BLACK SWAN (15)
ARTISTIC director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) presides over a ballet company at New York's Lincoln Center, all too aware that his productions have lost their edge. So he very publicly terminates the services of prima ballerina Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder) and chooses Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) as her replacement to lead an erotically charged new staging of Swan Lake. Nina is technically gifted but she struggles to express her emotions on stage, which causes friction with Thomas. Soon after, sensual ballerina Lily (Mila Kunis) is cast as understudy to the lead role and Nina feels threatened, as if the new girl is trying to usurp her. Harangued by her mother (Barbara Hershey), a former dancer who gave up everything to raise a family, Nina wrestles with fear and paranoia, teetering on the brink of an emotional breakdown.
STAR RATING: ***
THE DILEMMA (12A)
RONNY (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) have been best friends since college and now work together at B&V Engine Design, the company they both own. They hope to pitch their state-of-the-art electric engine design to executives at a major company. While Nick works tirelessly to iron out gremlins in his design, Ronny frets about proposing to his girlfriend, talented chef Beth (Jennifer Connelly). During preparations to go down on bended knee, Ronny makes a shocking discovery: Nick's wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) is cheating with a tattooed younger man called Zip (Channing Tatum). Therefore Ronny faces an agonising decision: Keep the truth from his best friend until the automotive company has signed on the dotted line or tell Nick everything, aggravate his stomach ulcer and plunge the engine project into chaos.
STAR RATING: ***
THE GREEN HORNET (12A)
MEDIA magnate James Reid (Tom Wilkinson) dies from ac reaction to a bee sting, leaving his empire to his wastrel son, Britt (Seth Rogen). The son forges an unlikely friendship with his father's driver, Kato (Jay Chou), and together they fight crime on the city streets. In his guise as The Green Hornet, Britt strikes fear into the heart of the underworld controlled by Benjamin Chudnofsky (Christoph Waltz), aided by Kato and his seemingly indestructible car, The Black Beauty. Unfortunately, Britt underestimates the determination of Chudnofsky, who intends to swat the masked heroes and seize back control of Los Angeles.
STAR RATING: **
THE HUNTER (15)
RAFI Pitts directs and stars in this story of a man who discovers his wife and daughter have been killed on police crossfire and heads into the city with his hunting rifle to exact revenge. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold from February 1-2.
STAR RATING: ***
JOHN CARPENTER'S THE WARD (15)
KRISTEN (Amber Heard) is incarcerated in North Bend Psychiatric Hospital for setting fire to an abandoned farmhouse. She is remanded to the isolation ward under the care of Dr Stringer (Jared Harris) and clashes with dour Nurse Lundt (Susanna Burney) and orderly Roy (Dan Anderson). Kristen soon meets the other patients: Self-abusive Emily (Mamie Gummer), talented artist Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), flirtatious Sarah (Danielle Panabaker) and babyish Zoey (Laura-Leigh). Kristen glimpses a ghostly face staring at her through the window and she senses that something is terribly awry at North Bend. Sure enough, the hospital conceals a shocking secret about a former patient and as Kristen searches for clues, she discovers why no one leaves Dr Stringer's care alive.
STAR RATING: ***
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT (15)
JULIANNE Moore and Annette Bening play a couple who live together in LA with their two teenage kids they had via a sperm donor. Everything is fine until the kids decide to contact their birth father (Mark Ruffalo) who winds up coming for dinner and causing considerable ripples in the family set-up. Showing at Clwyd Theatr Cymru in Mold from January 28-31.
STAR RATING: ***
THE KING'S SPEECH (12A)
WHEN King George V (Michael Gambon) dies in 1936, eldest son Edward (Guy Pearce) ascends to the throne, but his reign is shrouded in scandal as he continues to romance American divorcee, Wallis Simpson (Eve Best). Love triumphs over duty and Edward abdicates, forcing youngest son Albert (Colin Firth) into the spotlight. However, the newly crowned King George VI suffers from a crippling stammer, which renders him unable to deliver public addresses. With war imminent and the country looking to its King for leadership, Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) approaches unconventional Australian-born speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) on the recommendation of a friend.
STAR RATING: ****
MORNING GLORY (12A)
BECKY Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is one of the brightest stars at Good Morning New Jersey but her sterling efforts are rewarded with redundancy. Unperturbed, the young producer telephones every TV network searching for a job. Thankfully, New York network manager, Jerry Barnes (Jeff Goldblum), comes to Becky's rescue. He offers her Daybreak, the station's breakfast show. Arriving on set, Becky discovers that co-anchors Paul McVee (Ty Burrell) and Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) are at loggerheads. So Becky fires Paul and pursues Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) as a replacement.
STAR RATING: ****
