Movies

Vintage movie posters at Atlanta International Airport

Art, Exhibits, Movies, ,

Movie fans: If you’re traveling to or through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) between April 23rd and May 23rd, make your way to the airport’s Atrium Gallery, where a collection of original, hand-painted, vintage movie posters featuring Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich and other stars will be on display.

“Atlanta’s famed Loew’s Grand Theater on Peachtree Street employed full-time artists to design and paint posters for the films shown there. Artists based their work — which they created in media such as oil, watercolors and chalk — on photo stills and publicity images from the movies.”

The posters come from the collection of Herb Bridges, a movie memorabilia collector who specializes in “Gone with the Wind” items and who worked as an usher at the Loew’s theater when he was a teenager.

Tidbits for travelers: lost luggage, found privacy, & contests

Air Travel, Airlines, Baggage, Contests, Lounges, Massages, Movies, , , , , , ,

A little bit of this ‘n that today.

Blackpool Suitcase

(No one is walking off with this bag!)

The story out of Phoenix about a couple who managed to steal more than 1,000 pieces of luggage from the baggage claim carousels at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is alarming, for sure.

But we shouldn’t be surprised.  While many airports have some sort of security in the bag claim area, the job of making sure passengers walk off with only their bags is the responsility of each airline. And in most airports, airlines haven’t been actively monitoring bag match-ups for years.

baggage

I’m working on a story about this for my column next week on MSNBC.com, and would love to hear from you if you have any first hand experience to share.

In the meantime, here are some other travel tidbits you might find useful:

Through November, the folks at 3M are once again hosting “privacy havens” at several busy airports around the country.

This year, you’ll find these quiet spots at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and in Terminal 8 at New York’s JFK International Airport. (Exact locations here).

On the busy days right before and after Thanksgiving, these “privacy havens” will also be offering free massages and free Wi-Fi.

And two sweepstakes you may want to enter:

Up in the air

To coincide with the new movie “Up in the Air,” with George Clooney, American Airlines is having an auction and a sweepstakes.  You’ll need to use AAdvantage miles to bid on travel, movie and “experience-” related items in the auction, but entering the contest, which has prizes that include a trip to Los Angeles and 260,000 AAdvantage miles, is free. You’ll just need to watch the trailer and then enter your details.  (Auction bids and sweepstakes entries must be in by Jan 5, 2010.)

And Hilton (which seems to have a part in the Up in the Air movie) is also having an Up in the Air sweepstakes.  You can enter by booking a Hilton stay, but if you’re not heading out on the road before January 18, 2010 you can enter for free by “sending your hand-printed name, address and phone number on 3” x 5” paper to Hilton “Up In The Air” Sweepstakes Alternate Entry, P.O. Box 8600, Westport, CT 06888”

Good luck!

From Air France: photo contest and in-flight film festival

Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Movies,

During May, the Air France in-flight entertainment system (my favorite channel: language lessons) is showing films chosen as past winners of the Cannes Film Festival.

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Through August 15th, 2009, the airline is also having a photography competition and is asking people to send in photographs on the theme “Air France livery: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow“.

I know the contest is open to everyone, but I can’t tell you much more than that because so far I’ve only found instructions written in French. I can tell you, though, that the top prize is a Breitling watch worth €3,800 (about US $5,100) and that other prizes include Air France flights and Airbus A380 simulator experiences.

Let’s all go to the movies

Festivals, Movies,

It would be great if we could watch movies – cartoons, short subjects, mini-docs, etc. – at the airport.  For free (of course).  Given how long we all spend at airports these days, there’s often time to watch full-length features as well.

Instead, we often watch films in-flight.  And as I wrote here a while back, Delta Air Lines is joining with the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and showing five short films that have been chose as finalists in the airline’s Fly-In Movies competition. The videos weren’t up yet when I first wrote about, but now they are.  You can watch the films on-board or on-line and vote on your favorite by April 12.

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Future Academy Award-winners on Delta?

Contests, Movies

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Have a little Oscar fever?

Then check out the possible Academy Award-winners of the future on an airplane – or on-line – courtesy of Delta’s Fly-In Movies.

Five short film finalists were selected by programmers of the upcoming 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and will be shown, for free, from March 1 through April 12 on Delta Air Lines flights with personal, seatback in-flight entertainment systems (Delta on Demand).

film-reel

Not flying anywhere between March 1 and April 12?

The films will also be on-line.

You can even vote your favorite film.

The five films include:

* “Cold Calls” by Jack Daniel Stanley: In this 80’s spoof, a woman receives increasingly bizarre phone solicitations from an obsessive telemarketer.
* “Eight Percent” by Alexander Poe: Two high school exes meet up ten years later on an awkward date.
* “Gerald’s Last Day” by Justin Rasch and Shel Rasch: Gerald the dog has been scheduled for his termination by the dog pound at 5 p.m. Can he seduce a potential adopter before his time runs out?
* “The Green Film” by Andrew Williamson: It’s not easy being green-especially when you’re a filmmaker. So how do you make the greenest movie of all time? Watch and learn.
* “Locks” by Ryan Coogler: Dante wears his hair in dreadlocks. When he goes to the local barbershop, we see into his heartbreaking home life and learn how big his heart is.

(Pink) panther spotted at Atlanta airport

Movies

Yup, that WAS a pink panther at the airport.

atl-pink-pantherTravelers no doubt did a double-take this afternoon when they spotted a pink-panther in the atrium at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) this afternoon.

But never fear: it was just a promotion for The Pink Panther 2, the sequel to the movie that starred Steve Martin as the bumbling French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

More ways to see movies at the airport

Movies, ,

Not only has redbox (see below) begun serving airports, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports that Atlanta-based Flexplay Entertainment has teamed up with Hudson News Co. to offer “time-limited” DVD rentals at airports throughout North America.

Beginning in September, Hudson news stands and Hudson Booksellers at many airports will begin selling DVDs that, once removed from their packaging, become un-viewable after 48 hours.

Airport movie rentals go red

Movies

For a while now, the folks at InMotion Entertainment have been renting DVDs and portable DVD players at about 30 airports around the country. Travelers can pick up a player and a movie in one city and drop everything off at their destination. If there’s no InMotion outlet where they’re going, everything can be dropped in the mail.

Now comes word that redbox – an outfit that rents DVDs for $1 a night out of automated red boxes in 9,000 grocery stores, McDonalds, and other locations around the country – is expanding to airports.

The first redbox airport location is at Nashville International Airport (BNA). There’s one kiosk pre-security and another located past security screening.

Bonus: Join the redbox mailing list and you’ll get one free redbox DVD rental.

Films, fashion and flying

Events, Fashion, Movies

The Cannes Film Festival runs through May 25th and Air France, the festival’s official air carrier, has posted intriguing new film-related material on a special site.

Poke around and you’ll find excerpts from films “starring” Air France as well as a gallery of photos showing actors and actresses such as Audrey Hepburn, Buster Keaton and Sean Connery posing on Air France planes.

My favorite section of the site: the virtual paper flight attendant doll with mix-and-match designer outfits. (You’ll need to click through a bit; stay to the right.)

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