Featuring our pick of the films for March……
The Hurt Locker (MA15+) 131 mins
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Cast: Jeremy Renner, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes
Synopsis: With a visual and emotional intensity that makes audiences feel like they have been transported to Iraq's dizzying, 24-hour turmoil, The Hurt Locker is both a tense portrayal of real-life sacrifice and heroism, and a probing look at the soul-numbing rigors and potent allure of the modern battlefield.
The Hurt Locker is a riveting, suspenseful portrait of the courage under fire of the military's most unrecognized heroes: the technicians of the bomb squad, who volunteer to challenge the odds and save lives in one of the world's most dangerous places. Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and each other as they seek out and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad - in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear - protect and save - but it's anything but easy, for the margin of error on a war-zone bomb is zero. A thrilling and heart-thumping look at the effects of combat and danger on the human psyche, The Hurt Locker is based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq.
Awards: 9 OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor
Winner of 4 Venice Film Awards
A Single Man (M) 100 mins
Director: Tom Ford
Cast: Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Nicholas Hoult
Synopsis: Set in Los Angeles in 1962, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, it is the story of a British college professor (Colin Firth) who is struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner.
The story is a romantic tale of love interrupted, the isolation that is an inherent part of the human condition, and ultimately the importance of the seemingly smaller moments in life.
Awards: OSCAR NOMINEE: Best Actor (Colin Firth)
Crazy Heart (M) 111 mins
Director: Scott Cooper
Cast: Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Robert Duvall
Synopsis: Four-time Academy Award nominee Jeff Bridges stars as the richly comic, semi-tragic romantic anti-hero Bad Blake in the debut feature film Crazy Heart from writer-director Scott Cooper. Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times.
And yet, Bad can't help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean (Golden Globe Nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal), a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician. As he struggles down the road of redemption, Bad learns the hard way just how tough life can be on one man's crazy heart.
Shutter Island (MA15+) 138 mins
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams, Patricia Clarkson
Synopsis: From Oscar winning director Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island is the story of two U.S. marshals, Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo), who are summoned to a remote and barren island off the coast of Massachusetts to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a murderess from the island's fortress-like hospital for the criminally insane.
Men Who Stare at Goats (M) 93 mins
Director: Grant Heslov
Cast: George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges
Synopsis: In this quirky dark comedy inspired by a real life story you will hardly believe is actually true, astonishing revelations about a top-secret wing of the U.S. military come to light when a reporter encounters an enigmatic Special Forces operator on a mind-boggling mission.
Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (Academy Award winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of Warrior Monks with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy's thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program's founder, Bill Django (Oscar nominee Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady's mission is to find him. Intrigued by his new acquaintance's far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides to accompany him on the search.
Alice In Wonderland (PG) 108 mins
Director: Tim Burton
Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter
Synopsis: From Walt Disney Pictures and visionary director Tim Burton comes an epic fantasy adventure Alice In Wonderland, a magical and imaginative twist on some of the most beloved stories of all time. Johnny Depp stars as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as 19-year-old Alice, who 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.
