Putnam County social community with local news, events, photos and more. http://www.putnamarea.com Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:00:44 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.putnamarea.com/images/M_images/blue-logo.png http://www.putnamarea.com Putnam County social community with local news, events, photos and more. http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3128/ A famous London landmark comes crashing down. The Death Eaters attack the Weasley's home. And there's an invasion of inferi, a swarm of undead creatures. Harry and friends have their hands full in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Pictured is one of the first stills from the movie, which opens in December. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix director David Yates is at the helm again. Making their franchise debuts are Jim Broadbent as Potions Professor Horace Slughorn, who gives Harry an old Potions textbook that once belonged to the Half-Blood Prince; and Helen McCrory as Narcissa Malfoy, mother to Draco Malfoy and sister to the evil Bellatrix Lestrange. Among the other newcomers are Jessie Cave as Lavender Brown, who fancies Ron Weasley, nine-year-old Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Tom Riddle at age 11; and 16-year-old Frank Dillane as the teenage Riddle, who's on the way to becoming the evil Lord Voldemort. "They're horrible," says boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe of the inferi, beings who look like humans made of skin and bone and want to get their hands on Harry. "They made me think of bodies from concentration camps. It's that terrible look of a body that's wasted away, but not a skeleton. There will be child inferi too. They're probably the most frightening things of any of the movies so far." Entertainment - Movies Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:18:46 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3129/ Defamer.com has compiled one of the most pointless and ludicrous lists I've seen: the 10 worst on-screen kissers. Says who? The pashees, allegedly. The partners of Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Harrison Ford would beg to differ, I'm sure. As would anyone who's been kissed by Leonardo DiCaprio, another supposed on-screen unromantic. The rest of us can just roll out eyes. For what it's worth, which isn't much, here are some of the dubious quotes trotted out by Defamer to support its very thin story. "Kissing Tom Cruise was slightly icky and sort of wet. I'd really go home at the end of the day actually moaning about how hot it was and how many times we had to do it." -- Thandie Newton. "I think Leonardo is a nice guy. But I don't want him as a lover. There [was] no honest passion. No real sensitivity in our love scenes. In our underwater love scenes all I could think of was not drowning. I can't even remember his kiss."--Virginie Ledoyen. Helen Mirren on Harrison Ford: "He's the nicest, sweetest guy you could want to meet. But he can't kiss - he finds it impossible to kiss on screen." James McAvoy, pictured, on his Wanted co-star Angelina Jolie: "I can tell you what it was like to kiss her on a film set: It was awkward, sweaty and not very nice." It would be interesting to know how the maligned stars rated the kissing skills of those who gave them such low marks! Entertainment - Movies Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:09:51 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3130/ Have the six egos been put aside for the big screen adaptation of Friends so many fans wanted when the show finished in 2004? After the recent success of Sex And The City which won over the ladies worldwide, its been reported that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer have been inspired by the box office success of the 4 gals from New York City. An insider for Britain's Daily Mail newspaper said: "The box office success of Sex And The City has really got their wheels spinning about how a Friends film could be just as big, if done right.". A big screen adaptation has long been touted with the support of Cox, LeBlanc, Kudrow, Perry and Schwimmer but without the highest profile star, Jennifer Aniston, who reportedly was not keen to jump on board. The source added: "As the biggest star of the Friends franchise, Jennifer can't help but look at what's happened with Sarah Jessica Parker and the Sex And The City film and be a little jealous. What's held back a Friends movie so far is that people were worried that Jennifer had simply become too famous to play Rachel again." Do you want to see a Friends reunion? Entertainment - Movies Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:37:14 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3133/67/ Negotiations ended late yesterday without a contract for the staff serving more than 300 clients at a substance-abuse treatment center who this week authorized a strike. News - Local News Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:27:54 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3134/67/ Reporting Tony Aiello MAHOPAC, N.Y. A scandal at a Putnam County school ends up in federal court. News - Local News Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:11:42 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3131/ Hancock: Superhero or superzero? Its fans say it's awesome, judging by the feedback on numerous websites. To its detractors, it sucks. Others are in two minds. Some say it's darker than they expected, and that it loses its way in the third act, comparing it to the disjointed ending of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. How did you rate it? Despite those mixed reactions, audiences are voting with their feet. The unconventional superhero movie starring Will Smith sold $1.7 million worth of tickets in Australia yesterday. That was 45% bigger than Iron Man's first day, 18% less than Transformers and close to the opening days of the Spider-Man blockbusters. And it was the second biggest debut for Will behind only I Am Legend, which launched during the January school holidays. In the US, Hancock grossed $6.8 million from two evening shows on Tuesday night and $17.3 million on Wednesday, a big number but a bit less than some pundits had predicted. A few box-office commentators have lowered their US projections due to strong competition from WALL*E and Wanted as they enter their second weekends, and the unusually vehement critical panning of a Will Smith movie: just 36% of the reviews tracked by Rotten Tomatoes are positive. Hancock won't have any trouble reaching $100 million in its first five and half days in the US--just how much more will depend on word of mouth. Entertainment - Movies Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:42:32 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3132/ Judging by the trailer, Wild Child looks like a mildly amusing cross between Material Girls, What a Girl Wants and The Princess Diaries. Which is fine if you enjoyed those teen comedies/romances, but not so appealing for the rest of us. Still, Wild Child comes from those smart creative people at Working Title, and the script is by Lucy Dahl, the daughter of the author Roald Dahl, who based it on her experiences at boarding school. Nancy Drew's Emma Roberts plays a spoilt, out-of-control Malibu princess, Poppy, whose despairing father (Aidan Quinn) sends her to a strict English boarding school, where she, like, learns lessons about life. Natasha Richardson plays the headmistress and, judging by the trailer, Hot Fuzz star Nick Frost does an amusing turn as an outlandish hairdresser named Mr. Christopher. “It’s like totally opposite Nancy Drew so I’m really excited for it," says Emma. "Poppy gets shipped to boarding school, where she doesn’t want to abide by any of the rules, so it gets her into some trouble. She goes through a whole journey over there and it’s really funny." The movie opens in September. Entertainment - Movies Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:04:05 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3127/67/ Four public beaches in Putnam County won't be open for the long holiday weekend due to high bacteria readings. News - Local News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:40:52 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3136/67/ Putnam Valley Middle School Principal Edward Hallisey was "misleading" and "evasive" in an affidavit regarding the alleged rape of a 12-year-old student, but there is not enough evidence to support a perjury ... News - Local News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:34:22 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3116/ I always regarded the Batman movies as escapist fantasy-- but the way Christian Bale tells it, The Dark Knight actually deals with a moral dilemma which relates to the problems America faces today. The conundrum facing Batman: His one rule is not to kill people; but that may be the only way to stop his most lethal adversary, the Joker. "Clearly that's very relevant to America: the question of what kind of deals do you do with the devil in order to solve a problem quickest," said Bale, who plays Bruce Wayne/Batman. "But are you then setting yourself up for future problems and more dire circumstances and consequences?" Bale says Wayne's biggest hope is a world which doesn't need Batman-- until he confronts Heath Ledger' Joker, an intelligent psychopath who's hell bent on chaos and destruction. "Batman find himself questioning his own rule, "Christian says. "What is the quickest way to finish the Joker and ensure nobody else dies? It is to kill him. However he is lowering himself to do so. The ethical question becomes would he not be saving others by breaking his own rule and at what point do the principles become selfish?" Bale and Gary Oldman, who plays detective Jim Gordon, both believe Ledger's performance is worthy of a Oscar. "I think it's one of the most psychologically scariest screen villains ever; I think it out-villains Hannibal Lecter," says Oldman. "It would surprise me if he didn't get a posthumous Oscar." The Dark Knight opens on July 16. Entertainment - Movies Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:13:04 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3135/67/ BREWSTER - A new Main Street merchant has brought a touch of green to the village. News - Local News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:49:08 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3126/ Mamblog - Default Category Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:04:58 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3124/67/ Julia Aryeh of Bedford had pickles and pastrami on her mind when she strolled up to Bloom's Kosher Delicatessen. News - Local News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:32:36 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3117/ When was the last time you watched a movie where the main character/s couldn't speak? I struggled to remember but that was before I saw Wall-E. Wall-E can't speak but somehow draws the audience into his world where he is left on planet earth all by himself. As the story evolves, the oddly cute Wall-E meets Eve, a robot from space and falls in love. As we're taken along for the ride, we come to realise that Wall-E might just have the answer to save earth as we know it. The power-house Pixar Animation Studios honour roll reads like a hall of fame for kids movies - Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars, Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, The Incredibles and now Wall-E. They have the ability to give audiences an escape hole into a world full of imagination and spectacular visual imagery - with Wall-E no exception. Wall-E is sure to be a huge hit with the kids when it is released September 18th. Entertainment - Movies Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:13:09 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3122/67/ DOVER - A 17-year-old boy was arrested and charged with felony criminal mischief after he allegedly took part in a group that threw rocks at a car and injured its two people in it. News - Local News Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:52:14 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3118/ The superhero in Hancock isn't just a troubled character- he's an airborne disaster. Hancock is a foul-mouthed, miserable, angry drunk who abuses small children, grabs women on the bottom and destroys buildings when he rescues people. The public hates him- so why should audiences root for him? I suspect they wouldn't if he were played by anyone other than Will Smith. It's difficult to think of another actor who could bring enough rough-hewn charm and fallability to the character to make him worth caring about. "Hancock is complicated," says Smith. "Every day he wakes up mad at the world. He doesn't remember what happened to him and there's no one to help him find the answers. He has good intentions but has trouble connecting with the world around him." The key to Hancock's redemption is PR guy Ray (Jason Bateman) whose life he saves. Ray not only teaches him how to clean up his image, but how to relate to society. The film veers off in a new and risky direction in the final third as we get to understand why there's simmering tension between Hancock and Ray's wife Mary (Charlize Theron). The extent to which Will pulls that off will determine whether Hancock is merely a hit or a true blockbuster. Entertainment - Movies Thu, 03 Jul 2008 01:29:40 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3119/ What's up with Eddie Murphy- and do we really care when he says and does these days? Last week the actor told the TV show Extra he wasn't ready to do another Beverly Hills Cop movie and that he'd retire from making movies and go back to his roots in standup. “I have close to fifty movies and it's like, why am I in the movies? I've done that part now. I'll go back to the stage and do standup," he said. After that caused a minor kerfuffle, not least with Brett Ratner who has been signed to direct Beverly Hills Cop 4, Eddie back-pedalled fast when he talked to MTV. Admitting the last Axel Foley movie turned out badly, he said, "Let's get the franchise fixed again, clean up this old mess and do a good movie." Murphy also said he'd been inspired by the latest crop of harder-edged comedies like Superbad, Knocked Up and Juno. Curiously, from what I can see in neither interview did he mention his latest film, Meet Dave, in which he plays a character who's actually a miniature space-ship; he plays its captain too, apparently. Pre-release tracking on Meet Dave in the US hasn't been encouraging. If that movie, which opens next week, doesn't work, maybe bringing Alex Foley back to life isn't a bad option. Entertainment - Movies Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:39:21 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3121/67/ Wednesday, July 02, 2008 at 9:41 p.m. Governor David Patterson is encouraging New Yorkers to stay in the sate when traveling this summer. News - Local News Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:27:49 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3115/67/ PUTNAM VALLEY - Four private beaches that were closed Monday for high bacteria readings remain off limits today. News - Local News Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:16:47 +0100 http://www.putnamarea.com/content/view/3125/67/ Putnam County lawmakers and County Executive Robert Bondi are in an escalating battle over who gets the last word when it comes to suing somebody. News - Local News Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:03:21 +0100