Studio Releases Post-Credits Ending of Captain America Online

As someone in my Twitter feed asked this evening of Yahoo! Movies and Marvel Entertainment, “Why would you post the final scene of a movie?” Answer: It’s only part of the post-credits sequence that ends Captain America, released in order to get audiences back into theaters to see the full Avengers-related final post-credits tease. But, still: Why ruin the ending of the movie you’re actually selling right now? [Watch the spoilery clip after the jump.] Yahoo! Movies posted the final scene of Captain America: The First Avenger today, in case you want to ruin it for yourself, if you haven’t already seen the film in theaters. The sequence is edited to only partially reveal the Avengers sneak peek included in theatrical screenings (and the scene is cut to leave out the very last line, if we’re splitting hairs). “Don’t miss a first look at The Avengers,” it reads, “only in theaters!” Will those extra seconds of Avengers footage entice moviegoers to spend $10 to see Captain America in the cinema, in a weekend packed with plenty of new competitors? Probably not; if you’ve got that much of a jones for a glimpse of the 2012 superhero team-up, you’ve likely already seen it by now. So, again: Why would any studio post the final scene of their movie — especially when, in contrast to the rollicking two hours that preceded it (IMO), the final scene felt strangely abrupt? [Yahoo! Movies]

Stone Proves Quick Study on 'The Help,' 'Spidey'

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Emma Stone has gone from layperson to expert on the two publishing sensations she's helping to bring to Hollywood this summer and next. Stone had not read Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" before auditioning for the lead role in the drama about a white woman who rocks the Deep South establishment by chronicling the hard lives of black maids in the early 1960s. And before earning the female lead in "The Amazing Spider-Man," Stone knew the Marvel Comics superhero mainly from Sam Raimi's three past big-screen "Spidey" adventures and glimpses of the web-slinger on memorabilia. "I knew Spidey from Halloween costumes and Band-Aids and erasers and pencils and notebooks," Stone, 22, said in an interview at last week's Comic-Con fan convention, where she and star Andrew Garfield joined the filmmakers to reveal footage of the 2012 summer blockbuster-in-waiting. "I knew that every little boy at school was obsessed with Spidey. I saw all the Sam Raimi movies, but I had not read the comics until I got involved. And now I'm a ridiculously enormous 'Spider-Man' fan. That's what happens. That character is one of the most incredible characters, I think, ever written, comic-book world or literary world. It's just such an inspirational character. I think that's probably the reason he's the president's favorite superhero." Stone has been on a steady rise in Hollywood, co-starring in 2007's teen romp "Superbad" and 2009's horror comedy "Zombieland," then charming audiences with her first big-screen lead in last year's "The Scarlet Letter" twist "Easy A." After supporting roles in back-to-back romantic comedies with last week's "Friends With Benefits" and this week's "Crazy Stupid Love," Stone's profile shoots higher with the Aug. 10 debut of "The Help," co-starring Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer. Stone recalled being as much a novice on "The Help" as she had been on "Spider-Man." She was about to meet with the filmmakers for the first time and happened to give her mom a call. "I've got a meeting tonight for 'The Help,'" Stone told her mother. "And she screamed so loud my eardrums burst. She said, 'You've got to read this book! You have to go and read this book right now!' My mother is, like, she fainted, she was so beside herself." "The Help" is expected to be a summer hit driven by the best-seller's female fans, a rarity in a season dominated by action tales and comedies aimed largely at young males. As Gwen Stacy, the romantic interest for Garfield's Peter Parker in next July's "Spider-Man" reboot, Stone will be in the thick of a fan-boy frenzy. Yet the fact that Peter's a skinny, bullied kid who leaps to hero status through the bite of a mutant spider makes him an idol for everyone, not just comic-book and action fans, Stone said. "Batman's great, but this isn't a rich guy building a suit. And Superman's great, but this isn't an untouchable guy like we've never seen before on this planet," Stone said. "This is someone you could go to school with and work with, that all of sudden, one day is able to fight off superhuman villains. It's pretty incredible. I get it now. I really do." Copyright 2011 Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 

Shakespeare's Globe Goes From Stage to Screen

Taking a play from stage to screen typically involves an adapted screenplay, new cast members, a film crew and set, countless hours of postproduction, and many other costly and involved factors. However, NCM Fathom and Arts Media Alliance's partnership with Shakespeare's Globe in London allows the Bard's plays to come alive in their original theatrical form in more than 275 movie theaters. The programming brings four Globe productions—"The Merry Wives of Windsor," "Henry IV Part 1," "Henry IV Part 2," and "Henry VIII"—to audiences who might not have the chance to travel to London to see a live production. "Merry Wives" aired in June, and the next segment, "Henry IV Part 1," will hit theaters Aug. 1. "We're very much aware that recorded live theater, although that's an oxymoron in itself, is increasingly going to become part of what every theater does," says Dominic Dromgoole, the Globe's artistic director. "And it's increasingly become part of how you reach out to new audiences." This programming serves to make local communities aware of nationally renowned institutions like the Globe, and it also works on the community level. "We're seeing a landscape where arts are really challenged," says Dan Diamond, vice president of NCM Fathom. "What this does is create a real opportunity to reignite that excitement about the arts in the local community." While some may argue recording live theater cheapens the experience, Dromgoole believes new technologies bring the opportunity to authentically capture a production's inherent theatricality while creating an essential historical record of Globe productions. Stage vs. Screen Shakespeare's Globe is a true-to-life reconstruction of the 1599 theater structure for which the Bard wrote many of his most famous plays. Diamond says the programming aims to create the "ultimate immersive experience for the performance itself." However, the Globe's historically accurate architecture and the intimate relationship with the audience the open-air structure fosters is one of the theater's main draws. Dromgoole says he was initially hesitant about broadcasting these productions to cinemas, because these are not Shakespeare's best-known works and the filming process could prove reductive to the theatrical form. However, the productions proved to be huge successes during their 2010 run at the Globe, and Dromgoole was amazed by what can be achieved with new technology. "You can hear the verse spoken as clearly if not slightly more clearly than you can in the theater," he says, still in awe. "We just found it rather exhilarating." The technology can be distracting at times for the performers on stage, however. Roger Allam, who plays the iconic Falstaff in "Henry IV" parts 1 and 2, says the cameras were initially disconcerting. "Sometimes it enters your head, 'Oh, this is going to be the one that survives of all the many performances,' " recalls Allam. "It's a little bit off-putting, but you get used to it. The main thing about the Globe is there's 700 people all standing right in front of you." These audience members, called groundlings in the Bard's day, pay only £5 for a ticket and stand under the open roof for the duration of the performance. "The audience has a very powerful effect on any given performance," says Dromgoole, adding that the audience plays a part in the filmed version as well. "You can always see the audience across the stage. There no pretense that's it's not in a theater. And that's quite thrilling in a cinema, to see something that's admitting its own theatricality." Performing at the Globe is an experience for the actor as well, thanks to the historical structure and the relationship to the audience. Allam relished the opportunity to play Falstaff, for which he won the Olivier Award, in the space because of his character's plentiful soliloquies and interplay with the crowd. "It's just rowdier and noisier and more kind of rambunctious, which gives you a taste of what it might have been like in Shakespeare's time," Allam says of performing at the Globe. "Playing a part like Falstaff is sort of perfect there because Falstaff never stops chatting to the audience. It's a glorious thing to play that part in that space." While performing for stage is much different from performing for film, Dromgoole says he made sure to encourage the actors not to think about the cameras and to keep the production true to the stage version. "If you want a record of those performances, you don't want a record of how they do them for camera," he says. "You want a record of how they do them in the theater." For the Record One of the Globe's long-term goals is to create a filmed version of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays. The theater is about to finish the cycle of producing the entire canon, with five to go. However, only about 10 productions have been filmed. "Whether they're good or bad, there's always going to be something definitive about them simply because this is the architecture that Shakespeare wrote for," Dromgoole argues. Shakespeare was writing the life of his era, arguably the goal of any playwright, and Dromgoole believes his plays relate to any society at any time. "They're always full of an infinity of parallels to everything that's going on in the modern world," Dromgoole says of Shakespeare's plays. "Because we're able to do the plays as themselves, rather than do them as a version of themselves, we're able to say they're about an enormous amount rather than about a specific thing." Movie theater audiences will get a better sense of the Globe's history and mission through a short featurette aired alongside the production. Diamond argues that these segments, which accompany many of NCM Fathom's programs, give audiences a more complete picture of the production and inspire some to contribute to the arts in their communities and maybe fly to London for a live production. And for those actors who are inspired to take up Shakespeare and maybe perform at the Globe one day, Allam shares a few words of wisdom. "Practice, learn the lines, work hard, don't be too respectful," Allam advises. "Sometimes we can get too hung up on the fact that the material of the play is very finely wrought language. The thing is, it's hugely enjoyable if you can get your head and tongue around it. It should be fun and we should have fun with it."

Taare Zameen Par

Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), the story's leading character, is an eight-year-old boy who dislikes school and fails every test or exam. He finds all subjects difficult, and is belittled by his teachers and classmates. But Ishaan's internal world is rich with wonders that he is unable to convey to others, magical lands filled with colour and animated animals. He is an artist whose talent is unrecognised.

Ishaan's father, Nandkishore Awasthi (Vipin Sharma), is a successful executive who expects his children to excel. His mother, housewife Maya Awasthi (Tisca Chopra), is frustrated by her inability to educate her son. Ishaan's elder brother, Yohaan (Sachet Engineer), is an exemplary scholar and athlete, which Ishaan is frequently reminded of.

After receiving a particularly poor academic report, Ishaan's parents send him to a boarding school. There he sinks into a state of fear and depression, despite being befriended by Rajan (Tanay Chheda), physically disabled and one of the top students in his class. Ishaan's situation changes when a new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), joins the school's faculty. An instructor at the Tulips School for young children with developmental disabilities, Nikumbh's teaching style is markedly different from that of his strict predecessor, and he quickly observes that Ishaan is unhappy and contributes little to class activities. He reviews Ishaan's work and concludes that his academic shortcomings are indicative of dyslexia. On his day off, Nikumbh visits Ishaan's parents and asks if he can see more of their son's work. He is stunned by the sophistication of one of Ishaan's paintings, and tells his parents that Ishaan is a bright child who processes information differently from other children in his class, but Ishaan's father is suspicious that the explanation is simply an excuse for his son's poor performance. Nikumbh demands that he read some Japanese text on a box and berates him when he cannot, giving him a glimpse into Ishaan's experience of school. Nikumbh describes dyslexia to them and explains that it is not a sign of low intelligence. He tells them he can provide extra tutoring that will help Ishaan, highlighting the boy's artistic ability evident in his many paintings and other creative works.

Nikumbh subsequently brings up the topic of dyslexia in class, and offers a list of famous people who are considered dyslexic. As the students are leaving the classroom, Nikumbh asks Ishaan to remain behind and reveals to him that he too experienced the same difficulties with dyslexia. Nikumbh then visits the school's principal and obtains his permission to become Ishaan's tutor. He attempts to improve Ishaan's reading and writing by using remedial techniques developed by dyslexia specialists; Ishaan soon develops an interest in language and mathematics, and his grades improve.

Towards the end of the school year Nikumbh organises an art fair for the staff and students. The competition is judged by artist Lalita Lajmi, who portrays herself in the film. Ishaan, with his strikingly creative style, is declared the winner and Nikumbh, who paints Ishaan's portrait, the runner-up. The principal announces that Nikumbh has been hired as the school's permanent art teacher. When Ishaan's parents meet his teachers on the last day of school they are left speechless by the transformation they see in him. Overcome with emotion, Ishaan's father thanks Nikumbh. As Ishaan is getting into the car to leave with his parents, he turns around and runs toward Nikumbh. The film ends with a freeze frame shot of Nikumbh tossing Ishaan into the air.