{"id":4136,"date":"2008-12-26T23:45:05","date_gmt":"2008-12-26T22:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=4136"},"modified":"2008-12-26T23:49:42","modified_gmt":"2008-12-26T22:49:42","slug":"uk-cinema-releases-friday-26th-december-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2008\/12\/26\/uk-cinema-releases-friday-26th-december-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Cinema Releases: Friday 26th December 2008"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"National<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Australia<\/a><\/strong> (Fox): An epic story set in northern Australia before World War II, about an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman<\/a>) who inherits a ranch and teams up with a stock-man (Hugh Jackman<\/a>) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. Directed by\u00a0Baz Luhrmann<\/a>, it is an ambitious project taking a variety of subjects including race, war and Australian history. However, despite the occasionally impressive sequence the film is a major disappointment that veers wildly between different styles. Although Luhrmann is an energetic and talented director here his manic style is counterproductive and deflates the serious aspects of the story.<\/p>\n

The A-list Aussie cast (including\u00a0David Wenham<\/a>,\u00a0Bryan Brown<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0David Gulpilil<\/a>) are largely wasted in one dimensional roles and many of the impressive landscape set-pieces are undermined by excessive use of green screen<\/a>. After landing with a thud at the US box office<\/a>, Fox will do very well to squeeze foreign revenues out of this costly film, which had an estimated production budget of $130 million<\/a>. Here in the UK, it could appeal audiences who enjoy period films but mixed reviews<\/a>\u00a0and lack of expected awards buzz will probably reduce its box office. [Cert 12A] \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes Man<\/a><\/strong> (Warner Bros): Loosely based on the memoir by British writer Danny Wallace<\/a>, this comedy stars Jim Carrey<\/a> as a man who decides to say ‘yes’ to everything in his life after attending a self help seminar. Directed by Peyton Reed<\/a>, it also stars\u00a0Terrence Stamp<\/a>, Zooey Deschanel<\/a>\u00a0and Bradley Cooper<\/a>. Although many details have been changed the essential concept of the book is intact and it is an engaging and amusing comedy. Deschanel is a good romantic foil and there are some good set pieces carved out from the ‘say yes’ premise.\u00a0It isn’t in the same league as Carrey’s best work (like\u00a0The Truman Show<\/a>,\u00a0Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind<\/a>) but it has an excellent chance of taking the top slot on one of the biggest days in the UK box office calendar. \u00a0[Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

* Listen to our interview with Danny Wallace about Yes Man<\/a> *<\/p>\n

Bedtime Stories<\/a><\/strong> (Disney): A family themed comedy with\u00a0Adam Sandler<\/a>\u00a0as\u00a0a hotel handyman whose life is changed when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew start to come true. Although the central premise has potential director\u00a0Adam Shankman<\/a>\u00a0and screenwriters\u00a0Matt Lopez and\u00a0Tim Herlihy never really bring it to life. Instead it is a fairly run of the mill Sandler vehicle tailored for family audiences with heavy dollops of sentimentality and B-grade CGI. Despite the lack of quality, it is the only film out today that is directly aimed at family audiences so could do much better than it deserves to. [Cert PG]<\/p>\n

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

Far North<\/a><\/strong> (Soda Pictures): Set during an unspecified time in the late-20th century, it tells of woman (Michelle Yeoh<\/a>) and her adopted daughter (Michelle Krusiec<\/a>), living in the\u00a0arctic tundra<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>who’s lives are affected by the unexpected arrival of a soldier (Sean Bean<\/a>).\u00a0[Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0London venues & Key Cities]<\/span><\/p>\n

Gardens In Autumn<\/a><\/strong> (Artificial Eye): Director\u00a0Otar Iosseliani’s film is about a French government minister (S\u00e9verin Blanchet<\/a>) who is forced to resign and thebegins to live a simpler life outside the bourgeois mainstream.\u00a0[Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0Renoir & Key Cities]<\/p>\n

Mum and Dad<\/a><\/strong> (Revolver): Low budget British horror film about an unusual family starring\u00a0Perry Benson<\/a>,\u00a0Dido Miles<\/a>,\u00a0Olga Fedori<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ainsley Howard<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>[Cert 15 \/\u00a0Curzon Soho, Ritzy, Screen on the Green & Key Cities]<\/p>\n

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>\u00a0Get local\u00a0showtimes for a cinema near you via Google Movies<\/a>\u00a0(just enter your local postcode)
\n>\u00a0Check out our latest DVD picks for this week<\/a>\u00a0and our best DVDs of the year<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATIONAL RELEASES Australia (Fox): An epic story set in northern Australia before World War II, about an English aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) who inherits a ranch and teams up with a stock-man (Hugh Jackman) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. Directed by\u00a0Baz Luhrmann, it is an ambitious project taking a variety […]<\/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":[707,708,535,370],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136"}],"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=4136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4136\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}