Cinemas - What’s still showing & where - 18/4/08

Apr 18 2008 by Michael Green, Flintshire Chronicle

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (12A) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Friday-Monday)

A THREE hour Western in which very little happens and where the end is given away by the title – boy, does this movie have its work cut out for it! OK, so it does have Brad Pitt as Jesse James and it is one of the best reviewed pictures of 2007. But with the best will in the world, this lyrical look at both the legend of the infamous outlaw and his unhealthy relationship with the obsessive teenager who kills him (played by Casey Affleck) is going to be of marginal appeal.

STAR RATING: ***

AWAKE (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

A DECENT cast was assembled for this long delayed drama based on a chilling but very real premise: out of all the operations that take place in hospital, there are always a few where the patient suffers “anaesthesia awareness’. Basically, that means they are awake during the whole op but paralysed to the extent they have no way of communicating this to the medical team and therefore feel every bit of the procedure. Hayden Christensen plays just such an unlucky soul who happens to be a young business empire heir with a domineering mother (Lena Olin) and a fiance (Jessica Alba) he has been keeping secret from Mom.

STAR RATING: **

DRILLBIT TAYLOR (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

THE first Owen Wilson film released since his apparent suicide attempt certainly won’t aid his recovery after the reviews it has received. Wilson is a homeless good guy who agrees to bodyguard three desperate high school nerds who are being bullied at school.

STAR RATING: *

THE GAME PLAN (U) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks, weekend matinees)

EX-WRESTLER The Rock, as part of his transition into the actor Dwayne Johnson, stars in this by the numbers Disney family movie about an ace American football player whose perfect life is disrupted when he finally encounters the eight year old he never knew he had.

STAR RATING: **

HANNAH MONTANA/MILEY CYRUS: BEST OF BOTH WORLDS 3-D (U) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks, weekend matinees)

THIS 3-D film sees the young star belting out forgettable pop tunes as both Miley and Hannah in between copious shots of proud dad basking in her reflected glory.

STAR RATING: **

HORTON HEARS A WHO! (U) (All major cinemas)

JIM Carrey returns to the world of Dr Seuss for the first time since playing The Grinch but this time we only get to hear him in this animated treat.

STAR RATING: **

I’M NOT THERE (12) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Tuesday-Thursday)

IT’S tempting to say that non Bob Dylan fans need not apply themselves to this ambitious and innovative bid by director Todd Haynes to capture this most elusive of talents. For such an enigma, Haynes has chosen an unusual and commercially disastrous technique: at least six different Dylans portrayed by six different actors ranging from a young African-American boy to a woman. The greatest acclaim and most familiar sequence features Cate Blanchett as arguably the most controversial Dylan, portraying the period when he decided to switch from acoustic folk to electric folk rock, incurring the wrath of millions of fans.

STAR RATING: ***

LEATHERHEADS (PG) (All major cinemas)

GEORGE Clooney is eager to have fun in his third outing as actor-director by verbally sparring with Renee Zellweger in a comedy set against the backdrop of pro football in 1920s America. Clooney is the ageing pro fed up with the fact his team never pulls in a crowd while the more respectable college football scene packs them in, especially when they have a new star like John Krasinski to worship. Clooney sets out to recruit Krasinski to the pro side of the fence.

STAR RATING: ***

NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks, weekend matinees)

ADVENTURE sequel starring Nicolas Cage, something about the search for a lost City of Gold whose existence is so secret, the likes of the Statue of Liberty and Mount Rushmore were specifically created merely as clues to its whereabouts.

STAR RATING: **

NEVER BACK DOWN (12A) (All major cinemas)

IT WANTS to be a junior version of Fight Club but comes across more as a bad tempered riff on Step Up with more gore and bone breaking. A bunch of pretty young things we have barely heard of - and on the evidence of this, may only infrequently hear from again - come together for a story as flimsy as the outfits sported by leading lady Amber Heard.

STAR RATING: **

ONE MISSED CALL (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

BELATED American remake of a renowned Japanese horror movie and one which strongly echoes the daddy of them all – The Ring. A series of bizarre deaths take place, each one with a creepy prophecy of doom provided by a phone call from the previous victim two days before the Grim Reaper strikes.

STAR RATING: **

PATHOLOGY (18) (All major cinemas)

HEROES star Milo Ventimiglia is the latest in a very long line of small screen actors trying to graduate to cinema and he has chosen a gruesome hospital based thriller as his calling card. Ventimiglia plays a promising new intern, fresh from Harvard Medical School, who joins a pathology programme full of similarly gifted physicians. However, so used is the arrogant group to playing God, they are also engaged in a deadly game – to see which one of them can use their skills to commit the perfect murder.

STAR RATING: **

SON OF RAMBOW (12A) (All major cinemas)

BACK to the 80s for this tale of two lonely 11 year old boys whose mutual love of Sylvester Stallone’s action hero brings them together and provides them with inspiration (even if they can’t spell their character idol’s name!).

STAR RATING: ***

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (PG) (All major cinemas)

PROMISING family film based on the best selling books in which twin brothers and their sister find themselves pulled into a world of faeries and other magical creatures.

STAR RATING: ***

STEP UP 2 THE STREETS (PG) (All major cinemas)

THE raunchy poster tends to suggest this is a hot and steamy street wise look at hip hop dancing, likely to be punctuated by scenes of sex and violence. In fact, so innocent are the protagonists and so safe the scenarios they play out, it might as well be street dance according to Disney.

STAR RATING: **

STRANGE WILDERNESS (15) (All major cinemas)

STEVE Zahn has earned much praise for supporting roles in otherwise dodgy fare such as Sahara but he emerges from this mess with no credit at all. He plays the presenter of a wildlife TV programme that was once enormously popular when his late father created it but which is now fading into oblivion - not least because of Zahn’s incompetence. So he and his slacker buddies decide to set off for Ecuador to track down Bigfoot in a desperate bid to boost ratings.

STAR RATING: *

21 (12A) (All major cinemas)

KEVIN Spacey scene steals in a less than classic but still enormously enjoyable movie that has been a big hit Stateside. He plays a college professor who acts as a kind of modern day Fagin to a team of brilliant students who decide to try to take Vegas casinos for as much money as they can by simply card-counting. The main protagonist is an incredibly likeable working class boy (Jim Sturgess) with just such an intellect but very little cash with which to pursue his dream of taking a medical degree at Harvard, making him the perfect recruit for Spacey’s team.

STAR RATING: ***

27 DRESSES (12A) (All major cinemas)

KNOCKED Up star Katherine Heigl gets the chance to headline her own rom com and does so with great charm, playing an utterly adorable and extraordinarily selfless best pal to more than two dozen female friends all of whom have previously asked her to be their bridesmaid.

STAR RATING: ***

VANTAGE POINT (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

A SENSATIONAL cast find themselves at the centre of a movie that lives or dies by the audience’s acceptance of a gimmicky device you are likely to love or hate. Set in Spain during a US Presidential visit, the main event takes place right at the start when there is a massive explosion and President Ashton (William Hurt) is shot.

STAR RATING: **

THE WATER HORSE (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks, weekend matinees)

HIGH quality British family film which plays fast and loose with the Loch Ness legend but does it so delightfully, you won’t hold it against the picture.

STAR RATING: ***

COMING SOON

April 25: DECEPTION (Ewan McGregor)

April 25: THE EYE (Jessica Alba)

May 2: IRON MAN (Robert Downey Jr)

May 9: DOOMSDAY (Rhona Mitra)

May 16: SMART PEOPLE (Ellen Page)

May 22: INDIANA JONES AND THE KINDGOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (Harrison Ford)

Dates subject to change.