Directed by

Produced by: Judd Apatow
Ken Marino
Paul Rudd
David Wain

Written by: David Wain, Ken Marino

Starring:   Jennifer Aniston
Paul Rudd
Justin Theroux
Malin Åkerman
Lauren Ambrose
Joe Lo Truglio
Kathryn Hahn
Melissa Joan Hart
Alan Alda

Music by: Craig Wedren

Release date: February 24, 2012

Wanderlust is the story of an urban couple who leave their comfortable lives in New York behind to experience a living on a rural commune. The film, in which the main characters are played by Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd, has the husband losing his job after shifting bag & baggage to New York. Deciding to try alternative living options that includes shifting in with Paul’s brother in Atlanta, the couple encounter upon a community who live life on their own terms. Ignoring the materialistic pleasures of life, the Elysium community has their own way of looking at things. Here love rules without any bondage.

The film is scheduled to be released on 24 February, 2012.

Trailer

Produced by: Mike Karz
Wayne Allan Rice
Garry Marshall

Written by: Katherine Fugate

Starring: Halle Berry
Jessica Biel
Jon Bon Jovi
Abigail Breslin
Chris “Ludacris” Bridges
Robert De Niro
Josh Duhamel
Zac Efron
Katherine Heigl
Ashton Kutcher
Seth Meyers
Lea Michele
Sarah Jessica Parker
Michelle Pfeiffer
Til Schweiger
Hilary Swank

Music by: John Debney

Release date: December 9, 2011

Synopsis: Director and Producer Garry Marshall plans to ring in the holiday mood with his romantic comedy based on several couples and singles whose lives are intertwined on the most assuring and pulsating night of year.

The cast boasts of stellar actors to the likes of two-time Academy Award winners Robert De Niro & Hillary Swank, Academy Award winner Halle Berry, Jessica Beil, Jon Bon Jovi, Academy Award nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, Ashton Kutcher and Zac Efron.

Shot entirely in and around New York, Marshall’s film will screen on December 9, 2011.

Directed by

Produced by: Peter Jackson
Steven Spielberg
Kathleen Kennedy

Screenplay by: Steven Moffat
Edgar Wright
Joe Cornish

Based on: The Adventures of Tintin by
Hergé

Starring: Jamie Bell as Tintin
Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Thompson & Thompson
Daniel Craig as Ivanovitch Sakharine

Music by: John Williams

Release date: December 21, 2011

From Oscar winning director, Steven Spielberg comes the 3D animated version of Belgian artist Hergé’s iconic character – Tintin. In his new film, produced by Peter Jackson, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, Steven Spielberg recounts the story of Tintin and Captain Haddock who have set on a secret treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor. But there are others who are in search for mysterious ship as well.  Learn about Tintin’s turbulent pursuit for the final resting place of The Unicorn – the shipwreck that will answer all the treasure queries. Joining him on the adventure is his dog Snowy and the clumsy detectives Thompson & Thompson.

Produced by: Johnny Depp
Tim Headington
Graham King
Martin Scorsese

Music by: Howard Shore

Release date: November 25, 2011

Produced by Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and co-produced by Graham King’s GK Films, the Hugo is a 3D film is about an orphan boy, Hugo Cabret who lives in the secret walls of Paris train station. Set in 1930′s, Hugo sets on an adventure to unlock a secret left behind by his lost father, with the help of an eccentric girl, a broken automation and an ill mannered toy shop owner. The film is based on Brian Selznick’s award winning and New York Times bestseller The Invention of Hugo Cabret .

The magical yet mysterious story of Hugo has been directed by Martin Scorsese and written by John Logan. This is Scorsese’s first ever 3D film and is due to be released on November 25, 2011. The film stars Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Chloë Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ray Winstone, Emily Mortimer and Jude Law.

Life in a Day film poster

Directed by: Kevin Macdonald

Produced by: Ridley Scott

Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams, Matthew Herbert

Release date: July 24, 2011 (US)

YouTube, Ridley Scott Associates and LG electronics have jointly collaborated to produce ”Life in a Day’, a feature-length documentary capturing the smallest bit of emotions experienced by people around the world all along on a single, mundane day. Oscar-winning Director Kevin Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott compiled 80,000 YouTube videos from 192 countries to direct a 90 mins film exploring the nuances of single day of life on this Earth seen through the eyes of people living it. The contributed videos contained nearly 4, 500 hours of footage which was then edited to bring forth the mood, temperament and personality of people right from Australia, Zamibia to America. The videos were shot in the urban heart of the cities as well in some of the remotest places on Earth. Life in a Day is what it is like to be alive today on Earth, an experience common for everyone despite the distances.

Debuting at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2011, the film was streamed live on YouTube. Harry Gregson-Williams, along with Matthew Herbert have composed and written the music for the film while National Geographic Films have acquired the rights to distribute the film worldwide. In United States, the film will release on July 24, 2011.

Life in a Day trailer

Writers: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (screenplay), Joe Simon & Jack Kirby (comic books)

Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan, Dominic Cooper, Toby Jones, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke, Stanley Tucci

Captain America releasing on July 22, 2011 is an upcoming superhero film based on Marvel’s comic character Captain America. The movie’s story unfolds Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) character as a physically unfit candidate for the U.S. Army to fight to the Nazis in the 1942 World War II. Instead Steve volunteers for a secret experimental program ‘Project: Rebirth’ that transforms into a superhero – Captain America. The story unravels Steve’s aka Captain America thrilling life as a superhero with Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter assisting him to fight the evil HYDRA organization commanded by wicked Red Skull (Hugo Weaving).

For more on the movie, log on to their the official website: http://captainamerica.marvel.com/

Alan Silvestri’s score for Captain America: The First Avenger film

Below are some clips and photos.

Release Date: July 15th 2011

The sequel to The Hangover directed by Todd Phillips is another excuse for the boys to move their infantile pranks to a seedier location, possibly in a bid to explore how far they could go into the territory of excess. If you saw The Hangover then you’ve pretty much seen this film, the story is exactly the same, four guys on a stag night wake up the following day with no recollection of where or what they have done, except they now have a capuchin monkey instead of a tiger in the bedroom. The players are the same, Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms wake up after going for ‘one’ drink and find themselves in a filthy hotel room in Bangkok. Phillips has obviously decided that the original template of ‘The Hangover’ was so good that he would use it again, only problem is that the first screenplay was written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, and it had a genuinely funny and original look at men behaving badly. This time the screenplay has been written by Craig Mazin and Scot Armstrong, however, they have nothing new to add.

The film is a poor carbon copy of the first, the characters portrayed are all stereotypes and the misogynistic and racist jokes fall flat because they are so low rent, they’re not even funny.

Ed Helms’ character ‘Stu’ is getting married in Thailand to a beautiful young woman, how implausible is it that he would be able to attract such a woman, especially given her father hates him? There is no background given for this odd match, and disbelief grows to astonishment when he turns up with a face tattoo – on his wedding day (Nick Cassavetes has a cameo as the tattoo artist), and his fiancee doesn’t even seem to mind?!

And why does the film title have roman numerals for the number two. This film is so low-brow, surely this should have been the number 2, or am I missing the point and that it is another lame joke? Well this film is definitely a ‘number two’ – don’t buy the DVD just watch it when it finally comes to the small screen, however, I wouldn’t even bother to do that, life is too short to waste an hour and 42 minutes on this kind of rubbish.

Rating (if I must): 1

Movie review by Rowena Johnson, WN Film critic.

Running Time: 106 mins.

This is a magical film by WIM WENDERS, lovingly conceived and shot as an open love letter to the late choreographer PINA BAUSCH. The Wuppertal Tanztheatre group whose median age appears to be around 39, execute the most sublime dance pieces, women in beautiful silk gowns, barefoot falling, falling, a grey room full of black chairs with dancers having their limbs moved to conform, everyone with eyes closed sometimes walking into walls… it sounds surreal and it is, and yet, it is so familiar you connect to the energy of the unspoken; and through the movement of the dancers, combined with the music, you are transported into the past, it feels as though Pina has glimpsed the contents of your dreams and held onto the emotions they contain; the dream is gone, but, somehow, Pina captures the essence.

Dance pieces are performed in countryside and city settings, the rarefied juxtaposition of the dancers within the different landscapes only serving to make the visuals more enthralling. The use natural elements is fundamental to the exquisite depth that is created by the dancers, choreography and photography, water, dirt and sand remind us that we are a part of nature, not apart.

I was so moved at times that I cried, (at least twice) the scene where there is a New Orleans style funeral procession, where the dancers walk along a dune, the women are dressed in colourful gowns and the men in suits with ties, all are without instruments but they use their hands to simulate not only the missing instruments but also a sense of joy and deep loss. This elegiac tribute to Pina Bausch, her vision and her artistry, twinned with those of Wim Wenders combine to create possibly the best film I have seen in many years.

The film is shot in 3D and is the first time 3D has ever worked for me. Suggesting that there is going to be a revolution for the serious filmmaker with this technology finally becoming an art form. Wenders, is always brilliant but I think he has surpassed himself this time. I cannot recommend this film highly enough sit back and be amazed.

Film rating: 5

Movie review by Rowena Johnson, WN Film critic.