Movies Showing This Week (June 1, 2012)

30 Beats (Limited)

Cast: Jennifer Tilly, Paz de la Huerta, Lee Pace

Synopsis:   

A group of New Yorkers would get connected in a series of hot encounters and some comedic moments.

6 Month Rule (Limited)

Cast: Blayne Weaver, Martin Starr, Natalie Morales

Synopsis:

The film centers on a bachelor who gets into a relationship devoid of any emotional attachment. He follows his own rules when it comes to relationship and that there is no woman who would ever get into his heart. However, he was mistaken.

Apartment 143 (Limited)

Cast: Kai Lennox, Michael O'Keefe, Rick Gonzalez

Synopsis: 

A group of parapsychologists is on a mission to investigate some strange happenings inside an apartment. They will try to contact "the other side"  but things would be dangerous for them.

Battlefield America

Cast: Marques Houston, Mekia Cox, Christopher Jones

Synopsis: 
Witness a hip-hop dance battle among groups of bad boys. Sean Lewis would help motivate these boys.

For Greater Glory

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Eva Longoria, Andy Garcia

Synopsis:

This film is a chronicle of the Cristeros War in 1926-1929. A rebellion broke out at that time when the Mexican government tried to stop the spread of Catholic faith in their country.

Jack and Diane (Limited)

Cast: Juno Temple, Jena Malone, Kylie Minogue

Synopsis:   
Jack and Dian are both teenage girls who first meet each other in New York City. They share the night together with some intimate kisses which would lead to Diane's werewolf-like visions. 

Piranha 3DD

Cast: Danielle Panabaker, Ving Rhames, David Hasselhoff

Synopsis:   

The prehistoric vicious man-eating piranhas moves upstream to a newly opened water park. This time around, they are more blood thirsty and fiercer. Maddy and her friends would try to stop their vicious attacks.

Snow White and the Huntsman

Cast: Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth

Synopsis:
The Huntsman choose to protect Snow White instead of killing her. Together the two would go on a quest to beat out the Evil Queen. 
 

Movies Showing This Week (May 25, 2012)

Chernobyl Diaries

Cast: Jesse McCartney, Jonathan Sadowsky, Olivia Dudley

Synopsis:   

A group of tourist is visiting an abandoned place. They take a tour guide with them to Pripyat. This place used to be the home of those employees who work in the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl.  The group would discover something creepy inside the place.

Cowgirls 'N Angels

Cast: Bailee Madison, Jackson Rathbone, Alicia Witt

Synopsis:

A young girl dreams to find her father who is a rodeo rider. She encounters a team of young female rodeo riders while searching for her father. She is recruited to join the group.

Men In Black III

Cast: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin

Synopsis: 

Agent J embarks on a time travel experience. He must go back in the early 1960's to help his friend, Agent K.  

Mighty Fine

Cast: Chazz Palminteri, Andie MacDowell, Jodelle Ferland

Synopsis: 
A story of Joe Fine who takes his family with him to New Orleans. He would experience some troubles while residing in the new place.

Moonrise Kingdom (USA, Limited)

Cast: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis

Synopsis:

A couple run away from town which would disrupt the community . A local search party is organized to find them.

The Intouchables (USA, Limited)

Cast: Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy, Anne Ly Ne

Synopsis: 

A man becomes quadriplegic after he got into an accident. He then hires a young man to care for him.

Oslo, August 31st (New York City)

Cast: Anders Danielsen Lie, Hans Olav Brenner, Ingrid Olava

Synopsis: 
Anders is a recovering drug addict. He takes a short leave from the treatment center he is currently staying to attend a job interview. He also gets connected with his old friends.

Asylum Blackout Movie Review

Director: Alexandre Courtes

Writers: S. Craig Zahler, Jerome Fansten

In Theaters: May 4, 2012 (USA)

Running Time: 85 minutes

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Cast: Anna Skellern, Rupert Evans, Dave Legeno

Synopsis:

George and his co-workers are band members and at the same time work part-time as cooks at an asylum for those insane criminals. They have the misfortune of getting locked in at the asylum together with the inmates during a thunderstorm. Horrifying events will unravel inside the asylum.

Reaction: 

If you highly appreciate gory films, then you might like this one. Asylum Blackout is originally entitled The Incident.  Anyway, this film is almost shot entirely inside a well structured building deemed to be as the asylum. The characters varied greatly. There were those criminally insane individuals and those ruggedly looking cooks. Acting wise, they all perform just fine, nothing much remarkable. I could feel the helplessness of those cooks. They have nothing else to do except to survive when those insane people start killing each other. I like the fact how the director made the lead roles act smarter. They are smart enough to hide from those vicious criminals and to ask for help. In addition, good thing that the director did not forget to mention that the story took place in 1989 in which cell phones are not commonly used at that time. So, it justifies the plot of the story.

The ending may come as a surprise to some viewers. However, I see it as a normal reaction after facing severe horrifying experience. My rating for this film is 5 out of 10. I have seen gorier and more horrifying films with better plot. Still, I would say that this film has definitely entertained me and made me glued on every scene.

Check out its Official Movie Trailer:

Movies Showing This Week (May 16 & 18, 2012)

The Dictator (May16, 2012)

Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Jason Mantzoukas, Ben Kingsley

Synopsis:   

A comedy film of a dictator who ensures that democracy would never be brought in his country. 

Elena

Cast: Yelena Lyadova, Nadezhda Markina, Aleksey Rosin

Synopsis:

A story of an old couple, Elena and Vladimir, who met in the later part of their life. Each has their own kids from their previous marriages. A sudden turn of event would lead Elena to come up with a plan after her husband was hospitalized.

Battleship (May 18, 2012)

Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna

Synopsis: 

Aliens are trying to build a power source in the ocean. However, they face a navy fleet which would start into a big battle.

 

Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (New York)

Cast: Yonathan Netanyahu

Synopsis:

This film follows the story of Yonatan Netanyahu, the brother of the Prime Minister of Israel. On July 4, 1976, Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu led an elite Israeli commando. He was killed in a hostage-rescue mission at Entebbe Airport in Uganda.

Hysteria

Cast: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce

Synopsis:

During the Victorian era, doctors diagnosed hysteria for those women who showed anger, irritability and unexplained tears. A new electrical device is introduced to treat hysteria.

Lovely Molly (Limited)

Cast: Alexandra Holden, Ken Arnold, Lauren Lakis

Synopsis:   
Molly Reynolds is a newlywed who returns to her old family home. Some frightful reminders of her childhood life would disturb her life.

Polisse

Cast: Karin Viard, Joey Starr, Marina Foiss

Synopsis:   

This film is about the officers and individuals who are working in a child protection unit in France.

Quill: Life of a Guide Dog (Limited)

Cast: Kaoru Kobayashi, Kippei Shiina, Teruyuki Kagawa

Synopsis:

This film is based on a true story of a   Labrador Retriever dog. His name is Quill and he is trained to be a guide dog right after his first birthday. Quill would help guide a blind person named Watanabe. These two would become great friends later on.

The Samaritan

Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Luke Kirby, Ruth Negga

Synopsis:   

Foley has spent 20 years of his life in prison. Instead of starting a new life after prison, he got entangled with his young protege. 

Virginia (Limited)

Cast: Jennifer Connelly, Emma Roberts, Ed Harris
 

Synopsis:   

A sheriff's bid to become a state senate would be threatened  after he discovers that his daughter is dating the son of a disturbed woman in their place. This woman has two decades affair with the sheriff.

What To Expect When You're Expecting

Cast: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison

Synopsis:

This films centers on four couples who are trying to prepare for parenthood.  They would experience all the thrills, surprises and terrors.

The Lucky One Movie Review

Director: Scott Hicks

Writers: Will Fetters (screenplay), Nicholas Sparks (novel)

In Theaters: April 20, 2012 (USA)

Running Time: 101 minutes

Genre: Romance, Drama
Rated: PG-13

Cast: Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, Blythe Danner

Synopsis:

While serving in Iraq as a marine, Logan finds a photo of a woman with a message written on it. He is looking at the pic when suddenly their unit is attacked. He survives and believes that the photo brings some luck to him. When he returns to the United States, he resolves to find the woman in the photo. He discovers that the woman is residing in Louisiana. He goes to the place and soon he starts a special relationship with the woman. 

Reaction:

I have not read the novel of Nicholas Spark which gave rise to this film adaptation. Anyway, I find the character of Logan which is portrayed by Zac Efron is kinda shallow. There is nothing much to know about him except that he is a marine guy and is quite determined to find someone he only saw from the picture. Beth portrayed by Taylor Schilling is quite unimpressive. I just cannot connect with her character. Even the son of Beth which is portrayed by Riley Thomas Stewart got a lackluster role which is just forgettable. The only one who performs well in this film is Blythe Danner. She brings some light into a rather bland film. 

I find the scene in which Logan has to walk on foot together with his dog just to find Beth as ridiculous. It is amazing how he still emerged as refreshing and stunning as ever even after several days of walking without much sleep. It is simply unbelievable. I got bored on several scenes as well. The Lucky One is definitely the least of all the film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks' novels. 

This film is forgettable. If you really want to watch it, do yourself a favor, just wait for its DVD release and watch it at home. My rating would be 3 out of 10.

Watch its Official Movie Trailer:

Movies Showing This Week (May 11, 2012)

A Bag of Hammers (Limited)

Cast: Jason Ritter, Jake Sandvig, Rebecca Hall

Synopsis:   

Two men is scamming some people by stealing their cars. However, their operation is threatened when a single mom and her son become their neighbor.

Dangerous Ishhq (USA, Limited)

Cast: Karisma Kapoor, Rajneesh Duggal, Jimmy Shergill

Synopsis: 

A story of a beautiful woman who is searching for her loved one after he is kidnapped. With the extreme trauma she undergoes, she discovers something extraordinary along the way.

Dark Shadows

Cast: Johnny Depp, Jackie Earle Haley, Eva Green

Synopsis: 
Barnabas Collins got imprisoned and soon he is set free. He returns to his place where he must protect his dysfunctional relatives. 

El Gringo (Limited)

Cast: Scott Adkins, Yvette Yates, Christian Slater

Synopsis:

A man is about to enter Mexico with a stack of huge cash  in his luggage. He is suddenly attacked when he is in El Fronteras.

Girl in Progress (Limited)

Cast: Eva Mendes, Patricia Arquette, Matthew Modine

Synopsis: 
Grace is a single mom who works hard to keep up with her bills and takes care of her daughter. She is also having an affair with a married doctor. Her young daughter plans on living as an adult after she got inspired from coming-of-age stories.

God Bless America (Limited)

Cast: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke

Synopsis: 
An action-packed  film in which a terminally ill man and a 16 y.o. girl work together to eradicate those loathsome citizens in their place.

Hick (Limited)

Cast: Chloe Moretz, Eddie Redmayne, Juliette Lewis

Synopsis: 
A teen from Nebraska  goes to Las Vegas. She will encounter surprising things in the bright lights of this city.

 

I Wish (Limited)

Cast: Koki Maeda, Ohshiro Maeda, Ryoga Hayashi

Synopsis:   

Koichi got separated from his brother after their parents divorced. He starts to think that something miraculous will happen with the new bullet train service.

Otter 501 (USA)

Cast: Katie Pofahl

Synopsis:

Katie tries to save a sea otter pup after it is separated from its mother. You can see Katie's effort to save the whole specie from extinction.

Stash House

Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Briana Evigan, Sean Faris

Synopsis:

A couple finally found the perfect house to live. However, things change after they discovered a stash of heroine in their house and they end up in prison. 

The Cup (Los Angeles)

Cast: Ray Winstone, Stephen Curry, Brendan Gleeson

Synopsis: 

This is a true story of a man who fights for triumph in the 2002 Melbourne Cup horse race. Witness how brotherly love and true human spirit can bring someone into his ultimate success.

 

The Philly Kid

Cast: Wes Chatham, Devon Sawa, Sarah Butler

Synopsis:

A moving story of a former NCAA champ who got paroled after a decade in prison. Now, he must save a friend's life in some cage fights.  

The Road (Limited)

Cast: Carmina Villaroel, Rhian Ramos, TJ Trinidad

Synopsis:   

A murder was committed and left unknown three decades ago. Now, three teens are reported to be missing in an abandoned road. 

Tonight You're Mine

Cast: Luke Treadaway, Natalia Tena, Mathew Baynton

Synopsis:

Two rock stars who are not in good terms are handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival. The problem is they are both scheduled to perform.

Transit (USA, Limited)

Cast: Jim Caviezel, James Frain, Elisabeth Rohm

Synopsis:

The Sidwell family is on a camping trip to reunite together. However, they are hunted by bank robbers on their way to the camping site. 

Where Do We Go Now?

Cast: Claude Baz Moussawbaa, Leyla Hakim, Nadine Labaki

Synopsis: 

This is a story of religious tensions between Christians and Muslims.  Some Lebanese women attempt to calm down the tensions  in their village.