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| Poster for ‘Philomena’
reviewed below |
Round-Up for 6th to 14th November 2013
by Peter Clarke
For up to date cinema listings every week visit the Virtual-Lancaster Cinema Page
A poor time for new releases as there are none to report this week. However we can look forward to the much awaited The Hunger Games: Catching Fire due to be released later this month and in the middle of December there is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Hence this is a period to see films already in circulation. For drama there is Escape Plan, Gravity & Philomena. For fantasy see Thor: The Dark World and Ender’s Game. Family films include Turbo, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and Planes.
Reviews (Scroll on down for a daily calendar of local screenings. )
Captain Phillips
Director: Paul Greengrass
Certificate: 12A
Cast Includes: Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener, Barkhad Abdi
A dramatisation of the 2009 hijacking of the container ship Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates who kidnapped the Captain Phillips. This is a excellent must see thriller movie featuring superb acting. Characters are well developed and the film takes a sympathetic view of both pirates and the crew of the ship. In keeping with the subject the film has a documentary feel about it which makes for compelling viewing.
Ender’s Game
Director: Gavin Hood
Certificate: 12A
Cast Includes: Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Abigail Breslin
Set in the future, the film is based on Orson Scott Cards novel, an alien race (the Formics) attacked the world and were defeated. However the aliens will attack again and to prepare Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) is training an elite group of young children in the hope of finding someone who will again defeat the aliens. The young Ender Wiggins is selected to join the elite group at Battle School and excels in war games. Thus he is chosen to to lead an army against the foe to determine the future of the earth. However Ender has some of his own daemons to contend with. An enjoyable film with humour as well as some violent scenes.
Escape Plan
Director: Mikael Håfstrom
Certificate: 15
Cast Includes: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vinnie Jones
One of the world greatest authorities on prison escape Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) is wrongly imprisoned in a ultra high security facility ‘The Tomb’. He must enlist help from another inmate Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) to mount an escape attempt. Stallone and Schwarzenegger work well together and both give convincing performances. This entertaining film provides humour, some violence and plenty of wisecracks.
Gravity
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Certificate: 12A
Cast Includes: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Ryan Stone (Bullock) a medical engineer and seasoned astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney) are on a shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Telescope. However during a routine space walk, disaster strikes as the shuttle is destroyed by impact from space debris and Stone tumbles free in space. The film follows Stone’s plight as she battles to survive. Stone gives a superlative performance in this spectacularly shot movie. However the interest of the film is not the impressive special effects but rather the exploration of human frailty in adversity.
Philomena
Director: Stephen Frears
Certificate: 12A
Cast includes: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan
A quaint and charming film based on the book ‘The Lost Child of Philomena Lee’ by Martin Sixsmith. Philomean (Dench) plays an Irish woman who had her baby taken from her for adoption in the USA whilst she was forced to live in a convent after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. Much later in life she enlists the help of Sixsmith to try to discover the whereabouts of her lost son. Coogan produced the film and co-wrote the screenplay. He plays Sixsmith, the journalist who has fallen out of favour. Both Dench and Coogan give superb performances in this funny and heartwarming if a little sentimental film. Well worth seeing.
Thor: The Dark World
Director: Alan Taylor
Certificate: 12A
Cast Includes: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Kat Dennings Thor must combat an ancient, pervasive and powerful enemy led by Malekith to save the earth and all the realms. Much of the action is played out in Asgard and the interaction between Thor is Loki provides a major part of the film. However there is plenty of action and a strong vein of humour. In all a film that is very entertaining and does not take itself too seriously.
Turbo
Director: David Soren
Certificate: U
Cast Includes: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Peña
A DreamWorks animation in which Turbo is a snail obsessed with racing cars who dreams of competing in the Indianapolis 500 race. His hopes start to look more realistic when an accident with a car engine provides him with a magical turn of speed. The animation is expertly done. The snails have cute believable personalities and the whole has a real ‘feelgood’ factor of an underdog following his dreams. The film follows the DreamWorks hit animation ‘The Croods’ and whilst it is extremely enjoyable, it lacks twists and subplots that make for a really memorable movie.
What’s on this week and where
| Thursday 7th November 2013
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Reel) Ender’s Game (Reel) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Muse – Live at Rome Olympic Stadium, July 2013 (Vue) One Chance (Reel) |
| Friday 8th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Escape Plan (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Philomena (Vue) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Saturday 9th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Ender’s Game (Vue) Escape Plan (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Vue) Philomena (Vue) Planes (Vue) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Sunday 10th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Ender’s Game (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) NT Encore: The Habit of Art (the Dukes) Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Vue) Philomena (Vue) Planes (Vue) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Monday 11th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Diana (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Le Week-End (the Dukes) Philomena (Vue) Sunshine on Leith (the Dukes) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Tuesday 12th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Le Week-End (the Dukes) Philomena (Vue) Sunshine on Leith (the Dukes) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Wednesday 13th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Escape Plan (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Philomena (Vue) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) |
| Thursday 14th November 2013
Captain Phillips (Vue) Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (Vue) Gravity (Vue) Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Vue) Le Week-End (the Dukes) Philomena (Vue) Sunshine on Leith (the Dukes) Thor: The Dark World (Vue) Turbo (Vue) Peter Clark is the Virtual-Lancaster Cinema Editor |