Cinemas - Still showing - 10/9/09

Sep 9 2009 Ellesmere Port Pioneer

ALIENS IN THE ATTIC (PG)

A SPACESHIP full of ray gun-wielding extra-terrestrials, intent on invading Earth, meets resistance in a most unexpected form in John Schultz’s out-of-this-world family comedy. High School Musical starlet, Ashley Tisdale, is almost surplus to requirements until the alien butt-kicking finale.

STAR RATING: ***

BABY LOVE (18)

COMEDY of contemporary manners – two men, one wants a baby, the other doesn’t so they split up. Gay adoption is illegal in France so Manu is forced to consider surrogacy but finds it impossible to find a potential mother or lesbian couple who share his views. But then he meets a young Argentinian woman after crashing into her car. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold on Tuesday only.

STAR RATING: ***

DISTRICT 9 (15)

FORGET Transformers, Terminator Salvation, GI Joe and even the rejuvenated crew of the Starship Enterprise – the science-fiction blockbuster of the year has arrived. South African director Neill Klomkamp's feature debut is a heartbreaking morality tale about humanity's intolerance emerging from the arrival of an alien spaceship, augmented with state-of-the-art visual effects and a spectacular finale.

STAR RATING: ****

EVERLASTING MOMENTS (15)

JAN Troell’s period drama is based on the true story of Maria, a poor woman living in 1920s Malmo, who finds a new freedom in discovering a natural talent for photography after winning a camera in a lottery.

STAR RATING: ***

THE FINAL DESTINATION (15)

THE gleefully gory fourth instalment of the Final Destination series from director David R Ellis sees bodily parts flying all over the screen, accompanied by fountains of blood and the occasional one-liner. Bobby Campo plays the lead who saves his friends and other bystanders from certain death at a speedway track, then sees them killed one by one as death restores its true order.

STAR RATING: **

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (12A)

DIRECTOR Marc Webb's quirky romantic comedy allows no happy ending for greeting-card writer Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who falls for his boss's new assistant Summer (Zooey Deschanel). As the 500 days of their relationship unfold, Tom comes to realise that while Summer might be perfect for him, he's not her 'Mr Right Now' or even her 'Mr Right Ever'. It's a haunting tale of relationship woes, with two strong lead performances.

STAR RATING: ****

FUNNY PEOPLE (15)

THERE'S nothing remotely funny about Judd Apatow's latest, which is based on his early years writing jokes for other performers. Adam Sandler stars as a stand-up comic turned film actor who finds out he has leukaemia, and hires Seth Rogen to pen him gags. After surprisingly recovering, he seeks out an old flame (Leslie Mann), who is married with kids. But this is a bore, pitching haphazardly for laughs at the expense of plausibility.

STAR RATING: **

GI JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA (12A)

BASED on the popular, military-themed action figures, this is an action adventure by numbers from the director of The Mummy, starring Channing Tatum, Marlon Wayans, Sienna Miller and former Doctor Who Christopher Eccleston. Aimed squarely at teenage boys with limited attention spans, Stephen Sommers's all-guns-blazing romp has big weapons, bigger explosions and visual effects-heavy sequences in abundance.

STAR RATING: ***

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (18)

QUENTIN Tarantino's long-mooted war opus is a blood-soaked fairytale set in Nazi-occupied France, divided into five hefty chapters. He plays loose and fast with historical fact, and splices genres to dizzying effect across its over-long two-and-a-half hours, with Christoph Waltz providing an Oscar-worthy supporting performance as a sadistic German officer and Brad Pitt plotting to kill the upper echelons of the Third Reich.

STAR RATING: ****

IS ANYBODY THERE? (12A)

TEN-year-old Edward (Bill Milner) lives in his parents’ nursing home. He has a lively imagination and a firm belief in ghosts and the afterlife. When retired magician Clarence (Michael Caine) comes to stay, the two start to explore “the other world” from opposite ends of the age spectrum. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold from Friday-Monday.

STAR RATING: ***

THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE (12A)

UNFOLDING over the course of 35 years, this recounts a heartbreaking romance between two people who were always destined to meet and fall in love – one of whom suffers from random fits of time-travelling. Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana star in director Robert Schwentke's faithful adaptation of the bestselling book by Audrey Niffenegger, which builds to a harrowing finale.

STAR RATING: ****

THE UGLY TRUTH (15)

GERARD Butler and Katherine Heigl make a winning team in this routine but fun rom-com. Butler’s unconventional sex advice expert becomes a TV sensation, much to the disgust of his uptight producer Heigl who nevertheless turns to him for help when the man of her dreams moves into her neighbourhood.

STAR RATING: ***