In Cinemas this week (25 – 31 December)

Paranormal Activity

After a young, middle class couple moves into a suburban ‘starter’ tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep. Or try to.

Cast:
Katie Featherston (Katie)
Micah Sloat (Micah)
Mark Fredrichs (The Psychic)
Ashley Palmer (Diane)

Director: Oren Peli
Writer: Oren Peli
Runtime: 99 min
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

A Christmas Carol

An animated retelling of Charles Dickens’ classic novel about a Victorian-era miser taken on a journey of self-redemption, courtesy of several mysterious Christmas apparitions. Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.

Cast:
Jim Carrey (Scrooge / Ghost of Christmas Past / Ghost of Christmas Present / Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come)
Gary Oldman (Bob Cratchit / Marley / Tiny Tim)
Colin Firth (Fred)
Robin Wright Penn (Fan / Belle)

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writer: Charles Dickens, Robert Zemeckis
Runtime: 98 min
Genre: Animation, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

(500) Days of Summer

After it looks as if she’s left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends – in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way – Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer’s so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom’s adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or not.

Cast:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom Hansen)
Zooey Deschanel (Summer Finn)
Geoffrey Arend (McKenzie)
Chloe Moretz (Rachel Hansen)

Director: Marc Webb
Writer: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Runtime: 95 min
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

Avatar 3D

When his brother is killed in battle, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora, which is inhabited by the Na’vi, a humanoid race with their own language and culture. Those from Earth find themselves at odds with each other and the local culture.

Cast:
Sam Worthington (Jake Sully)
Zoe Saldana (Neytiri)
Sigourney Weaver (Dr. Grace Augustine)
Stephen Lang (Colonel Miles Quaritch)

Director: James Cameron
Writer: James Cameron
Runtime: 162 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

Duress

Haunted with nightmares of his wife’s recent suicide and struggling to mend the relationship with his only daughter, Richard is caught as a witness to the violence of Abner Solvie. He finds himself at the mercy of a charismatic killer and plagued by his involvement in the city’s recent murders. As Abner’s new found protégé, Richard is forced to adopt the mind of his sociopathic mentor in order to protect the one he loves. Richard must decide if he’s willing to kill in order to keep his daughter alive.

Cast:
Martin Donovan (Richard Barnett)
Sakis Rouvas (Abner Solvie)
Ariel Winter (Sarah Barnett)
Catherine Dent (Jenny)

Director: Jordan Barker
Writer: Jim Kehoe, Dipo Oseni
Runtime: 78 min
Genre: Thriller
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

Dance Flick

Megan has a dream of going to Juilliard and becoming a dancer. While she is performing at her dance audition, her mother is tragically killed in an auto accident. Megan must move to another city to her destitute father’s apartment which is located in a condemned building. She enrolls in Musical High, an inner city high school. Since her mother’s death, Megan has given up dancing. Megan meets some new friends at the school like Tracy, Charity, and Thomas who dance in a street dance gang. Thomas and Megan connect, and they must face their impossible dance dream together. They try to bring the ultimate dance crew together to win $5,000 at the local dance contest.

Cast:
Shoshana Bush (Megan)
Damon Wayans Jr. (Thomas)
Essence Atkins (Charity)
Chelsea Makela (Tracy Transfat)

Director: Damien Dante Wayans
Writer: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans
Runtime: 83 min
Genre: Action, Comedy, Music
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (Greek)

Arthur is overwhelmed with excitement for it is now the end of the tenth cycle of the moon, and he will finally be able to return to the world of the Minimoys and be reunited with Selenia. In the village, everything is ready for his arrival. A great banquet will be held in his honor, and the little princess put on her rose petal dress… But they didn’t count on Arthur’s father, who choses precisely this long awaited day to leave his grandmother’s house earlier than expected. Just before departure, a spider deposits a grain of rice carved with a distress message in the hands of the young boy. There’s no doubt, about it, Selenia is in danger, and Arthur can think of only one thing: fly to the rescue! Using a makeshift entrance, falling headfirst into Max’s bar, bumping into Kröb’s troops (the new tyrant of The Seven Lands), rescuing Betameche, fighting rats, frogs, hairy spiders… and discovering, once he arrives at the village of the Mimimoys, that no help message has been sent to him! But who has thus trapped our young hero?

Cast:
Freddie Highmore (Arthur)
Mia Farrow (Granny)
Snoop Dogg (Max – voice)
Lou Reed (Emperor Maltazard – voice)

Director: Luc Besson
Writer: Luc Besson, Céline Garcia
Runtime: 94 min
Genre: Animation
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2009

Saw VI

Special Agent Strahm is dead, and Detective Hoffman has emerged as the unchallenged successor to Jigsaw’s legacy. However, when the FBI draws closer to Hoffman, he is forced to set a game into motion, and Jigsaw’s grand scheme is finally understood. The Game Comes Full Circle.

Cast:
Tobin Bell (Jigsaw / John)
Costas Mandylor (Mark Hoffman)
Betsy Russel (Jill Tuck)
Shawnee Smith (Amanda Young)

Director: Kevin Greutert
Writer: Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton
Runtime: 90 min
Genre: Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

Planet 51 (Greek)

Lem is just an average teenager working on getting the girl and furthering his career at the local planetarium – except that he’s an alien. At least to U.S. astronaut Captain Charles T. “Chuck” Baker who lands on Lem’s planet hoping for a quick flag plant and a hasty return to earth and his millions of screaming fans. But on this alien planet the media has tagged spacemen as brain-eating, zombie-creating monsters, causing Chuck to run for his life and into Lem’s house. Now it’s up to the green native to get the clumsy astronaut back to his spaceship before military dictator General Grawl and mad scientist Professor Kipple manage to exterminate the Earthly visitor.

Voices:
Sakis Rouvas (Chuck)

Director: Jorge Blanco, Javier Abad
Writer: Joe Stillman
Runtime: 91 min
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2009

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Bella Swan is still very much in love with vampire, Edward Cullen. The rest of the vampire coven who call themselves the Cullens, especially Alice, decide to throw Bella a private party for her eighteenth birthday. Things go wrong when Bella slices her finger and thirst overcomes the vampires. As a result of the danger Bella was put through, the Cullen family decide to leave Forks, Washington. At first Bella exempts herself from all social activities, until she realizes she can coexist with childhood friend, Jacob Black. As usual for Bella, things aren’t what they seem. Something is happening to Jacob that he can’t explain to Bella, and their friendship starts to deteriorate. But when someone from Bella’s past comes back to haunt her, everything will change again.

Cast:
Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan)
Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen)
Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen)
Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black)

Director: Chris Weitz
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg
Runtime: 130 min
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

2012

Never before has a date in history been so significant to so many cultures, so many religions, scientists, and governments. A global cataclysm brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. With the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, a large group of people must deal with natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, typhoons and glaciers.

Cast:
John Cusack (Jackson Curtis)
Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis)
Danny Glover (President Thomas Wilson)
Thandie Newton (Laura Wilson)

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser
Runtime: 158 min
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

G-Force (Greek)

A group of guinea pigs trained by the government to work in espionage, armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, soon discovers that the fate of the world is in their paws. The team takes on a mission for the US government to stop evil billionaire Leonard Saber, who plans to destroy the world with household appliances. Tapped for the G-Force are guinea pigs Darwin the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster, an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a star-nosed mole, Speckles, the computer and information specialist. Along the way, the G-Force encounters myriad other members of the animal kingdom, including pet shop layabout Hurley and the rabidly territorial hamster Bucky.

Voices:
Zeta Makripoulia
Giorgos Karamichos

Director: Hoyt Yeatman
Writer: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley
Runtime: 88 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2009