{"id":6257,"date":"2009-08-07T01:29:57","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T00:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=6257"},"modified":"2009-08-14T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2009-08-14T09:52:08","slug":"uk-cinema-releases-friday-7th-august-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2009\/08\/07\/uk-cinema-releases-friday-7th-august-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Cinema Releases: Friday 7th August 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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

G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra<\/a><\/strong> (Paramount): Following in the footsteps of Transformers (another 1980s toy saga to hit the big screen), this one is an origin story about an elite US military unit (G.I. Joe<\/a>) and focuses on the characters\u00a0Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) as they join the team.<\/p>\n

Directed by Stephen Sommers<\/a>, who’s last film was the high profile train wreck Van Helsing<\/a> (2004), the plot focuses on the team’s efforts to stop an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.\u00a0The cast also includes\u00a0Rachel Nichols,\u00a0Ray Park,\u00a0Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje,\u00a0Christopher Eccleston,\u00a0Sienna Miller,\u00a0Joseph Gordon-Levitt,\u00a0Dennis Quaid and\u00a0Jonathan Pryce.<\/p>\n

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Paramount will be hoping that the bad early buzz<\/a> on this film (which meant they didn’t screen it for US critics<\/a>) will not deter the young male audience from going to see it.<\/p>\n

Given the success of the Transformers (also produced by Lorenzo Di Bonaventura) the studio may have their fingers crossed for a decent opening that could turn it in to a franchise.<\/p>\n

The main problem it faces is not really critical derision (or the dodgy CGI from the trailer) but whether its core audience thinks it is a lame action film and whether non-US audiences get the concept.\u00a0[Odeon Leicester Square & Nationwide \/ Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

The Ugly Truth<\/a><\/strong> (Sony Pictures): A romantic ‘battle of the sexes’ comedy about a TV producer (Katherine Heigl<\/a>) who is reluctantly embroiled in a series of outrageous tests by her chauvinistic correspondent (Gerard Butler<\/a>) to prove his theories on relationships and help her find love.<\/p>\n

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Directed by Robert Luketic<\/a>, it was presumably designed to be the female equivalent of a Judd Apatow comedy, that capitalises on the emerging star power of it’s two leads.<\/p>\n

The poor reviews in the US<\/a>, along with the less than expected box office there means that Sony won’t be expecting huge things from it here. But that said, it was a smart move to open against G.I. Joe and thus ensnare female viewers not up for explosions and hi-tech weaponry.\u00a0[Vue West End & Nationwide – Previews 5 August \/ Cert 15]<\/p>\n

Adam<\/a><\/strong> (20th Century Fox): An increasingly rare thing in mainstream cinema is the plucky indie-drama acquired at Sundance by a specialty division.<\/p>\n

This drama about a New Yorker with Asberger Syndrome<\/a> (Hugh Dancy<\/a>) and his relationship with his neighbour (Rose Byrne<\/a>) is just such a film – it premiered at Park City<\/a> back in January and was bought by Fox Searchlight<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Directed by Max Meyer<\/a>, it is an agreeably handled affair with two decent lead performances in roles which could have easily gone astray.\u00a0Dancy in particular gets a role he can sink his teeth into and manages to avoid the traps of playing a character with a disability.<\/p>\n

The chemistry of the central love story is good – even if at times it sugarcoats the realities of what would happen in such a situation – and it is well put together overall.\u00a0The main flaw with the film is a weak subplot involving Byrne’s father (played by Peter Gallagher<\/a>) which wouldn’t be out of place on daytime TV.<\/p>\n

That said though, it is a film that deserves credit for attempting to craft a drama about a difficult subject matter. Fox will only be expecting semi-decent box office from more enquiring audiences.\u00a0[C’World Haymarket, Curzon Mayfair, Odeon Covent Gdn. & Nationwide \/ Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

Orphan<\/a><\/strong> (Optimum Releasing): Another horror film is unleashed at cinemas and this one is about a husband (Peter Sarsgaard<\/a>) and wife (Vera Farmiga<\/a>) who adopt a 9-year-old girl after losing their baby.<\/p>\n

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Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra<\/a>, it was produced by Joel Silver and Leonardo DiCaprio but opened recently in the US to mixed reviews and tepid box office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Optimum will be expecting horror fans to turn out for this but DVD seems where it is likely to see success.\u00a0[Odeon Covent Gdn., Vue West End & Nationwide \/ Cert 15]<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

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

The Meerkats<\/a><\/strong> (Momentum Pictures): A docu-drama about meerkats<\/a> featuring the voice of the late Paul Newman<\/a>. \u00a0[Vues Greenwich, Finchley Road, Fulham & Key Cities \/ Cert PG]<\/p>\n

Mesrine: Killer Instinct<\/a><\/strong> (Momentum Pictures): Crime drama starring Vincent Cassell<\/a> as French criminal Jacques Mesrine<\/a>. [C’Worlds Fulham Rd, Haymarket, Curzon Soho & Key Cities \/ Cert 15]<\/p>\n

Home<\/a><\/strong> (Soda Pictures): A documentary directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand<\/a> with aerial footage from 54 countries depicting how the Earth’s problems are all interlinked. [London & Key Cities \/ Cert 15]<\/p>\n

Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus<\/a><\/strong> (Metrodome): A quick show in cinemas for this very-soon-to-be-on-DVD<\/a> potboiler which is adequately descibed by its title. [Apollo Piccadilly Circus \/ Cert 15]<\/p>\n

The Yes Men Fix The World<\/a><\/strong> (Dogwoof): Another film about film about the exploits of The Yes Men<\/a>.\u00a0[Screen-On-The-Green, Gate Notting Hill, Greenwich Picturehouse, Ritzy \/ Cert 12A]<\/p>\n

[ad]<\/p>\n

> UK cinema releases for August 2009<\/a>
\n> DVD Picks for this week including Let The Right One In and Winstanley<\/a> (W\/C Monday 3rd August)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Including G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, The Ugly Truth, Adam and Orphan<\/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":[1060,1058,1061,1059,535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257"}],"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=6257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}