{"id":4275,"date":"2009-01-02T20:33:46","date_gmt":"2009-01-02T19:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=4275"},"modified":"2009-01-03T02:56:10","modified_gmt":"2009-01-03T01:56:10","slug":"uk-cinema-releases-friday-2nd-january-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/01\/02\/uk-cinema-releases-friday-2nd-january-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Cinema Releases: Friday 2nd January 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Che: Part One<\/a><\/strong> (Optimum Releasing): In the UK Stephen Soderbergh<\/a>‘s biopic of\u00a0Che Guevara<\/a>\u00a0(played by\u00a0Benicio Del Toro<\/a>) will be released in two parts with some cinemas showing\u00a0special double-bill screenings.\u00a0In the first part we see\u00a0the Cuban Revolution inter-cut with Guevara\u2019s 1964 trip to the United Nations and refreshingly it eschews the narrative cliches of many historical biopics.<\/p>\n

Instead of ponderous meditations on motives or background we are\u00a0plunged into the raw action of the revolutionary\u2019s life.\u00a0Soderbergh has always been a gifted technical filmmaker interested in pushing the boundaries of mainstream cinema and here he has crafted one of his most interesting and accomplished films with the help of a revolutionary digital camera (appropriately called the\u00a0RED One<\/a>) that has allowed him to make an epic using guerrilla film-making techniques.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spiritual core of the film is an outstanding performance from\u00a0Del Toro<\/a>, who captures the physical and vocal mannerisms of Che so well that he manages to make you forget about the face that spawned so many t-shirts and posters. UK box office could be good, given positive word of mouth and a wider release than normal for a foreign language film. Che: Part Two<\/a> is released on February 20th.\u00a0[Cert 15 \/ Odeons Camden, Covent Garden, Curzon Soho & Nationwide – Previews 1 Jan]<\/p>\n

The Reader<\/a><\/strong> (Entertainment): The adaptation of the\u00a01995\u00a0German\u00a0novel<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Bernhard Schlink<\/a>\u00a0follows a complicated love affair in the 1950s between a German teenager named\u00a0Michael Berg\u00a0(David Kross<\/a>) and a woman twice his age called Hannah\u00a0Schmitz\u00a0(Kate Winslet<\/a>). Years later as a law student he discovers a terrible secret about his former lover and struggles to deal with the repercussions of her actions in World War II.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is directed by\u00a0Stephen Daldry<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Ralph Fiennes<\/span><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0plays Berg as an older man struggling to deal with his past. With a script by David Hare (who worked with Daldry on The Hours) this was always going to be an awards season contender, although some mixed reviews in the US and the UK might harm its word of mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is a well crafted and involving tale with three very solid performances from Winslet, Fiennes and Kross. Daldry and Hare have managed to preserve the knotty moral questions of the book – something which appears to have really riled critics of the film – and the cinematography from Roger Deakins and Chris Menges is first rate.<\/p>\n

Given the popularity of the book, two notable leads and current awards season buzz, UK box office could be good if not spectacular.\u00a0[Cert 15 \/ Vue West End & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Listen to our interview with Stephen Daldry and Ralph Fiennes on The Reader<\/a> *<\/p>\n

The Spirit<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Lionsgate UK):\u00a0Frank Miller<\/a>‘s adaptation of\u00a0the\u00a0newspaper\u00a0comic strip\u00a0by\u00a0Will Eisner<\/a>\u00a0is about\u00a0a murdered cop who is mysteriously reborn as the masked crime fighter called the Spirit. Although it stars a newcomer (Gabriel Macht<\/a>) in the central role the supporting cast contains such luminaries as\u00a0Samuel L. Jackson<\/a>,\u00a0Scarlett Johansson<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Eva Mendes<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The big challenge for the film is the deluge of negative reviews which could harm the box office, however it is the only mainstream action film out this weekend so it could do some decent business this weekend.\u00a0[Cert\u00a012A\u00a0\/ Vue West End & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

Sisterhood Of The Travelling Pants 2<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>(Warner Bros): A\u00a0sequel\u00a0to the\u00a02005 film\u00a0The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants<\/a>\u00a0which sees the original cast and real life friends (America Ferrera<\/a>,\u00a0Amber Tamblyn<\/a>,\u00a0Alexis Bledel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Blake Lively<\/a>), return to star in the movie, which was directed by\u00a0Sanaa Hamri<\/a>.\u00a0[Cert\u00a012A\u00a0\/ Nationwide]<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

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

Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(Park Circus): A re-release for Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 film about an American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend who go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.\u00a0[Cert\u00a018\/ BFI Southbank & Key Cities]<\/p>\n

> UK Cinema Releases for January 2009<\/a>
\n> Get the latest showtimes for your local cinema via Google Movies<\/a>
\n> Check out our latest DVD picks
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATIONAL RELEASES Che: Part One (Optimum Releasing): In the UK Stephen Soderbergh‘s biopic of\u00a0Che Guevara\u00a0(played by\u00a0Benicio Del Toro) will be released in two parts with some cinemas showing\u00a0special double-bill screenings.\u00a0In the first part we see\u00a0the Cuban Revolution inter-cut with Guevara\u2019s 1964 trip to the United Nations and refreshingly it eschews the narrative cliches of many […]<\/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":[535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275"}],"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=4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}