“Movie, music coming to downtown Easley - Greenville News” plus 4 more

Movie, music coming to downtown Easley - Greenville News
Smashing Premiere of Road, Movie at Toronto - New Kerala
Movie Review: Love Happens - Maine Campus
Purefoy Collects Movie Swords - femalefirst.co.uk
Curtain comes down on Movie Merchants - Sonoma Index Tribune

Movie, music coming to downtown Easley - Greenville News

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 11:01 PM PDT

Easley will have a taste of something familiar and of something new over the next few Saturdays.

On Saturday the downtown will be home to a Movie on the Market starting just after 7 p.m. in Old Market Square, according to Scott Buckhiester, vice president of operations for DunBurks Premier Events, which manages the citys events.

Four local, amateur bands will compete for a cash prize in a two-day Battle of the Bands, 7 to 10 p.m., Oct. 3 and 10, Buckhiester said. The free event will be held either in Old Market Square or on Main Street Oct. 3, and in the square on Oct. 10, he said.

The four bands will perform both evenings, and the audiences will vote by ballot to determine the winner.

We have a wonderful place here in downtown, and it is just a very family-friendly, wonderful community atmosphere, he said.

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Smashing Premiere of Road, Movie at Toronto - New Kerala

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 11:08 PM PDT

The Indian Films- Studio 18 presented Road, Movie had a grand premiere at Toronto's historic and cavernous Winter Garden Theatre on September 18.

The Dev Benegal-directed drama, the only Indian feature to be invited as a special presentation at the recently concluded Toronto International Film Festival, was incredibly received by the media and audience alike, culminating in a standing ovation from a diverse audience.

Abhay Deol, acclaimed Brick Lane actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik, production designer Anne Siebel, cinematographer Michel Amathieu, editor Yaniv Dabach, costume designer Amba Sanyal, producer Susan B. Landau, co-producers Fred Berger and Sopan Muller, director Dev Benegal, presenters Sandeep Bhargava and Vandana Malik, and senior officials from the international operations team of Studio 18 emerged from the jet black limos that rolled outside the illuminated venue.

After the movies pre-screening introduction by festival co-director Cameron Bailey, Benegal introduced his cast and crew saying, Making the film was a delightful discovery of sorts celebrating life for all of us.

"I am extremely honored at the selection and to have found a place among the best of world cinema," added Benegal. The festival has been really kind to me in the past as well.

Elaborating on the film, he explained, "From early childhood, we would go on these long drives and visit different parts of the country, both North and South (because my mother is from the North and my dad from the South) that is something, which has stayed with me- something I obviously wanted to make a movie about. Road, Movie is really about my journey."

Several pre-screening activities by the producers, including celebrity parties, media interactions and giveaway contests around Road, Movie, created a weeklong buzz in the festival circuit, enabling the premiere to be sold out days in advance. Studio 18's after-screening party held at a plush vodka bar was a smash success, attended by leading society and media figures from Toronto city.

Road, Movie tells the story of Vishnu, a restless young man, who rejects his father's faltering hair oil business and hits the road with a travelling cinema. Colorful and full of unforgettable characters, the film celebrates India's open road and the pure love of movies.

In a bid to augment the curiosity around the film, the producers abstained from revealing the film in public domain, and unveiled its first look and website just days before the premiere.

At The Atelier, Cannes 2006, the script of Road, Movie was an official selection, and at Cannes 2009, Indian Films-Studio 18 inked a major deal with global sales giant, Fortissimo Films, to represent Road, Movie internationally, the latter's first Indian take-up.

--SAMPURN

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Movie Review: Love Happens - Maine Campus

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 09:35 PM PDT

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"Love Happens," but successful romantic comedies rarely do. This film doesn't join those ranks. Rather than delighting an undemanding audience and setting comforting but unrealistic expectations of love, it walks the line between melodrama and outright sappiness. In what could have been a marginal success, "Love Happens" strays from the cliché of boy-meets-girl with disappointing results.

Aaron Eckhart plays Burke Ryan, a successful motivational speaker whose "A-OK" books and DVDs have garnered him an adoring fan base. The irony here is that while doling out advice for the masses, he abandoned his own troublesome life. A dark secret threatens to shatter his fragile façade and ruin his career. Enter Eloise (Jennifer Aniston), a florist whose own life could use a little patching up. With her own form of baggage and a cynical outlook on romance, she is hesitant to give in to Burke's kindness.

Aside from a few factors, the plot of "Love Happens" appears to be the simple formula for a romantic comedy. But rather than taking the usual route, this film veers off course into a subplot that has little to do with its lovebirds. While this somewhat strained emotional turn isn't an all-out failure, it seems misplaced here.

Just when the sad sack characters seem to be turning their lives around and getting somewhere, another syrupy layer of forced drama is poured on. An overt but well-intentioned metaphor did little to save the movie's contrived direction.

Martin Sheen, Dan Fogler and Judy Greer in supporting roles add a few moments of reprieve from the dismal game that Burke and Eloise are playing. Their somewhat laugh-worthy lines keep the movie from being utterly depressing.

"Love Happens" could have been a refreshing change from typical rom-coms, but instead it tore relentlessly at heartstrings with no resolve. Yet in true Hollywood form, the audience is rewarded with a happy ending. Sorry to spoil it.

Unless spending two hours trying to figure out where a chemistry-less romance is heading sounds fun, skip this hollow attempt at cinematic creativity.

Grade: C-

Movie review: "Blades of Glory" (April 12, 2007)
Movie review (October 23, 2006)
Movie review: "Dreamgirls" (February 1, 2007)
Movie review: "Babel" (November 13, 2006)
Movie review: "TMNT" (March 26, 2007)

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009, 12:24 am and is filed under style & Culture. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.

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Purefoy Collects Movie Swords - femalefirst.co.uk

Posted: 20 Sep 2009 10:25 PM PDT

Today 06:30

British movie star James Purefoy loves signing up for swordfighting epics- because it's a cheap way of updating his impressive blade collection.

The Resident Evil star always insists on keeping the swords his characters have wielded in projects like A Knight's Tale, Rome, Don Quixote and George and The Dragon and he's built up a cache of weapons.

My favorite is the one from Solomon Kane because those were the best fights with opponents of the highest rate you could possibly imagine

He tells Wenn, "I keep them all in the hall of my house just in case I have to face any marauding west London invaders! "I don't think they're worth much, maybe three or four pounds! I have one from George and The Dragon, one from Solomon Kane, Don Quixote, Lancelot and I'm about to do another sword movie (Ironclad), so I'll have one from that one as well.

"My favorite is the one from Solomon Kane because those were the best fights with opponents of the highest rate you could possibly imagine. I would like an action figure to be made from this movie. I'm very proud of it".