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Cinema

UK Cinema Releases: Friday 23rd April 2010

Including Date Night, Centurion, Extract and Agora

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NATIONAL RELEASES

Date Night (20th Century Fox): Mainstream comedy about a married couple (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) who attempt to spice up their relationship with an evening at a restaurant only to find themselves mistaken for someone else.

Mark Wahlberg and James Franco co-stars and it is directed by Shaun Levy who made Night at the Museum and Cheaper By the Dozen. Fox can expect decent business (the basic concept has an in built appeal to males and females) but the whole thing smells as a bit beneath the level Fey and Carell normally operate. [Vue West End & Nationwide / 15]

It’s A Wonderful Afterlife (Icon): A British comedy the centres on an Indian mother who takes her obsession with marriage into the world of serial murder.

Starring Sanjeev Bhaskar, Steve Morphew and Sally Hawkins, it was directed by Gurinder Chadha and Icon will be hoping to replicate the success of Bend It Like Beckham. [Vue West End & Nationwide / 12A]

Centurion (Warner Bros/Pathe): A period action drama about the ill-fated Ninth Legion of Roman soldiers marching north to Scotland to wipe out the Picts and their leader.

Starring Dominic WestMichael Fassbender and Olga Kurylenko it is directed by Neil Marshall (Doomsday, The Descent) and might attract viewers looking for a cross between Gladiator and Dog Soldiers. [Nationwide / 15]

Extract (Paramount): A US comedy from director Mike Judge about the owner of an Extract plant (Jason Bateman) who tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife (Kristen Wiig) and employees who want to take advantage of him.

Although this has been sitting on the shelf for a long time, it could find an appreciative cult audience like Judge’s last film Idiocracy. [Nationwide / 15]

Agora (Paramount): Historical drama about Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), a female philosopher in Roman Egypt, who falls in love with her slave (Max Minghella).

Directed by Alejandro Amenábar, it explores how the astronomer-philosopher came into conflict with the Christian leaders of Alexandria. Although it premiered at Cannes last year to decent reviews, the fact that it has taken so long to reach UK screens suggests decent box office could be limited. [Nationwide / 12A]

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ALSO OUT

Cherrybomb (Blue Dolphin): Drama starring Rupert Grint in which three teenagers go on a wild weekend of drink, drugs, shop-lifting and stealing cars. [Empire Leicester Square & Key Cities / 15]

The Calling (Guerilla Films): British drama set in a convent starring Brenda Blethyn, Rita Tushingham, Susannah York, and Amanda Donohoe. [Gate Notting Hill, Picturehouse Greenwich & Key Cities / 12A]

Dance With Me (Orev): British drama about a middle-class couple (Adam Napier and Johanne Murdock) having a spot of bother. [Apollo Piccadilly Circus & Key Cities / 15]

Dogtooth (Verve Pictures): An acclaimed drama directed by Yorgos Lanthimos about a highly unusual family whose children are shielded from the outside world. It won the Prix Un Certain Regard at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. [Gate, Odeon Covent Garden, Renoir, Ritzy & Key Cities / 18]

The Joneses (E1 Entertainment): A comedy starring David Duchovny and Demi as part of a fictitious family who pretend to be real as part of a marketing experiment. [Empire Leicester Square & Nationwide / 15]

La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet (Soda Pictures): A behind-the-scenes documentary about an opera directed by Frederick Wiseman. [Curzons Mayfair, Richmond, Wimbledon, P’House Greenwich & Key Cities / 15]

Life During Wartime (Artificial Eye): The latest film from director Todd Solondz which is an unofficial sequel sequel to his classic 1998 film Happiness, using different actors to play the same characters. [Curzon Soho, The Gate, Renoir, Ritzy & Key Cities / 15]

The Sky Crawlers (Manga Entertainment): A Japanese anime film directed by Mamoru Oshii adaptated from Hiroshi Mori‘s novel of the same name. [ICA Cinema / 15]

Vote Afghanistan! (Channel 4 International): A documentary that follows three of Afghnistan’s presidential candidates in the run-up to last year’s disastrous elections. [ICA Cinema]

DVD and Blu-ray Picks for Monday 19th April including The Last Emperor and Inland Empire
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