and movie screening on Tuesday, September 29 in New York’s Central Park. The concert will feature contemporary interpretations of classic songs from the “The Wizard of Oz” by the Academy Award®-winning actress and Grammy® Award-winning singer Jennifer Hudson and two-time American Country Music® Award and two-time “Dancing with the Stars” winner Julianne Hough. The show is being directed by and will also feature The Roots’ Grammy Award-winning drummer and record producer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and a band assembled especially for the show. Following the concert, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield, the movie will be shown on a giant inflatable screen.

Earlier that day, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will issue the digitally re-mastered “The Wizard of Oz” on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand and Digital Download. And, to celebrate the film’s first time in the Blu-ray format, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group will issue “The Wizard of Oz 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition.” With six times higher resolution than standard DVD, along with the sonic excellence of Dolby TruHD, the film will be at its pristine best, marking an historic benchmark in the Blu-ray format. The limited and numbered “Ultimate Collector’s Editions” will feature 16 hours of bonus features, four hours of which have never been available before now. Every package will bear a silver label containing a specific numbered version; once these packages are sold out, they will never again be available to consumers. Instantly watching movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix has become an increasingly popular way for members to enjoy the service. With an unlimited membership, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and computers and can receive unlimited DVDs delivered quickly to their homes. Members can choose from over 17,000 movies and TV episodes that can be watched instantly and over 100,000 titles on DVD and a growing number on Blu-ray.

The instant streaming of “The Wizard of Oz” over the Internet on October 3 is being powered by Microsoft Silverlight™, a web browser plug-in that works with Windows and Mac operating systems, as well as all major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. Silverlight installs in less than 10 seconds for new users, without requiring a system restart. When viewers click the “Play” button, “The Wizard of Oz” will begin playing in as little as 30 seconds. Viewers will also have the option of fast-forwarding, rewinding and pausing the video stream.

“Making a movie of this stature available for free over the Internet on an uninterrupted basis is a first,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. “At the same time, it’s a great opportunity for people to get a taste of what instantly watching movies streamed from Netflix is all about. We’re thrilled to be able to do this on both scores.”

Warner Bros. Entertainment has for the past year been celebrating the 70th anniversary of this iconic film with a slate of spectacular festivities spanning the globe. Events included exhibitions of “The Ruby Slipper Collection,” consisting of 20 noted designers re-imagining Dorothy’s famous ruby slippers for modern times, as well as “The Inspirations of Oz” collection of fine art, featuring one-of-a-kind interpretive works by acclaimed artisans.

Source-http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Jennifer_Hudson_to_Headline_Free_Outdoor_Concert_and_Screening_of_

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