{"id":4339,"date":"2009-01-09T18:41:07","date_gmt":"2009-01-09T18:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=4339"},"modified":"2009-01-09T19:45:14","modified_gmt":"2009-01-09T19:45:14","slug":"uk-cinema-releases-friday-9th-january-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/01\/09\/uk-cinema-releases-friday-9th-january-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Cinema Releases: Friday 9th January 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

Bride Wars<\/a><\/strong> (Fox): A high profile chick flick that Fox are releasing here on the same weekend that it opens in the US. As you might have guessed from the poster and trailer, it involves two friends\u00a0(Anne Hathaway<\/a>\u00a0and Kate Hudson<\/a>) whose start feuding when their wedding dates clash and\u00a0neither is willing to back down. Aimed ruthlessly at audiences vulnerable to a combination of weddings and sassy ‘you-go-girl’ nonsense it looks likely to do well but faces competition from a variety of other releases hitting cinemas this week. Weak reviews<\/a> may harm its long term prospects but it is likely to do solid business this weekend.\u00a0[Cert\u00a0PG \/\u00a0Vue West End & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

Defiance<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(Momentum): Set in the eastern regions of occupied Poland during\u00a0World War II<\/a>\u00a0this is an adaptation of\u00a0Nechama Tec<\/a>\u2019s book \u2018Defiance: The Bielski Partisans<\/a>\u2018, which was based on the true story of the Bielski partisans.\u00a0Directed by\u00a0Ed Zwick<\/a>, it stars\u00a0Daniel Craig<\/a>,\u00a0Liev Schreiber<\/a>,\u00a0Jamie Bell<\/a>and\u00a0George MacKay<\/a>\u00a0as four brothers from Poland who escape from the Nazis and fight back to rescue fellow Jews. Although the expected Oscar buzz for this film failed to materialize, it is a well made and admirable piece of work. Commercial prospects will be helped by a marketing campaign that has emphasised Daniel Craig<\/a> (aka James Bond) and the action aspects of the film. It faces stiff competition in a busy week at the UK box office but a high profile premiere and marketing campaign may see it crack the top 3. [Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0Odeons Swiss Cottage, West End, Whiteleys, Vue Islington & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

* Listen to out interview with Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Ed Zwick on Defiance<\/a> *\u00a0<\/p>\n

Role Models<\/a><\/strong> (Universal): If Bride Wars is aimed at younger females then this is the male equivalent, a comedy squarely targeted at the younger male demographic. It stars\u00a0Paul Rudd<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Seann William Scott<\/a>\u00a0as two guys working for an energy drink company who are forced to do community service for a charity after bereaking the law. Called ‘Sturdy Wings’ it is a place where they have to mentor two very different teenagers:\u00a0a foulmouthed youngster obsessed with breasts (Bobb’e J. Thompson<\/a>) and\u00a0a nerd\u00a0(Christopher Mintz-Plasse<\/a>) obsessed with\u00a0live action role-playing games<\/a>. Although it is very much in the style of the Judd <\/a>Apatow<\/a> produced comedies like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, there are some good laughs to be had, especially\u00a0Ken Jeong<\/a>\u00a0in a highly amusing supporting role. Likely to do well, but the real commercial action for this is probably going to be on DVD.\u00a0[Cert 15 \/\u00a0Vue West End & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

Sex Drive<\/a><\/strong> (E1 Films): A classic case of a ‘where did this come from?’ film that suddenly appears with little or no buzz. The plot summary on the IMDb says: ‘A high school senior drives cross-country with his best friends to hook up with a babe he met online’. Given the lack of stars (James Marsden<\/a> is the only real name here), the mixed reviews in the US<\/a>\u00a0and the presence of a rival male-orientated comedy, this might struggle in a packed week for releases.\u00a0[Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0Vue West End & Nationwide]\u00a0<\/p>\n

Slumdog Millionaire<\/a><\/strong> (Pathe):\u00a0A thrilling and uplifting\u00a0drama about a young street kid\u00a0(Dev Patel<\/a>) who ends up on the Hindi version of\u00a0Who Wants to Be a Millionaire<\/a>\u00a0finally gets a UK release. Directed by\u00a0Danny Boyle<\/a>, it was adapted by\u00a0Simon Beaufoy<\/a>\u00a0from the novel\u00a0Q and A<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Vikas Swarup<\/a>.\u00a0It has\u00a0received\u00a0a lot of buzz<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0acclaim<\/a>\u00a0at the\u00a0Telluride<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Toronto<\/a>\u00a0film festivals\u00a0and is widely considered a front-runner for BAFTA and Oscar consideration. The film deserves no less as it is one of the best films of the year<\/a>, managing to weave a charming fable around the chaos, joy and poverty of Mumbai. A remarkable film that has already generated great word of mouth<\/a> and done impressive platform business in the US. Expect it to crash the top two and maybe even claim the top spot.\u00a0[Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0Vue West End & Nationwide]<\/p>\n

* Listen to out interview with Danny Boyle about Slumdog Millionaire<\/a> *<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

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

Hannah Takes The Stairs<\/a><\/strong> (ICA Films): A short run at the ICA in London for this\u00a02007<\/a>\u00a0mumblecore<\/a>\u00a0indie film by\u00a0Joe Swanberg<\/a>. It is the story of Hannah, a recent college graduate living in\u00a0Chicago<\/a>\u00a0who coasts from relationship to relationship, trying to find a direction in her life.\u00a0[Cert TBC \/ ICA Cinema & Key Cities]<\/p>\n

Stuck<\/a><\/strong> (High Fliers Films): A thriller\u00a0directed by\u00a0Stuart Gordon<\/a>\u00a0about a woman\u00a0(Mena Suvari<\/a>) who accidentally hits a pedestrian with her car (Stephen Rea<\/a>) and drives him home with the promise that she will get the man help.\u00a0[Cert\u00a015 \/\u00a0Apollo Cinema Piccadilly Circus, Showcase Bristol & Showcase Manchester]<\/p>\n

>\u00a0UK Cinema Releases for January 2009<\/a>
\n>\u00a0Get the latest showtimes for your local cinema via Google Movies<\/a>
\n>\u00a0Check out our latest DVD picks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATIONAL RELEASES Bride Wars (Fox): A high profile chick flick that Fox are releasing here on the same weekend that it opens in the US. As you might have guessed from the poster and trailer, it involves two friends\u00a0(Anne Hathaway\u00a0and Kate Hudson) whose start feuding when their wedding dates clash and\u00a0neither is willing to back […]<\/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":[656],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339"}],"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=4339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}