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Under discussion:

Caged  (1950)

Shadow: Dead Riot  (2005)

Yes, seriously. Those cheeky bastards at the Pioneer Theater here in New York are capitalizing on our apparently inexhaustible appetite for Paris' prison stint by programming a series of women-in-prison flicks throughout the summer. "See The Horrors Paris Hilton Saw!!!" promises the event's website.

So far two films have been programmed, with more apparently on the way. Caged, screening on July 14 and 16, stars Eleanor Parker as Marie, whose "harsh experiences turn her from doe-eyed innocent to hard-nosed con." Then, come back the following week for Shadow: Dead Riot. The trailer, embedded above, promises "cellblock vixens vs. a legion of carnal crazed zombies!" Nathan Lee, writing in the New York Times, blurbs Shadow as "obviously the greatest zombie flick ever set in an experimental women's prison."

I'm absolutely positive Paris would be able relate to such horrors, and so is the Pioneer. The website also promises that "two seats reserved at each screening for Paris Hilton, if she would like to join us - and perhaps hold a q&a after the screening."

Under discussion:

Sicko  (2007)

A Mighty Heart  (2007)

In the hopes of resuscitating box office loser A Mighty Heart, Paramount is trying something new. The idea is to cut down from over 1,300 screens, to about 600 - a "retroactive platform release" designed to spread word of mouth and keep the pic in theaters longer. The Variety story is of the "let's just keep the exec talking and count how many outside forces he manages to blame" variety. My favorite part is when Paramount blames John Cusack for stealing their older women quadrant with 1408.

"With no new wide releases scheduled to open Friday, the weekend dynamics already are in gear," writes Gregg Kilday at the Reporter. "[T]he three dominant holiday players [are] on track to extend their winning streaks."

Sicko will screen at the first Iran International Film Festival, but it's maker is not coming with. A Sicko rep claims that a "right-wing promoted" rumor Michael Moore would follow his film to Tehran is "an urban myth right up there with alligators in the sewers of New York City."

Writing at The Huffington Post, former SPY Magazine editor Tony Hendra notices that the poster for Michael Moore's Sicko looks an awful lot like a cover his ex-magazine ran fourteen years ago. Here's the side-by-side:

Hendra isn't mad about the alleged "theft", but he is concerned about what this little coincidence might mean for Sicko's potential to instigate change:

We all know how things turned out for Hill. It doesn't bode at all well that Mike chose exactly the same message. I hope I'm wrong. I hope to God Mike has more luck. I hope the HillBills make it back to the Big White House, or Obama-rama does and someone on the side of the angels and that, that proverbial rubber-clad digit is firmly inserted where only darkness dwells and the right people finally squeal like pigs.

Aside: this is the third piece I've read in the past week that uses the phrase "on the side of the angels" in connection with Moore (see here and here). I'm sure it's just another coincidence, but at what point is okay for me to cry sycophancy (no homonymic pun intended)?