LE CONCERT (15)
RADU Mihauleanu’s gentle comedy based on the true story of a famous Russian conductor who was disgraced under Brezhnev for refusing to fire Jewish musicians from his orchestra. Now working as a cleaner at the Bolshoi, he comes up with an audacious plan to reunite his orchestra and play the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold on Tuesday and Wednesday.
STAR RATING: ***
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF CHARLIE ST CLOUD (12A)
CHARLIE St. Cloud (Zac Efron) can see the spirit of his younger brother Sam (Charlie Tahan) who died in his arms following a car accident. Consumed with grief, Charlie puts his entire life on hold to remain in limbo with the spirit and agrees to meet him at sunset every day to play baseball. Five years pass and Charlie works in the local cemetery with best friend Alistair (Augustus Prew). Charlie develops a crush on Tess Carroll (Amanda Crew), who intends to sail around the world and as his feelings deepen, Charlie must make a heartbreaking choice between the living and the dead.
STAR RATING: ***
DESPICABLE ME (U)
CRIMINAL mastermind Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) seethes with envy after new villain on the block, Vector (Jason Segel), steals one of the ancient pyramids and replaces the monument with an inflatable. With his reputation on the line, Gru plots to steal the moon using a shrink ray gun from Vector's laboratory. However, the lair is heavily fortified so Gru adopts three orphaned girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier) and Agnes (Elsie Fisher), and cleverly uses the children to breach the defences. By the time Gru has purloined the shrink ray, the curmudgeon has forged a bond with the girls and he must contemplate giving up his life of crime to become a father or send them back to the orphanage.
STAR RATING: ***
INVICTUS (12A)
CLINT Eastwood directs this gripping account of Nelson Mandela’s determination to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup Finals in South Africa to unite his countrymen. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold on Friday only.
STAR RATING: ***
MR NICE (18)
OXFORD graduate Howard Marks and one-time teacher abandoned the education system to become one of the world's most powerful and influential drug dealers during the 1960s and 1970s. Bernard Rose's film charts the rise and fall of Marks (Rhys Ifans) from his teenage years to the inglorious end of two decades when Marks was at the height of his powers, lavishing his ill-gotten gains on his wife Judy (Chloe Sevigny) and three children Amber, Francesca and Patrick. "My success completely went to my head and I've been living off it to a certain extent ever since," Marks admits in a voiceover. He goes on the run from the authorities and forges a professional link with emotionally volatile IRA operative Jim McCann (David Thewlis).
STAR RATING: ***
PLEASE GIVE (15)
CATHERINE Keener stars as Kate who lives a life full of ethical contradictions. She fleeces recently bereaved people for their loved ones’ furniture which she then sells at inflated prices but won’t buy her daughter expensive jeans because “materialism is bad”. Also starring Rebecca Hall. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold on Saturday and Monday.
STAR RATING: ***
RED (12A)
FORMER Black Ops agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) has retired from active duty and now carves out a mundane existence in suburbia, where the highlight of his day is flirting on the phone with customer services agent Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker). When a gun-toting death squad razes his home, Frank goes on the run with Sarah and heads to Louisiana to reunite with old friend Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), then on to a secret bunker to re-enlist conspiracy theorist Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich). As the body count rises, the former agents and Sarah add sniper Victoria (Helen Mirren) to their ranks and unravel the mystery of an old mission in Guatemala.
STAR RATING: ***
THE SOCIAL NETWORK (12A)
CENTRAL protagonist Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a computer nerd whose lack of social skills become apparent as he is deservedly dumped by his girlfriend (Rooney Mara). In revenge, Mark creates a crude website called facemash.com which brings the nerd to the attention of Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) and Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer), who want Mark to program their internal social networking site called HarvardConnection. Soon after, Mark approaches friends Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), Dustin Moskovitz (Joseph Mazzello) and Chris Hughes (Patrick Mapel) with an almost identical idea. Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the entrepreneur behind Napster, becomes involved.
