{"id":3673,"date":"2008-11-07T00:08:51","date_gmt":"2008-11-06T23:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=3673"},"modified":"2008-11-08T20:12:38","modified_gmt":"2008-11-08T19:12:38","slug":"uk-cinema-releases-friday-7th-november-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2008\/11\/07\/uk-cinema-releases-friday-7th-november-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Cinema Releases: Friday 7th November 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

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NATIONAL RELEASES<\/strong><\/p>\n

W.<\/a><\/strong> (Lionsgate): Oliver Stone’s quickly assembled biopic of George W Bush<\/a> is a much more accomplished and thoughtful film than some UK reviews<\/a> would have you believe. Starring Josh <\/a>Brolin<\/a> as Bush, it explores his life in flashback through the lens of the Iraq War in 2002-2004. An impressive cast includes\u00a0Elizabeth Banks<\/a>\u00a0(Laura Bush<\/a>),\u00a0James Cromwell<\/a>\u00a0(George H. W. Bush<\/a>),\u00a0Ellen Burstyn<\/a>\u00a0(Barbara Bush<\/a>),\u00a0Richard Dreyfuss<\/a>\u00a0(Dick Cheney<\/a>),\u00a0Thandie Newton<\/a>\u00a0(Condoleezza Rice<\/a>) and\u00a0Toby Jones<\/a>\u00a0(Karl Rove<\/a>) and the performances are generally very good, especially Brolin in what is a very tough role. The script by Stanley Weiser and Stone does a fine job at compressing Bush’s life through the lens of it’s defining episode. Stone deserves credit for attempting to get inside the head of the maligned president and not just indulging in a blunt hatchet job. However, the nuances of the film may be lost amongst liberals who hate him and the conservatives who still champion him and those in the middle trying to forget him. The plan for the film (independently financed with Chinese, German and Australian money) was for a timely release around the recent election. However, the election race itself has been more exciting than any script writer could have imagined whilst Bush has effectively been a ghost president for the last year. That will probably mean reduced box office here in the UK, especially with Quantum of Solace dominating the multiplexes, which is a shame as this is a brave attempt to chronicle the life and times\u00a0of the 43rd president. [Cert 15]<\/p>\n

Pride<\/a><\/strong> and Glory<\/a><\/strong> (Entertainment): A contemporary police drama about\u00a0a multi-generational police family in New York whose morals are tested when one of two sons (Edward Norton<\/a>) investigates a case involving his older brother (Noah Emmerich<\/a>) and brother-in-law (Colin Farrell<\/a>). Directed by Gavin Connor (who made Tumbleweeds<\/a> and Miracle<\/a>), it is a decent and commendably gritty look at modern urban policing and the tensions that ensue when families are added to the mix. For some reason New Line Cinema (before they were absorbed into Warner Bros) decided to sit on the film<\/a> for several months and some – including Farrell -speculated that the failure of The Golden Compass left them without any real money to market it. However, although it isn’t a masterpiece it is an absorbing 70’s style cop drama with a commendably down and dirty tone. The decent cast and word of mouth might propel it towards some reasonable box office business but given the lack of heavy marketing and the Bond factor, it will do well to crack the top 5 at the UK box office. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Easy Virtue<\/a><\/strong> (Pathe): A\u00a0social comedy based on\u00a0Noel Coward<\/a>‘s play of the same name which was itself \u00a0made into a silent movie\u00a0by\u00a0Alfred Hitchcock<\/a>\u00a0in 1928. This version has been reshaped by director by\u00a0Stephan Elliott<\/a>\u00a0as a much frothier concoction. It stars\u00a0Jessica Biel<\/a>\u00a0as an American socialite who marries a young Englishman\u00a0(Ben Barnes<\/a>)\u00a0in the South of France before going to England to meet his stiff, uppercrust parents (Colin Firth<\/a>, and\u00a0Kristin Scott Thomas<\/a>). Whilst the setup might sound very familiar, the end result is actually a much more energetic affair with more laughs than you might expect. Biel in particular, impresses in her most substantial role to date and Elliott wisely doesn’t take things too seriously but at the same time also gets in some nice digs at the joyless nature of the British upper classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

IN SELECTED RELEASE<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Scar 3-D<\/a><\/strong> (The Works): Yet another horror film unleashed at the multiplexes around Halloween, this would appear to be a Saw rip-off, only with added bonus of being in 3D. The plot follows\u00a0a woman (Angela Bettis<\/a>) as she is tormented by a serial killer who had previously kidnapped and tortured her. [Cert 18] \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Warlords<\/a><\/strong> (Metrodome): An Asian\u00a0martial arts\u00a0epic<\/span>\u00a0directed by\u00a0Peter Chan<\/a>\u00a0and starring\u00a0Jet Li<\/a>,\u00a0Andy Lau<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Takeshi Kaneshiro<\/a>\u00a0as three blood brothers and their struggle in the midst of war and political upheaval. Set\u00a0in the 1860s, during the\u00a0Taiping Rebellion<\/a>\u00a0in the late\u00a0Qing Dynasty<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0China<\/a>\u00a0it is the tale of how the brothers who are forced to turn against one another in harsh times. [Cert 15]\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let’s Talk About The Rain<\/a><\/strong> (Artificial Eye): A French comedy from director\u00a0Agn\u00e8s Jaoui<\/a>, who also stars as a\u00a0writer with an eye to a political career. When she returns to the south of France to deal with the death of her mother she meets two film-makers (Jean-Pierre Bacri and Jamel Debbouze) who persuade her to be the subject of a documentary. [Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

OSS 117: Cairo – Nest Of Spies<\/a><\/strong> (ICA Films): A run at the ICA in London<\/a> for this spy spoof,\u00a0a French spin on their own secret agent franchise, based on the numerous OSS 117 novels of Jean Bruce, which actually pre-dated Fleming\u2019s novels. Directed by\u00a0Michel Hazanavicius<\/a>\u00a0it starts comedian\u00a0Jean Dujardin<\/a>\u00a0as an agent who\u2019s sent out to revolutionary Egypt in 1955 on a mission to \u2018make the Middle East safe.\u2019 [Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

EK Vivaah…. Aisa Bhi<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Eros): A Bollywood movie from director\u00a0Sooraj R. Barjatya<\/a>\u00a0that features Sonu Sood and Eesha Koppikar as two lovers who are just about to get married before destiny has different plans for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

If you have any questions about this week\u2019s cinema releases or any upcoming titles then just\u00a0email me<\/a>\u00a0or leave a comment below.<\/p>\n

>\u00a0Get local\u00a0showtimes for a cinema near you via Google Movies<\/a>\u00a0(just enter your local postcode)
\n> The rest of the UK cinema releases for November 2008<\/a>
\n>\u00a0Check out our latest DVD picks for this week<\/a>\u00a0(From Monday 3rd November 2008)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATIONAL RELEASES W. (Lionsgate): Oliver Stone’s quickly assembled biopic of George W Bush is a much more accomplished and thoughtful film than some UK reviews would have you believe. Starring Josh Brolin as Bush, it explores his life in flashback through the lens of the Iraq War in 2002-2004. An impressive cast includes\u00a0Elizabeth Banks\u00a0(Laura Bush),\u00a0James […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[2818,535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}