In Cinemas this week (2 – 8 Jan.)

Four Christmases

When a couple tries to fly away from their family for Christmas, as they do every year, their fun turns around when all flights have been canceled. Now they have to go to four houses to celebrate Christmas while going through memories they don’t want to go into and surprises they can’t handle while they have to use a safe word to get out of situations.

Cast:
Vince Vaughn (Brad)
Reese Witherspoon (Kate)
Robert Duvall (Howard)
Jon Voight (Creighton)

Director: Seth Gordon
Writer: Matt Allen, Caleb Wilson
Runtime: 88 min
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: Κ
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought.

Cast:
Elizabeth Banks (Miriam Linky)
Seth Rogen (Zack Brown)
Brandon Routh (Bobby Long)
Jason Mewes (Lester)

Director: Kevin Smith
Writer: Kevin Smith
Runtime: 102 min
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Australia

In northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, an English aristocrat inherits a cattle station the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn stock-man to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country’s most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.

Cast:
Hugh Jackman (Drover)
Nicole Kidman (Lady Sarah Ashley)
Shea Adams (Carney Boy)
Tony Barry (Sergeant Callahan)

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writer: Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie
Runtime: 165 min
Genre: Adventure, Drama, War
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

High School Musical 3

As seniors in high school, Troy and Gabriella struggle with the idea of being separated from one another as college approaches. Along with the rest of the Wildcats, they stage a spring musical to address their experiences, hopes and fears about their future.

Cast:
Zac Efron (Troy Bolton)
Vanessa Hudgens (Gabriella Montez)
Ashley Tisdale (Sharpay Evans)
Lucas Grabeel (Ryan Evans)

Director: Kenny Ortega
Writer: Peter Barsocchini
Runtime: 112 min
Genre: Comedy, Musical, Romance
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Greek)

The sequel to 2005’s “Madagascar”, in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. All of a sudden, they land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending so much time at the Central Park Zoo.

Voices:
Gerasimos Gennatas
Diamantis Karanastasis
Katerina Girgis
Thanos Kalliris

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Writer: Etan Cohen
Runtime: 89 min
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language:Greek
Production Year: 2008

Elias of the 16th

Three friends, Elias, Thomas and Vangelis, who face many financial difficulties and owe money to banks, insurance companies etc, decide to snitch money from Labros. Labros who is Vangelis’ boss is a cafeteria owner, a pawnbroker and a fence. Thomas will attempt the breaking and entering and Elias will be disguised as a police-officer for …security reasons. However luck plays funny games and the “police-officer” is being asked to solve a case concerning jewelry theft in a nearby house.

Cast:
Petros Philippides
Thanasis Tsaltabasis
Costas Apostolakis
Themis Bazaka

Director: Nikos Zapatinas
Writer: Katia Kissonergi
Runtime: 120 min
Genre: Comedy
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2008

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (English)

The sequel to 2005’s “Madagascar”, in which New York Zoo animals, Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo, still stranded on Madagascar, start to leave the island. All of a sudden, they land in the wilderness of Africa, where Alex meets the rest of his family, but has trouble communicating with them after spending so much time at the Central Park Zoo.

Voices:
Ben Stiller (Alex)
Chris Rock (Marty)
David Schwimmer (Melman)
Jada Pinkett Smith (Gloria)

Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath
Writer: Etan Cohen
Runtime: 89 min
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language:English
Production Year: 2008

Bedtime Stories

Skeeter Bronson is a hotel handyman whose life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to mysteriously come true. He attempts to take advantage of the phenomenon, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another, but it’s the kids’ unexpected contributions that turn Skeeter’s life upside down, such as when his niece says that he will die.

Cast:
Adam Sandler (Skeeter Bronson)
Keri Russell (Jill)
Guy Pearce (Kendall)
Courteney Cox (Wendy)

Director: Adam Shankman
Writer: Matt Lopez, Tim Herlihy
Runtime: 95 min
Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Rating: Κ
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

The Day the Earth Stood Still

A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have inflicted on their own planet. Klaatu himself already has a negative opinion of humans, and when detained by the United States Secretary of Defense, and barred from speaking to the United Nations, he decides they shall be exterminated so the planet can survive.

Cast:
Keanu Reeves (Klaatu)
Jennifer Connelly (Helen Benson)
Kathy Bates (Regina Jackson)
Jaden Smith (Jacob Benson)

Director: Scott Derrickson
Writer: David Scarpa, Edmund H. North (1951 screenplay)
Runtime: 103 min
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Saw V

Following Jigsaw’s grisly demise, Mark Hoffman, the final apprentice to the serial killer is deigned a hero. Meanwhile, Agent Strahm is tested and puts the pieces together. While Strahm realizes that Hoffman is helping Jigsaw, five seemingly unconnected people face a horrible lesson about teamwork.

Cast:
Tobin Bell (Jigsaw / John)
Costas Mandylor (Mark Hoffman)
Scott Patterson (Agent Strahm)
Betsy Russell (Jill)

Director: David Hackl
Writer: Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan
Runtime: 92 min
Genre: Action, Crime, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

W.

Josh Brolin stars as George W. Bush in this Oliver Stone biopic that traces the head of state’s rise to power from a privileged alcoholic to a born-again Christian whose belief in religious destiny helped move him to the top ranks of political power.

Cast:
Josh Brolin (George W. Bush)
Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice)
Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney)
Sayed Badreya (Saddam Hussein)

Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Stanley Weiser
Runtime: 129 min
Genre: Biography, Drama, Comedy
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Quantum of Solace

"Quantum of Solace" continues the high octane adventures of James Bond from ‘Casino Royale’. Picking up literally days where the previous film left off, after being betrayed by Vesper, the woman he loved, 007 fights the urge to make his latest mission personal. This time Bond sets out to stop an environmentalist from taking control of a country’s water supply.

Cast:
Daniel Craig (James Bond)
Olga Kurylenko (Camille)
Mathieu Amalric (Dominic Greene)
Judi Dench (M)

Director: Marc Forster
Writer: Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis
Runtime: 106 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

Alvin and the Chipmunks (Greek)

In a tree farm, three musically inclined chipmunks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, find their tree cut down and sent to Los Angeles. Once there, they meet the frustrated songwriter David Seville, and despite a poor house wrecking first impression, they impress him with their singing talent. Seeing the opportunity for success, both human and chipmunks make a pact for them to sing his songs.

Director: Tim Hill
Writer: Jon Vitti, Will McRobb
Runtime: 92 min
Genre: Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2007

Horton Hears a Who! (Greek)

One day, Horton the elephant hears a cry from help coming from a speck of dust. Even though he can’t see anyone on the speck, he decides to help it. As it turns out, the speck of dust is home to the Whos, who live in their city of Whoville. Horton agrees to help protect the Whos and their home, but this gives him nothing but torment from his neighbors, who refuse to believe that anything could survive on the speck. Still, Horton stands by the motto that, “After all, a person is a person, no matter how small.”

Director: Jimmy Hayward, Steve Martino
Writer: Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul
Runtime: 86 min
Genre: Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2008