Posted: 28 Jan 2010 01:43 PM PST

Olivia Newton-John is set to co-star in a movie musical about Canada's favorite pastime.

The "Grease" and "Xanadu" star will play the mother of a teen hockey phenom in "Score: A Hockey Musical," which begins shooting in Toronto next week.

Director Michael McGowan, whose screen credits include "One Week" and "Saint Ralph," says he managed to land the pop singer-turned-actress by sending her the script through a network of friends.

She was the one that he wanted, but McGowan said Thursday he never imagined Newton-John would accept the role.

Newton-John will co-write and perform a song for the film's final credits, along with Canadian singer-songwriter Marc Jordan, who plays the hockey dad.

The movie is set to be released Oct. 22.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Movie Review: Ishqiya - Express India

Posted: 27 Jan 2010 10:49 PM PST

Taran Adarsh/Bollywood Hungama News Network

Posted: Jan 28, 2010 at 1117 hrs IST

Mumbai Get ready for tangy, pungent, sizzling and spicy stuff. Be forewarned, ISHQIYA isn't the fluffy, candyfloss, saccharine sweet story of lovers breaking into songs in mustard fields. In ISHQIYA, you just don't know what turn the story may take next. Not just the story, even the characters here are so impulsive and unpredictable.

You need to have a strong stomach to absorb 'Ishqiya'.

It's high on drama, it's wild, it's real. But it's not dark, it's not sleazy, it's not crass. Frankly, you don't expect debutante director Abhishek Chaubey to make a stereotypical fare thanks to the tutelage by his guru Vishal Bhardwaj, who loves to swim against the tide and undertake risks in film after film.

You could call ISHQIYA a distant cousin of OMKARA. Set in Gorakhpur in North India, the film has a rustic feel, depicts characters that may make you uncomfortable and is laced with saucy lingo. Yet, it's different than OMKARA.

Final word? You can't help but fall in ishq with ISHQIYA. Tired of sherbat? Try this spicy jaljeera for a change!

Two thieves, Khalujaan [Naseeruddin Shah] and Babban [Arshad Warsi], are on the run from their boss, Mushtaq. They seek refuge at a friend's house, but instead meet his widow, Krishna [Vidya Balan]. The time spent together draws the duo to her, Khalu with his tinted vision of old-fashioned love and Babban with his lustful eye. But the past catches up with all three!

There's no denying that the promos had prepared me of the journey ahead, yet it took me a good 15-odd minutes to get into the world of Khalujaan, Babban and Krishna. But once you get sucked into their world, the blurred images start getting clearer and clearer and you become an active participant in their journey.

The first hour passes in a jiffy, but the story actually gets dramatic and volatile in its second hour. It's at this stage that things start getting more and more unpredictable. The story does a somersault every 10 minutes and by the time it reaches its finale, you're curious to know how the debutante director would conclude this saga. The end, of course, will have its share of advocates and adversaries, but the fact remains that it's offbeat.

Abhishek Chaubey is a welcome addition to the ranks of avid storytellers. His choice of the subject and also handling of the material is what makes this film so eminently watchable. Not once do you feel that ISHQIYA has been helmed by a first-timer. Note the change of events in the song 'Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji' or the kidnap drama and the heated argument that follows thereafter. Even the passionate lovemaking sequence between Arshad and Vidya has been dexterously canned.

However, Chaubey and his team of writers could've kept the writing simplistic towards the finale. It's complex and also lacks clarity. Yet, all said and done, screenplay writers Vishal Bhardwaj, Sabrina Dhawan and Abhishek Chaubey deserve kudos for coming up with a film that keeps you hooked for most parts.

Vishal Bhardwaj's musical score has his unmistakable stamp all over. The film is embellished with two lilting gems - 'Ibne Batuta' and 'Dil To Bachcha Hain Ji' - which are a rage with listeners already and have been juxtaposed beautifully in the plot. Mohana Krishna's cinematography is first-rate. Dialogues [Vishal Bhardwaj] are acidic and a few lines are indeed startling.

Every actor in ISHQIYA delivers a sparkling performance! Naseeruddin Shah is superb as a romantic. He is matchless in the sequence when he learns the truth about Vidya and Arshad. Arshad packs in a bravura performance yet again. Post MUNNABHAI films, Arshad should be liked in this one the maximum. Vidya continues to surprise. It's a dynamic performance undoubtedly. PAA and ISHQIYA are two landmarks in her career.

The actors enacting the role of Jijaji, the kidnapped victim and Vidya's husband are all perfect. The child, who interacts with Arshad, is natural. In fact, every performance in ISHQIYA is worthy of mention.

On the whole, ISHQIYA is definitely worth a watch. The film has a riveting plot, great performances, soulful music, an absorbing story and skilful direction to make the viewer fall in ishq with it. It should appeal to the hardcore masses as also the multiplex junta.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

China: Meet quota for domestic movies - Aiken Standard

Posted: 28 Jan 2010 06:05 AM PST

China remains highly protective of its domestic film industry and permits just 20 revenue-sharing film imports each year. The restriction amounts to a limit on foreign blockbusters that are typically distributed under revenue-sharing deals. This week, China's State Council website posted a statement that theater operators should support the "expansion and development of the domestic film industry" and that no less than two-thirds of movies shown each year should be domestic. The quota represents a long-standing order.

China's restriction of movie imports has been taken up by the World Trade Organization. In December, the WTO upheld an earlier ruling that China is illegally restricting music, film and book imports from the U.S. The original ruling didn't address the 20-movie limit, but urged Beijing to let foreign companies distribute their entertainment products in China.

Recently, demand has grown for some domestic movies.

The Chinese propaganda movie "The Founding of a Republic" made $61 million in early 2009, not far behind the record takings of "2012" and "Transformers."

But Avatar's 3D experience, and its plot, have struck a chord with Chinese viewers.

The movie revolves around the forced evictions of the alien Na'vi race by humans - a story line that some have said draws unflattering comparisons to China's own, often brutal removal of millions of residents to make way for property developers.

20th Century Fox said Tuesday that "Avatar" had passed "Titanic" to become the highest-grossing film worldwide, bringing in $1.859 billion at the box office.

The reason for 2D screenings being scrapped in China is a little unclear.

Movie theater operators have said they were ordered to pull the version, though Zhang Hongsen, deputy head of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, denied that.

Weng Li, spokesman for the film's state-run distributor, China Film Group, which decides which movies to import, said select movie theaters did so for commercial reasons.

"'Avatar' 2D makes up for little more than 5 percent of all 'Avatar' revenue. Everyone wants to watch it in 3D," Weng said. "It's natural for movie theaters to pull movies that aren't doing well and replace them with more promising ones -- in this case, 'Confucius."'

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Movie review: The return of Mad Mel - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Posted: 29 Jan 2010 12:21 AM PST

After torturing Jesus and subjecting Mayan tribesmen to gruesome human sacrifice, what could possibly be next for Mel Gibson?

For the enigmatic filmmaker/star, whose last movies were both directing jobs -- 2004's "The Passion of the Christ" and 2006's "Apocalypto" -- it's a return to acting and a new target for his violent compulsions. But who would have thought he'd aim his scourge at the corrupt arena of government-contracted weapons manufacturers? (Lockheed Martin, you're going down!)

More so than with most Hollywood stars, Gibson's career has been defined by film violence. That appetite for bloody recourse continues in "Edge of Darkness," with Gibson playing a Boston homicide detective out to solve the murder of his activist daughter. He has left the directing to Martin Campbell, who was last seen pumping new life -- and a bit of steely violence -- into the James Bond franchise with "Casino Royale."

"Edge of Darkness" begins ominously: Three bloated bodies bob to the surface of the pitch-black Connecticut River. It then cuts to Detective Tom Craven (Gibson) and his daughter, Emma, who's recently come back into his life. He's unsure of where she's been -- partly because he's a bad father, but mostly because she works at a top-secret weapons lab. As they walk out the front door of his house, a masked man fires a shotgun blast that opens a gaping hole in Emma's stomach, sending her crashing to the floor.

For the next two hours, Gibson portrays Craven as the vengeful dad, growling his way to justice as he unravels the mystery of who killed Emma. At 54, Gibson looks old. His last starring role was eight years ago in "Signs." In "Edge of Darkness," wrinkles cover his cheeks, while specks of gray twinkle in his dark puff of hair. Does he have the killing urge left in him?

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.