CINEMA 21 CINEMA XXI

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-05-17T22:23:00.001-07:00

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is a 2009 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics' fictional character Wolverine. It was released on April 28, 2009 in the Netherlands and worldwide up to May 1 2009. The film is directed by Gavin Hood and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character. It is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy and is primarily set roughly ten to seventeen years before the film X-Men.

The film focuses on the violent past of mutant Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine's skeleton was bonded with the indestructible metal adamantium. The plot also details his early encounters with Colonel William Stryker (Danny Huston), the Weapon X program, Wolverine's interactions with other mutants and his complex relationship with his half-brother Victor Creed (Liev Schreiber). The film was mostly shot in Australia and New Zealand.

Wolverine was released to mixed reviews; critics praised Hugh Jackman's performance, but considered the film and its screenplay uninspired. It opened at the top of the box office, grossing $85.1 million domestically on the opening weekend, and has grossed over $210 million worldwide as of May 12, 2009.

In 1845 Canada, young James Howlett sees his father killed by groundskeeper Thomas Logan. The trauma activates the boy's mutation: bone claws protrude from James' hands, and he kills Logan. In his dying breath, Logan tells James that he is his real father. James flees with Logan's abused son and James' half-brother Victor Creed. The two survive for over a century as men in their prime, living out their violent urges together in the American Civil War and both World Wars. During the Vietnam War, Victor kills a superior after he stops a rape attempt, James defends his brother and the two are executed by firing squad, which they survive. Major William Stryker approaches the two and offers them membership in Team X, a group of mutants which includes marksman Agent Zero, mercenary Wade Wilson, teleporter John Wraith, invincible Fred Dukes and electricity-controlling Chris Bradley. The duo joins the team, but the group's questionable actions cause James to leave.

Six years later, James-now going by the name Logan-lives in Canada with his girlfriend Kayla Silverfox. Colonel Stryker locates Logan and warns him someone is killing members of the team. Shortly afterwards Victor murders Kayla and brutally beats Logan. Stryker offers Logan a way to beat Victor. Logan undergoes an operation to reinforce his skeleton with adamantium, a virtually indestructible metal. Before the procedure, Logan asks for new dog tags inscribed with "Wolverine". Stryker orders Wolverine's memory to be erased, but Wolverine overhears him and flees, with former team member Zero tracking him. Wolverine takes refuge in the barn of an elderly couple who take him in for the night. Zero kills the couple and attacks, but Wolverine subdues and kills him.

Star Trek (2009)

2009-05-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

Star Trek is a 2009 science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. It is the eleventh film based on the Star Trek franchise and features the main characters of the original Star Trek series, who are portrayed by a new cast. The film explores the backstories of James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto), before they unite aboard the USS Enterprise to combat Nero (Eric Bana), a Romulan from the future who threatens the United Federation of Planets. The time-travel story establishes an alternate reality, freeing the film and the whole franchise from continuity constraints.

Development of the film began in 2005 when Paramount Pictures contacted Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman for ideas to revive the franchise. The creative team contrasted Orci and Lindelof, who consider themselves "Trekkies", with casual fans like Abrams, who all aimed to create a film that would interest a general audience. They wanted to be faithful to the Star Trek canon, but they also introduced elements of their favorite novels, modified continuity with the time-travel storyline, and modernized the production design of the original show. Filming took place from November 2007 to March 2008 under intense secrecy. Midway through the shoot, Paramount chose to delay the release date from December 25, 2008 to May 2009, believing the film could reach a wider audience.

In 2387, Romulus is threatened by a supernova. Ambassador Spock pilots a ship carrying "red matter" that can create a gravitational singularity, drawing the supernova into a black hole. However, Spock is too late, and Romulus is destroyed. Captain Nero of the Romulan mining ship Narada attempts to exact revenge on Spock for the destruction of Romulus, but both ships are caught in the black hole's event horizon, traveling to different points into the past. The Narada arrives first, 154 years earlier, and attacks the Federation starship USS Kelvin. As the Kelvin is evacuated, acting-Captain George Kirk stays behind to provide cover for the fleeing shuttlecraft. The Kelvin is destroyed moments after George's son, James Tiberius Kirk, is born. Ambassador Spock arrives 25 years later and is captured by Nero. Spock is marooned on the planet Delta Vega so that he can witness the destruction of Vulcan.

Kirk grows up into an intelligent, but reckless and cynical young man. Captain Christopher Pike tells him of his father's heroic efforts and convinces him to join Starfleet. At Starfleet Academy, Kirk befriends fellow cadets Leonard McCoy and Uhura. In his third year at the Academy, Kirk is accused of cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test by its programmer, Commander Spock. During the hearing, Starfleet receives a distress signal from Vulcan, and the cadets are mobilized to help man the ships in orbit. Acting as his attending physician, McCoy smuggles the grounded Kirk on board the USS Enterprise.

Kirk recognizes the similarities between the distress call from Vulcan and the encounter that destroyed the Kelvin. He warns Captain Pike that the fleet is heading into a trap. The Enterprise arrives late; the fleet has been destroyed. As the Narada drills into Vulcan's core, Nero orders Pike to surrender himself via shuttlecraft. Pike agrees, promoting Spock to captain and Kirk to first officer. En route to the Narada, Kirk, Hikaru Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson perform an orbital skydive onto the drilling platform to destroy it; Olson is killed, but Kirk and Sulu stop the drill. However, it has drilled deep enough for Nero to launch red matter into the planet's core, imploding the planet into a black hole. Spock rescues most of the planet's elders, including his father, but his mother dies along with the majority of the planet's population. Nero sets course for Earth and tortures Pike for the command codes to its perimeter defenses.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 drama film directed by Danny Boyle and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is based on the book Q and A written by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. Loveleen Tandan began as the film's casting director but was appointed by Boyle as a "co-director".

The film, shot and set in India, follows a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on a game show and exceeds people's expectations, raising the suspicions of the game show host and law enforcement. Following screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire had a limited release on 12 November 2008 to critical acclaim and awards success.

Jamal Malik, a former street child from Mumbai, is being interrogated by the police. He is a contestant on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? , and has made it to the final question but has been accused of cheating.

The explanation of how he knew the answers leads us through the history of his short but full life, including scenes of obtaining the autograph of a famous Bollywood star (Amitabh Bachchan); the death of his mother during an anti-Muslim raid on the slums; and how he and his brother Salim befriended an orphaned girl, Latika. Jamal refers to Salim and himself as Athos and Porthos, and Latika as the third Musketeer of which they do not know the name.

Yes Man

2009-04-18T21:45:00.001-07:00

A man signs up for a self-help program based on one simple principle: say yes to everything... and anything. At first, unleashing the power of "yes" transforms his life in amazing and unexpected ways, but he soon discovers that opening up his life to endless possibilities can have its drawbacks.

At the beginning of “Yes Man,” Carl Allen is a grouch, a curmudgeon, a wet blanket. His relentless negativity — his job as a loan officer provides him with plenty of opportunities to say no — is less a matter of temperament than of circumstance: apparently Carl never recovered from the breakup of his marriage.

But then a visit to a self-help seminar led by a guru (Terence Stamp) who preaches the power of yes transforms Carl into a wild, unpredictable fellow, a giddy, spontaneous goofball, a gangling, motormouthed, rubber-faced id. In short, Carl turns into Jim Carrey.

But “Yes Man,” dutifully directed by Peyton Reed (“Bring It On,” “Down With Love”) is too sluggish and slapdash a vehicle for its star’s prodigious wackiness. “Yes Man” rarely rises to genuine hilarity. It takes no risks, finds no inspiration and settles, like its hero, into a dull, noncommittal middle ground. Should you see this movie? Maybe. Whatever. I don’t care.

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

2009-04-18T21:44:00.001-07:00

Explores the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans.

The Underworld series gets the prequel treatment with this third outing that fleshes out the story of the ancient war between the vampiric Death Dealers and their werewolf counterparts, the Lycans. F/X technician Patrick Tatopoulos (Godzilla, Independence Day) steps out of the effects lab and into the director's chair with this entry, which sees stars Michael Sheen and Bill Nighy returning, with series newcomer Rhona Mitra also joining the cast.

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" delves into the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires, known as Death Dealers, and the barbaric Lycans (werewolves). A young Lycan, Lucian (Michael Sheen), emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Bill Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has persecuted them for hundreds of years. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, the beautiful vampire Sonja (Rhona Mitra), in his battle to free the Lycans from their brutal enslavement.

The prequel story traces the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans. In the Dark Ages, a young Lycan named Lucian (Sheen) emerges as a powerful leader who rallies the werewolves to rise up against Viktor (Nighy), the cruel vampire king who has enslaved them. Lucian is joined by his secret lover, Sonja (Mitra), in his battle against the Death Dealer army and his struggle for Lycan freedom.

Badtime Stories

2009-04-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hotel handyman Skeeter Bronson's life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. He attempts to take advantage of the phenomenon, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another, but it's the kids' unexpected contributions that turn Skeeter's life upside down.

BEDTIME STORIES is an adventure comedy starring ADAM SANDLER as Skeeter Bronson, a hotel handyman whose life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. When he tries to help his family by telling one outlandish tale after another, it's the kids' unexpected contributions that turn all of their lives upside down.

Skeeter’s pique (though he may not know it) is reserved for his dead father, an inept businessman whose cozy motel once occupied the lot where Skeeter’s current employer has erected an upscale resort. Gone, along with the homespun vibe, is Skeeter’s dream of one day running the property; so when his divorced sister, Wendy (a frighteningly taut Courteney Cox), asks him to baby-sit for his young niece and nephew (Laura Ann Kesling and Jonathan Morgan Heit) for a few days, Skeeter is in no mood to play scallywag uncle.

“I don’t believe in happy endings,” he tells his incredulous charges when story time comes around. Luckily for the tykes, their director, Adam Shankman, loves them, the happier the better. (Even as a guest judge on “So You Think You Can Dance” Mr. Shankman, a popular choreographer, squirmed mightily to avoid delivering a bad critique.) Rolling up his sleeves and piling on the digital effects, he labors to whip life into a screenplay (by Matt Lopez and Tim Herlihy) so tired even Bugsy, the children’s pop-eyed guinea pig, is moved to tuck himself into bed.

Marley & Me

2009-04-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

To watch “Marley & Me,” the bland, obsequious adaptation of John Grogan’s best-selling memoir of his up-and-down relationship with an unruly Labrador retriever, is to tune in to an era that seems so close and yet so distant. In those naïve old days — the 1990s through the first part of this century — Florida real estate boomed, newspapers flourished and the heavens rained money.

Because the movie, directed by David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada”), plays by the rules of Hollywood, John and Jenny Grogan (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston), never age. The Grogans, golden-fleeced journalists, move from Kalamazoo, Mich., to West Palm Beach, Fla., where they adopt a yellow Lab that John names Marley (after Bob). Except for the occasional thunderstorm that freaks out the neurotic dog, the weather in Florida is always sunny with low humidity.

Later in the movie, after nearly a decade and a half have passed and the Grogans and their three model children have moved to a greeting-card perfect stone house with a barn in rural Pennsylvania, the years seem not to have touched them. Mr. Wilson’s blond surfer locks remain unflecked with gray. The waistline of Ms. Aniston’s Jenny, after bearing three children, shows no sign of a bulge.

Although the Grogans have their spats, one of which drives John temporarily out of the house, the screenplay glosses over their domestic crises to convey the fantasy of a marriage that is mostly smooth sailing, save for Jenny’s exhaustion after the birth of their third child. (The possibility of post-partum depression is cautiously broached, then dropped as though too hot to handle.) Most of the time the Grogans get along fine, largely because John is a laid-back dude verging on a doormat. As for the couple’s romantic chemistry, there is plenty of cuddling but little heat.

Valkyrie

2009-01-29T21:57:00.001-08:00

There are no discernibly nasty Nazis in “Valkyrie,” though Hitler and Goebbels skulk about in a few scenes, shooting dark, ominous looks at the heroic German Army officer played by Tom Cruise.

Perhaps they’re wondering what this Hollywood megastar is doing in their midst, a sentiment that you may come to share while watching Mr. Cruise — who gives a fine, typically energetic performance in a film that requires nothing more of him than a profile and vigor — strut about as one of history’s more enigmatic players. That enigma was Claus von Stauffenberg, a count and a colonel who, though he lost one eye, an entire hand and several fingers while fighting on behalf of the Reich, made several attempts to assassinate Hitler and seize control of the government.

At the core of Stauffenberg’s spectacularly ambitious plot was Valkyrie, Hitler’s plan for the mobilization of the home army that Stauffenberg hoped to hijack in order to quash the SS and its leaders. It didn’t work, of course, for complicated reasons, though also because by 1944, as William L. Shirer bluntly puts it in “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” the conspirators were “terribly late.” Most of the crucial rebellious officers are played by British actors, while some of the Nazi diehards are played by Germans, which wouldn’t be worth mentioning if this cacophony of accents weren’t so distracting. But, as with the casting of Mr. Cruise, whose German voice-over quickly eases into English, this international acting community invokes an earlier studio age, when Peter Lorre and Claude Rains delivered their lines in exotically flavored English and everyone pretended that Rick’s Cafe really was located in Casablanca and not on a back lot.

If Mr. Cruise doesn’t work in “Valkyrie,” it’s partly because he’s too modern, too American and way too Tom Cruise to make sense in the role, but also because what passes for movie realism keeps changing, sometimes faster than even a star can change his brand. Though Mr. Singer’s old-fashioned movie habits, his attention to the gloss, gleam and glamour of the image, can be agreeably pleasurable, he tends to gild every lily. Hitler (David Bamber) doesn’t need spooky music or low camera angles to be villainous: he just has to show up. Mr. Singer’s fondness for exaggeration can even undercut his strongest scenes, as when Stauffenberg visits Hitler to secure approval for the rewritten Valkyrie plan. If implemented, the plan will bring down the Führer who, for his part, seems intent on bringing down the house with leers and popping eyeballs. Mr. Singer appears to have taken cues here from “Black Book,” Paul Verhoeven’s World War II romp, but he’s too serious to make such vaudeville work.

Badtime Stories

2009-01-29T21:56:00.003-08:00

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

2009-01-29T21:56:00.001-08:00

Explores the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans.

Yes Man

2009-01-29T21:55:00.002-08:00

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-29T21:55:00.001-08:00

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-01-29T21:54:00.003-08:00

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American film, very loosely based on the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was directed by David Fincher, written by Eric Roth, and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The film was released on December 25, 2008.

The elderly Daisy (Blanchett) is on her deathbed in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina approaches in August 2005. She asks her daughter Caroline (Ormond) to read aloud from a diary containing photographs and postcards written by Benjamin Button (Pitt). Caroline begins to read as the story transitions to Benjamin's point of view.

On November 11, 1918, just as the people of New Orleans are celebrating the end of the Great War, a baby boy is born with the appearance and physical limitations of a man who is 86 years old. The mother of the baby dies shortly after giving birth, and the father, Thomas Button, takes the baby and abandons him on the porch of a nursing home. Queenie (Henson) and Tizzy (Ali), an African-American couple who work at the nursing home, find the baby. Queenie, who is unable to conceive, decides to take the baby in as her own, against Tizzy's wishes. She names the baby Benjamin.

Over the course of the story, Benjamin begins to physically grow younger. In 1930, while still appearing to be in his seventies, he meets a young Daisy (Fanning), whose grandmother lives in the nursing home. The children play together and listen to Daisy's grandmother read from a storybook. A few years later, Benjamin goes to work on a tugboat on the docks of New Orleans for Captain Mike (Jared Harris). In their free time, the captain takes him to brothels and bars. For the first time, he meets Thomas Button, who does not reveal that he is Benjamin's father. Later, Benjamin leaves New Orleans with the tugboat crew for a long-term work engagement. Before he leaves, Daisy makes him promise to write to her from "everywhere".

Marley & Me

2009-01-29T21:54:00.001-08:00

The Oxford Murders (film)

2009-01-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

The Oxford Murders
Promotional film poster
Directed by	Álex de la Iglesia
Produced by	Kevin Loader Gerardo Herrero
Written by	Jorge Guerricaechevarria (screenplay) Álex de la Iglesia (screenplay) Guillermo Martínez (novel)
Starring	Elijah Wood John Hurt Leonor Watling
Distributed by	Odeon Sky Filmworks, Tornasol Films
Country	UK Spain
Language	English
Budget	$14.1 million
IMDb

The Oxford Murders is a 2008 thriller film adapted from an award-winning novel of the same name by the Argentine mathematician and writer Guillermo Martínez, directed by Álex de la Iglesia and starring Elijah Wood, John Hurt and Leonor Watling.

Plot

The plaster cast of Trajan's Column at the Victoria and Albert is discussed in the film.

November 1993. Wood plays Martin, an American student at the University of Oxford who wants Arthur Seldom (Hurt) as his thesis supervisor. He idolises Seldom and has learnt all about him. He takes rooms in Oxford at the house of an old lady who is an old friend of Seldom. Also in the house is the old lady's daughter, who is her full-time carer.

In a public lecture, Seldom quotes Wittgenstein's Tractatus to deny the possibility of absolute truth. Hoping to impress his idol, Martin disputes this, asserting his faith in the absolute truth of mathematics. Seldom humiliates him, ridiculing his arguments and making him look foolish in front of the audience. Disillusioned, Martin decides to abandon his studies and goes to his office to collect his belongings. There, he encounters his office-mate, a disillusioned mathematician Podorov (Burn Gorman), who also failed to become a student of Seldom's.

Martin then returns to his digs, where he finds Seldom arriving to visit his old friend, the old lady. The two men enter the house together and find Martin's landlady murdered. Seldom tells the police that he had received a note with his friend's address marked as "the first of a series". As Seldom is an authority on logical series, he suspects that a serial murderer is using murder as a way to challenge his intelligence. Martin and Seldom discuss how easily the murder of the old lady might have been overlooked, particularly as she already suffered from terminal cancer, and Martin suggests that the murderer is committing 'imperceptible murders'.

Martin, Seldom and Lorna, a Spanish nurse with whom Martin has struck up a relationship, try to solve the mathematical clues as the murders continue. They have to contend with police suspicion, a rising body count and tensions between the three of them. There is a wide range of suspects, from the three principal characters to the mathematician and the old lady's daughter. The solution lies in the mathematical concepts, but there are many twists along the way as Martin learns the truths behind reality.

Mathematical and philosophical references

The characters debate several mathematical and philosophical concepts such as logical series, Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, Gödel's Theorem, circles, the Vesica Piscis, the possibility of perfect crime, "Fermat"'s Last Theorem and its proof by "Professor Wiles", the Taniyama conjecture, the tetraktys and the Pythagoreans. There are references, also, of the butterfly effect.

Production

Filming at the White Horse pub, Oxford, 22 March 2007.

The film is a Spanish-French-British production directed by Spanish Álex de la Iglesia. Before the confirmation of Elijah Wood in the film, the Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal had been considered for the role of the mathematics student. There were some weeks of speculation on who would play the lead. On 26 December 2006 Tornasol Films announced that Wood was cast in the lead role. The director Alex de la Iglesia commented that he convinced Wood to accept the role for the script. De la Iglesia also praised Wood: “I'm delighted to work with Elijah, who undoubtedly has the most powerful eyes in the industry and who is perfect for the part”.

The British actor John Hurt was cast in the role of a professor of the University, who helps the young student in his quest to try to stop a series of murders. The actor Michael Caine had been considered for this role.

De la Iglesia described daily in his blog the peculiar situations that happened during the production of the film. The film is his first foray outside his typical black comedy genre into more dramatic fare.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Filming began on 22 January 2007 and finished on 24 March, with locations in Oxford and the Cast Courts of the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. It was picked up for UK release by Odeon Sky Filmworks, opening on 25 April 2008. So far, the release date for the US is unknown.

Cast

Elijah Wood - Martin, an American student
John Hurt - Arthur Seldom, a British authority on logical series.
Leonor Watling - Lorna, a Spanish nurse
Julie Cox - Beth Eagleton, a musician, daughter of Mrs. Eagleton.
Dominique Pinon - Frank, father of an ill girl waiting for an organ transplant (engrossed in Neopythagoreanism).
Burn Gorman - Yuri Ivanovich Podorov, a crank mathematician.
Jim Carter - Inspector Petersen
Anna Massey - Mrs. Julia Eagleton, Martin's landlady and Seldom's friend.
Alex Cox - Kalman, a demented mathematician

Ip Man (film)

2009-01-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

Ip Man
Promotional poster
Directed by	Wilson Yip
Produced by	Raymond Wong
Written by	Edmond Wong
Starring	Donnie Yen Simon Yam Lam Ka-Tung Hiroyuki Ikeuchi Xing Yu Fan Siu-Wong Lynn Hung Wong You-Nam
Music by	Kenji Kawai
Cinematography	O Sing-Pui
Editing by	Cheung Ka-Fai
Distributed by	Mandarin Films Distribution Co. Ltd. Cathay-Keris Films Innoform Media
Release date(s)	China: 12 December 2008 Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand: 18 December 2008
Country	Hong Kong
Language	Cantonese Japanese
Budget	HK$40 million
Gross revenue	HK$20.4 million
Official website • IMDb

Ip Man (traditional Chinese: 葉問; simplified Chinese: 叶问; pinyin: Yè Wèn; Cantonese Yale: Yip Man) is a 2008 Hong Kong martial arts biopic that is based on the life of Ip Man, the celebrated martial arts master of Bruce Lee, and the first to teach the Chinese martial art of Wing Chun openly. The film focuses on events surrounding Yip that took place in Foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Directed by Wilson Yip, the film stars Donnie Yen in the lead role, and features fight choreography by Sammo Hung. Ip's two sons, Ip Chun and Ip Ching, along with several Wing Chun practitioners also appear in the film.

Ip Man is the first film to be based on the life of the martial artist. After a first attempt to portray Ip's life on screen resulted in the project being abandoned, producer Raymond Wong developed his own film with full consent from Ip's sons, and had filmmakers head to Foshan, to research Master Ip's life. Ip Chun, Ip Man's eldest son served as a consultant for the film. Donnie Yen, who was set to star in the abandoned film project, received a star fee and was invited to join Wong's production after a successful collaboration with director Wilson Yip on the 2007 film Flash Point.

From March to August 2008, principal photography took place in Shanghai, which was used to architecturally recreate Foshan. During filming, conflict arose between producers and film director Wong Kar-wai over the film's working title, Grandmaster Yip Man (一代宗师葉問). Wong had intended on making his own film based on the life of Ip Man tentatively titled The Great Master (一代宗师). To settle the dispute, filmmakers of Ip Man changed their title, and it was later revealed that Wong's five-year rights to make the Ip Man biopic had expired.

Ip Man was released in Hong Kong on 18 December 2008, ^[1] receiving widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences. The film was also released in New Zealand, and was the first country to release the Cantonese version due to time zone differences.

Plot

Ip Man is adapted from the life story of Yip Man, the grandmaster of the Wing Chun style of kung fu and sifu of legendary kung fu superstar Bruce Lee. This film will be the first important record of the master's life.

Cast

Actor	Role
Donnie Yen	Ip Man
Simon Yam	Chow Ching-Chuen
Fan Siu-Wong	Jin Shan Zhao
Lynn Hung	Zhang Yong Cheng
Lam Ka-Tung	Li Zhao
Li Ze	Ip Chun
Xing Yu	Master Zealot Lin
Wong You-Nam	Shao Dan Yuan
Li Qi-Long	Green Dragon
Chen Zhi-Hui	Master Liao
Zhou Zhong	Master He
To Yu-Hang	Hu Wei
Hiroyuki Ikeuchi	Miura

Production

"We wanted to do this movie because Ip Man was a man who inspired the world and society as a whole. He was a man who believed in certain morals and principles, and we want to use this movie as a platform to convey those values to the audience. For me, that was the most important part of making this movie,”
——Director Wilson Yip on making Ip Man.^[2]

Ip Man is the first film to be based on the life on the famous martial artist Ip Man. It also marks the fourth film collaboration between director Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen after 2007's Flash Point. The two also reunite with Simon Yam after 2005's SPL: Sha Po Lang. The screenplay was written by Edmond Wong, the writer of 2006's Dragon Tiger Gate, which was Yip and Yen's second collaboration as director and star respectively. Ip Man was produced and distributed by Mandarin Films, with Shanghai Film Group serving as a co-producer and Raymond Wong Pak-Ming serving as a producer. Ip Man's eldest son, Ip Chun, served as a consultant for the film. The film's budget is an estimated HK$40 million. ^[3]

Development

The film was originally conceived in 1998, when Jeffrey Lau teamed up with Corey Yuen to bring the story of Ip Man to the big screen. Donnie Yen signed on to the project in hopes of playing Ip Man, with Stephen Chow as Bruce Lee. Yen had signed the contract and received part of the acting fee. However, the studio producing the original project folded resulting in the project being abandoned.^[4]

In December 2007, plans to make a new Ip Man film was announced with the filmmakers researching Ip's life in Foshan. Collin Chou was also said to be a part of the cast. Producer Raymond Wong stated that the film would take on a similar look and feel as SPL.^[5]

Filming

Production began in March 2008, and wrapped up by the end of August. 90% of the film focuses on events surrounding Ip Man that took place in Foshan between the 1930s to 1940s during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Since the buildings in today's Foshan are architecturally different from the ones in the past, the filmmakers decided to shoot the film in Shanghai instead. ^[4] ^[6] ^[7]

Principal photography first took place in a storeroom in the industrial district of Shanghai. Having difficulties scouting a cotton factory suitable for shooting, set designers decided to recreate one in the style of the 1930s. They spent weeks transforming an abandoned storeroom into the Zhen Hua Cotton Mill Factory, a 1930s cotton mill factory founded by Ip Man’s friend Chow Ching-Chuen (played in the film by Simon Yam) during the Japanese Occupation of China. It was also the place where Ip first taught Wing Chun. Art director Kenneth Mak, who has frequently collaborated with director Wilson Yip, included Western elements in his design, since Foshan, in early republican years, was a unique place where Chinese and Western cultures would converge. Pillars were made to resemble English lampposts and Western lighting, chairs and tableware were used. The building was made to look obsolete and worn-out as suits the difficult circumstances under Japanese Occupation to convey the culture and feel of the time. Apart from historical references, Mak also created a glass house in the factory.^[8]

Fight choreography

"...his biggest achievement lies in playing a true historical figure, unlike fictitious characters he had been doing in the past...he'd have to try his best to understand the thoughts of Yip Man, to be him, and to fit in within the past."
——Director Wilson Yip on Donnie Yen being cast as Ip Man.^[4]

The martial arts scenes were choreographed by Sammo Hung, who had previously collaborated with Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen as an actor for the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang. ^[4] Hung was hired as a choreographer mainly because of his experience on the 1978 film Warriors Two and 1982's The Prodigal Son, both of which involved the style of Wing Chun. ^[2] When asked how he would work with Yen to direct the action scenes, Hung replied matter-of-factly, "With my mouth." ^[4]

Yen has described the role being the most difficult in his career, both emotionally and mentally. ^[2] He spent months preparing for the role, by going on a strict diet which consisted of mainly vegetables and eating one meal a day, training in Wing Chun, and learning more about Ip Man through his two sons, all in hopes of portraying an erudite and cultured Ip Man, as well as bringing out the special traits of Wing Chun.^[4] ^[9] He even went as far as to stay in character after filming, wearing his costume and changing his voice and movement patterns. ^[2]

While rehearsing a fight scene, Yen was reportedly injured when an axe wielder accidentally slashed the side of his left eye. ^[9] Yen also admitted to having a masseur on set as he could not physically raise his shoulder for the fight scenes.^[10]

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, who holds a black belt in Judo, described it to be "difficult" working under Hung's command. In one scene, he suffered a mild concussion after receiving four blows continuously. ^[11] Hung later praised Yen and Ikeuchi's performances in the film, even though the Japanese actor was not trained in Chinese martial arts and was not given a lot of complex moves.

Film title controversy

The film gained controversy over its film title, which was disputed by film director Wong Kar-wai, who announced plans to make his own film on Ip Man with Tony Leung Chiu-Wai while filming 2046. Wong Kar-wai had planned his own Yip Man biopic titled The Great Master (一代宗师), with Leung in the lead role.^[4] Wong Kar-Wai's film, however, had been in development hell, having been announced several years earlier.^[4] ^[4] Producer Raymond Wong wanted to name his film Grandmaster Yip Man, which bore a resemblance to the title Wong Kar-Wai wanted to use for his film.^[12]

After Raymond Wong announced his title, Wong Kar-wai's production company, Jet Tone Films, issued a statement saying that they had exclusive rights to the Chinese title of the film and that it is "shameful" that Raymond Wong was using it. They also denied Donnie Yen's claim that ten years ago, Wong Kar-wai and Jeffrey Lau asked him to play Ip Man.^[12]

To settle the dispute, Raymond Wong publicly expressed the film title:^[4]

“

Actually, all along, we have called our film Ip Man, but our mainland investors said that Yip Man was a great master of his times, so we changed our title to Grandmaster Yip Man out of respect for him. Yet, this brought about a series of debates over the title. To settle this matter amicably, after discussions with our various investors, movie consultant Yip Chun, and director Wilson Yip, we changed back to our original title.

”

It was later announced that Wong Kar-wai's five-year rights to make the Ip Man biopic had expired and that Mandarin Films had stepped in with their film.^[13]

Working titles

The Legend of Yip Man (traditional Chinese: 葉問傳)
Grandmaster Yip Man (traditional Chinese: 一代宗師葉問)

Reception

Ip Man was given a test screening in Beijing on December 4, 2008. The film was highly praised, based on survey sheets returned by the audience. Donnie Yen's portrayal of Ip Man was repeatedly hailed as the year's best performance. As a traditional martial arts film, Ip Man's fight scenes were awarded 8 to 9 out of 10 by 85% of the audience, while full marks were given by the remaining 15%. High praise was also given to the film's co-stars, Fan Siu-Wong, Lam Ka-Tung, and Lynn Hung. ^[14]

Box office

On the week of 18 December to December 21, Ip Man came in first place at the box office, grossing nearly HK$4.5 million (US$579,715) in Hong Kong, having been released in 37 screens. The film had topped its American competitors Twilight and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa which came in second and third place respectively.^[15] Ip Man topped the Singapore and Malaysian box office the same week as well. To date, the film has grossed over HK$ 20.4 million at the Hong Kong box office.

Sequel

Mandarin Films Ltd. has greenlighted a sequel to Ip Man. Prior to its theatrical release, a sequel for Ip Man was announced by producer Raymond Wong. While promoting the motion picture soundtrack for Ip Man, Wong had revealed that the sequel, tentatively titled Ip Man 2 would continue Ip Man's story, focusing on his migration to Hong Kong and his four disciples which includes Bruce Lee to propogate his discipline of Wing Chun. Bruce Lee would also be a major character in the film.^[16] The sequel's budget is an estimated HK$40 million, and Mandarin Films is aiming for a release towards the end of 2010. ^[17]

Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip are set to return for the second installment, and are reportedly planning a worldwide talent scout for a suitable candidate to play Lee, who is Ip's most celebrated disciple. They are also debating over whether to look for an actor with solid martial arts foundation or looks.^[18] At the Beijing gala premiere of Ip Man, Wilson Yip announced he intends to make an Ip Man franchise.^[19]

Underworld 3: The Rise of the Lycans (2009)

2009-01-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

CinemaSource

Watch Underworld 3: The Rise of the Lycans Trailer

starring:

Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra, Shane Brolly, Kevin Grevioux

director:

Patrick Tatopoulos

synopsis

"Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" explores the origins of the centuries-old blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their onetime slaves, the Lycans.

cast + crew

Director

Lucian

Viktor

Sonja

Kraven

Raze

Screenplay

Screenplay

Screenplay

Producer

Producer

Producer

Producer

Not Easily Broken (2009)

2009-01-12T17:22:00.000-08:00

CinemaSource	Watch Not Easily Broken Trailer starring: Morris Chestnut, Cannon Jay, Eddie Cibrian, Kwame Boateng, Maeve Quinlan, Jenifer Lewis, Wood Harris, Kevin Hart, Elizabeth Uhl, Jeffrey Krebs director: Bill Duke
	Rate this Movie User Average

synopsis

A couple's strength and faith are tested after the wife is injured in a car crash and husband becomes attracted to another woman.

cast + crew

Bill Duke

Director

Morris Chestnut

Dave Johnson

Cannon Jay

Bryson

Eddie Cibrian

Brock Houseman

Kwame Boateng

Darius

Maeve Quinlan

Julie

Jenifer Lewis

Mary 'Mama' Clark

Wood Harris

Darnell Gooden

Kevin Hart

Tree

Elizabeth Uhl

Cast

Jeffrey Krebs

Cast

T.D. Jakes

Source Material

Brian Bird

Screenplay

Morris Chestnut

Executive Producer

T.D. Jakes

Producer

Curtis Wallace

Producer

Brian Bird

Co-Producer

Che (Part Two: Guerrilla) (2009)

2009-01-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

CinemaSource

synopsis

On Nov. 26, 1956, Fidel Castro sails to Cuba with 80 rebels. One of those rebels is Ernesto "Che" Guevara, a young Argentine idealist and doctor who shares a common goal with Fidel Castro--to overthrow the corrupt dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Che proves himself an indispensable fighter, and quickly grasps the art of guerrilla warfare. As he throws himself into the struggle, Che is embraced by his comrades and the Cuban people. "The Argentine" tracks Che's rise in the Cuban Revolution, from doctor to commander to revolutionary hero.

cast + crew

Steven Soderbergh

Director

Benicio Del Toro

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Demian Bichir

Fidel Castro

Santiago Cabrera

Camillo Cienfuegos

Elvira Minguez

Celia Sanchez

Jorge Perugorria

Joaquin

Edgar Ramirez

Ciro Redondo

Victor Rasuk

Rogello Acevedo

Armando Riesco

Benigno

Catalina Sandino Moreno

Aleida Guevara

Rodrigo Santoro

Raul Castro

Peter Buchman

Screenplay

Benicio Del Toro

Screenplay

Chris Gerolmo

screenplay

Terrence Malick

Screenplay

Ben Vanderveen

Screenplay

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Source Material

Laura Bickford

Producer

Benicio Del Toro

Producer

Alvaro Longoria

Executive Producer

Frederic W Brost

Executive Producer

Belen Atienza

Executive Producer

Alvaro Augustin

Executive Producer

Gregory Jacobs

Executive Producer

Bride Wars (2009)

2009-01-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

FOX 2000 Pictures

synopsis

Liv and Emma are best friends who since childhood have planned every detail of their respective weddings. At the top of their bridal "must have" list: a ceremony at New York's ultimate bridal destination, the Plaza Hotel. Now, at age 26, they're both about to get married; they're about to realize their dreams; and they're about to live happily ever after. Or maybe not... When a clerical error causes a clash in wedding dates--they're now to be married on the same date!--Liv, Emma and their lifelong friendship are put to the ultimate test. Liv, a successful lawyer who is used to getting what she wants, including the perfect job and the perfect man, won't settle for anything less than the perfect wedding she has dreamed of for years. Emma, a schoolteacher who has always been good at taking care of others, but not so much in looking after herself, discovers her inner Bridezilla and comes out swinging when her own dream wedding is imperiled. Now, the two best friends who'd do anything for each other, find themselves in a no-holds-barred, take-no-prisoners struggle that threatens to erupt into all-out war.

cast + crew

Gary Winick

Director

Kate Hudson

Liv

Anne Hathaway

Emma

Candice Bergen

Marion St. Claire

Kristen Johnston

Deb

Bryan Greenberg

Nate

Steve Howey

Daniel

Chris Pratt

Fletcher

Michael Arden

Kevin

John Pankow

Emma's Dad

Paul Scheer

Nicky Coo

Greg de Paul

Screenplay

Casey Wilson

Screenplay

June Raphael

Screenplay

Greg de Paul

Story By

Kate Hudson

Producer

Jay Cohen

Producer

Alan Riche

Producer

Tony Ludwig

Producer

Julie Silverman-Yorn

Producer

Matt Luber

Executive Producer

Jonathan Filley

Executive Producer

Dog Eat Dog (2009)

2009-01-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

synopsis

Two hoods sign their own death warrant when they bungle a job.

cast + crew

Carlos Moreno

Director

Marlon Moreno

Victor Penaranda

Oscar Borda

Eusebio Benitez

Alvaro Rodriguez

Silvio Sierra

Blas Jaramillo

El Orejon

Paulina Rivas

Iris

Andres Toro

Zabala

Hansel Camacho

Don Pascual

Diego Quijano

Don Pablo

Julian Caicedo

Porter

Rodrigo Velez

Torres

Alonso Torres

Source Material

Carlos Moreno

Screenplay

Alonso Torres

Screenplay

Rodrigo Guerrero

Executive Producer

Carolina Barrera

Executive Producer

Diego F Ramirez

Producer

Diego F Ramirez

Executive Producer

Twilight (2008)

2009-01-12T17:13:00.000-08:00


CinemaSource

synopsis

Bella Swan has always been a little bit different, never caring about fitting in with the trendy girls at her Phoenix high school. When her mother remarries and sends Bella to live with her father in the rainy little town of Forks, Wash., she doesn't expect much of anything to change. Then she meets the mysterious and dazzlingly beautiful Edward Cullen, a boy unlike any she's ever met. Intelligent and witty, he sees straight into her soul. Soon, Bella and Edward are swept up in a passionate and decidedly unorthodox romance. Edward can run faster than a mountain lion, he can stop a moving car with his bare hands--and he hasn't aged since 1918. Like all vampires, he's immortal. But he doesn't have fangs, and he doesn't drink human blood; Edward and his family are unique among vampires in their lifestyle choice. To Edward, Bella is that thing he has waited 90 years for--a soul mate. But the closer they get, the more Edward must struggle to resist the primal pull of her scent, which could send him into an uncontrollable frenzy. But what will Edward & Bella do when James, Laurent and Victoria, the Cullens' mortal vampire enemies, come to town, looking for her?

cast + crew

Catherine Hardwicke
Director
Kristen Stewart
Isabella "Bella" Swan
Robert Pattinson
Edward Cullen
Taylor Lautner
Jacob Black
Sarah Clarke
Renee Dwyer
Billy Burke
Chief Charlie Swan
Gil Birmingham
Billy Black
Peter Facinelli
Dr Carlisle Cullen
Elizabeth Reaser
Esme Cullen
Ashley Greene
Alice Cullen
Jackson Rathbone
Jasper Cullen
Melissa Rosenberg
Screenplay
Stephenie Meyer
Source Material
Greg Mooridian
Producer
Mark Morgan
Producer
Guy Oseary
Executive Producer
Karen Rosenfelt
Executive Producer
Michele Imperato-Stabile
Executive Producer
Marty Bowen
Executive Producer
Wyck Godfrey
Producer
Patrick Thomas Smith
Associate Producer

Keep driving past ‘City of Ember’

2009-01-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

Gloomy kids’ adventure will disturb children, bore adults

Alonso Duralde

Film critic

It’s turning out to be quite the year for post-apocalyptic kids’ movies — this summer we had “Wall-E,” with its polluted Earth abandoned by an increasingly flabby human race, and now comes “City of Ember,” about a pocket of civilization that’s been living underground for 200 years after an unspecified catastrophe (or what Peter Greenaway in “The Falls” would call a “Violent Unknown Event”).

Would that this new movie had a tenth of the charm or the smarts of the Disney/Pixar cartoon. All “City of Ember” offers are uninteresting characters in a grimy and bleak world — the production design all but screams “It’s a set!” — and instead of suspense or even empathy, there’s just noise and ugliness.

The film begins with scientists loading up a box with instructions on how to leave the underground city and return to the surface world two centuries hence. The box is supposed to be passed down from mayor to mayor, but it winds up buried in a closet until it’s discovered by Lina (Saoirse Ronan). Perfect timing, too, because Lina and her best friend Doon (Harry Treadaway) have noticed that Ember is falling apart, with more frequent blackouts due to the city’s failing generator.

Transporter 3

2009-01-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

Transporter 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Olivier Megaton
Produced by	Luc Besson Steve Chasman
Written by	Luc Besson Robert Mark Kamen
Starring	Jason Statham François Berléand Robert Knepper Natalya Rudakova Eriq Ebouaney
Music by	Alexandre Azaria
Cinematography	Giovanni Fiore Coltellacci
Editing by	Camille Delamarre Carla Rizzo
Distributed by	EuropaCorp Lionsgate 20th Century Fox (United Kingdom)
Release date(s)	November 26, 2008 (USA) December 5, 2008 (UK)
Country	France
Language	English
Budget	€30,000,000 $41,000,000
Gross revenue	$54,046,260
Preceded by	Transporter 2

Transporter 3 is a 2008 action film, and is the third installment in the Transporter film series, as well as the first not to be distributed by 20th Century Fox in the United States. Both Jason Statham and François Berléand reprised their roles, as Frank Martin and Tarconi, respectively. This is the first film in the series to be directed by Olivier Megaton. The film continues the story of Frank Martin, a professional "transporter" who has returned to France to continue his low-key business of delivering packages without questions.

Plot

Frank Martin (Jason Statham) has been pressured into transporting Valentina (Natalya Rudakova), the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev (Jeroen Krabbe), through the use of a device attached to his wrist which will explode if Frank goes more than 75 feet from his car. Vasilev is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for Ukraine. He must travel from Marseille through Munich and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. With the help of Inspector Tarconi (François Berléand), Frank must contend with the people who strong-armed him into taking the job, agents sent by the Ukraine government to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation of his passenger. Despite Valentina's cynical disposition and Frank's resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another. Statham again drives an armored Audi A8 W12 in the film.

Cast

Jason Statham as Frank Martin
François Berléand as Inspector Tarconi
Natalya Rudakova as Valentina Vasilev
Justin Rodgers Hall as Horatio^[1]
Eriq Ebouaney as Ice^[1]
Robert Knepper as Johnson
Jeroen Krabbé as Leonid Vasilev
David Atrakchi as Malcom Manville

DVD & Blu-ray release

According to Movieweb.com, Transporter 3 will be available to own on dvd & blu-ray March 10 in the United States. The Blu-ray version will contain a digital copy of the film that the dvd version will not have. The rest of the special features are unknown at this time.

Production

Shooting was initially expected to last for 16 weeks, in France and Russia. It was also filmed in Odessa, Ukraine.^[2]

Reception

The film has received mostly mixed reviews from critics. The film holds a score of 36%, based on 96 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8 out of 10 on the website Rotten Tomatoes. The consensus stated that the film is a "middling installment in the Transporter franchise that is a few steps down from its predecessors, featuring generic stunts and a lack of energy."^[3] On Metacritic, the film currently has a score of 51%, based on 26 reviews.^[4]

On its opening weekend, the film opened at number 7 with $12 million. ^[5] As of December 12, 2008, the film has grossed $27.5 million in the United States and in Canada and $17.9 million in foreign countries, with a total gross of $45.5 million worldwide. It is currently the second highest-grossing film in the Transporter trilogy.^[6]

Yes Man (film)

2009-01-12T16:53:00.000-08:00

Yes Man
Film poster
Directed by	Peyton Reed
Produced by	Jim Carrey David Heyman Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	Screenplay: Nicholas Stoller Jarrad Paul Andrew Mogel Book: Danny Wallace
Starring	Jim Carrey Terrence Stamp Zooey Deschanel Bradley Cooper Rhys Darby Danny Masterson
Cinematography	Robert D. Yeoman
Editing by	Jeff Micks
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	December 19, 2008 (US, ES) December 26, 2008 (UK) January 1, 2009 (AU) January 21, 2009 (FR)
Running time	104 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million
Gross revenue	$122,710,000
Official website • IMDb • Allmovie

Yes Man is a 2008 American comedy film directed by Peyton Reed and starring Jim Carrey. The film is based on the true story and 2005 book The Yes Man by British humourist Danny Wallace (who has a brief cameo in the film). Production began in Los Angeles, CA in October 2007.

Plot

Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) is a divorced middle-aged man in Los Angeles who spends his days working as a junior loan approval officer in a bank, supervised by his immature manager Norman (Rhys Darby). Routinely declining social engagements so as to avoid meeting his ex-wife Stephanie (Molly Sims) with her new boyfriend, he has grown used to spending his evenings watching DVDs alone in his apartment while ignoring his friends' phone calls. But after he lets down his best friend Pete by forgetting about his engagement party, his friend Nick (John Michael Higgins) persuades him that he needs to start living again. Nick takes Carl to a motivational seminar called "Yes!" where Carl is publicly accosted by inspirational guru Terrence Bundley (Terence Stamp). Browbeaten into making a covenant with himself, Carl promises to stop being a "No Man" and to answer "Yes!" to every opportunity, request, or invitation that presents itself thereafter.

After the seminar, a homeless man asks Carl for a ride to Elysian Park. Although Carl's instinct is to say no, Nick intervenes, reminding Carl that the proper answer is yes. During the drive, the homeless man asks to borrow Carl's cell phone (Carl again says yes) and wears out the battery making calls. When they reach their destination, the man asks for the cash in Carl's wallet (which Carl reluctantly gives), but then Carl discovers that his car has run out of fuel. With his phone battery dead, he hikes to a gas station several miles away, where he meets Allison (Zooey Deschanel). She takes pity on him and gives him a hair-raising scooter ride back to his car. Emboldened by her spontaneity and by a newfound sense of possibility, Carl impulsively kisses Allison, and believes that his life has changed for the better.

After this positive start, Carl continues saying yes. After he wins a promotion at the bank for agreeing to work on a Saturday, he goes out to celebrate with his friends, gets very drunk, impetuously kisses a girl, and becomes involved in a comic fistfight with her boyfriend (he luckily escapes injury). But when he agrees to erect some shelving for his elderly neighbor Tillie (Fionnula Flanagan), and she proposes to reward him sexually, Carl is horrified. He says no and attempts to leave her apartment—but he gets his shirt stuck in the door, falls down the stairs after freeing himself, and almost gets mauled by a guard dog. Terrified that he has broken the Yes! covenant, Carl returns to his neighbor's apartment, where he allows her to perform oral sex on him.

After this brush with his old No Man self, Carl now commits himself to saying yes to absolutely every opportunity that comes his way—he takes flying lessons, attends Korean language classes, learns to play the guitar, and even says yes when he receives spam from a Persian dating website. As before, saying yes"works to Carl's advantage. When he says yes to a concert promoter whom he has previously ignored, he sees a band whose lead singer turns out to be Allison. Although the band is dreadful and the audience tiny, Carl is again charmed by Allison's spontaneity and idiosyncrasy. She invites him to the unconventional class that she teaches in the park in the mornings, which combines photography with jogging, and the two begin dating.

At work, Carl has been saying yes to every loan application that crosses his desk, but this seemingly reckless approach to lending wins him a promotion to executive after it opens new territory for the bank in the area of microcredit. He finally agrees to attend one of Norm's costume parties where they dress as Harry Potter characters. His newfound talents prove fruitful when it comes to saving a man (Luis Guzman) from committing suicide: as the man stands on a ledge outside a tall building, Carl picks up a guitar and plays Third Eye Blind's song "Jumper" to persuade the man to return inside.

As their relationship blossoms, Carl and Allison meet at the airport for a spontaneous weekend away. Having decided to take the first plane out of town, they end up in Lincoln, Nebraska, where they explore the Frank H. Woods Telephone Museum, attend a college football game, and go skeet shooting. As they shelter from the rain in a barn before their departure, Allison asks Carl to move in with her. He hesitates, but says yes anyway. But while checking in for the return flight, Carl is detained by FBI agents, who have profiled him as potential terrorist because he has taken flying lessons, studied Korean, approved a loan to start a fertilizer company, been married for six months three years previously, and bought plane tickets at the last minute.

Carl calls his best friend Pete, a lawyer, who travels to Nebraska to explain Carl's commitment to saying yes to everything. At this point, Allison finds out about Carl's motivational covenant, and begins to doubt whether his commitment to her was ever sincere. She also finds out about Carl's marriage and divorce, which he had not mentioned to her previously. Deciding that she can no longer trust a man who is obliged to say yes to everything, regardless of his true feelings, Allison leaves Carl at the airport. Carl repeatedly tries to contact her, but to no avail.

In a vain effort to speak with Allison, Carl attends another of her band's concerts, where she indirectly tells him to jump off a bridge so Carl signs up to do a bungee jump. While dangling from the bridge after the jump, he receives a phone call from the bank's vice president, saying that he must fire his old boss Norman. He tries to make things better, going through with the bridal shower he has agreed to organize for Pete's fiancée, and even setting Norman up with a Korean party planner whom he met when planning the shower.

While he is broken up with Allison, Carl gets a tearful phone call from his ex-wife Stephanie, whose boyfriend has walked out on her. Carl goes to Stephanie's apartment to comfort her, but she kisses him passionately and asks whether they can get back together. After Carl emphatically says no, his luck takes a turn for the worse: The elevator in which he tries to leave Stephanie's building almost snaps free of its cable, a black cat crosses his path, and his car gets clamped and towed. He has a momentary hallucination in which the tow-truck operator metamorphoses into himself, and starts to chant "No Man, No Man, No Man."

In desperation, Carl decides to track down Terrence Bundley so that he can be released from the Yes! covenant. After lying in wait for Bundley in the backseat of the his convertible, Carl emerges after the car pulls off, but Bundley is so shocked that he loses control of the vehicle and crashes it. Carl awakes some hours later in the hospital, only for the guru to tell him that there really wasn't any covenant, and that he wasn't supposed to take saying yes so literally. The point of the covenant was only to open Carl's mind to other possibilities, not to take away his ability to say no when he needed to. Freed from this restraint, Carl borrows the Ducati motorcycle from a male nurse who bought it with the money he lent the man and rides it to Allison's morning class, wearing only a hospital gown. He apologizes, admits that he does not want to move in with her just yet, but tells her that he genuinely loves and wants her—and has been with her not just because he is compelled to say yes. The couple kiss passionately while the amateur photographers capture the moment.

At the end of the movie, Carl and Allison make a rather large donation of clothes to a local homeless shelter. Cutting to the scene of the Yes! seminar, Bundley is surprised when he walks on stage to several hundred naked audience members. It is implied that the participants have said Yes! to donating their clothes to charity.

In a scene during the credits Carl and Allison try on a new body skating outfit designed by a man he had previously denied a loan early in the film. They zip down a large hill at high speeds laughing all the way.

Cast

Jim Carrey as Carl Allen
Zooey Deschanel as Allison
Bradley Cooper as Peter
John Michael Higgins as Nick
Rhys Darby as Norman
Danny Masterson as Rooney
Terence Stamp as Terrence Bundley
Molly Sims as Stephanie
Sean O'Bryan as Ted
Sasha Alexander as Lucy
John Cothran Jr. as Tweed
Luis Guzman as Jumper

Production

Carrey received no upfront salary for his role in the film. He will instead be paid 36.2 percent of the film's gross after its production and marketing costs are recovered.^[1]

During shooting of a scene where Carrey's character bungee jumps off a bridge, Carrey interrupted and asked to do the stunt himself.^[2] Carrey stated to the stunt double that he intended to do it in one take. When he jumps off, he is seen taking out a cell phone for the scene.

While shooting the scene in the bar where Carrey's character turns around into a waitress and falls flat on his back, Carrey executed the stunt incorrectly and fell to the floor harder than he expected, breaking three ribs in the process. Carrey himself revealed this in an interview for Moviefone in response to a viewer-submitted question about the film's stunts. ^[3]

Carrey also mastered basic Korean for a scene. A language coach was hired to help Carrey learn the language accurately. However, this is not the same for the scene in which Carrey's character learns to play the guitar; Carrey has been playing the instrument since his childhood.

The film's soundtrack features original music by "Munchausen by Proxy", a fictional band named after the Münchausen syndrome by proxy, a psychological disorder. Jim Carrey's character is incessantly invited to see the band by an over-eager manager/street promoter. Along with female lead Zooey Deschanel, the fictional band was created by Von Iva.^[4] The San Francisco-based all-girl power trio of vocals, keyboards and drums were hired to collaborate with the actress to write and perform the original songs and stylized aesthetic of the group for this pivotal scene.^[5]^[6] Von Iva got the part of the fictional ensemble in the film after the movie's music supervisor, Jonathan Karp, saw the cover of their CD in Amoeba in Hollywood.^[7] The soundtrack also features 9 songs by the Eels including a brand-new song, "Man Up." ^[8]

Reception

Yes Man generated mixed reviews. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 42% of critics gave positive based on 128 reviews.^[9] Most critics thought that its plot was too similar to Liar Liar, which also starred Jim Carrey. ^[10] Metacritic also calculated a 45/100 approval rating based on 23 reviews.^[11]

In his review for The Miami Herald, Rene Rodriguez wrote, "Yes Man is fine as far as Carrey comedies go, but it's even better as a love story that just happens to make you laugh,"^[12] while Kyle Smith of The New York Post countered in his review that, "The first time I saw Yes Man, I thought the concept was getting kind of stale toward the end. As it turns out, that was only the trailer."^[13].

The film opened #1 in its first weekend at the US box office with $18.3 million,^[14] and went straight to the top of the UK box office in its first weekend after release

Quantum Of Solace

2008-11-29T04:52:00.001-08:00

Quantum of Solace (2008) is the 22nd James Bond film by EON Productions, released in the United Kingdom on 31 October 2008 and in North America on 14 November. The direct sequel to the 2006 film Casino Royale, it is directed by Marc Forster, and features Daniel Craig's second performance as James Bond.

In the film, Bond battles Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a member of the Quantum organisation posing as an environmentalist, who intends to stage a coup d'état in Bolivia to take control of its water supply. Bond seeks revenge for the death of Vesper Lynd, and is assisted by Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko).

Producer Michael G. Wilson created the film's plot while Casino Royale was shooting. Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis and Joshua Zetumer contributed to the script. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Location filming took place in Panama, Chile, Italy and Austria, while interior sets were built and filmed at Pinewood Studios.

Forster aimed to make a modern film that also featured classic cinema motifs: an antique aeroplane was used for a dogfight sequence, and Dennis Gassner's set designs are reminiscent of Ken Adam's work on several early Bond films. Taking a course away from the usual Bond villains, Forster rejected any grotesque appearance for the character Dominic Greene to emphasise the hidden and secret nature of the film's (and society's) modern day corporate villains.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

2008-11-29T04:51:00.000-08:00

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is the 2008 sequel to the 2005 film, Madagascar. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and was released on November 7, 2008. The film was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It has been confirmed that the film is about the animals starting the plane on Madagascar, and then landing in Africa, and meeting some of Alex's family.

The film stars the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer and Andy Richter. Also guest voicing includes Alec Baldwin, will.i.am, Bernie Mac, Sherri Shepherd. The previous title was "Madagascar: The Crate Escape", which was featured on a trailer with Ben Stiller. The film is rated PG for some mild crude humor.

The film opens in the past, where Zuba (Bernie Mac), king of the jungle, teaches his infant son, Alake (Alex) how to protect himself. Alex is trapped by poachers, and Zuba chases the hunters, but loses track of Alex. Alex's crate falls into a river which carries it to the sea. His crate drifts to New York City where he is put on display in the Central Park Zoo.

The movie cuts to the present, picking up where Madagascar left off. Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria are boarding an airplane that will be catapulted with a gigantic slingshot. King Julian and Maurice go with them. Midway through the trip, the penguins discover they are out of fuel, but manage a gentle crash landing in an African wildlife reserve. They all disperse and meet their species, while the penguins stay at the crash site and repair the plane.

Tropic Thunder

2008-11-29T04:49:00.002-08:00

Tropic Thunder is a 2008 action comedy film produced and directed by Ben Stiller and written by Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. as a group of prima donna actors making a Vietnam War film when their fed-up writer and director decide to abandon them in the middle of the jungle, forcing them to fight their way out.

Stiller initially had the idea for the film while playing a small part in Empire of the Sun, and later brought on Theroux and Cohen to help him complete the script. After the film was greenlit in 2006, filming took place in 2007 on the Hawaiian island of Kauai over 13 weeks, and was deemed the largest film production in the island's history. The film had a large marketing promotion, including showing numerous screenings, selling the fictional energy drink advertised in the film, and posting faux websites for the characters, films, and products shown in Tropic Thunder.

The film met controversy among the disability advocacy community prior to its release on August 13, 2008. It received generally positive reviews with 83% and 71% approval ratings according the review aggregator websites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, respectively. It earned $26 million in its opening weekend and retained the number one position for its first three consecutive weekends of release.

During the filming of Vietnam veteran "Four Leaf" Tayback's (Nick Nolte) memoir, the stars—fading action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), five-time Academy Award-winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), rap star Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson), low-brow drug-addled comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), and character actor Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel)—behave unreasonably, resulting in a $4 million explosion going off with no cameras shooting. With filming a month behind schedule only five days into shooting, the media dubs the production "the most expensive war movie never made". Rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is ordered by studio executive Les Grossman (Tom Cruise) to get the production back on track or risk having it shut down. With inspiration from Tayback, Cockburn drops the spoiled actors into the middle of the jungle, where he installs hidden cameras and special effect explosions rigged so he can film "guerrilla-style". The actors have only a map and a scene listing to guide them to the helicopter waiting at the end of the jungle. Shortly afterward, the director is blown up by a land mine left by the French, but thanks to his preceding diatribe, only Lazarus realizes his death was real.

Babylon A.D.

2008-11-29T04:49:00.001-08:00

Babylon A.D. is a 2008 science fiction film based on the novel Babylon Babies by Maurice Georges Dantec. The film was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Vin Diesel. It was released on August 29, 2008 in the United States.

In the near future, Toorop (Vin Diesel) is a mercenary who takes the job of escorting a woman named Aurora from Eastern Europe to New York. While he thinks this is just an ordinary mission, he gradually finds out that his guest is carrying twins that have the potential to become the next Messiahs — and everybody wants to get their hands on them.

Mathieu Kassovitz developed an English-language film adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's French novel Babylon Babies for five years; in June 2005, this project got financed from StudioCanal and Twentieth Century Fox. The adapted screenplay was written by Kassovitz and screenwriter Éric Besnard. Production was initially slated to begin in February 2006 in Canada and Eastern Europe. French actor Vincent Cassel was initially sought to be cast in the lead role. In February 2006, actor Vin Diesel entered negotiations to star in the film, titled Babylon A.D., dropping out of the lead role of Hitman in the process. Production of the futuristic thriller about genetic manipulation was slated to begin in June 2006. By February 2007, filming was slated to wrap in April to release Babylon A.D. in time for the coming Thanksgiving.

In February, filming took place at Barrandov Studios. In March 2007, the filming crew, having shot in the Czech Republic, took a two-week hiatus to deal with uncooperative weather, such as the lack of snow, and problems with set construction. Crew members scouted Iceland for locations with snow to shoot six to eight days of footage, which was supposed to be done in February. Filming was also done with the leads Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, and Mélanie Thierry in Ostrava in March. The French visual effects company BUF Compagnie was contracted to develop the film's effects.

n April 2007, Babylon A.D. was reported to be over-budget and three weeks behind schedule. A lack of snow meant a skiing sequence to be shot in Eastern Europe had to be moved to Sweden.Lambert Wilson was cast into the film. Filming was completed in May 2007. American artist Khem Caigan designed the sigil that appears as a tattoo on the right side of Toorop's neck - an emblem which originally appeared in the Schlangekraft Necronomicon in 1977. The music of Babylon A.D. is scored by composers Hans Zimmer and Atli Örvarsson. The musical alliance Achozen, represented by Shavo Odadjian and RZA performed the score for the film. Zimmer described the intended style: "Musically, our objective was to merge the sounds and energies of hip hop with classical music, seamlessly melting them into an unusual soundscape."
Later in the month, actor

Lakeview Terrace

2008-11-29T04:48:00.002-08:00

Lakeview Terrace is a 2008 thriller film directed by Neil LaBute, produced by Will Smith, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington. Jackson plays an LAPD police officer who begins to terrorize his next-door neighbors after learning that they are an interacially married couple. The film was released on September 19, 2008.

Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Kerry Washington), a young interracial couple, have just moved into their California dream home when they become the target of their next-door neighbor, who disapproves of their interracial relationship. A stern, widowed-single father of two, LAPD officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) is the watchdog of the neighborhood. His nightly foot patrols and overly watchful eyes bring comfort to some, but he becomes increasingly harassing to the newlyweds.

The persistent intrusions into the lives of Chris and Lisa ultimately take a turn for the worse when the couple decides to fight back. At the end, Abel shoots Chris and the policemen in the squad cars fires at Abel leading to his death. The movie ends with the couple being happy again and Abel Turner was out of their lives forever.

Critical reaction to Lakeview Terrace has been mixed. The film holds a rating of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 45 out of 100 on Metacritic. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a very positive review, awarding it a score of four stars (out of four) and saying: "Some will find it exciting. Some will find it an opportunity for an examination of conscience. Some will leave feeling vaguely uneasy. Some won't like it and will be absolutely sure why they don't, but their reasons will not agree. Some will hate elements that others can't even see. Some will only see a thriller. I find movies like this alive and provoking, and I'm exhilarated to have my thinking challenged at every step of the way."

Burn After Reading

2008-11-29T04:48:00.001-08:00

Burn After Reading is a dark comedy film written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars John Malkovich, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt. It was released in the USA on September 12, 2008 and will be released on October 17, 2008 in the UK. The R-rated film had its premiere on August 27, 2008 when it opened the 2008Venice Film Festival. The film is the brothers' first to follow their Academy Award winning Best Picture, No Country for Old Men.

Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) is a CIA analyst who quits his job at the agency after being demoted ostensibly because of his drinking problem. He then decides to write a memoir about his life in the CIA. His wife, Katie Cox (Tilda Swinton), wants to divorce Osbourne and, at the counsel of her divorce lawyer, she copies many of his personal and financial files off his computeroptical disc. Katie's lover is Treasury agent Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney). The disc eventually finds its way to Hardbodies, a workout gym.

By now Harry and Linda have met over an internet dating service, and begin seeing each other. Chad stakes out the Cox's house and breaks in when Harry and Katie leave. Harry, however, comes back, finds Chad, and accidentally shoots him in the face. Harry, thinking that Chad was a spy, disposes of the body. Days later, his paranoia increasing after murdering Chad, Harry leaves the Cox residence after a fight with Katie. On his way to leave he manages to tackle a man who has been trailing him for some time, thinking he was working for the CIA or some other government agency. After tackling him, Harry finds out that the man is working for a divorce firm hired by his wife who, it is later revealed, also has been cheating on him. Harry is devastated and goes to see Linda.

The next morning, Harry and Linda meet in a park. When he realizes that Chad was Linda's associate, he becomes paranoid and flees in terror. Meanwhile, Osbourne returns to his home only to find himself locked out because Katie changed locks in a final move in her secret divorce proceedings. He sleeps overnight in his boat, and the next day breaks into his own house with a hatchet. There he finds Ted Treffon (Richard Jenkins), the manager of Hardbodies, rifling through his computer looking for personal information. Due to his feelings for Linda, Ted decided to look for more information to give to the Russians, believing that the Russians had kidnapped Chad. Osbourne shoots Ted, who survives and runs out of the house. Osbourne grabs the hatchet and kills Ted in broad daylight.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2008-11-29T04:45:00.001-08:00

Hellboy II: The Golden Army character is a 2008 film based on the fictional Dark Horse ComicsHellboy. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and is a sequel to the 2004 film Hellboy, which del Toro also directed. Ron Perlman reprises his role as the titular character. The film was commercially released on July 11, 2008 in the United States and Canada.

In Christmas of 1955, a young Hellboy is told a bedtime story by his father, Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (John Hurt), involving an ancient battle between humans and mythical creatures. A Goblin built an unstoppable clockwork army for Balor, the King of the Elves, which could only be controlled by those of royal blood provided no one challenged their right to do so. This 'Golden Army' of 4900 soldiers or "70 times 70 soldiers", decimated the humans so mercilessly that Balor forged a truce with them to stop the bloodshed: man would keep his cities and the creatures would keep their forests. Balor's son, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss), didn't agree with the truce, and left in exile. The crown was broken into three pieces, one piece going to the humans and the other two kept by the elves, so the Golden Army could never be raised again.

In the present, Nuada decides to declare war on the humans. He collects the first piece of the crown from an auction and kills his father for the second. His twin sister Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) escapes with the final piece. Meanwhile, Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is having relationship issues with his girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair). He is also having trouble accepting that their organization, the BPRD, must remain a secret. During a mission to eradicate thousands of ravenous tooth fairies, which Nuada set loose as he took the first piece of the crown, Hellboy reveals himself to the world. Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) discovers that Liz is pregnant in the commotion. Furious about the public unveiling, Washington sends a by-the-book agent, Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane), to take command. Krauss is another "special" agent of the bureau, existing in a containment suit as a gaseous being of ectoplasm. They track the tooth fairies to the Troll Market, an enormous merchant city hidden under the Brooklyn Bridge, for clues. Abe stumbles into Nuala, who has obtained a map leading to the Golden Army, during their search, and quickly falls in love with her following a brief psychic encounter. She is brought under BPRD protection following an attack by Nuada's companion Mr.Wink and a forest elemental.

Nuada tracks his sister to BPRD headquarters using their magical bond, which causes them to share wounds and allows them to read each others' thoughts to an extent. Nuala, sensing her brother's arrival, burns the map and hides the final piece of the crown within one of Abe's books. However, the real map is on the canister. Nuada kidnaps his sister and mortally wounds Hellboy with his spear. Unable to remove the spear shard, Johann, Liz, and Abe take Hellboy to the location of the Golden Army, hidden in Northern Ireland. They encounter the Goblin that oversaw the creation of the Golden Army, and he brings them before the Angel of Death, who has been waiting for their arrival. Though told that Hellboy would doom humanity if he lives, and that she'll suffer the most from it, Liz pleads for Hellboy not to die. Amused by her choice, the Angel removes the spear shard from Hellboy's chest and tells Liz to give him a reason to live. She reveals to Hellboy that he's going to be a father.

The Dark Knight

2008-11-29T04:44:00.001-08:00

The Dark Knight is a 2008 American superhero/action film co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins. Christian Bale reprises the lead role. Batman's primary conflicts in the film include his fight against his arch-nemesis the Joker (Heath Ledger) and his rivalry with district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) for the affections of assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal).

For his conception of the film, Nolan was inspired by the Joker's first two appearances in the comics and Batman: The Long Halloween. The Dark Knight was filmed primarily in Chicago, as well as in several other locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong. The director used an IMAX camera to film some sequences, including the Joker's first appearance in the film.

Warner Bros. created a viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, developing promotional websites and trailers highlighting screenshots of Heath Ledger as the Joker. After Ledger's death in January 2008, however, the studio refocused its promotional campaign. The film was released on July 16, 2008 in Australia, on July 18, 2008 in North America, and on July 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom. Prior to its box office debut in North America, record numbers of advance tickets were sold for The Dark Knight. The film has broken multiple box office records, and achieved an overall approval rating of 94% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The film begins with the Joker robbing a mob-owned bank with several other accomplices, whom he tricks into killing each other before killing the last one himself. That night, a trio of Batman impersonators attempt to interrupt a meeting of various mobsters and the Scarecrow. The real Batman appears and apprehends all of the criminals and impostors, but suffers injuries which lead him to re-design the batsuit. Batman and Lieutenant James Gordon contemplate including new district attorney Harvey Dent in their plan to eradicate the mob, as he could be the public hero Batman cannot be. Bruce discovers Dent is dating Rachel Dawes.

The Mummy 3 : Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

2008-11-29T04:42:00.000-08:00

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is a 2008 American adventure film that follows The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. It was released on August 1, 2008 in the US. is directed by Rob Cohen and written by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar. Bob Ducsay, Sean Daniel, Stephen Sommers and James Jacks The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor produce the film.

The film begins with a narration about the rise to power of Emperor Han, the Dragon Emperor. He conquered all his enemies, many of whom were buried under the Great Wall of China, and mastered the five elements, but could not conquer death. To that end, he sought the help of Zi Yuan, who knew where to find the secret of immortality. Han declares to his first in command, General Ming, that no man is to touch her; however, the two fell in love during their search. After Zi Yuan supposedly casts the immortality spell on Han, he ushers Zi Yuan to the balcony to watch as General Ming is pulled apart by horses. He then stabs Zi Yuan. She reveals that she has in fact cursed the Emperor and his army, turning them into terra cotta statues, and manages to escape.

The film jumps ahead to 1947. Explorer Rick O'Connell, his wife Evelyn, and brother-in-law Jonathan are now retired. Their son Alex has dropped out of school and become an adventurer like his parents. With the financial backing of Roger Wilson, Alex locates the Dragon Emperor's tomb. Though he is attacked by a mysterious woman, he avoids harm and successfully brings the Emperor back to Shanghai. In the meantime, the British government entrusts the elder O'Connells to take the Eye of Shangri-La back to China as a good faith gesture from the British to the Chinese. All the O'Connells arrive at Imhotep, a night club in Shanghai owned by Jonathan. Alex gives his parents a tour of the exhibit, where it is revealed that Roger Wilson is in league with a paramilitary group led by General Yang and his Second-in-Command Choi. Using the Eye of Shangri-La, which contains water from Shangri-La, they are able to resurrect the Emperor into his terracotta statue form. The mysterious woman from the excavation site tries to kill the Emperor with a dagger cursed by Zi Yuan, but he manages to escape.

The mysterious woman reveals herself to be Lin, a protector of the Dragon Emperor's tomb. She explains that the path to Shangri-La can be revealed using the Eye. The O'Connells, Jonathan, and Lin trek through the Himalayas with the help of Rick's pilot friend Mad Dog Maguire and reach the tower that will reveal the path to Shangri-La when the Eye is placed on top of it. General Yang, his soldiers, and the Emperor arrive shortly after. Lin summons a trio of yeti to assist in the battle, but the Emperor ultimately succeeds in placing the Eye atop the golden tower. Rick is stabbed by the Dragon Emperor's sword while protecting Alex. Alex triggers an avalanche, which buys them time to reach Shangri-La first.

Nim's Island

2008-11-29T04:31:00.001-08:00

Nim’s Island wants desperately to be Swiss Family Robinson, but it’s more like Swiss Miss: a sickly sweet, powdery substance which when mixed with water may shut your kids up for a few minutes by imitating something good. Except it’s not good, it’s terrible and I spent most of the movie curled up in my seat, approximating a semi-permanent

Abigail Breslin stars as Nim, a little girl who lives on an uncharted jungle island with her scientist father, Jack (Gerard Butler). The adventure starts with an act of bad parenting, when Butler’s character leaves his eleven-year-old daughter all alone on their isolated volcanic rock in order to spare us his awful American accent. Left to her own devices, we’re treated to Breslin’s blank, dead-eyed stare as she dances with boorish, Disneyfied jungle animals and reads out loud the emails she’s sending to her favorite adventure author, Alex Rover

There’s really no worse way to spend your movie than watching characters email each other, yet that ends up being where Nim’s Island wastes most of its running time. Breslin reads her email out loud and hits send. Jodie Foster, alone in her apartment, receives the email, reads it out loud, types her own email while reading it out loud to absolutely no one, and then sends her response. Exciting stuff. Eventually Nim realizes her father doesn’t seem to be coming back and, assuming that Alex is just like the Indiana Jones styled adventure character in her novels, sends her an email asking for help.

But Alex is not like the adventure character in her novels, though she does frequently hallucinate him, allowing Gerard Butler to drop his awful American accent and play a rugged, fantasy adventurer the way god intended it. Foster meanwhile plays Alex as if she’s a female Woody Allen, and a total shut in afraid to leave the house to get her mail let alone hop a plane to some mysterious island to help an endangered little girl. Eventually though she faces her fears, starts the journey to Nim’s place, and we’re spared the further reading of poorly worded email correspondence.

The movie’s just a clumsy mess, the performances are awful, and there’s literally nothing to recommend it. Maybe very small children will enjoy it, there’s a dancing seal and a squeaking lizard after all, and kids love that crap no matter what sort of movie it’s in. But kids love anything and if we start gauging these things by their standards then there’s never been a bad children’s movie. Well here’s one, it’s called Nim’s Island and they don’t really get much worse than this.

THE HAPPENING

2008-11-29T04:30:00.001-08:00

The Happening is an R rated 2008 American apocalyptic film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. Production began in August 2007 in Philadelphia. The Happening will be released on Friday, June 13, 2008, deliberately planned to fall on Friday the 13th.

The movie is a thriller that shows the results of the horrific release of a neurotoxin by plants. When this toxin is inhaled, the victim will attempt suicide by very violent means. The protagonist, a science teacher named Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg), runs for his life together with his estranged wife, Alma Moore (Zooey Deschanel), in order to survive while the world goes into a violent whirlwind of self destruction.

Shyamalan submitted a spec script entitled The Green Effect to various studios, but none expressed enough interest to purchase the script. The director collected ideas and notes from meetings, returning home to Philadelphia to rewrite the script, and 20th Century Fox greenlit the project.

Now titled The Happening, the film will be produced by Shyamalan and Barry Mendel and will be the director's first R-rated project. Shyamalan compared the film to the earlier paranoia films The Birds (1963) and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).

Later in March, actor Mark Wahlberg, with whom Shyamalan had been negotiating at the same time as his deal with Fox, was cast into the lead role of the $57 million project. Shyamalan had previously cast Wahlberg's brother Donnie Wahlberg in The Sixth Sense. The India-based company UTV will co-finance 50% of the film's budget and distribute the film in India, with Fox distributing in the rest of the territories. Production began in August in Philadelphia. The release date for The Happening is set for June 13, 2008, intentionally set for Friday the 13th to suit the thriller.

KUNG FU PANDA

2008-11-29T04:28:00.002-08:00

Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 animated film about a bungling panda who aspires to be a kung fuKung Fu Panda is directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne and produced by Melissa Cobb. Although the concept of a kung fu panda has been around since at least 1993, the idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive.

Work on the film didn't begin until 2004 and the film premièred at the 61st Cannes Film Festival in May 2008. The film was released in the US on June 6, 2008 and will be released in the UK on July 4, 2008. The film is distributed by Paramount Pictures.

The film stars the voices of Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Lucy Liu, Seth Rogen, David Cross and Ian McShane. In the United States, it has been rated PG by the MPAA for sequences of martial arts action, and in the United Kingdom, PG by the BBFC.

Po (Jack Black) is a panda who works in the noodle shop owned by his goose father Mr. Ping (James Hong). He is also a kung fu fanatic with secret dreams of becoming a great master in the discipline, but he is so lazy and clumsy that fulfilling those dreams is unlikely at best. Mr. Ping hopes that Po will one day take over the shop.

The ancient tortoise Master Oogway (Randall Duk Kim) has a premonition that the evil snow leopard warrior Tai Lung (Ian McShane), the former student of his own protege Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), will escape from prison and return to menace the Valley of Peace. While Shifu sends Zeng (Dan Fogler), a messenger goose, to Chorh-Gom Prison to have the security increased, Oogway orders a formal ceremony to choose the mighty Dragon Warrior who can defeat Tai Lung. Everyone assumes that one of the Furious Five (Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Jackie Chan as Monkey, Seth Rogen as Mantis, Lucy Liu as Viper and David Cross as Crane), a quintet of supremely skilled martial artists trained by Shifu, will be chosen for this honor.

The Bank Job

2008-11-29T04:28:00.001-08:00

The Bank Job is a 2008 crime film based on a 1971 true-life robbery of a bank in Baker Street, London, from which the money and valuables stolen were never recovered. The story was prevented from being told because of a D-Notice government gagging request, allegedly to protect a prominent member of the British Royal Family.

According to the producers, this movie is intended to reveal the truth for the first time,although it includes significant elements of fiction and the extent to which it represents historical fact is difficult to determine. The premiere was held in London on 18 February 2008, and the film was released in the UK on 28 February 2008

Terry (Jason Statham) owns a failing car-sales garage, and after numerous threats, he is eventually confronted by two debt-collectors who cause damage to a number of his cars. At the same time, Martine (Saffron Burrows) arrives telling Terry that she has a job for him; a plan that needs putting into motion. Terry gathers a bunch of petty-criminal friends to help execute the plan that involves robbing a bank on Baker Street, London. What they don't know is that Martine is setting them up on behalf of MI5, who want the contents of a safe deposit box within the bank.

This safe deposit box contains compromising photos of a female member of the British Royal Family (identified in the film as Princess Margaret). The photos are in a box belonging to a black militant under the name of Michael X; he uses the photos to avoid trouble with MI5, who will do anything to avoid the photos going into circulation. Terry and his criminals purchase a shop two lots away from the bank and start digging a tunnel underneath the middle shop (a chicken fast-food restaurant) to reach the floor of the bank vault. During construction, it is revealed that the house is being watched by two MI5 officers, making sure that the bank-robbers are uninterrupted in doing their dirty work for them. However, vibrations from jackhammers arouse suspicion amongst the inhabitants of the middle building. This eventually leads to a policeman coming to the building whose basement the crooks are building a tunnel from. Terry is able to convince the policeman that all is well, and he leaves. Terry, however, is still worried, and employs a "watchman" to sit on the roof of the building opposite and keep a look out for further trouble.

Never Back Down

2008-11-29T04:27:00.003-08:00

Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) is just a kid desperate to fit in. After moving with his family to Orlando, FL, Jake has a tough time making friends, but he goes to a party after being invited by one of his hot classmates (Amber Heard). He's challenged to a fight at the shindig and is swiftly beat down by a bully (Cam Gigandet). Completely humiliated, Jake is then introduced into the world of mixed-martial-arts fighting, where a tough teacher (Djimon Hounsou) takes him under his wing.

Set against the action-packed world of Mixed Martial Arts, Never Back Down is the story of Jake Tyler, a tough kid who leads with his fists, and, often, with his heart. Jake Tyler, played by Sean Faris, is the new kid in town with a troubled past. He has recently moved to Orlando, Florida with his family who has relocated to support his younger brother’s shot at a professional tennis career. Jake was a star athlete on the football team at home, but in this new city he is an outsider with a reputation for being a quick tempered brawler.

Making an attempt to fit in, at the invitation of a flirtatious classmate, Baja (Amber Heard) Jake goes to a party where he is unwittingly pulled into a fight with a bully named Ryan McDonald (Cam Gigandet).

While he is defeated and humiliated in the fight, a classmate introduces himself to Jake and tells him about the sport known as Mixed Marshall Arts (MMA). He sees a star in Jake and asks that he meet with his mentor, Jean Roqua, played by Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America). It is immediately apparent to Jake that MMA is not street fighting, but rather an art form he wants to master. Roqua will take Jake under his wing, but it is up to Jake to find the patience, discipline, willingness and reason within him to succeed. For Jake, there is much more at stake than mere victory. His decision will not just settle a score; it will define who he is.

College Road Trip

2008-11-29T04:27:00.001-08:00

College Road Trip is an upcoming film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. The movie will star Raven-Symone as Melanie Porter, a college bound teen and Martin Lawrence as her police officer father James who goes on a road trip to different colleges

When an overachieving high school student decides to travel around the country to choose the perfect college, her overprotective cop father also decides to accompany her in order to keep her on the straight and narrow.

Deciding which college to attend can be the most exciting and thrilling time of a young woman's life... unless your formidable, overprotective father isn't quite ready to let you go.
Melanie (Raven Symoné) is eagerly looking forward to taking her first big step towards independence when she plans a "girls only" road trip to check out prospective universities. However, when her imposing police-chief dad (Martin Lawrences) insists on escorting her instead, she soon finds her dream trip turning into a hilarious, nightmare adventure full of comical misfortune and turmoil.

Dad wants to assure total security and safety for his precious daughter, while Melanie has a 17-year-old's need to become a grown woman and have her own sense of independence. Now, even as dad and daughter bicker, banter and careen from one funny disaster to the next on their journey, they are about to discover that, sometimes, going that extra mile to be together can forge a family bond so strong it can withstand anything -- even wild curves ahead.

Vantage Point

2008-11-29T04:26:00.001-08:00

Vantage Point is a 2008 thriller film from Columbia Pictures, written by Barry Levy and directed by Pete Travis. It stars Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker with Sigourney Weaver, Édgar Ramírez and William Hurt. It was released on February 22, 2008. The film is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images, and brief strong language.

The film is set in Salamanca, Spain, but it was mostly filmed in Mexico; only some of the scenes were shot in Salamanca. The United States President Henry Ashton (William Hurt) is holding an anti-terrorism summit in Salamanca. Over a twenty-three-minute period, an assassination attempt on the President unfolds. The film loops through this period over and over, each time from the perspective of a different participant, adding a new piece to the larger puzzle with each loop.

The first perspective is that of television news producer Rex Brooks (Sigourney Weaver) who directs various "GNN" cameramen and news anchors as the President arrives. Just as the mayor of Salamanca finishes his speech and the President steps up to the podium, he is shot twice. An explosion in the distance soon follows, and a few minutes later the podium is destroyed by another explosion, killing GNN's news reporter; she is filmed lying dead.

The final perspective is that of the terrorists orchestrating the attack. The assassination attempt on the double is revealed to be an elaborate ruse, done by remote control via an automated rifle. The rifle had been placed by Secret Service agent Taylor, who had been spotted on the live feed by Barnes as he was leaving the scene in a Spanish policeman's uniform, clearly lying to Barnes who he was talking to on his cellphone. Meanwhile, Javier (Edgar Ramirez), the assassin who has made his way into President Ashton's room (and who is working for the terrorists only because his brother is being held hostage), leads Ashton to the elevator, where Ashton is knocked unconscious and quietly loaded onto an ambulance. Javier joins Taylor, with both followed by Barnes.

SHOOT `EM UP

2008-11-29T04:25:00.003-08:00

Shoot 'Em Up would have been a far better movie had as much attention been spent on the dialogue as had been expended on the visual aspects of the film. The film is a terrifically realized series of set pieces punctuated by some cringe-inducing patter held together by a story that makes little sense. I can understand why there has been negative response to this film, yet the action choreography and cinematography are so much better than such crowd pleasers like the Rush Hour series.

Shoot 'Em Up more closely resembles the kind of films that Jason Statham usually stars in that I was wondering if Clive Owen was actually the second choice. There is a scene with Owen sliding on his back on a floor with an oil spill, shooting at the bad guys, that was similar to a scene in The Transporter. Similarly, the almost nonsensical plot is reminiscent of Crank, a film of similar visual bravura and little logic.

The major difference is that Owen is complimented by cast that includes Paul Giamatti as the chief bad guy and Monica Bellucci as the girl, plus a supporting group of players with the kind of faces usually seen in comic book villains.

While a couple of critics have noted that the image of Owen with a gun in one hand and a baby in his other arm recalls Chow Yun-Fat in Hard Boiled, it should also be noted that Shoot 'Em Up was photographed by Peter Pau. How much of the credit for the look of the film should go to Pau may be up for debate, but considering that Pau was the cinematographer for Woo's The Killers, Ronnie Yu's Bride with White Hair, Tsui Hark's The Chinese Feast and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon might easily explain why the action sequences look so good. That Pau has also directed films in Hong Kong suggests that he may have had a more active role in production of Shoot 'Em Up than his screen credit would indicate.

Unlike most Hong Kong films, Shoot 'Em Up does get uncomfortably misogynistic. Writer-director Michael Davis displays most of his venom regarding women through Giamatti's character who tells a joke that the difference between a woman and a gun is that you can put a silencer on a gun, burns Bellucci's thighs with the hot end of his pistol, and has a running gag involving his wife calling him at inappropriate times. There is one undeniably funny scene when Owen spots a woman spanking her son, and after lecturing the woman on the cruelty of corporal punishment starts spanking the mother, much to the glee of her son. More frequently, Davis' idea of wit amounts to a male adolescent's idea of a double entrendre.

At one point, Paul Giamatti mentions James Cagney to his crew. Michael Davis might be wise to pay closer attention the such films as Public Enemy and White Heat. While the Warner Brother classic gangster films were directed by the visually able William Wellman and Raoul Walsh, the screenplays were written by guys who learned how to coin phrases as journalists and playwrights. The reason why the old gangster films are classic is as much because of the great dialogue that complimented the visuals, which is why these films will be remembered after Shoot 'Em Up is forgotten.

FOOL`S GOLD

2008-11-29T04:25:00.001-08:00

Fool’s Gold: that’s what treasure hunter Ben “Finn” Finnegan (Matthew McConaughey) is ever in pursuit of. Specifically he’s hot on the trial of The Queen’s Dowry – a fabled treasure of 40 chests of unimaginable wealth. His relentless quest has claimed his reputation, his boat and his marriage to Tess (Kate Hudson). Literally on the day of his divorce Finn stumbles onto a significant clue but understandably has trouble convincing his former partner/now ex-wife to throw away her plans for a normal life and help them complete their years-long obsession.

Enter multimillionaire Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland), owner of a luxury cruiser and Tess’s employer. Finn charms Honeycutt and his vacuous daughter Gemma (Alexis Dziena) into funding the salvage of the booty. Only our intrepid crew is not alone in these waters. Finn’s mentor Moe Fitch (Ray Winstone) has caught wind of Finn’s find from his previous disgruntled backer Bigg Bunny (Kevin Hart). Finn and Tess are fighting the odds and their attraction to each other as they race to the finish line and the history books.

If you’ve watched the television spots for this film I think you’re probably thinking this is more Romantic Comedy than anything else. It’s a confusing strategy on the studio’s part since the movie is really more an Action/Adventure than Rom/Com. For my money, that’s the interesting bit. Finn is less scrupulous than Ben Gates of the National Treasure series and less militant, more laid back than McConaughey’s other salvager character Dirk Pitt in Sahara. He’s kinda like Indiana Jones in board shorts. There isn’t much to Finn: he’s a lot of charm, doggedly determined and that’s about it. In that regard McConaughey was the perfect casting choice. (I suspect this character may be eerily close to how Matthew is in real life.)

Kate’s Tess is a little harder to read. Apart from a few “freak-out” moments she’s fairly wooden. But it is quickly apparent that Tess was the true brains of the operation and Hudson just naturally exudes that intelligence and grace.

Much of the comedy comes at the expense of the character of Gemma. You know the expression: ‘It’s a good thing you’re beautiful”? That applies to this delightfully dim character who strives to be substantial but fails more frequently than she succeeds. Watching Alexis you’ll find yourself wondering just which of the current young celebutants she may be basing her performance on

I only have two comments about Ray Winstone in this film: one, he’s not in it enough and two, I’m not entirely sure about that Southern accent he uses. Side note: a “Cosby Show” alum has a small role in this film. Have a good time with that!

I think the key to this film is expectations. This is a fun movie not, rocket science. It’s the perfect antidote to those winter blahs you are feeling. Shot sumptuously by Don Burgess with Queensland Australia subbing for the Florida Keys and surrounding islands the film will make you hunger for golden beaches and crystal blue waters. The two leads are charming, gorgeous and look fantastic in beachwear. There’s something for the guys and the ladies. The pacing tends to lag in the middle but it revs up towards the end. Throw in a few laughs, some romance and I don’t think you can expect much more from a film like this.

THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP

2008-11-29T04:24:00.001-08:00

As with many creatures -- baby chicks, bunnies, kittens -- they're cute when they're small, and then they grow up.

That's what happens with the title character in "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep." Even though it is a mythical creature, it's far more convincing when it's a wee thing than when it's the size of a small dinosaur and leaping through the water like the whale in "Free Willy."

"The Water Horse," set in 1942 Scotland, is about a lonely boy named Angus MacMorrow (Alex Etel), who is both drawn to and deathly afraid of the water. Before his father left to fight in World War II, he told Angus a tide pool was a strange, enchanted place and that's where the boy finds a mysterious egg.
He hides it away from his mother (Emily Watson) and older sister in his father's workshop. It hatches just as the family's home, a lodge where his mother is head housekeeper, is overrun by newly billeted soldiers.

Angus names the water horse Crusoe and keeps it tucked out of sight in the workshop and bathtub. It's growing by leaps and bounds, however, and eventually must be plopped into the nearby loch, which happens to be under surveillance by the military. Angus finds an unlikely ally in reticent handyman Lewis Mobray (Ben Chaplin), but it's impossible to keep a beastie a secret for very long.

"The Water Horse" is blessed with enchanted scenery courtesy of New Zealand, where most of the movie was filmed, and with young Etel. He may look familiar if you caught the excellent 2005 family drama "Millions," in which he was the younger of two motherless boys grappling with a bag of money that falls into their laps. Trust me, add it to your Netflix list.

Here, he must act against silicone puppets or a tennis ball that would be replaced with computer-generated images, and he also mastered underwater work requiring him to hold his breath for 20 seconds at a time.

The humans (and even a pesky dog) are just fine; it's Crusoe who often looks fake, especially as he sprouts. Shots in which Angus is almost nose to snout with Crusoe are particularly problematic, and the smooth, gray skin doesn't help matters. The magic and illusion work best when Crusoe is a hatchling or seen from afar.

"The Water Horse," directed by Jay Russell ("Tuck Everlasting," "My Dog Skip"), is based on a book by Dick King-Smith, who penned the work that inspired "Babe." Like "E.T.," this fantasy features a fatherless boy with a magical friend.

In this case, Angus' father may not be coming home, and Crusoe helps the lad to grow up and be the protector instead of the protected. Any of its success is thanks to its captivating 13-year-old star and not the watery sea creature he loves.

Horton Hears a Who!

2008-11-29T04:23:00.001-08:00

Horton Hears a Who! is a 1954 book by Dr. Seuss. It is the second Seuss book to feature Horton the Elephant, the first being Horton Hatches the Egg.The Whos would later make a reappearance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant who, on the fifteenth of May in the Jungle of Nool, hears a small speck of dust talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called "Who-ville", inhabited by microscopic-sized inhabitants known as Whos.

The Whos ask Horton (who, though he cannot see them, is able to hear them quite well) to protect them from harm, to which Horton happily obliges, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person's a person, no matter how small". In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a cage by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. His chief tormentors are Vlad Vladikoff, the Wickersham Brothers and the Sour Kangaroo, and the small kangaroo in her pouch.

Horton tells the Whos that they need to make themselves heard to the other animals, lest they end up as part of "beezlenut stew", which they finally accomplish. The Whos finally make themselves heard by ensuring that all members of their society play their part. In the end it is a "very small shirker named Jo-Jo" whose final addition to the volume creates enough lift for the jungle to hear the sound,thus reinforcing the moral of "a person's a person no matter how small."

Now convinced of the Whos' existence, Horton's neighbors vow to help him protect the tiny community. The book was published in August 1954, two months after the climax of the Army-McCarthy hearings. The comments of the Wickersham Brothers seem to come from Joseph McCarthy.

10,000 B.C.

2008-11-29T04:22:00.001-08:00

10,000 BC is a 2008 American film set in the prehistoric era directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Camilla Belle and Steven Strait. The World Premiere of the movie was on February 26, 2008 at the CineStar theater in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz. The cinema release was on March 6, 2008.

The film follows D'Leh (Steven Strait), a young mammoth hunter of the Yagahl Tribe who is the son of a hunter that abandoned the village. It was also at that time that D'Leh witnessed the mysterious arrival of Evolet (Camilla Belle), a young girl with bright blue eyes who prompts a prophecy from the wise old woman of the tribe, Old Mother (Mona Hammond) of "four legged demons" (horses) coming to their land during the last Mammoth hunt to occur years later. D'Leh falls in love with Evolet and promises that she will always be in his heart.

Several years later, the Yagahl tribe is expecting the arrival of a mammoth herd to help them survive the winter. According to Tic'Tic (Cliff Curtis), D'Leh's trainer and a friend of D'Leh's father, whoever kills the lead male of the herd will inherit the legendary White Spear of the North, and Evolet as well. When the mammoth herd arrives, the hunters try to capture the biggest one by dropping a net and a rock, but it manages to escape. D'Leh gets his hand caught in the net and is dragged by the mammoth. The struggle ends when the mammoth happens to be pierced in the heart by D'Leh's spear which got stuck in the ground. Since nobody sees this other than Tic'Tic, D'Leh is assumed to be the leader and the winner of Evolet's love. However, Tic'Tic is reluctant to recognize D'Leh. Being honest with what actually happened, D'Leh returns the White Spear.

D'leh stuns one with a rock, and another chases him through At night, a group of raiders come in and kidnap several of Yagahl, including Evolet. The warlord leader takes a liking towards her. His main henchman, One Eye, believes that the girl is a witch who has seduced his master (his later actions hint that he might possibly be attracted to the girl as well). D'Leh decides to rescue Evolet and the rest of the Yagahl. Tic'Tic, Ka'Ren, and young Baku, whose mother was killed by One-Eye during the attack, join him. During their travels to save their people, they encounter a rainforest and are ambushed by a pack of Phorusrhacidsbamboo and D'Leh narrowly avoids being eaten by shoving a bamboo stalk down the bird's throat, rendering it unconscious. Later Ka'Ren and Baku are captured by the raiders.

D'Leh falls into a trap-hole where he finds a Saber-Toothed Cat trapped under wood and drowning. Despite knowing he may be eaten, D'Leh saves the cat by letting it free. D'Leh and Tic'Tic keep on walking through the desert finding the village of the Naku tribe. Just when the Naku are about to attack them, the Saber-Tooth Cat appears, and D'Leh reluctantly confronts it. Recognizing D'Leh as the one who saved it earlier, the feline spares him and protects him and Tic'Tic from the tribe. The tribe acknowledges D'Leh as the fulfiller of the prophecy: a man who speaks to the Spear-Tooth would become savior. D'Leh also learns the truth behind his father from Nakudu, leader of the Naku who learned the Yagahl's words from his father.

Other tribes of the area, on being convinced that the prophecy had been fulfilled, join them. D'Leh learns that Evolet and the others are being taken to the "Mountain of the gods", home to the Lost Civilization, where they would be forced to build altars and pyramids for a mysterious god-like figure who is believed to have come from a "land that sank into the sea". Determined to rescue Evolet and the rest of his tribesmen (and all the other slaves), D'Leh and his friends organize an attack. D'Leh throws a spear at the tyrant god, impaling him, and leaving all spectators awestruck. Evolet frees herself by stabbing the warlord with an arrow. The dying warlord, out of spite, shoots an arrow at Evolet from behind, killing her.

CLOVERFIELD

2008-11-29T04:20:00.002-08:00

Cloverfield is a 2008 monster/horror film produced by J. J. Abrams, directed by Matt Reeves, and written by Drew Goddard. Prior to the film's release, Paramount Pictures carried out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film. The campaign included viral tie-ins similar to the Lost Experience. The film follows five young New Yorkers who throw their friend a going-away party on the same night that a gigantic monster attacks the city. First publicized in advance screenings of Transformers, the project was released on January 17 in New Zealand and Australia, on January 18 in North America, and on February 1 in the Republic of Ireland and the UK.

The film is presented as a series of scenes (from the SD Card of a digital camera) obtained by the U.S. Department of Defense pertaining to Case Designate "Cloverfield", found in an area "formerly known as Central Park". The footage that comprises the rest of the film is shot under the context of a personal hand-held camera used by various characters throughout the film's events.

On April 27 at 6:41am, Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) awakes after spending the night with longtime friend Beth (Odette Yustman) in her father's Columbus Circle apartment. They soon plan to visit Coney Island for the day.

On May 22, Rob's brother Jason (Mike Vogel) and his girlfriend Lily (Jessica Lucas) prepare a Manhattan apartment for Rob's farewell party, as he has accepted a job in his company's Japan office. Jason gives Rob's best friend "Hud" (T. J. Miller) the camera to record final goodbyes from family and friends at the party; Hud instead spends much of his time attempting to woo Marlena (Lizzy Caplan), an outsider who largely shows indifference and irritation at his advances.

Beth arrives with a date, which upsets Rob. To his dismay, he realizes Hud is taping over the video of his and Beth's trip to Coney Island; that footage shows up intermittently throughout the film as a result. Lily reveals Rob and Beth slept together, and Beth is mad at him for not talking to her since. Rob provokes Beth and her date into abruptly leaving the party. Rob is chastised by Hud and Jason over his actions, and they encourage him to try and start a relationship with her despite him going to Japan.

Beth arrives with a date, which upsets Rob. To his dismay, he realizes Hud is taping over the video of his and Beth's trip to Coney Island; that footage shows up intermittently throughout the film as a result. Lily reveals Rob and Beth slept together, and Beth is mad at him for not talking to her since. Rob provokes Beth and her date into abruptly leaving the party. Rob is chastised by Hud and Jason over his actions, and they encourage him to try and start a relationship with her despite him going to Japan.

As they are advising him on a course of action, the building begins to rock with earthquake-intensity, causing the power to flicker. As the building trembles, deafening animal-like roars can be heard emanating from outside. A large group of party goers head to the roof, where they witness a large conflagration in the distance near the seashore. Soon, they are forced inside as debris from the explosion shower on them, causing minor damage to the both their own and nearby structures forcing many of the attendees to evacuate to the streets below. An anxious crowd gathers to discern the preceding events, when suddenly the head of the Statue of Liberty, damaged and charred, crashes into the street beside them. Down the street, the Woolworth building begins to collapse, causing a large column of smoke and debris (presumably toxic due to fire retardants and construction materials) to travel through the streets. Through the clouds of ash, Hud (who has kept the camera rolling the entire time) catches a glimpse of what seems to be a gigantic creature. Marlena, obviously shaken by the events, mentions that she believed she saw the creature consuming those caught in its path.

Rob, Jason, Hud, Marlena, and Lily, along with hundreds of other local residents begin to move on foot towards the Brooklyn Bridge, which has become a central hub for foot traffic attempting to flee the city. Emergency response personnel have reached the scene, and for the most part the unorganized exodus from the city is calm and coordinated, with the first units of New York National Guardsmen beginning to mobilize and arrive on the scene.

LA VIE EN ROSE

2008-11-29T04:20:00.001-08:00

Life stories do not make neat dramatic packages. They tend to meander, digress and accelerate in fits and starts while making little sense - at least the kind of sense that can be gracefully compressed into two hours of screen time.

Yet filmmakers keep returning to the biopic, tempted by the chance to get intimate with the famous. It's a familiar syndrome.

La Vie en Rose is the story of Edith Piaf, the tiny Parisienne with the big, raw, heartbreaking voice and the short chaotic life. Piaf lived for just 47 years, but she packed those years with such an excess of ambition, anger, pain and thwarted love that only the most heroic - or foolhardy - of filmmakers would take on the job of trying to pick a path through the debris to reach a perspective. And so to Olivier Dahan, who has done just that, carving up Piaf's life like a jigsaw and pitching the pieces at us in the hope that we'll find enlightenment in the effort of fitting them together.

Anchoring the puzzle is the story of her childhood, which unfolds in flashback like an episode filched from Les Miserables and set down in the early years of last century. Five-year-old Edith, played by an angelic-looking Manon Chevallier, is living in Paris in the slums of Belleville when her indifferent mother decides to abandon her to the care of her drink-addled grandmother. Near to starving, she's rescued just in time by her father, who arrives home on leave from the war and takes her off to what she comes to think of as paradise. His own mother is a cook in a Normandy brothel and, in a pardonable leap of the imagination, Dahan has the brothel's working girls caring for little Edith with a tenderness she's never before experienced. Filmed partly by candlelight, these sequences look like apparitions from a fever dream and are so evocative that I thought it was going to be possible to forgive Dahan anything. But as Edith is wrenched from the cosseted life of the brothel to go on the road with her father, who pursues a precarious career as a touring acrobat, Dahan's impressionistic style quickly starts coming apart.

By the time Edith (Marion Cotillard) becomes a woman, earning a few sous as a street singer with her friend Momone (Sylvie Testud), the script's aversion to any kind of exposition has become a real problem. It starts flipping back and forth between the different periods in Piaf's life with a frequency that threatens to turn the jigsaw puzzle into a ping-pong game. Gerard Depardieu brings some much-needed heft to the rapidly changing cast as Louis Leplee, the impresario who gives Edith her first big break, along with the stage name Piaf - argot for "sparrow". But like almost everybody else in Piaf's life, he's soon out of it. And with the suddenness of his departure, the script grows even more jittery - a flaw that encourages you to dwell on what you're missing.

JUMPER

2008-11-29T04:19:00.001-08:00

A genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between “Jumpers” and those who have sworn to kill them.

JUMPING – The Phenomenon

Throughout time, there have been individuals who possess the power to teleport (or Jump). They have used their abilities for personal gain, to escape from their enemies and to change the course of history.

The ability to Jump is a genetic anomaly that has existed for centuries and those who possess this gift have a freedom that most people can’t begin to comprehend. They can transport themselves anywhere in the world at any time, for any reason.

Experience and emotion play a key role in the affect of a Jump and depending on the Jumpers state of mind at the time, it can cause significant damage. Jumpers Jump for the first time at age 5. As they refine their gift, the Jump becomes more fluid. However, even the most skilled Jumper will cause environmental damage when in danger, angry or in a heightened emotional state during a Jump.

When a Jumper teleports between two places he/she opens up a rift in the fabric of space-time. The visible result of this process is a Jumpscar, an otherworldly “scar” that hangs in the air for several seconds, like smoke from a cigarette.

Jumpscars are dangerous and will shred anything or anyone who tries to touch one. A bullet fired near a Jumpscar will behave unpredictably, which is why Paladins do no use conventional weapons around Jumpers. However, it is possible for one Jumper to follow another Jumper through his Jumpscar. They can transport themselves anywhere in the world at any time, for any reason.

Rules of Jumping

1) A jumper can only jump to a place that he has been before or a place that he can see

2) A jumper can take with him objects he is gripping that are not anchored to the earth

3) A jumper cannot jump if he is tethered to the earth or tethered to something that is anchored to the earth

4) There are four main factors that affect the nature of a jump:

• Skill level – novice to master. Skill level affects mainly the precision of the jump. The more precise the jump, the less unintentional the side effects there will be. A novice jumper is a sloppy jumper causing a great deal of side effects and leaving apparent scars.

• Emotional state – calm to freaked out. A jumper’s emotional state will affect the intensity of the jump. The more freaked out a jumper is the more side effects there will be. If a jumper is calm, the side effects will be minimal and will not leave an apparent scar.

• Intent – stealthy to destructive. A skillful jumper can control the side effects of a jump. He can also cause harmful side effects if that is his intent and if he has the skill to do so

• Difficulty – easy to hard. The harder the jump, the greater the side effects. For example, jumping a car for the first time would be a hard jump.

PALADINS

For almost as long as there have been “Jumpers” there have been those that hunt them. These people are called Paladins -- an ancient sect that has long recognized the threat that Jumpers pose to the world, the Paladins have evolved into an elite organization of warrior-like individuals who find and kill Jumpers around the globe.

Paladins believe Jumpers are simply too powerful to be allowed to exist and also believe that Jumping is bad for the planet. Generally, new Paladins are recruited by family members and the awesome responsibility is handed down through generations.

Over the years, the Paladins have cultivated a special skill – the ability to sense when a Jumper is about to Jump in the vicinity. This heightened awareness gives the Paladins a much needed tool to use when battling the Jumpers. Today, Paladins are so good at killing Jumpers that few make it to adulthood. When Jumpers start Jumping around age 5, their youth and inexperience makes it easy for Paladins to track them.

PALADIN WEAPONS

Over time, the Paladins have also created special weapons that help in the capture and extermination of Jumpers. Primary among these are tether weapons, which are shot out of a special kind of gun. The tethers have the ability to harness Jumpers and an electrical charge running through the tethers prevents the Jumper from jumping while the Paladin moves in for the kill. Paladins also use special electrified nets to contain jumpers.

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES

2008-11-29T04:18:00.001-08:00

Based on the series of children’s books by Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black, The Spiderwick Chronicles is a simple, entertaining trip into the realm of imagination. Using above average special effects, this film manages to capture the fairytale landscape of childhood and create an endearing, uncomplicated good versus evil adventure story.

After their parents’ separation, the Grace children — Jared, his twin brother Simon (both played by Freddie Highmore) and their sister Mallory (Sarah Bolger) — are forced to move into a creepy, old family estate in the middle of nowhere. While exploring the house, Jared discovers a mysterious book with a cryptic note warning that the book must never be opened. Curious, Jared reads the book and discovers that a strange world of faeries and monsters exists around the estate. Soon, an evil ogre and an army of goblins are after the book of faerie secrets, and Jared must work with his family to stop them at all costs.

Though comparable to the Harry Potter films in both tone and quality, The Spiderwick Chronicles is geared towards a slightly younger audience. The straightforward story is reminiscent of the type of imaginative adventure games children actually play, with un-crossable magical lines, comically ferocious creatures and a lot of running from place to place. And though this is very much a children’s movie, parents will not be disappointed, as the story is captivating enough to allow adult imaginations to come out and play.

Opening this Thursday is the Paramount fantasy adventure “The Spiderwick Chronicles.”

Peculiar things start to happen the moment the Grace family (Jared, his twin brother Simon, sister Mallory and their mom) leave New York and move into the secluded old house owned by their great, great uncle Arthur Spiderwick. Unable to explain the strange disappearances and accidents that seem to be happening on a daily basis, the family blames Jared. When he, Simon and Mallory investigate what's really going on, they uncover the fantastic truth of the Spiderwick estate and of the creatures that inhabit it. The movie is based on the best-selling series of books.

Anyhow, to help promote the film, Paramount recently held a press day and I got to participate in a roundtable interview with the star of the movie, Freddie Highmore.

While you may not know Freddie’s name, you’ve definitely seen his work. Although he’s just turning 16, Freddie has starred in “Finding Neverland,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “A Good Year,” “August Rush” and a number of other TV and film projects. And in this film he’s not content to play just one part…he’s playing two! He play’s both Jared and Simon, who are twin brothers.

Unlike some American teen actors that I’ve interviewed, Freddie came across as an extremely well balanced and someone that has his head on straight. It was nice to see.
Young fans of the novels won’t be disappointed with The Spiderwick Chronicles, despite the fact that it condenses the series into a single movie. Happily, this is a family film that actually pleases the whole family. (Paramount)

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

2008-11-29T04:16:00.000-08:00

No Country for Old Men is an Academy Award-winning 2007 film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem. Faithfully adapted from the well-received Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, No Country for Old Men draws heavily on McCarthy's themes of chance and fate; it tells the story of a drug deal gone wrong and the ensuing cat-and-mouse drama as three men crisscross each other's paths in the desert landscape of 1980 West Texas.

The film has been highly praised by critics. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it "as good a film as the Coen brothers…have ever made." A Guardian journalist said the film proved "that the Coens' technical abilities, and their feel for a landscape-based Western classicism reminiscent of Anthony Mann and Sam Peckinpah, are matched by few living directors."

Over wide shots of desolate, expansive West Texas country in June 1980, local sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) recalls of the changing times amidst an increase in the region's violent crime. As he concludes his tale, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) is arrested by a sheriff's deputy, who has time to describe Chigurh's unique captive bolt pistol to the sheriff over the phone before Chigurh strangles him with his cuffs and escapes.

Meanwhile, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) hunts pronghorn antelope near the Rio Grande when he stumbles upon a collection of corpses and a lone dying man, the aftermath of a drug deal gone awry. In addition to a shipment of heroin, he finds two million dollars in a satchel, which he keeps, leaving the lone survivor to die. Later that night in bed with his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald), Moss's conscience convinces him to return to the site with water for the dying man, in the process setting off a cat-and-mouse game in which the hunter and hunted frequently switch roles, as a gang of Mexicans, Moss, Chigurh, and Bell chase each other and the money across the Texas and Mexico landscapes.

Chigurh, a professional hitman, is hired to retrieve the satchel of money by using a radio receiver which corresponds to a small transponder hidden in the satchel. Chigurh does not hesitate to kill those in his way, including those closely associated with the drug deal, the drivers of cars he steals for transport, and people he encounters by chance. Moss, unaware of the transponder's existence, sends his wife Carla Jean (Kelly Macdonald) out of town and moves from motel to motel as he attempts to elude both the Mexicans and Chigurh. In the meantime, Bell avoids the federal authorities’ investigation of the original drug-related massacre and focuses his attention on trying to locate and protect Moss. Chigurh, with his tracking device, inexorably closes in on Moss while acting as an agent of fate and chance to the people he meets along the way.

DEATH SENTENCE

2008-11-29T04:14:00.001-08:00

When an everyday man goes seeking family justice, action-thriller “Death Sentence” teaches us this valuable lesson: Don’t hire Kevin Bacon for a role you wrote for Charles Bronson.

Vigilantism is alive and flourishing in Death Sentence, the new revenge thriller from Wan, the so-called Splat Pack director of the original Saw movie. The story is loosely based on a 1975 novel by Brian Garfield, the author whose 1972 novel, Death Wish, was the source material for the the classic dad-on-a-rampage movie of the same title.

This sequel of sorts implicitly condemns vigilante acts: Instead of settling scores, the retribution only leads to further acts of violence on a vengeance scorecard that has a bottomless tally line. Every victim leaves behind someone to make things right. But it's not this moral that's front and center in Death Sentence so much as the trappings of violence.

Bacon plays mild-mannered insurance executive Nick Hume, who turns into a Travis Bickle wannabe when his eldest son is murdered by gangbangers. Hume can ID the killer, but, disgusted with the justice system's willingness to cut a deal that would earn the murderer only a few years in prison, Hume decides to drop the case and settle things eye-for-an-eye style, out of court. Eradicating the guilty gangbanger does little good since even the lousiest scum apparently leave behind aggrieved family members. Thus, the lives of Hume's wife and youngest son (Preston and Garrett) become endangered.

Tyler, as the detective on the case, looks on in silent disapproval, seeming to know what Hume is up to but lacking the evidence to nail him for it. Revenge movies such as this could not exist were it not for the slack inefficiency of the police force and justice system. Bacon's kinetic acting style serves the role well, even though his transition from risk-assessment wonk to death-defying dad is rather unbelievable.

Goodman is the acting standout here in a tiny but most memorable role as a gun dealer: It's another role in which the actor's dominant physicality is intrinsic to the character. One well-staged sequence in a parking garage is the film's only other memorable moment. The graininess of the film generally makes everything look as ugly as it feels. Death Sentence deserves no reprieve.

BEE MOVIE

2008-11-29T04:13:00.000-08:00

I really like the story line, but I think I would much more enjoy watching Jerry Seinfeld flying in a bee suit.

Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), is a bee who has just graduated from college, and is disillusioned with his lone career choice: making honey.

On a special trip outside the hive, Barry’s life is saved by Vanessa (Zellweger), a florist in New York City.

As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans have been stealing and eating the honey, and subsequently decides to file a class action lawsuit against humans.

Soon, Barry’s actions raise a hectic war between humans and bees and he’s caught right in the middle.

We have yet to see any serious animated footage from Jerry Seinfeld’s Bee Movie. The two previous teaser trailers involved the comedy actors in Bee suits (if you haven’t seen them, check them out - the Steven Spielberg cameo is not to be missed).

The first theatrical trailer has been released, and finally we get our first real look at the film itself. Watch the new trailer after the jump.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not yet sure about this one. The animation looks fine, but I’m not completely sold on the story. What is the story? The official plot synopsis follows: Barry B. Benson (Seinfeld), a bee who has just graduated from college, is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a special trip outside the hive, Barry’s life is saved by Vanessa (Zellweger), a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans actually eat honey, and subsequently decides to sue us.

1408

2008-11-29T04:09:00.002-08:00

All horror flicks are expressionistic, and so all the horrible stuff in them can be given at least a cheap psychological reading – the beasties and slashers and zombies doing their nasty work as stand-ins for the mind's primitive fears.

But the best of the genre tightens the screws on that equation, locking us into a place where empirical logic (“This weirdness can't happen”) loses its protective power and dream logic (“This weirdness can't be happening”) has its freewheeling way. Really wanting to get into our heads, 1408 tries awfully hard to play both sides of logic's boundary line – tries and fails, and then succeeds, only to ultimately fail again. On the whole, the frights are frighteningly erratic.

The source, needless to say, is yet another Stephen King story, where yet another troubled writer is served up as the horror's main target (speaking of cheap psychology). Even by scribblers' standards, Mike Enslin (John Cusack) is a scruffy and puffy fellow, although his basic pedigree is familiar enough. You know the type: Used to be talented, once wrote a sensitive novel, but he's squandered his gifts; used to be married, but he's separated from his wife (Mary McCormack), the union done in by the death of their young daughter. Now Mike is reduced to lonely cynicism and to cranking out cut-rate books that debunk the myths of haunted houses and wandering ghosts. Sometimes, he gives readings. Sometimes, as many as four listeners show up.

Of course, our jaded debunker has yet to meet Room 1408, in a New York hotel, where none other than Samuel L. Jackson pops up as the manager, an incongruous little cameo that adds this to the scare quotient: It's a shocking waste of Jackson's gifts.

Anyway, Sam hangs around just long enough to fill us in on the chamber's hit list, its impressive résumé of unnatural deaths, and then he sets the preface: “No one has lasted in it more than an hour.” Since the movie has still got almost an hour-and-a-half to run, expect a new record to be set.

This leaves Cusack, a fine actor with a proud list of credits, to spend considerable time inside the room and alone on the screen, engaged in a solo battle with the camera. He acquits himself pretty well, although his character isn't so lucky. At first, 1408 dishes out nothing more threatening than a broken thermostat, a faulty radio, thin walls and a loose faucet – we've all checked into that stale hell. But quickly the room gets down to some seriously unnerving business, leaving Mike to spot his catatonic double staring back from a neighbouring window, to witness his resurrected daughter on the TV monitor, and, most terrifying of all, to hear his late and unlamented father speak words that few sons want to hear: “As you were, I was; as I am, you will be.”

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS

2008-11-29T04:09:00.001-08:00

In a tree farm, three musically inclined chipmunks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, find their tree cut down and sent to Los Angeles.

Once there, they meet the frustrated songwriter David Seville, and despite a poor house wrecking first impression, they impress him with their singing talent. Seeing the opportunity for success, both human and chipmunks make a pact for them to sing his songs.

While that ambition proves a frustrating struggle with the difficult trio, the dream does come true after all. However, that success presents its own trials as their unscrupulous record executive, Ian Hawke, plans to break up this family to exploit the boys.

Can Dave and the Chipmunks discover what they really value amid the superficial glamor around them