• Joe Brooks (?-2007) - Actor best known as the character Vanderbilt on TV's F-Troop; he also played a guy dressed as Santa Claus in Gremlins, an umpire in The Bad News Bears, a carnival townsman in East of Eden and one of Peter Falk's "hoods" in the Rat Pack's Robin and the 7 Hoods. He also performed stunts in Vanishing Point. He died December 5 in Southern California. (F-Troop.net)

• Sam Cassel (c.1979-2007) - Vice president at Scott Rudin Productions (No Country for Old Men; The Darjeeling Limited). He and Rhiannon Meier (see below) were killed by a drunk driver December 8, in Los Angeles. (Variety)
• Eleonora Rossi Drago (1925-2007) - Italian actress who starred in Antonioni's Le Amiche (The Girlfriends), John Huston's The Bible: In the Beginning ... , Massimo Dallamo's Dorian Gray, the anthology film Love at 20, and 1960's David and Goliath, which also starred Orson Welles. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage December 2, in Palermo, Sicily. (Guardian)
• Ion Fiscuteanu (1937-2007) - Romanian actor (pictured) who received worldwide exposure as the titular star of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. He died December 8 in Bucharest. (NY Times)
• Peter Haas (1956-2007) - Publicist for Dances with Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Serial Mom, Cutthroat Island, Problem Child 2 and Hoffa. He died November 25. (Voy.com)
• Elizabeth Hardwick (1916-2007) - Literary critic and novelist who co-founded the New York Review of Books; she appears in the 1979 Pennebaker/Hegedus documentary Town Bloody Hall. She died December 2 in New York City. (NY Times)

I'm not sure which I like least: newspaper ink, which gets all over my hands and clothes; or scented perfume and cologne ads, which always manage to open and cover me in their aromas (it's no wonder the internet is doing better than print media!). However, I do know that I will like a certain new innovation, which combines the two annoyances, even less. According to ComingSoon.net, Fox Walden is printing a new kind of ad in the September 9th issue of the L.A. Times that features scented ink. The ad, for Zach Helm's family fantasy film, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, will have designated areas printed in a soy-based ink that, when scratched, emits the smell of frosted cake. Fox Walden chose the specific scent because it should "remind consumers of all ages to be young and have fun."

But what does frosted cake -- or even scented ads in general -- have to do with Mr. Magorium? The movie is about a toy store, not a bakery. Well, I see it as being just another similarity to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, which featured scratch-and-taste stickers of fruits (in the movie, not in its ads). Actually, this new marketing idea would have fit much better with the recent remake, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The plot of Magorium is almost completely modeled on that film -- with a little of Barry Levinson's Toys thrown in for a change of product. Dustin Hoffman plays the title character, a quirky toy-store owner who is searching for a successor to run the magical place. There's no contest or grand-prize tour of the joint -- Magorium's replacement choice is only between his accountant (Jason Bateman) or his store manager (Natalie Portman) -- but the likeness is still obvious. If you aren't as grossed out by the annoying tactic as I, you can check the ad out in Sunday's Fall Movie Sneaks section of the paper.

Well, this is weird. For the bulk of my 30+ years on this planet, there's been no such thing as a "televised horror awards" presentation, and now, not 15 minutes removed from geeking out over the newly-announced Fangoria Chainsaw Awards nominations -- I come across the Spike TV Scream Awards nominations! Cool!

Now, with all due respect to Spike TV and their cool new concept, I gotta say the Fango Chainsaw noms are just a little bit cooler. But hey, there's no law that says the horror freaks can't hang their hat on TWO new awards presentations. Frankly I think we could use a few more enthusiastic celebrations of juicy genre filmmaking.

Anyway, the Screams seem to run a lot like the Chainsaws do: Check out all the categories and nominees (after the jump) and then head on over to SpikeTV.com and cast your own votes! This is particularly amusing for the horror nuts -- because we're nothing if not passionately opinionated on which horror flicks rock and which ones suck the proverbial egg. Spike TV broadcasts their Scream Awards on the evening of October 10th.

With the release of Little Man, I was shocked to find no protests from little people. Is this movie not the worst representation of dwarfs in decades? Though I'm not sure if the actors playing Marlon Wayans' body are actual little people, it must be insulting that a real little person isn't playing the "vertically-challenged" character. Wasn't it bad enough that The Lord of the Rings trilogy didn't use dwarfs as hobbits? Basically Little Man backtracks the portrayal of little people and makes them out to be freaks once again.

So, I'd like to take this opportunity to salute the little people in movies. They are in fact all over the big screen, mostly as stand-ins and stunt-doubles for children, but once in awhile they are really celebrated with prominent roles. These roles have decreased, though, since CGI replaced many creature characters so we have fewer little people dressed as Ewoks, robots and other sci-fi/fantasy inventions. I chose seven films I think are quite significant in the showcasing of individual little people. I've deliberately left out Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on account it obviously doesn't use actual little people, and I've also omitted The Wizard of Oz since there are no real standouts, only a lot of dressed-up extras.

AMC Theatres is continuing its lead in exhibitor promotions by giving out more free movies this summer. Perhaps you remember last summer when the cinema chain offered a money-back guarantee for Cinderella Man. Then last month it gave out free Akeelah and the Bee tickets to teachers. This time, the deal includes 12 different movies, is open to anyone and goes through the season.

In select cities (listed after the jump), G- and PG-rated films will be shown for free on Wednesday mornings. The films are not new, of course, but they are all popular family fare that are undeniably good deals. They include Shark Tale, Shrek, Shrek 2, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Racing Stripes, Because of Winn-Dixie, Ice Age, Dreamer, Madagascar, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, March of the Penguins, and, the movie I will go see free any time, Wallace and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit. In addition, The Cartoon Network is producing the pre-show entertainment, which will include bonus cartoon shorts.

It doesn't get any better than free movies, and the only catch is that the program's sponsors will likely be showing commercials during the pre-show. Like that is any different than when we pay, right? AMC's plan is brilliant, especially if they have their concession stands open at 9am. Since the movies aren't first-run, the theatres don't have to pay a lot to the studios to show them. In fact, the program's sponsors might be paying for the titles by themselves. And as packed as any of these shows is likely to be, seeing as they're free, they should be guaranteed to sell out on any rainy wednesday morning. If they sell popcorn to a good percentage of the audience, AMC will be making a ton of money (If they would sell better popcorn, they'd get some of the money from me, as well).

Chicago Reader's Jonathon Rosenbaum has his list of top 10, er, 15 films (counting ties) out, and tops on his list was one of my own fave films of the year, Jia Zhangke's The World. Rosenbaum loves The World so much, in fact, that not only is it his top pick for 2005, he also thinks it beats out his top picks for 2004 and 2003. Wow.

Also on Rosenbaum's list are a couple films I haven't seen but now want to, including his number two pick, Not on the Lips, helmed by Alain Resnais, and Ten Skies, an experimental film I'll probably never get to see, because it only screened once at Chicago Filmmakers. Rosenbaum's list also includes Howl's Moving Castle, one of the best "childrens" films I've seen in a long time, which Rosenbaum places in a tie with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't put the latter on my own list of top films for 2005, in spite of it starring Johnny Depp, my secret movie star boyfriend, but hey, we don't have to agree on everything.

[ via GreenCine Daily ]