In Cinemas this week (8 – 14 March)

Oz the Great and Powerful 3D

Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz. At first he thinks he’s hit the jackpot – fame and fortune are his for the taking. That all changes, however, when he meets three witches, Theodora, Evanora and Glinda, who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity – and even a bit of wizardry – Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz but into a better man as well.

Cast:
James Franco (Oz)
Mila Kunis (Theodora)
Rachel Weisz (Evanora)
Michelle Williams (Glinda)

Director: Sam Raimi
Writer: Mitchell Kapner, David Lindsay-Abaire
Runtime: 130 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2013

Warm Bodies

With much of the future world’s population rendered into an undead horde, R is a young, and oddly introspective, zombie. On a feeding encounter with a human gathering party, R meets Julie and feels an urge to protect her. What happens with that is the beginnings of a strangely warm relationship that causes R to start to regain his humanity. As this change spreads throughout the undead population, Julie and R eventually find they are facing a larger issue even as their friendship is challenged. Caught between the paranoid human forces and the ferocious Bonie zombies who are a mutual threat, R and Julie must find a way to bridge the sides to fight for a better world no one thought possible.

Cast:
Nicholas Hoult (R)
Teresa Palmer (Julie)
John Malkovich (Grigio)
Analeigh Tipton (Nora)

Director: Jonathan Levine
Writer: Jonathan Levine, Isaac Marion
Runtime: 98 min
Genre: Comedy, Horror, Romance
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2013

Mama

The day their father killed their mother, sisters Victoria and Lilly vanished near their suburban neighborhood. For five long years, their Uncle Lucas and his girlfriend, Annabel, have been madly searching for them. But when, incredibly, the kids are found alive in a decrepit cabin, the couple wonders if the girls are the only guests they have welcomed into their home.

Cast:
Jessica Chastain (Annabel)
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Lucas)
Megan Charpentier (Victoria)
Isabelle Nélisse (Lilly)

Director: Andrés Muschietti
Writer: Neil Cross, Andrés Muschietti
Runtime: 100 min
Genre: Horror
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2013

Lincoln

In 1865, as the American Civil War winds inexorably toward conclusion, U.S. president Abraham Lincoln endeavors to achieve passage of the landmark constitutional amendment which will forever ban slavery from the United States. However, his task is a race against time, for peace may come at any time, and if it comes before the amendment is passed, the returning southern states will stop it before it can become law. Lincoln must, by almost any means possible, obtain enough votes from a recalcitrant Congress before peace arrives and it is too late. Yet the president is torn, as an early peace would save thousands of lives. As the nation confronts its conscience over the freedom of its entire population, Lincoln faces his own crisis of conscience — end slavery or end the war.

Cast:
Daniel Day-Lewis (Abraham Lincoln)
Sally Field (Mary Todd Lincoln)
Tommy Lee Jones (Thaddeus Stevens)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Robert Lincoln)

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Tony Kushner, Doris Kearns Goodwin
Runtime: 150 min
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2012

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

In this spin on the fairy tale, Hansel & Gretel are now bounty hunters who track and kill witches all over the world. As the fabled Blood Moon approaches, the siblings encounter a new form of evil that might hold a secret to their past.

Cast:
Jeremy Renner (Hansel)
Gemma Arterton (Gretel)
Famke Janssen (Muriel)
Pihla Viitala (Mina)

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Writer: Tommy Wirkola
Runtime: 88 min
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Horror
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2013

Barbie in the Pink Shoes (Greek)

Dance your way to a magical adventure with Barbie as Kristyn, a ballerina with big dreams! When she tries on a pair of sparkling pink shoes, she and her best friend, Hailey, are whisked away to a fantastical ballet world. There, Kristyn discovers she must dance in her favorite ballets in order to defeat an evil Snow Queen. With performances to the legendary Giselle and Swan Lake ballets, it’s a wonderful journey where if you dance with your heart, dreams come true!

Voices:
Sia Koskina
Ino Stefani
Fivos Rimenas
Marilou Katsafadou

Director: Owen Hurley
Runtime: 75 min
Genre: Animation
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2013

Gangster Squad

In 1949 gangster Mickey Cohen seems to have an iron grip of Los Angeles. And no one is willing or alive to testify against him. So Police Chief Parker decides to form a special secret unit whose mission is to take down Cohen. He chooses Sgt. O’Mara, a World War 2, vet to lead the unit. O’Mara chooses 4 cops and asks another cop and WW2 vet, Jerry Wooters to join him but Wooters is not interested. But when he witnesses the murder of a young boy by Cohen’s people, he joins them, and they decide to take apart Cohen’s organization.

Cast:
Sean Penn (Mickey Cohen)
Ryan Gosling (Sgt. Jerry Wooters)
Josh Brolin (Sgt. John O’Mara)
Emma Stone (Grace Faraday)

Director: Ruben Fleischer
Writer: Will Beall, Paul Lieberman
Runtime: 113 min
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Rating: 18
Language: English
Production Year: 2013

Playing for Keeps

A former sports star who’s fallen on hard times starts coaching his son’s soccer team as a way to get his life together. His attempts to become an adult are met with challenges from the attractive soccer moms who pursue him at every turn.

Cast:
Gerard Butler (George)
Jessica Biel (Stacie)
Dennis Quaid (Carl)
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Denise)

Director: Gabriele Muccino
Writer: Robbie Fox
Runtime: 105 min
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2012

A Good Day to Die Hard

Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClane, for the first time, finds himself on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack – unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.

Cast:
Bruce Willis (John McClane)
Jai Courtney (Jack McClane)
Sebastian Koch (Komarov)
Yuliya Snigir (Irina)

Director: John Moore
Writer: Skip Woods, Roderick Thorp
Runtime: 97 min
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2012

Love in the End (Greek)

A girl on a cruise with her family, falls in love with the ship’s lieutenant and has to make a dramatic decision when they reach Istanbul, in the end. A boy, secretly in love with his best friend, finally manages to express his feelings, through a fake Facebook profile… Until she finds out the truth! And two strangers spent a night together in Thessaloniki, falling in love, but when they part ways, the girl’s mobile phone is stolen, along with the boy’s number…

Cast:
Katerina Geronikolou
Panos Vlahos
Tzortzina Liosi
Leonidas Kalfagiannis

Director: Vasilis Kehagias
Writer: Panos Sambrakos, Panagiotis Iosifelis
Runtime: 90 min
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Drama
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2013

Argo

In 1979, the American embassy in Iran was invaded by Iranian revolutionaries and several Americans were taken hostage. However, six managed to escape to the official residence of the Canadian Ambassador and the CIA was eventually ordered to get them out of the country. With few options, exfiltration expert Tony Mendez devised a daring plan: to create a phony Canadian film project looking to shoot in Iran and smuggle the Americans out as its production crew. With the help of some trusted Hollywood contacts, Mendez created the ruse and proceed to Iran as its associate producer. However, time was running out with the Iranian security forces closing in on the truth while both his charges and the White House had grave doubts about the operation themselves.

Cast:
Ben Affleck (Tony Mendez)
Bryan Cranston (Jack O’Donnell)
John Goodman (John Chambers)
Alan Arkin (Lester Siegel)

Director: Ben Affleck
Writer: Chris Terrio, Tony Mendez
Runtime: 120 min
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2012

The Impossible

A regular family – Maria, Henry and their three kids – travel to Thailand to spend Christmas. They get an upgrade to a villa on the coastline. After settling in and exchanging gifts, they go to the pool, like so many other tourists. A perfect paradise vacation until a distant noise becomes a roar. There is no time to escape from the tsunami; Maria and her eldest are swept one way, Henry and the youngest another. Who will survive, and what will become of them?

Cast:
Naomi Watts (Maria)
Ewan McGregor (Henry)
Tom Holland (Lucas)
Samuel Joslin (Thomas)

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
Writer: Sergio G. Sánchez, María Belón
Runtime: 114 min
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2012

Sammy’s Adventures 2 (Greek)

Sammy and Ray, leatherback turtles and friends forever, are enjoying an atoll’s water and sand, shepherding new hatchlings Ricky and Ella out to sea. Suddenly, a poacher swoops in and ships them off to be part of a spectacular aquarium show for tourists in Dubai. The kingpin of the place, Big D the seahorse, enlists them in his plans for a great escape. But with their new friends Jimbo the bug-eyed blob fish and Lulu the snippy lobster, Annabel the sweet Octopus, and a whole family of penguins, Sammy and Ray hatch breakout plans of their own. That is when little Ricky and Ella arrive, determined to break in to rescue them. After a series of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes, our heroes head south to meet up with Shelly, Sammy’s first and only love.

Voices:
Othon Metaxas (Sammy)
Dimitris Menounos (Ray)
Vasiliki Souti (Ella)
Arsenios Chalkiopoulos (Ricky)

Director: Vincent Kesteloot, Ben Stassen
Writer: Domonic Paris
Runtime: 92 min
Genre: Animation, Adventure
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2012

Hotel Transylvania 3D (Greek)

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and takes a shine to Mavis.

Voices:
Vassilis Charalambopoulos
Stefania Filiadi
Angelos Liagos
Elias Zervos

Director: Genndy Tartakovsky
Writer: Peter Baynham, Robert Smigel
Runtime: 91 min
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2012