Cinemas - What’s still showing & where - 25/4/08

Apr 25 2008 by Michael Green, Flintshire Chronicle

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.

STAR RATING: **

CHROMOPHOBIA (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Saturday-Monday)

DAMIEN Lewis stars as a man beset with problems and family secrets in Martha Fiennes’ darkly comic drama set in London where money, beauty and success have replaced honesty and friendship as the cornerstones of life.

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: *

FLASHBACKS OF A FOOL (15) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

DANIEL Craig lends his star power to a smaller, more personal project ahead of his return to the 007 franchise later in the year. He plays a washed up former Hollywood star whose career nosedive prompts him to reflect on what brought him to the position he is in now. This leads, as the title suggests, to a series of flashbacks to his formative years.

STAR RATING: ***

FOOL’S GOLD (12A) (All major cinemas)

UNDER-cooked romantic adventure which reteams Matthew McConaughey with Kate Hudson with whom he sparked admirably in the under-rated rom com How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days. This time, they play an estranged couple - he is an under-funded treasure hunter, she is a brainy historian who has taken a job on a billionaire’s yacht to fund her divorce from him.

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: **

IN BRUGES (18) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

COLIN Farrell and Brendan Gleason make a winning team as a pair of hitmen sent by their boss to cool off in Belgium after their last job goes tragically awry.

STAR RATING: ***

JESUS CAMP (PG) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Thursday only)

HEIDI Ewing and Rachel Grundy’s documentary about an evangelical Christian summer camp in America is focused mostly on the stories of three children, two of whom seem to accept everything they’re told fairly happily while the third is left confused by it all.

STAR RATING: ***

THE KITE RUNNER (12A) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Tuesday-Wednesday)

MARC Forster directs this film version of Khalid Hosseini’s compelling best-seller about two Afghan boys living in Kebul just before the Soviet invasion whose friendship is severely tested by a terrible incident that haunts one of them into adulthood.

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.

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) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)

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: **

STREET KINGS (15) (All major cinemas)

KEANU Reeves tries to do the gritty cop drama thing with decidedly mixed results in this adaptation of a James Ellroy story about corrupt officers working the Los Angeles beat. Reeves’ character arrives on screen having suffered the tragedy of losing his wife and eventually ends up accused of murdering his partner – something which leads on to him discovering just how dirty his fellow cops can be.

STAR RATING: **

ST TRINIAN’S (PG) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Friday only)

UPDATE of the creaky St Trinian’s series from the 1950s provides an excuse for everyone to ham it up and overact to their hearts’ content.

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.

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. But she finds herself torn when the man she secretly adores is snapped up by her sister.

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

May 2: IRON MAN (Robert Downey Jr)

May 9: DOOMSDAY (Rhona Mitra)

May 16: SMART PEOPLE (Ellen Page)

Dates subject to change.