News by Dani

New Movies Released December 9th, 2011

Ratings and Trailers Courtesy of Movieweb

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New Years Eve

Director/producer Garry Marshall is joined by a stellar ensemble cast to ring in the 2011 holiday season with the romantic comedy “New Year’s Eve.”

“New Year’s Eve” celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, with intertwining stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City on the most dazzling night of the year.

The film’s all-star cast includes Academy Award® winner Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, two-time Academy Award® winner Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Hector Elizondo, Katherine Heigl, Ashton Kutcher, Seth Meyers, Lea Michele, Sarah Jessica Parker, Academy Award® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, Til Schweiger, two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Sofia Vergara.

Reuniting with Marshall from last year’s hit romantic comedy “Valentine’s Day” are screenwriter Katherine Fugate and producers Mike Karz and Wayne Rice. Serving as executive producers are Toby Emmerich, Samuel J. Brown, Michael Disco, Josie Rosen and Diana Pokorny, with Heather Hall as co-producer.

The behind-the-scenes creative filmmaking team includes director of photography Charles Minsky, production designer Mark Friedberg, editor Michael Tronick, Oscar®-nominated costume designer Gary Jones and Oscar®-nominated composer John Debney.

5 Stars

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I Melt With You

Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Jonathan (Rob Lowe) and Tim (Christian McKay) are old college friends that gather annually for a week in Big Sur to celebrate their friendship and catch-up on each other’s lives. They seem like typical men in their forties – all with careers, families, and enormous responsibilities – but like most people there is a lot more beneath the surface.

As the week progresses, they go down the rabbit hole of excess as mountains of drugs are consumed to a blaring rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack. Parties with much younger women spin out of control. Exhausted and run ragged, they bare their souls to one another revealing the disillusionment with their lives. As the truth emerges, the reunion takes a much darker turn when a promise from their past is brought to light. From director Mark Pellington, I Melt With You is a visually dazzling, wild and wooly trip deep into the male psyche, driven by four amazingly committed and profound performances.

5 Stars

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The Sitter

Jonah Hill has a wild night to remember when he agrees to babysit three challenging kids.

5 Stars

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We Need To Talk About Kevin

A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin (Ezra Miller).

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name, We Need to Talk About Kevin explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva’s own culpability is measured against Kevin’s innate evilness. Ramsay’s masterful storytelling simultaneously combines a provocative moral ambiguity with a satisfying andcompelling narrative, which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax

5 Stars

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

An intelligence officer is recalled from retirement when there are signs that one of the top-ranking officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service is a Soviet mole.

4.5 Stars

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Young Adult

Academy Award(R) winner Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a writer of teen literature who returns to her small hometown to relive her glory days and attempt to reclaim her happily married high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson). When returning home proves more difficult than she thought, Mavis forms an unusual bond with a former classmate (Patton Oswalt) who hasn’t quite gotten over high school, either.

4 Stars

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W.E.

Two love stories, one historic and one contemporary, are interwoven. The famous romance between King Edward VIII and American divorcée Wallis Simpson is juxtaposed with the affair of a Russian security guard with a New York trophy wife Wally Winstrhop. Wally is obsessed with the story of Edward and the woman he loved, and embarks on her own research of their life together, even attending the Sotheby’s auction of the Windsor Estate. She comes to see that their relationship, although glamorous, was not the perfect one that she had imagined it to be.

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Knuckle

James Quinn McDonagh and Paddy “The Lurcher” Joyce. Names that demand attention. Men related by blood but separated by a feud that dates back generations. As the heads of rival families, they train to represent their feuding Irish travelling clans, in their long-standing history of violent bare-knuckle boxing.

With Knuckle, filmmaker Ian Palmer presents a hard-edged portrait of Irish Traveller male culture and explores the bond of loyalty, the need for revenge, and the pressures to fight for the honor of your family name.

Irish Travellers are normally silent about certain parts of their lifestyle and this is a rare chance to step inside one of the world’s most vibrant and elusive communities. Never before has such a portrayal of their fighting traditions been committed to film as Palmer spent years around the clans before they agreed to shoot their secretive world and their way of settling scores: no gloves, no padding, just Knuckle.

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London River

Set against the backdrop of the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in London, London River follows Elizabeth (BAFTA winner, Academy Award® nominee Brenda Blethyn) from a small farming community in Guernsey, as she travels to London in the immediate aftermath of the bombings after failing to hear from her daughter. Elizabeth is disturbed by the confusion of the metropolis and above all by the predominantly Muslim neighborhood where her daughter lived. Her fear and prejudice escalate when she discovers her daughter was converting to Islam and she keeps crossing paths with Ousmane (Silver Bear winner, Sotigui Kouyaté), a West African who has come from France to find his missing son. Although they come from very different backgrounds, Elizabeth and Ousmane share the same hope of finding their children alive. Putting aside their cultural differences, they give each other the strength to continue the search and maintain their faith in humanity.

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My Piece of The Pie

Writer/director Cédric Klapisch (L’auberge Espagnole) returns with the energetic and insightful My Piece of the Pie, a contemporary drama with a comedic edge, a timely social bent, and a surprising twist. Actress Karin Viard (Time Out, Avenue Montaigne) is mesmerizing as fiery single mother France, a blue-collar worker who loses her job when the local factory in her French seaside town closes down. Faced with having to support her three children, with no job prospects in sight, France enrolls herself in a housekeeper training program and lands a position cleaning the Paris apartment of handsome but cocky power broker Steve (Gilles Lellouche, Mesrine, Point Blank). France strikes more gold as the perpetual bachelor also hires her to watch his son for a few weeks. Being a part of the millionaire lifestyle, however servient, is not so bad. But what really lies behind Steve’s bullish business ways and brash demeanor? Is he as innocent as France would like him to be? Is she?

Boldly intertwining the theme of personal accountability in today’s money-driven world and a witty odd-couple story, Klapisch steadily unravels how seemingly harmless decisions in business and in life have broader consequences than what one would ever imagine.

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Movies Released December 2nd, 2011

Reviews and ratings Courtesy of Movieweb

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The Lady

The extraordinary story of Aung San Suu Kyi and her husband, Michael Aris. It is also the epic story of the peaceful quest of the woman who is at the core of Burma’s democracy movement. Despite distance, long separations, and a dangerously hostile regime, their love endures until the very end. A story of devotion and human understanding set against a backdrop of political turmoil that continues today.

5 Stars

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Coriolanus

Caius Martius ‘Coriolanus’ (Ralph Fiennes), a revered and feared Roman General is at odds with the city of Rome and his fellow citizens. Pushed by his controlling and ambitious mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) to seek the exalted and powerful position of Consul, he is loath to ingratiate himself with the masses whose votes he needs in order to secure the office. When the public refuses to support him, Coriolanus’s anger prompts a riot that culminates in his expulsion from Rome. The banished hero then allies himself with his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler) to take his revenge on the city.

4.5 Stars

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Shame

Brandon is a 30-something man living in New York who is unable to manage his sex life. After his wayward younger sister moves into his apartment, Brandon’s world spirals out of control. From director Steve McQueen (Hunger), Shame is a compelling and timely examination of the nature of need, how we live our lives and the experiences that shape us.

4.5 Stars

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Sleeping Beuty

A haunting erotic fairytale about Lucy, a young University student drawn into a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire.

3 Stars

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RedLine

Redline is a racing film created by studio Madhouse (Paprika, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars). Redline is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car – all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee – but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race?

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Answers To Nothing

Intertwining stories exploring the bad in the best of us and the good in the worst of us. Against the backdrop of a child abduction case we follow five days in the life of a woman whose determination to get pregnant keeps her from confronting her husband’s infidelity, her best friend a single parent detective assigned to the case of the child abduction, a school teacher and his obsession with the missing child that pushes him to the edge of vigilantism, a beat cop grieving over the violent death of his wife, a recovering addict and her wheel chair bound brother preparing for the LA marathon, and a self-loathing African American TV writer’s search for love.

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Outrage

In a ruthless battle for power, several yakuza clans vie for the favor of their head family in the Japanese underworld. The rival bosses seek to rise through the ranks by scheming and making allegiances sworn over saké. Long-time yakuza Otomo has seen his kind go from elaborate body tattoos and severed fingertips to becoming important players on the stock market. Theirs is a never-ending struggle to end up on top, or at least survive, in a corrupt world where there are no heroes but constant betrayal and vengeance.

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Documentary of AKB48: To Be Continued

The new music biopic follows the unstoppable all-female Japanese pop idol group, AKB48, on their incredible rise to fame.

AKB48 was conceived in 2005 by Yasushi Akimoto, one of Japan’s most respected music producers. Beginning as a small all-girl singing group based in the Akihabara district of Tokyo – the city’s bustling electronics and anime/pop culture shopping Mecca – AKB48 topped Japan’s Oricon music charts with the two best-selling pop singles in 2010 as well as another two singles ranking in the Top 10.

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Dog Jack

“Dog Jack” is the story of a slave boy and his dog who escape the master’s plantation, join the union army, and have to face their former master on the battlefield. The story is inspired by the historical true-life adventures of the beloved mascot of the Pennsylvania 102nd, who was so prized by his regiment for his skills in battle that he was twice exchanged for a Confederate prisoner of war.

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Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie

David Suzuki, Canadian scientist, activist, environmentalist and educator, delivers a ‘last lecture’ — what he describes as “a distillation of my life and thoughts, my legacy, what I want to say before I die”. Filmed before a live audience, accompanied by a memory box of moving, distilled images, he articulates a core, urgent message: we have exhausted the limits of the biosphere and it is imperative that we re-think our relationship with the natural world. Suzuki looks unflinchingly at the strains on our interconnected web of life – and out of our dire present circumstances, he offers up a blueprint for sustainability and survival.

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I am Singh

This story is about a young Sikh named Ranveer Singh, a young, confident man settled in India. Ranveer’s elder brothers are citizens of America. Ranveer’s life takes a turn when he receives a call and he comes to know that one of his brothers is dead, his father is seriously injured and his other brother is missing. The cause of this is unknown. Ranveer is in a dilemma and immediately leaves for the US. He doesn’t know what is in store for him. Ranveer reaches the US and tries to find out what actually happened to his family.

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Khodorkovsky

Controversial Mikhail Khodorkovsky began as a socialist, rose to the highest level of Russia’s wealthy class as a successful capitalist when he was the owner of Yukos Oil, and became famous as a political prisoner when he was jailed in 2003. Officially, Khodorkovsky was sent to prison on tax and embezzlement charges, but his supporters believe that his only crimes were criticizing the Kremlin and the powerful Vladimir Putin. His family and other supporters discuss his case and the subject of corruption in Russian politics.

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Lads and Jockeys

In a small village near Paris, 14-year-old boys and girls enter the training center for future lads and jockeys. For these young pupils, the transition between the family environment and this new world is brutal. Though sharing the world of teenagers – flirting, cell phones and PlayStation – they enter a world where the comfort of the horses comes before that of the human. This documentary film tells the story of Steve, Florian and Flavien during their first year of apprenticeship. It leads to Flavien’s first race, which officially puts him in the restricted world of jockeys

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Pastorela

For as long as he can remember, Agent Jesus Juarez, known in his neighborhood as Chucho, has played “the Devil” in his town’s traditional Nativity Play but this Christmas, things have changed. When Chucho arrives late to auditions, the new pastor of the church, Edmundo Posadas, has already cast all the roles. Now, Chucho must enter into an epic battle between good and evil- a battle between himself and the new pastor to recover the role that is rightfully his.

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Watching TV With The Red Chinese

When Tzu, Wa and Chen come to New York City in the summer of 1980 to study, they find themselves in a strange land far, far away from life in communist China. Consuming a heavy daily diet of American T.V., they are captivated by the cacophonous culture surrounding them. They make friends with their next-door neighbor Dexter, his sometimes girlfriend Suzanne and the struggling filmmaker Billy. They party. One falls dangerously in love. But a brutal mugging and an ex-boyfriend’s crazed jealousy plunge them into a state of cultural confusion and fear. When, on December 8, 1980, John Lennon is murdered, the trio fatefully confronts the social violence that surrounds them.

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The Smurfs: A Christmas Carol

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Movie Review for Movies Released 5th August 2011

Reviews, Trailers and Ratings Courtesy of movieweb

Rise of the Apes

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4.5 Stars

“Rise of the Apes” is a completely new take on one of 20th Century Fox’s most beloved and successful franchises. Oscar®-winning visual effects house Weta Digital – employing certain of the groundbreaking technologies developed for “Avatar” – will render, for the first time ever in the film series, photo-realistic apes rather than costumed actors.

“Rise of the Apes” is an origin story in the truest sense of the term. Set in present day San Francisco, the film is a reality-based cautionary tale, a science fiction/science fact blend, where man’s own experiments with genetic engineering lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy.

The Change Up

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4 Stars

“Change Up” centers on a responsible family man (Bateman) who switches bodies with his best friend, a lazy man-child (Reynolds).

The Whistle Blower

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4 Stars

Based on a true story, “Whistleblower” chronicles the trials of a female cop from Nebraska who serves as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposes a United Nations cover-up of a sex trafficking scandal.

Kondracki and Ellis Kirwin wrote the film, which will shoot in Budapest. The pair based the screenplay on the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, who traveled to Bosnia in 1999 as a U.N. peacekeeper.

The Perfect Age of Rock n Roll

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2.5 Stars

Two estranged childhood friends channel their talent and passion for music into a cross-country road trip that brings them face to face with their past on a quest to confront the future.

Spyder (Kevin Zegers—Transamerica, Dawn of the Dead), a world famous musician those debut album is a huge hit, retreats to his hometown after his sophomore effort flops. There he reconnects with his former friend and collaborator, Eric Genson (Jason Ritter—Happy Endings, W), now a middle school music teacher. It’s a reunion that forces the two to recall their youthful ambitions and re-examine the choices they’ve made. Accompanied by legendary rock ’n’ roll impresario August West (Peter Fonda—Easy Rider, Ulee’s Gold), Spyder’s raucous crew of musicians, The Lost Soulz, and their fiery manager, Rose Atropos (Taryn Manning—Hustle & Flow, 8 Mile), they set off on a journey along historic Route 66 in hopes of salvaging a long lost dream and rekindling the mojo that made Spyder’s debut album such a huge success.

Featuring appearances by some of the world’s greatest blues artists, a killer soundtrack, and scenes of mayhem, triumph and tragedy, THE PERFECT AGE OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLL is an unforgettable wild ride that brings two friends closer to each other, their destiny, and the truth behind the music.

3 Ninjas

2.5 Stars

Julia’s Eyes

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2.5 Stars

Julia, a woman suffering from a degenerative eye disease, finds her blind twin sister Sara hanged in the basement of her house. Julia decides to investigate what she feels is a murder case, entering a dark world that seems to hide a mysterious presence. As Julia begins to uncover the terrifying truth about her sister’s death, her sight deteriorates, until a series of unexplained deaths and disappearances cross her path. The film stars Belén Rueda and Lluis Homar.

Magic Trip

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2 Stars

In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus. Kesey and the Pranksters intended to make a documentary about their trip, shooting footage on 16MM, but the film was never finished and the footage has remained virtually unseen. With MAGIC TRIP, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) and co-director Alison Ellwood were given unprecedented access to this raw footage by the Kesey family. They worked with the Film Foundation, HISTORY and the UCLA Film Archives to restore over 100 hours of film and audiotape, and have shaped an invaluable document of this extraordinary piece of American history.

Bellflower

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2 Stars

Bellflower follows two friends as they venture out into the world to begin their adult lives. All their free time is spent building flame-throwers and weapons of mass destruction in hopes that a global apocalypse will occur and clear the runway for their imaginary gang “Mother Medusa”. While waiting for the world to end, their call to excitement comes unexpectedly when one of them meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love. Quickly integrated into a new group of friends, they set off on a journey of betrayal, love, hate, infidelity and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies.

Dirty Girl

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1 Star

Danielle, the dirty girl of Norman High, hits the road with Clarke, the class gay, to find the father she has never known.

Mysteries of Lisbon

New Movies Released Friday 23rd July 2011

Reviews and ratings Courtesy of Movieweb

Captain America: The First Avenger

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4.5 Stars

Born during the Great Depression, Steve Rogers grew up a frail youth in a poor family. Horrified by the newsreel footage of the Nazis in Europe, Rogers was inspired to enlist in the army. However, because of his frailty and sickness, he was rejected. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea, General Chester Phillips offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a special experiment… Operation: Rebirth. After weeks of tests, Rogers was at last administered the ‘Super-Soldier Serum’ and bombarded by ‘vita-rays.’ Steve Rogers emerged from the treatment with a body as perfect as a body can be and still be human. Rogers was then put through an intensive physical and tactical training program. Three months later, he was given his first assignment as Captain America. Armed with his indestructible shield and and battle savvy, Captain America has continued his war against evil both as a sentinel of liberty and leader of the Avengers.

Friends With Benefits

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4 Stars

Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) think it’s going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. They soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications.

Another Earth

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4 Stars

In Another Earth, Rhoda Williams (Brit Marling), a bright young woman accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs (William Mapother), has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.

Point Blank

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4 Stars

Samuel (Lellouche) is a happily married nurse working in a Paris hospital. When his very pregnant wife (Anaya) is kidnapped before his helpless eyes, everything falls apart. After being knocked unconscious, he comes to and his cell phone rings: he has three hours to get Sartet (Zem), a man under police surveillance, out of the hospital. Shot on location in wide lens, POINT BLANK is an exhilarating non-stop ride through Paris’ streets, subways, hospitals, warehouses, and police stations, as Samuel quickly finds himself pitted against rival gangsters and trigger-happy police in a deadly race to save the lives of his wife and unborn child.

The Tree

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3.5 Stars

The exquisite Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist, I’m Not There) stars in French filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli’s achingly beautiful follow-up to her sleeper hit Since Otar Left. The Closing Night Film at Cannes in 2010, The Tree is a mystical drama of loss and rebirth in the Australian countryside. Not since classic 1970s works Picnic at Hanging Rock and Walkabout has the harshly gorgeous outback landscape been such a lyrical yet foreboding metaphor for grief and coming of age. Blindsided with anguish after her husband’s sudden death, Dawn (Gainsbourg)–along with her four young children–struggles to make sense of life without him. Eight-year-old Simone (unforgettable newcomer Morgana Davies) becomes convinced that her father is whispering to her through the leaves of the gargantuan fig tree that towers over their house. The family is initially comforted by its presence, but then the tree’s enormous roots slowly begin to encroach on the abode and threaten their fragile existence….

Sinbad – The Fifth Voyage

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3 Stars

When the Sultan’s first born is taken by an evil sorcerer, Sinbad is tasked with traveling to a desert of magic and creatures to save her.

The Myth of The American Sleep Over

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David Robert Mitchell’s feature film debut reminds us of a time when sleepovers, bike rides and Ouija board hijinks were the now-or-never crucial moments of our existence. Set against a backdrop of the mile roads, neighborhood blocks, lakes and abandoned factories that make up Metro Detroit, this captivatingly sun-kissed story follows four young people as they search for love and adventure on the last night of summer. Maggie, Rob, Claudia and Scott cross paths as they rove the suburban wonderland chasing first kisses, elusive crushes, popularity and parties. They are looking for the iconic teenage experience, but instead they discover the quiet moments that will one day become the part of their youth they most cherish. Mitchell weaves together a beautifully crafted film with a talented ensemble cast of young non-actors who – poised between brashness and awkward fragility – ably capture the essence of what it is like to be young.

A Little Help

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3 Stars

Up to now Laura has had the wind at her back in life by virtue of her good looks and effortless charisma. But lately things have begun to take some dark and difficult turns. Her marriage to real estate agent Bob Pehlke (Chris O’Donnell) has become tense and loveless – Laura even has suspicions that he’s cheating – and her relationship with her 12 year-old son Dennis (Daniel Yelsky) has become strained as well, his emerging adolescence having turned him typically sullen and hostile. Laura has not been dealing well with all this – she’s drinking and smoking too much; her self-esteem and confidence are in free fall.

When Bob dies suddenly Laura is a deer in the headlights. Her intrusive mother, Joan (Lesley Ann Warren) and sister, Kathy (Brooke Smith) step in to fill the vacuum – they pressure Laura to send Dennis to an exclusive private school, and force her to hire a ruthless lawyer, Mel Kaminsky (Kim Coates), to file a malpractice lawsuit.

As Laura struggles to stay afloat in a vortex of deception, she finds that the one person with whom she can connect and communicate with is, ironically, Kathy’s husband Paul (Rob Benedict) as their respective circumstances begin to draw them powerfully toward each other – despite the obvious complications and dangers that this implies.

Sarah’s Key

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Julia Jarmond (Kristin Scott Thomas), an American journalist married to a Frenchman, is commissioned to write an article about the notorious Vel d’Hiv round up, which took place in Paris, in 1942. She stumbles upon a family secret which will link her forever to the destiny of a young Jewish girl, Sarah. Julia learns that the apartment she and her husband Bertrand plan to move into was acquired by Bertrand’s family when its Jewish occupants were dispossessed and deported 60 years before. She resolves to find out what happened to the former occupants: Wladyslaw and Rywka Starzynski, parents of 10-year-old Sarah and four-year-old Michel. The more Julia discovers – especially about Sarah, the only member of the Starzynski family to survive – the more she uncovers about Bertrand’s family, about France and, finally, herself.

Girlfriend

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Evan is a young man with Down Syndrome who lives with his mother in a poor, working-class town hit hard by the recent economic recession. When he unexpectedly comes into a large amount of money, Evan uses it to romantically pursue Candy, a girl from town who he has loved since high school. Candy, now a barely-employed single mom, is facing financial debt, possible eviction, and the inability to rid herself of Russ, her abusive, volatile, ex-boyfriend. In no position to turn down Evan’s offers of financial support, Candy hesitantly accepts his gifts, which causes the pair to enter a complicated emotional entanglement. When Russ catches on to Candy and Evan’s odd relationship, all three of them become intertwined in a complex triangle of secrets, jealousy, and revenge. Despite his many hardships and the seeming impossibility of Candy being able to return his love, Evan struggles to remain a resilient, pure embodiment of human compassion.

The Captains

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The Captains is an Epix Original Documentary produced and directed by William Shatner. In The Captains, he travels the world to connect with each of the actors who have played Captains over the long life of the Star Trek franchise. Shatner recalls his own experiences in the role that made him a star by interviewing Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, Avery Brooks and Chris Pine while interweaving clips from their respective shows and movies.

New Movies Released for Friday 15th July 2011

Star Ratings and Reviews Courtesy of Movieweb

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)

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5 Star Rating

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.

Winnie The Pooh

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5 Star Rating

Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to the Hundred Acre Wood with “Winnie the Pooh,” the first big-screen Pooh adventure from Disney animation in more than 35 years. With the charm, wit and whimsy of the original featurettes, this all-new movie reunites audiences with the philosophical “bear of very little brain” and friends Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga, Roo— and last, but certainly not least, Eeyore, who has lost his tail. “Well a tail is either there or it isn’t there,” said Pooh. “And yours isn’t… there.” Owl sends the whole gang on a wild quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit. It turns out to be a very busy day for a bear who simply set out to fi nd some hunny. Inspired by five stories from A.A. Milne’s books in Disney’s classic, hand-drawn art style, “Winnie the Pooh” hits theaters July 15, 2011.

Life Above All

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3.5 Star Rating

“Life, Above All” is a emotional and universal drama about a young girl (stunningly performed by first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. The film captures the enduring strength of loyalty and a courage powered by the heart. Directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz (“Mapantsula”, “Paris, je t’aime”), it is based on the international award winning novel “Chanda’s Secrets” by Allan Stratton.

Daylight

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3 Star Rating

A harrowing psychological thriller from a widely acclaimed filmmaker, Daylight pits a couple lost in America against a conniving gang of kidnappers, in David Barker’s rigorous and personal re-imagining of the genre film. Despite its familiar genre elements, Daylight is different – a powerful, shocking piece of vigorous cinema, which fuses eroticism and tenderness with the harrowing weight of pregnancy and kidnapping. On their way to a wedding, Danny and Irene pick up a hitchhiker – throwing the film in the direction of the conventional rural kidnapper thriller. But with the skill of director David Barker and his miraculous cast and crew, Daylight emerges as much, much more than just another exploitation picture. Kidnappers Renny, Leo, and Murphy enact a bizarre and terrifying ritual of politeness, endowing such scenes as the passing of a bread knife at a kitchen table with a threat of ferocious violence – but also trust. Alexandra Meierhans – pregnant as the character Irene, and pregnant in real life – delivers an astonishing performance as the female lead. Simultaneously vulnerable and dangerous, a captive and a seductress, she somehow struggles to survive and endure, bringing the audience along with her through to the shattering conclusion.

Tabloid

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3 Star Rating

Thirty years before the antics of Lindsay, Paris and Britney, Joyce McKinney made her mark as a peerless tabloid queen. In Tabloid, Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Errol Morris follows the salacious adventures of this beauty queen with an IQ of 168, whose single-minded devotion to the man of her dreams leads her on a labyrinthine crusade for love. Down a surreal rabbit hole of kidnapping, masochistic Mormons, risque photography, magic underwear, celestial sex, jail time and a cloning laboratory in South Korea, Joyce’s fantastic exploits were constant headlines.

Phase 7

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3 Star Rating

Mixes satire, humor, horror and social commentary in a way that reminds viewers of the arch Shaun of the Dead and the savvy claustrophobia of [rec]. In the film, Coco (Hendler) has just moved to a new apartment with his wife Pipi (Stuart), who’s seven months pregnant. At first, they don’t seem to notice the growing chaos around them, but when authorities quarantine their building after a deadly pandemic breaks out, Coco joins forces with his off-kilter, but well-prepared and stocked next-door neighbor Horacio to defend his refrigerator and keep Pipi safe. Meanwhile, outside the building, Buenos Aires—and the world as the apartment denizens know it, is disappearing. The world is ending; got ammo?

Lucky

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1 Star Rating

After Ben wins $36 million in the lottery, Lucy marries him, strictly for the cash. Just as she’s beginning to have genuine feelings for him, however, Lucy discovers that he’s a serial killer whose victims all resemble her. Still, though, there’s no way she’s walking away from those lottery checks, even if it means losing her mind and re-burying all the bodies…

Snow Flower and Sectret Fan

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1 Star Rating

“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is an English-language drama set in 19th century remote China, the film revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women. The script is based on the novel by Lisa See.

Salvation Boulevard

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1 Star Rating

Based on the book by Larry Beinhart (“Wag the Dog”). The comedic thriller is set in the world of mega-churches in which a former Deadhead-turned-born again-Christian finds himself on the run from fundamentalist members of his mega-church who will do anything to protect their larger-than-life pastor.

The Ballad of Nessie

1 Star rating

Movie Releases 8th July 2011

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Starting Friday 8th July we are having a new weekly section of the Movies being released each week with Information and Trailers to View.