Still showing at the region's cinemas this week...
ATONEMENT (15) (All major cinemas)
A CLASSIC of modern literature is turned into a classic of modern cinema in the hands of director Joe Wright and a cast headed by Keira Knightley and James McEvoy. A lie told by a 13 year old girl in 1935 has devastating consequences that resonate throughout the years of World War Two in this stunning adaptation of Ian McEwan’s breathtaking novel.
STAR RATING: ****
THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Thursday only)
RE-RELEASE of Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 drama-documentary about the Algerian uprising in the 1950s. The story follows a resistance cell being hunted down by the French who will stop at nothing, even torture, to crush the uprising.
STAR RATING: ****
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (12A) (All major cinemas)
ANOTHER film series reaches chapter three in 2007 and this is far and away the best of the bunch as Matt Damon finds more answers to his past in a picture which reunites him with the remarkable British director Paul Greengrass.
STAR RATING: ***
BRATZ: THE MOVIE (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks; weekend matinees)
A FILM based on a series of dolls! Well, it’s not the first time but if ever a movie was a no go zone for anyone over the age of 14, this is it.
STAR RATING: *
BREACH (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
TREMENDOUS espionage thriller based on a true story of an apparently dedicated FBI agent and family man, Robert Hanssen, who spent 22 years selling secrets to the Russians. A much younger agent (Ryan Phillippe) is given the task of bringing Hanssen to justice which he does by posing as his clerk. But this film belongs to Chris Cooper, finally given a chance as a leading man after years of outstanding service as a character actor.
STAR RATING: ***
DISTURBIA (15) (All major cinemas)
SHIA La Boeuf, who seems to be in every other release this year, turns up again in a promising thriller which has been a huge hit in America. Essentially a reworking of Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window, our young hero becomes convinced his creepy neighbour is a murderer. In 1954, it was a broken leg that kept James Stewart wheelchair bound with only a pair of binoculars and the antics of the people in his neighbourhood to keep him occupied. For 2007, it is a leg bracelet that was fitted to La Boeuf’s character after he punched out one of his teachers, leading to him being placed under house arrest.
EVAN ALMIGHTY (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks; weekend matinees)
IT’S not often a sequel to a hit movie jettisons the main character and instead elevates a former supporting player to lead status. But then again, Bruce Almighty did have the advantage of giving an early break to a major talent like Steve Carell just before his star rose courtesy of the American TV version of The Office and the big screen box office bonanza that was The 40 Year Old Virgin. Apart from Carell - who was, if you remember, an obnoxious TV news anchorman first time round - the only returning element here is Morgan Freeman as God.
STAR RATING: **
1408 (15) (All major cinemas)
JOHN Cusack remains one of the screen’s most compelling actors and here he is a one man tour de force in an occasionally overblown but still remarkably effective horror movie based on a Stephen King story. He plays a sceptic who specialises in debunking allegedly haunted properties but finds himself going slowly insane when he ends up trapped in a hotel room that really is possessed by evil spirits.
STAR RATING: **
HAIRSPRAY (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks; weekend matinees)
IN THE wake of The Producers, here is another cult movie that was turned into a hit stage musical and now returns to the big screen in updated format. Against the odds, this has been getting pretty good reviews for its kitsch look at early 60s teen culture in America. The Corny Collins Show is a dance party TV hit that allows ‘ordinary’ teenagers the chance to strut their stuff on camera. Star attraction is spoiled brat Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) whose supremacy is threatened by overweight but good-hearted girl Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky).
STAR RATING: ***
HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
POTTERMANIA is in full flow with fifth film and final book battling it out for supremacy. Debutant director David Yates takes the helm of the most difficult film in the series so far, stripping away a lot of the flab and focussing on the fact that while Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is back, no one believes it, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) has been kicked out of Hogwarts and replaced by the evil Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton) and Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) is in disgrace with the wizarding community.
STAR RATING: ***
KNOCKED UP (15) (All major cinemas)
ROMANTIC comedy with an edge that may often be crude but also has convincing things to say about relationships in its story of what happens when a slobby guy has a one night stand with a gorgeous career girl and she ends up pregnant. Best big screen role ever for Katherine Heigl but all the buzz surrounds the arrival of Seth Rogan as a major comedic force to be reckoned with.
STAR RATING: ***
MUTUAL APPRECIATION (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Tuesday-Wednesday)
ANDREW Bujalski directs this comedy about three young friends trying to find some direction. Alan, an aspiring singer-songwriter, has come to New York to stay with friends Lawrence and Ellie. She develops a bit of a crush on him in a film that echoes the styles of both Jim Jarmusch and Woody Allen.
STAR RATING: ***
RUN, FAT BOY, RUN (12A) (All major cinemas)
RISING British comedy actor Simon Pegg and former Friends star David Schwimmer are forming the most unlikely of teams. Having appeared together in the little-seen Big Nothing, Schwimmer now gets behind the camera to direct Pegg in what could be his international breakthrough. Pegg starts out as a bit of a cad when he panics as he is about to marry his pregnant girlfriend (Thandie Newton) and leaves her at the altar. Years later, he realises what a mistake he has made. and decides to win her back by training for and taking part in a marathon!
STAR RATING: ***
SHOOT ‘EM UP (18) (All major cinemas)
ANY movie which includes gun battles during the delivery of a baby and during a sex scene just has to have cult status bestowed upon it even before release. Add to that the fact this has an ultra cool cast headed by Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci and this could just be the discerning action fan’s dream movie come true. Director Michael Davis is honest enough not to even pretend there’s much of a plot: hitman Giamatti wants to kill Belluci and abduct her infant while Owen has to come to her rescue.
STAR RATING: ***
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE (PG) (All major cinemas)
THE Simpsons is a genuine cultural phenomenon and while it is generally accepted that recent episodes have not quite matched the glory days of its first decade, critics have already been dusting off the superlatives to cope with the movie release. The animation style remains the same although somehow, director David Silverman has managed to make it seem more epic as Homer is called upon to avert a catastrophe that he himself is responsible for creating. Everyone from the Springfield locals to US President Arnold Schwarzenegger are out for Homer’s blood and it is up to our hero to find a way of redeeming himself.
STAR RATING: ***
SUPERBAD (15) (All major cinemas)
KNOCKED Up sensation Seth Rogen isn’t the star of this high school rites of passage comedy but he did co-write it and he does cameo as a cop. And what it has in common with that other current release is a foul-mouthed script that is countered by genuinely likeable characters who develop in ways that are entirely convincing.
STAR RATING: ***
SURF’S UP (PG) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks; weekend matinees)
PENGUIN movies have almost become a little mini-genre of their own and have so far attracted much critical kudos in the wake of March of the Penguins and Happy Feet. And much praise has been heaped on this latest computer animated venture which cleverly combines the (in this case, mock) documentary approach of the former with the fictional comedy of the latter. Instead of dancing penguins, we have surfing penguins as young Cody (Shia LaBeouf) is whisked away from his home pool to compete in a major surfing competition.
STAR RATING: ***
3.10 TO YUMA (15) (All major cinemas)
GENUINE Westerns are few and far between these days which makes this a welcome novelty, especially when it features an acting showdown between Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. A remake of a respected 1957 movie, which was based on an Elmore Leonard short story, it is the story of a one legged rancher and family man (Bale) who finds himself part of a posse vowing to ensure ruthless outlaw Crowe makes it on to a train that will transport him to his inevitable death sentence. Needless to say, things don’t go according to plan – nor is Crowe the thoroughly bad lot everyone else seems to think he is in what develops into an absorbing character study.
STAR RATING: ***
TRANSFORMERS (12A) (Vue, Cheshire Oaks)
A LIVE action movie based on a cartoon film based on a toy _ it would be fair to say that expectations of an arthouse classic are not high. This is director Michael Bay cranked up to 11 – every over the top action trick learned on the likes of Armageddon, Bad Boys and Pearl Harbour comes home to roost in one package to overwhelm the senses – until boredom sets in.
STAR RATING: ***
ZODIAC (15) (Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, Friday-Monday)
SEVEN director David Fincher returns to the serial killer genre for a dramatised account of the factual hunt for the notorious Zodiac killer. This case obsessed West Coast America during the early 70s following the first brutal slaying in the San Francisco Bay Area in July 1969 when two teenagers were shot as they were making out in a parking lot. The focus of the film’s attention is the San Francisco Chronicle where reporter Robert Downey Jr and cartoonist Jake Gyllenhaal are determined to help track the murderer down.
STAR RATING: ***
COMING SOON
September 28: THE BRAVE ONE (Jodie Foster)
September 28: MICHAEL CLAYTON (George Clooney)
September 28: WAR (Jet Li)
September 28: HALLOWEEN (Malcolm McDowell)
October 5: THE KINGDOM (Jamie Foxx)
October 5: THE HEARTBREAK KID (Ben Stiller)
October 12: THE INVASION (Nicole Kidman)
October 12: RATATOUILLE (Animation)
October 19: STARDUST (Claire Danes)
October 19: NANCY DREW (Emma Roberts)
October 26: SAW IV (Tobin Bell)
October 26: THE LOOKOUT (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
Dates subject to change.
