with Shelley Waugh

 2009

GEORGE CLOONEY IN ROMANCE MOVIE
UP IN THE AIR
Oscar buzz for Clooney

Opened Dec. 4th ... George Clooney, left, plays company downsizer and frequent flyer Ryan Bingham who finally meets a woman with a similar case of corporate wanderlust, Alex (Vera Farmiga),
pictured left, in the dramatic comedy Up in the Air, directed by Canadian, Jason Reitman.
  There's a wedding scene in the movie with pre-wedding jitters, Jim (Danny McBride) finally does right by his fiancée Julie (Melanie Lynskey), pictured right, in the dramatic comedy, a Paramount Pictures release. Photos: Dale Robinette.

SCARLETT & RHETT
The eternal love affair

William (Bill) Cowper
The 70th anniversary of one of the best movies of all times, Gone with the Wind, has been packaged with eight hours of content, three of which are brand new and includes new documentaries and nostalgic collectibles in a limited, numbered velvet keepsake box, pictured left.
  The Hollywood classic starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Leslie Howard and Olivia de Havilland, won ten Academy Awards, and for more than a half century has thrilled audiences with its eternal love affair, set in the South against the backdrop of the Civil War, between handsome Rhett Butler (Gable) and his sassy, headstrong heroine Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh), pictured right.
  The new documentaries are:
• Gone with the Wind: The Legend Lives On - that includes interviews, footage and visits to historical sites, events and museums.
• 1939: Hollywood's Greatest Year - narrated by actor Kenneth Branagh.
• Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara Wars - the 1980 WBTV Special never before on home video trailers.
  The collection also includes a 20-page reproduction of the original and complete 1939 Souvenir Program, 40-page Production History Book with photos and production notes, eight frameable 5x7 Art Prints, CD soundtrack sampler featuring eight tracks including Escape From Atlanta, I'll Never Be Hungry Again!, Scarlett In The Mist/Rhett Leaves and Flashback/Finale.
   The GWTW Ultimate Collection Editions from Warner Home Entertainment is available in Blu-ray for $79.99 and DVD for $64.99 SRP. A Two Disc Special Edition is offered with the film and commentary for $24.99 SRP. The documentary The Making of a Legend is also available as a stand alone for $18.70 SRP.
  With each new generation, Gone with the Wind continues to grow in popularity as new audiences discover the David O. Selznick production of Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It's a great love story and frankly Scarlett, I did enjoy watching the entire film without commercials!

FLOWER GIRL, TV WEDDING
November 14: In the TV movie, Flower Girl, Florist Laurel Haverford (Marla Sokoloff) is beginning to give up hope that the man of her dreams will suddenly appear. But when her mischevious grandmother (Marion Ross) tries to fix Laurel up with the perfect man, before she knows it, she has not one but two potential suitors on her hands, and must decide if it's time to follow her heart or her head.
 Flower Girl, a Hallmark Channel Original Movie.

COUPLES RETREAT
One of the top grossing movies of the summer, Couples Retreat, starred the recently engaged Vince Vaughn (on Valentine's day to Canadian Kyla Weber of Calgary) in a comedy centered around four couples who settle into a tropical-island resort for a vacation in Bora Bora. While one of the couples is there to work on the marriage, the others fail to realize that participation in the resort's therapy sessions is not optional.

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE
Opening August 14: The story told is a test of love, patience and that love knows no boundary. Based on the best seller The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Random House) Henry (Eric Bana), is a librarian, who suffers from a genetic "anomaly," which gets labeled Chrono-Impairment. He can't stay locked down in any particular time but rather involuntarily slips away to other periods in his life.
  Henry meets his future artist-wife Clare (Rachel McAdams) when she is 6. So by the time they finally "meet for the first time," Clare has known Henry virtually her entire life. There is a wedding scene in the movie, above right. Costumes are by two-time Academy Award-nominated costume designer Julie Weiss (Frida, 12 Monkeys). It's a love story that author H.G. Wells (1897 science fiction novella Invisible Man) would of loved.

THE HANGOVER:
Opened June 5: A bride's nightmare! A comedy centered around three groomsmen (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis), who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy (Justin Bartha) in Las Vegas during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him. Aside from the thousands of dollars in property damage in their suite at Caesars Palace, they also find themselves the proud owners of a chicken, a man-eating tiger and a baby! One of the biggest grossing films of the summer season - go figure!

COME DANCE AT MY WEDDING
Premiered June 6: A Hallmark Channel Original Movie (9/8c) starring John Schneider (Smallville), Golden Globe and Emmy® nominee Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel), Brooke Nevin (Worst Week) and Christopher Jacot (Eureka) star in the tale of an estranged father (Schneider) and daughter (Nevin), dancing, right, who come together when she makes the decision to sell the dance studio that’s been in her family for generations to a real estate developer only to find out there’s another name on the studio’s deed: her father’s.

MASTERS OF RECEPTION
Premiered June 12th: Masters of Reception, (TLC), a new wedding series for this fall, produced by Kelly Ripa (Live With Regis & Kelly) and her husband, actor Mark Consuelos, who for the record, eloped in Las Vegas when they got married. The wedding series takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Frungillo family and their New Jersey catering business that includes serving everyone from Frank Sinatra to the Pope. Besides their four locations - a castle, a mansion, a villa and a ballroom, they also do off-premises catering and can host up to 10 weddings a day, and often have two happening at once. Their website (www.frungillo.com) is a treat and full of good ideas that will probably show up in the series along with everything from over-the-top requests, hot air balloons, dogs in the bridal party, to brides arriving in a Cinderella buggy with trumpets blaring!

THE PROPOSAL
Opened June 19: When high-powered book editor Margaret (Sandra Bullock) faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she's actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew (Ryan Reynolds who is a Canadian in real life), who she's tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own. The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family (Mary Steenburgen, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White) and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences. Visit official site: www.proposalMovie.com.

GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST

Opened May 1: Matthew McConaughey, left, plays a fashion photographer and cad who is visited by the ghosts of three of his previous girlfriends. Sounds like a good chick flick. Jennifer Garner and Michael Douglas co-star.

BEFORE YOU SAY, 'I DO'
February is 'Whole Lotta Love Month' on the Hallmark Channel. Valentine's Day, February 14th, is the date for the world premiere of Before You Say, I Do (9/8c) a romantic comedy starring David Sutcliffe (Gilmore Girls, Private Practice), Jennifer Westfeldt (Notes from the Underbelly) and Lauren Holly (NCIS). The movie was filmed in Toronto. The gown pictured on Westfeldt is by Bridal on Spadina in Toronto. Visit www.HallmarkChannel.com. 

FATHER AND DAUGHTER DANCE IN MOVIE
Dustin Hoffman dances with his daughter (Liane Balaban), top right, at her wedding in the movie Last Chance Harvey. He plays Harvey Shine, a jingle-writer from New York City, who is on his way to London for his daughter's wedding who has been raised by her mother (Kathy Baker) and step-father (James Brolin), who the daughter wants to give her away. On the way to the Harvey meets Kate (Emma Thompson) who attends the wedding with Harvey and they soon find themselves falling love.
  This movie shows a real life situation between the father and daughter that ends with joy. That's what weddings are all about.

THE BRIDES ARE COMING
Opened January 9th: Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway star in Bride Wars as two best friends engaged in bridal warfare when their weddings end up on the same day and neither one will budge.

2008

MERYL STREEP MOTHER OF THE BRIDE
Opened July 18: Based on the Broadway musical, the bride-to-be (Amanda Seyfried) has been raised by a single mother (Meryl Streep) and wants to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle. She brings back three men (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) from her mother's past to the Greek island they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 hours inspired by the storytelling of ABBA's songs a celebration of mothers and daughters, old friends and new family are found.

THE LOVE GURU
Opened June20th: Mike Myers, starred in the title role of The Love Guru co-starring Jessica Alba (right), Justin Timberlake, Romany Malco, Meagan Good, Omid Djalil and Ben Kingsley. Shot on location in Toronto. Photo: George Kraychyk.