CONTAGION (12A)
BETH Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from a business trip in Hong Kong with acute flu-like symptoms. Her husband Mitch (Matt Damon) dutifully nurses her and their son Clark (Griffin Kane), who is also feeling under the weather, but both succumb to the fatal illness. Mitch is rushed into isolation but, miraculously, he seems to be immune to the outbreak and is soon allowed to return home with his daughter, Jory (Anna Jacoby-Heron). More cases are reported by an increasingly hysterical media and Dr Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) from the Centre For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dispatches one of his best operatives, Dr Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), to the Emhoff house in Minneapolis to trace the pathogen. In a secret laboratory, Dr Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) and Dr David Eisenberg (Demetri Martin) try to grow the virus in order to engineer an antivirus, with guidance from respected academic Dr Ian Sussman (Elliott Gould).
STAR RATING: ****
THE IDES OF MARCH (15)
HIGH-FLYING Democrat presidential candidate Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) has a knack for spouting the perfect sound bite with a winning smile. Flanked by his ballsy campaign manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and brilliant Press secretary Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), Morris seems destined for the White House. However, an ill-advised dalliance with seductive intern Molly Stearns (Evan Rachel Wood) leaves Morris’s reputation hanging by a gossamer thread as New York Times journalist Ida Horowicz (Marisa Tomei) and the other media vultures begin to circle. Meanwhile, rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) looks for chinks in Morris’s armour, knowing full well everything hinges on securing the endorsement of influential Senator Thompson (Jeffrey Wright).
STAR RATING: ****
JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (PG)
FOLLOWING a disastrous mission in Mozambique, Johnny English (Rowan Atkinson) turns his back on MI7 and heads to a Tibetan retreat. Section chief Pamela Thornton (Gillian Anderson) woos him back to help thwart an assassination attempt on the Chinese premier and pairs him up with rookie agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya). After a meeting with agent Titus Fisher (Richard Schiff), Johnny learns of a dastardly plot masterminded by a shadowy organisation called Vortex. Johnny joins forces with fellow operative Simon Ambrose (Dominic West) and sexy behavioural psychologist Kate Sumner (Rosamund Pike) to unmask a traitor.
STAR RATING: **
MONTE CARLO (PG)
GRACE Bennett (Selena Gomez) graduates from high school and looks forward expectantly to a trip to Paris in the company of best friend Emma (Katie Cassidy). However, Grace’s parents Robert (Brett Cullen) and Pamela (Andie MacDowell) are worried Emma will be a bad influence so they pay for stepsister Meg (Leighton Meester) to join the European expedition. At the Eiffel Tower they are left behind by their tour guide and seek sanctuary from the rain in a five-star hotel, where Grace is mistaken for celebrity Cordelia Winthrop-Scott (Gomez again). Emma persuades Grace to carry on the deception. They head for Monte Carlo, where the real Cordelia is due to auction a diamond necklace to raise funds for a children’s charity. There, Grace – posing as Cordelia – falls for Theo (Pierre Boulanger), while Meg becomes smitten with hunky Australian backpacker Riley (Luke Bracey) and Emma realises her heart belongs to her Texan boyfriend, Owen (Cory Monteith).
STAR RATING: **
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3 (15)
SECOND sequel traces the malevolent force that haunts sisters Katie (Katie Featherston) and Kristi (Sprague Grayden) back to its origin. The film opens in March 2005 in Carlsbad, California, with Kristi heavily pregnant and painting the nursery a fetching shade of blue. Her sister arrives and stores two old boxes in the basement, one of which contains numerous video cassettes marked with the girls’ names. Events rewind to September 3, 1988, and the birthday party of young Katie (Chloe Csengery). Younger sister Kristi (Jessica Tyler Brown) keeps to herself, talking to an imaginary friend called Toby. Celebrations are captured by videographer Dennis (Christopher Nicholas Smith), the new boyfriend of the girls’ mother, Julie (Lauren Bittner). He becomes intrigued by strange sounds in the family home, setting up two cameras, each able to record six hours of grainy footage. Nothing much happens on the first night, September 10, 1988, but events become increasingly sinister.
STAR RATING: **
THE THREE MUSKETEERS 3D (12A)
D’ARTAGNAN (Logan Lerman) leaves behind his father (Dexter Fletcher) to seek his fortune in the court of young and inexperienced King Louis (Freddie Fox) and his bride Queen Anne (Juno Temple). En route the young man crosses paths with Porthos (Ray Stevenson), Athos (Matthew Macfadyen) and Aramis (Luke Evans), who have been disbanded. With the help of M’Lady (Milla Jovovich), D’Artagnan and the Musketeers learn of a plot masterminded by Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz) to impugn the Duke of Buckingham (Orlando Bloom) by planting evidence to suggest the nobleman has deflowered the Queen. With time running out before King Louis declares war against the British, the Musketeers and their new recruit hatch a plan to foil Richelieu and restore the lustre of the Queen’s reputation.
STAR RATING: ***
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (15)
THIS documents the aftermath of a senseless high school massacre from the perspective of the teenage perpetrator’s guilt-stricken mother. We sift, with mounting horror, through the fractured history of Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) and her sociopath son, Kevin (Ezra Miller). While Eva clashes with the boy, including a confrontation that results in a visit to hospital, Kevin slyly wins the affections of his father Franklin (John C Reilly), thereby driving a wedge between the parents.
STAR RATING: ****
