Ghafla! Movies This Weekend: 27th July 2012
The most anticipated film of the year finally makes a debut in Kenya today as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises premieres at cinemas across the capital. Movie lovers are bracing themselves to experience what the rest of the world has been on and on about since its worldwide release of the 20th of July 2012.
Hot on the heels of The Amazing Spiderman which became the highest grossing film EVER for a Tuesday opening, The Dark Knight Rises took home a massive $160million (approximately Kshs. 13.6billion) on its opening weekend to take over the international box office estimates.
The estimates were way ahead of the next film Ice Age: Continental Drift which has so far taken home $20million (approximately Kshs. 1.7billion) but failing to match the strong showing of Marvel’s The Avengers. Speculators predict though that this will be the next billion dollar movie having amassed over $222million within just over a week of opening.
Below is the bouquette of titles you can enjoy at the theatres from the weekend of July 27th-August 2nd 2012:
The regional premiere (and in Kenya) of:
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES IN 2D
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Crime
Starring: Christian Bale and Anne Hathaway
Ghafla! Rating: 9/10
Despite his tarnished reputation after the events of The Dark Knight, in which he took the rap for Dent’s crimes, Batman feels compelled to intervene to assist the city and its police force which is struggling to cope with Bane’s plans to destroy the city.
SHOWING AT:
Fox Cineplex Sarit Center
Starflix Prestige
NuMetro Village Market
IMAX XX Century
*****
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT (2012)
Genre: Adventure, Animation
Starring: (voices of) Ray Romano, Dennis Leary
Scrat’s nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he’s been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences – a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny, and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home.
SHOWING AT:
Fox Cineplex, Sarit Center
NuMetro Westgate
Starflix Prestige
*****
THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN (2012)
Genre: Adventure, Action
Starring: Emma Stone, Andrew Garfield
Ghafla! Rating: 7.0/10
Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy, and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr Curt Connors, his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero..
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
Starflix Village Market
(in 3D) Fox Cineplex Sarit Center
(in 2D) Fox Capital Center
IMAX XX Century
*****
GONE (2012)
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Jennifer Carpenter
Ghafla! Rating: 6/10
When her sister disappears, Jill is convinced the serial killer who kidnapped her two years ago has returned, and she sets out to once again face her abductor.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPE’S MOST WANTED (IN 3D)
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Starring: (the voices of) Jada Pinkett Smith and Ben Stiller
Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman are still trying to get back to the Big Apple and their beloved Central Park zoo, but first they need to find the penguins. They travel to Monte Carlo where they attract the attention of Animal Control after gate crashing a party and are joined by the penguins, King Julian and Co., the monkeys and a new arrival: a performing llama. How do a lion, zebra, hippo, giraffe, four penguins, two monkeys, three lemurs and a llama travel through Europe without attracting attention? They join a traveling circus.
SHOWING AT:
IMAX XX Century Plaza
Starflix Prestige Plaza
Fox Cineplex, Sarit Center
Starflix Village Market
Fox Capital Center
*****
PROMETHEUS (IN 3D)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Horror
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall Green and Michael Fassbender.
A team of scientists journey through the universe on the spaceship “Prometheus” on a voyage to investigate Alien life forms. The team of scientists becomes stranded on an Alien world, and as they struggle to survive it becomes clear that the horrors they experience are not just a threat to themselves, but to all of mankind.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
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.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
*****
THE AVENGERS IN 3D
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:
Nu Metro Westgate
Starflix Village Market
*****
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure
Starring: Christen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth
Ghafla Rating: 7.5/10
Snow White is the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen. Unable to tolerate the insult to her vanity, the evil queen decides that Snow White must die. The queen sends a huntsman to kill Snow White. However the huntsman finds himself unable to murder the innocent young woman, and instead ends up training her to become a warrior capable of threatening the queen’s reign.
SHOWING AT:
Starflix Prestige
*****
COCKTAIL
Genre: Romance, Drama, Comedy
Starring: Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan
Ghafla Rating: 6.5/10
The story revolves around Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan), Veronica D’Costa (Deepika Padukone) and Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). Gautam Khanna (Saif Ali Khan) always had a dream to go to London and have a job. His dream is fulfilled and he gets a job. But his mom, Nita (Dimple Kapadia) says that she has to finalize his marriage to a girl and so he has to wait. She finds her perfect ‘bahu’ in Meera Gupta (Diana Penty). But she does not tell Gautam about this and tells Meera’s parents even to not tell Meera. She tells Gautam to take her friend’s daughter Meera as she has an assignment in London for 3 days. On the flight, Meera and Gautam befriend each other. In London, Meera has some problems completing her assignment and therefore fails to give it on time. She loses her job but then Gautam consoles her. They go on a beach party and there they meet Veronica D’Costa (Deepika Padukone)
SHOWING AT:
Fox Capital Center
Fox Sarit Center
Nu Media Westgate
****
LOL (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Starring: Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore
Ghafla Rating: 3/10
In a world connected by YouTube, iTunes, and Facebook, Lola and her friends navigate the peer pressures of high school romance and friendship while dodging their sometimes overbearing and confused parents. When Lola’s mom, Anne, “accidentally” reads her teenage daughter’s racy journal, she realizes just how wide their communication gap has grown. Through hilarious and heartfelt moments between mother and daughter, LOL is a fresh coming-of-age story for modern times.
SHOWING AT:
Starflix Village Market
*****
THINK LIKE A MAN
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Starring: Gabrielle Union, Chris Brown, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart
Ghafla Rating: 8.0/10
Four women have given up on getting their men to do what they want until they find a how to book written by Steve Harvey. They start using his advice about relationships, and their men start falling in line, until the men discover what the women have been doing, then the war is on.
SHOWING AT:
Nu Metro Westgate
Fox Capital Center
*****
AT THE TOP OF THE BOX OFFICE is:
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)
*****
A release we’re looking forward to in Kenya next month is:
STEP UP REVOLUTION(2012)
Genre: Music, Romance
Starring: Kathryn McCormic, Ryan Guzman
The Mob sets the dancing against the vibrant backdrop of Miami. Emily arrives in Miami with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer and soon falls in love with Sean, a young man who leads a dance crew in elaborate, cutting-edge flash mobs, called “The Mob”. When a wealthy business man threatens to develop The Mob’s historic neighborhood and displace thousands-of people, Emily must work together with Sean and The Mob to turn their performance art into protest art, and risk losing their dreams to fight for a greater cause.
*****
Picture a flick with such heavyweight super stars as Kate Beckinsale, Colin Farrell and Jessica Biel in a fast paced action flick. Merge that and you get ‘Total Recall’.
Check out the trailer to ‘Total Recall’ in our movie highlight this week…
