Ghafla! Movies This Weekend (18th May 2012)
‘The Avengers’ continues to break box office records through its third week with analysts predicting that the action film has already crossed the US$1 billion (approx. Kshs. 83 billion) mark making it one of the greatest movies of all time.
There are rumours that at this cataclysmic rate, the Joss Whedon production may challenge the league of the select few flicks that have crossed the US$2 billion mark: James Cameron’s Avatar and Titanic. Nairobians continue to flock cinema halls filling them almost to capacity to catch the film before the American summer clocks it off the theatre ushering in other blockbusters characteristic of the season.
This weekend, Johnny Depp takes over theatres with his unique adaptation that is second on the Box Office only to ‘the Avengers’. It will be interesting to see how Kenyans respond to the Pirates of the Carribean actor as they see him for the first time since one can remember in a role other than Jack Sparrow.
Below is the bouquette of titles you can enjoy at the theatres this weekend of May 18th 2012:
The world premiere (including in Kenya) of:
DARK SHADOWS (AND IN 2D IMAX)
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Sci Fi
Starring: Johnny Depp and Michelle Pfieffer
Ghafla! Rating: 7.5/10
In the year 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins, with young son Barnabas, set sail from Liverpool, England to start a new life in America. But even an ocean was not enough to escape the mysterious curse that has plagued their family. Two decades pass and Barnabas (Johnny Depp) has the world at his feet-or at least the town of Collinsport, Maine. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas is rich, powerful and an inveterate playboy…until he makes the grave mistake of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). A witch, in every sense of the word, Angelique dooms him to a fate worse than death: turning him into a vampire, and then burying him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate has fallen into ruin. The dysfunctional remnants of the Collins family have fared little better…
SHOWING AT:
IMAX XX Century
*****
GHAFLA! HIGHLY RECOMMENDS >>
THE AVENGERS IN 3D AND IMAX
Genre: Fantasy, Action, Sci Fi
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson
Ghafla Rating: 9/10
A 2012 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures1, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Samuel L. Jackson. In The Avengers, Nick Fury, director of the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., recruits Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America to save the world from destruction.
Development of The Avengers began when Marvel Studios received a grant from Merrill Lynch in April 2005. After the success of the film Iron Man in May 2008, Marvel announced that The Avengers would be released in July 2011. With the signing of Scarlett Johansson in March 2009, the film was pushed back for a 2012 release. Whedon was brought on board in April 2010 and rewrote the screenplay that was originally written by Zak Penn. Production began in April 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in August 2011 and New York City in September 2011. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.
SHOWING AT:
IMAX 20th Century
Fox Theatres, Sarit Cineplex
Nu Metro Westgate
Starflix Prestige
*****
BATTLESHIP
Genre: Action, Sci Fi
Starring: Alexander Skarsgaad and Liam Neeson
Ghafla! Rating: 7/10
Based on the classic Hasbro naval combat game, Battleship is the story of an international fleet of ships who come across an alien armada whilst on a Naval war games exercise. An intense battle ensues over sea, land and air. What do they aliens – known as ‘The Regents’ – want?
SHOWING AT:
Fox Theatres, Sarit Cineplex
Fox Theatres, Capital Centre
Starflix Prestige
*****
THE HUNGER GAMES
Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemswerth
Ghafla Rating: 8.5/10
In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
DANGEROUS ISHQ in 3D
Genre: Thriller, Romance
Starring: Karisma Kapoor and Rajnesh Duggal
Ghafla Rating: 4.5/10
Searching for the love of her life, through many lives.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
WRATH OF THE TITANS in 3D
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure
Starring: Sam Worthington and Rosamund Pike
Ghafla Rating: 8.5/10
A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.
SHOWING AT:
IMAX 20th Century
Fox Theatres, Capital
Nu Metro Westgate
Starflix Prestige
****
AMERICAN REUNION
Genre: Comedy
Starring: Jason Biggs, Alison Hannigan and Sean William Scott
Ghafla Rating: 7/10
Over a decade has passed and the gang return to East Great Falls, Michigan, for the weekend. They will discover how their lives have developed as they gather for their high school reunion. How has life treated Michelle, Jim, Heather, Oz, Kevin, Vicky, Finch, Stifler, and Stifler’s mom? In the summer of 1999, it was four boys on a quest to lose their virginity. Now Kara is a cute high school senior looking for the perfect guy to lose her virginity to.
SHOWING AT:
Starflix Prestige
*****
PROJECT X
Genre: Comedy
Starring: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper
Ghafla Rating: 5/10
Three seemingly anonymous high school seniors attempt to finally make a name for themselves. Their idea is innocent enough – let’s throw a party that no one will forget, and have a camera there, to document history in the making. But nothing could prepare them for this party. Word spreads quickly as dreams are ruined, records are blemished and legends are born.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Media Westgate
*****
GHAFLA! HIGHLY RECOMMENDS >>
MAN ON A LEDGE
Genre: Thriller, Crime
Starring: Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks
Ghafla Rating: 8/10
An ex-cop turned con threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The nearest New York Police officer immediately responds to a screaming woman and calls dispatch. More Officers arrive with SWAT and tactical command along with fire-fighters. The police then dispatches a female police psychologist personally requested to talk him down from the ledge. However, things aren’t as straightforward and clearcut as they appear to be.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
JANAAT 2
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Starring: Emran Hasmi and Randeep Hooda
Ghafla Rating: 7/10
After fixing matches in 2008, Emraan Hashmi returns to being the greedy KKC Sonu Dilli.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Media Westgate
*****
PUNCTURE
Genre: Drama
Starring: Chris Evans and Vanessa Shaw
Ghalfa Rating: 7/10
Idealistic lawyers Mike Weiss and Paul Danziger are partners. Mike is a drug-addict and and Paul is a family man with a pregnant wife. When nurse Vicky Rogers seeks them out, they learn that she has contracted AIDS a couple of years ago when she was accidentally pinpricked with a contaminated needle by a violent patient. Vicky shows a retractable safety needle invented by engineer Jeffrey Matthew Dancort, who owns the Safety Point Company, but is unable to sell his product to any hospital from the United Medical group, apart from San Antonio Memorial. Danziger and Weiss accept the case and go to court against United Medical, defended by powerful lawyer Nathaniel Price. Soon, they see all the doors closed in their fight against the powerful mafia of the medical supply system.
SHOWING AT:
Starflix Village Market
*****
AT THE TOP OF THE BOX OFFICE is:
(Rather Predictably)
THE AVENGERS
*****
Here’s a release we’re looking forward to in Kenya next weekend:
MEN IN BLACK III (IN 3D)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Comedy
Starring: Will Smith, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones
An alien criminal kills the young Agent K in 1969, altering the timeline, changing the Agency and placing the Earth in danger. Veteran Agent J (Will Smith) must travel back in time to 1969 to before the murder and work with the young Agent K (Josh Brolin) to save him, the Agency, the Earth and humanity itself.
*****
The Exclusive four-minute official trailer of one of the most highly anticipated movies for the summer of 2012 is out. Checkout the preview to ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ here…
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