In Cinemas this week (21 – 27 May)

Centurion

AD 117. The Roman Empire stretches from Egypt to Spain, and East as far as the Black Sea. But in northern Britain, the relentless onslaught of conquest has ground to a halt in face of the guerrilla tactics of an elusive enemy: the savage and terrifying Picts. Quintus Dias, sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus’ legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the earth and destroy their leader Gorlacon. But when the legion is ambushed on unfamiliar ground, and Virilus taken captive, Quintus faces a desperate struggle to keep his small platoon alive behind enemy lines. Enduring the harsh terrain and evading their remorseless Pict pursuers led by revenge-hungry Pict Warrior Etain, the band of soldiers race to rescue their General and to reach the safety of the Roman frontier.

Cast:
Michael Fassbender (Quintus Dias)
Dominic West (Virilus)
Olga Kurylenko (Etain)
Ulrich Thomsen (Gorlacon)

Director: Neil Marshall
Writer: Neil Marshall
Runtime: 97 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

She’s Out of My League

An average guy, Kirk, meets the perfect woman, but his lack of confidence and the influence of his friends and family begin to pick away at the relationship.

Cast:
Jay Baruchel (Kirk)
Alice Eve (Molly)
T.J. Miller (Stainer)
Mike Vogel (Jack)

Director: Jim Field Smith
Writer: Sean Anders, John Morris
Runtime: 104 min
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Robin Hood

“Robin Hood” chronicles the life of an expert archer, previously interested only in self-preservation, from his service in King Richards army against the French. Upon Richards death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from the corruption of a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation, where he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marian (Oscar winner Cate Blanchett), a woman skeptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marian and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct injustices under the sheriff.

Cast:
Russell Crowe (Robin Longstride)
Cate Blanchett (Marion Loxley)
Max von Sydow (Sir Walter Loxley)
Danny Huston (King Richard The Lionheart)

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Brian Helgeland
Runtime: 140 min
Genre: Action, Drama
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Kick-Ass

Dave Lizewski is an unnoticed high school student and comic book fan with a few friends who lives alone with his father. His life is not very difficult and his personal trials not that overwhelming. However, one day he makes the simple decision to become a super-hero even though he has no powers or training.

Cast:
Aaron Johnson (Dave Lizewski / Kick-Ass)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Chris D’Amico / Red Mist)
Mark Strong (Frank D’Amico)
Nicolas Cage (Damon Macready / Big Daddy)

Director: Matthew Vaughn
Writer: Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn
Runtime: 117 min
Genre: Action, Comedy
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Fantastic Mr. Fox

It is the story of one Mr. Fox and his wild-ways of hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. He has to put his wild days behind him and do what fathers do best: be responsible. He is too rebellious. He is too wild. He is going to try “just one more raid” on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that are Boggis, Bunce and Bean. It is a tale of crossing the line of family responsibilities and midnight adventure and the friendships and awakenings of this country life that is inhabited by Fantastic Mr. Fox and his friends.

Voices:
George Clooney (Mr. Fox)
Meryl Streep (Mrs. Fox)
Bill Murray (Badger)
Owen Wilson (Coach Skip)

Director: Wes Anderson
Writer: Roald Dahl, Wes Anderson
Runtime: 87 min
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2009

North by Northwest

New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Philip Vandamm, who believe Thornhill is CIA agent George Kaplan. Thornhill escapes, but must find Kaplan in order to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed. He gets involved in a series of misadventures and is pursued across the States by both the spies and the government whilst being helped by a beautiful blonde.

Cast:
Cary Grant (Roger O. Thornhill)
Eva Marie Saint (Eve Kendall)
James Mason (Phillip Vandamm)
Jessie Royce Landis (Clara Thornhill)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Runtime: 131 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 1959

Date Night

Phil and Claire Foster are a couple who have been married for several years. Their days consists of them taking care of their children and going to work and coming home and going to bed. But they find time to have a date night wherein they go out and spend some time together. When another couple they know announce that they’re separating because they’re in a rut, Phil feels that he and Claire could be too. So when date night comes Phil decides to do something different. So they go into the city and try to get into a new popular restaurant. But when it’s full and still wanting to do this, Phil decides to take the reservation of a couple who doesn’t show up. While they’re having dinner two men approach them and instructs them to stand up and go with them. They think the men are with the restaurant and want to talk to them about taking someone else’s reservation. But it appears the couple whose reservation they took crossed someone and the two men work for this person. The men are after something, but whatever it is they don’t have it.

Cast:
Steve Carell (Phil Foster)
Tina Fey (Claire Foster)
Mark Wahlberg (Holbrooke)
Taraji P. Henson (Detective Arroyo)

Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: Josh Klausner
Runtime: 88 min
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

The Hurt Locker

When SFC William James joins Bravo Company in Iraq, they have a month or so left in their tour of duty. He’s a bomb disposal expert and he is replacing Sgt Matt Thompson, a long-standing member of the team who was recently killed disposing of an improvised explosive device. To say that James loves what he does doesn’t quite capture the emotional high he experiences when he gets to do what he does best. For his fellow squad members however, including Sgt JT Sanborn and Spc Owen Eldridge, they just want to survive the few days of duty they have left. James risk taking however drives them all to the edge.

Cast:
Jeremy Renner (William James)
Anthony Mackie (J.T. Sanborn)
Brian Geraghty (Owen Eldridge)
Ralph Fiennes (Contractor Team Leader)

Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Runtime: 131 min
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2008

The Last Song

Seventeen-year-old Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Miller’s life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Tybee Island, Georgia. Three years later, she remains angry and alienated from her parents, especially her father …until her mother decides it would be in everyone’s best interest if she spent the summer on Tybee Island with him. Ronnie’s father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church. The tale that unfolds is a story about love in its myriad forms – first love, the love between parents and children – that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that deeply felt relationships can break our hearts …and heal them.

Cast:
Miley Cyrus (Ronnie Miller)
Greg Kinnear (Steve Miller)
Bobby Coleman (Jonah Miller)
Liam Hemsworth (Will Blakelee)

Director: Julie Anne Robinson
Writer: Nicholas Sparks, Jeff Van Wie
Runtime: 107 min
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

The Bounty Hunter

Milo Boyd, a down-on-his-luck bounty hunter, gets his dream job when he is assigned to track down his bail-jumping ex-wife, reporter Nicole Hurly. He thinks all that’s ahead is an easy payday, but when Nicole gives him the slip so she can chase a lead on a murder cover-up, Milo realizes that nothing ever goes simply with him and Nicole. The exes continually one-up each other – until they find themselves on the run for their lives. They thought their promise to love, honor and obey was tough – staying alive is going to be a whole lot tougher.

Cast:
Jennifer Aniston (Nicole Hurley)
Gerard Butler (Milo Boyd)
Gio Perez (Uncle Sam)
Joel Garland (Dwight)

Director: Andy Tennant
Writer: Sarah Thorp
Runtime: 88 min
Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Iron Man 2

With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts, and James “Rhodey” Rhodes at his side, must forge new alliances — and confront powerful enemies.

Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark)
Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts)
Don Cheadle (Lt. Col. James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes)
Scarlett Johansson (Natalie Rushman / Natasha Romanoff)

Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Justin Theroux, Stan Lee
Runtime: 124 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Vertigo

John “Scottie” Ferguson, a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia, is asked by an old college friend to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, because she believes she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is skeptical, but agrees after he sees the beautiful Madeleine.
Vertigo is one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most powerful, deep, and stunningly beautiful films (in widescreen 70 mm VistaVision) – it is a film noir that functions on multiple levels. At the time of the film’s release, it was not a box-office hit, but has since been regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. The work is a mesmerizing romantic suspense/thriller about a macabre, doomed romance – a desperate love for an illusion.

Cast:
James Stewart (John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson)
Kim Novak (Madeleine / Judy Barton)
Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge Wood)
Tom Helmore (Gavin Elster)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Alec Coppel, Samuel A. Taylor
Runtime: 129 min
Genre: Crime, Mystery, Romance, Thriller
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 1958

Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang

Nanny McPhee arrives to help a harried young mother who is trying to run the family farm while her husband is away at war. She uses her magic to teach the woman’s children and their two spoiled cousins five new lessons.

Cast:
Ralph Fiennes (Lord Gray)
Ewan McGregor (Mr. Green)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Mrs. Green)
Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee)

Director: Susanna White
Writer: Christianna Brand, Emma Thompson
Runtime: 109 min
Genre: Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

How to Train Your Dragon (Greek)

The adventure comedy is set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, based on the book by Cressida Cowell. The story centers around a Viking teenager, who lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. Initiation is coming, and this is his one chance to prove his worthiness to his tribe and father. But when he encounters, and ultimately befriends, an injured dragon, his world is turned upside down.

Voices:
Evangelos Evangelou (Psaris)
Iro Bezou (Astrid)
Nikos Papadopoulos (Stoikos)
Harris Grigoropoulos (Skordos)

Director: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Writer: Cressida Cowell, Dean DeBlois
Runtime: 98 min
Genre: Animation, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2010

Shutter Island

It’s 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston’s Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He’s been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn’t been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy’s shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals “escape” in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything – his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio (Teddy Daniels)
Mark Ruffalo (Chuck Aule)
Ben Kingsley (Dr. Cawley)
Max von Sydow (Dr. Naehring)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Laeta Kalogridis, Dennis Lehane
Runtime: 138 min
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

Alice in Wonderland

19-year-old Alice returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends: the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter. Alice embarks on a fantastical journey to find her true destiny and end the Red Queen’s reign of terror.

Cast:
Johnny Depp (Mad Hatter)
Mia Wasikowska (Alice)
Helena Bonham Carter (Red Queen)
Anne Hathaway (White Queen)

Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Linda Woolverton, Lewis Carroll
Runtime: 108 min
Genre: Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2010

The Princess and the Frog (Greek)

A modern day retelling of the classic story The Frog Prince. The Princess and the Frog finds the lives of arrogant, carefree Prince Naveen and hardworking waitress Tiana crossing paths. Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog by a conniving voodoo magician and Tiana, following suit, upon kissing the amphibian royalty. With the help of a trumpet-playing alligator, a Cajun firefly, and an old blind lady who lives in a boat in a tree, Naveen and Tiana must race to break the spell and fulfill their dreams.

Voices:
Katerina Tsavalou
Giannis Zouganelis
Chrisoula Diavati
Stamatis Kraounakis

Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writer: Ron Clements, John Musker
Runtime: 97 min
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2009