Ghafla! Movies This Weekend (4th May 2012)

With the launch of ‘The Avengers’ last weekend, Kenyans have been exposed to the world of the IMAX experience, with feedback pouring in from movie lovers about the amazing visual and audio display at XX Century on Mama Ngina Street. The ground breaking action flick was also showing in spectacular 3D at the Fox Cineplex Sarit Centre as  both theatres recorded almost full to capacity screenings throughout the weekend of the premiere.

This coming weekend sees the continuation of these blockbuster screenings  as well as the launch of Joss Whedon’s flick at Prestige Plaza. There are also movies to look forward to both at the theatre and unreleased at whatever local vendor your choice is.

Click here to read ‘The Avengers’ Preview

Below is the bouquette of titles you can enjoy at the theatres this weekend of May 4th 2012: 

THE AVENGERS IN 3D AND IMAX

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Sci Fi

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson

Ghafla Rating: 9/10

A 2012 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures1, based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. It is the sixth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast, which includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, and Samuel L. Jackson. In The Avengers, Nick Fury, director of the peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D., recruits Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, and Captain America to save the world from destruction.
Development of The Avengers began when Marvel Studios received a grant from Merrill Lynch in April 2005. After the success of the film Iron Man in May 2008, Marvel announced that The Avengers would be released in July 2011. With the signing of Scarlett Johansson in March 2009, the film was pushed back for a 2012 release. Whedon was brought on board in April 2010 and rewrote the screenplay that was originally written by Zak Penn. Production began in April 2011 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to Cleveland, Ohio in August 2011 and New York City in September 2011. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

SHOWING AT:

IMAX 20th Century

Fox Theatres, Sarit Cineplex

Nu Metro Westgate

Starflix Prestige

*****

GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE IN 3D

Genre: Thriller, Action, Fantasy

Starring: Nicholas Cage Idris Elba

Johnny Blaze, a man who made a deal with the Devil who called himself Roarke at the time, is on the run trying to make sure no-one is harmed by his alter ego, The Ghost Rider. He is approached by a Monk named Moreau who tells him that he can help be him free of the Rider, but first, he needs Johnny’s help to protect a boy, whom Roarke has plans for.

SHOWING AT:

Fox Cineplex Sarit

Nu Metro Westgate

Starflix Prestige

*****

GHAFLA! HIGHLY RECOMMENDS >>

THE HUNGER GAMES

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Action

Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemswerth

Ghafla Rating: 8.5/10

In a dystopian future, the totalitarian nation of Panem is divided between 12 districts and the Capitol. Each year two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal retribution for a past rebellion, the televised games are broadcast throughout Panem. The 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors while the citizens of Panem are required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as District 12’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart Peeta, are pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives.

SHOWING AT:

Fox Theatres, Sarit Centre

Nu Metro Westgate

*****

TITANIC IN 3D

Genre: Drama, Romance

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet

Ghafla Rating: 9/10

84 years later, a 100-year-old woman named Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story to her granddaughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell and Anatoly Mikailavich on the Keldysh about her life set in April 10th 1912, on a ship called Titanic when young Rose boards the departing ship with the upper-class passengers and her mother, Ruth DeWitt Bukater, and her fiancé, Caledon Hockley. Meanwhile, a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson and his best friend Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. And she explains the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning.

SHOWING AT:

Fox Theatres, Sarit

Nu Metro Westgate

*****

GHAFLA! HIGHLY RECOMMENDS >

WRATH OF THE TITANS in 3D

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Adventure

Starring: Sam Worthington and Rosamund Pike

Ghafla Rating: 8.5/10

A decade after his heroic defeat of the monstrous Kraken, Perseus-the demigod son of Zeus-is attempting to live a quieter life as a village fisherman and the sole parent to his 10-year old son, Helius. Meanwhile, a struggle for supremacy rages between the gods and the Titans. Dangerously weakened by humanity’s lack of devotion, the gods are losing control of the imprisoned Titans and their ferocious leader, Kronos, father of the long-ruling brothers Zeus, Hades and Poseidon.

SHOWING AT:

IMAX 20th Century

Fox Theatres, Capital

Nu Metro Westgate

Starflix Prestige

****

AMERICAN REUNION

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Jason Biggs, Alison Hannigan and Sean William Scott

Ghafla Rating: 7/10

Over a decade has passed and the gang return to East Great Falls, Michigan, for the weekend. They will discover how their lives have developed as they gather for their high school reunion. How has life treated Michelle, Jim, Heather, Oz, Kevin, Vicky, Finch, Stifler, and Stifler’s mom? In the summer of 1999, it was four boys on a quest to lose their virginity. Now Kara is a cute high school senior looking for the perfect guy to lose her virginity to.

SHOWING AT:

Starflix Village

*****

PROJECT X

Genre: Comedy

Starring: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper

Ghafla Rating: 5/10

Three seemingly anonymous high school seniors attempt to finally make a name for themselves. Their idea is innocent enough – let’s throw a party that no one will forget, and have a camera there, to document history in the making. But nothing could prepare them for this party. Word spreads quickly as dreams are ruined, records are blemished and legends are born.

SHOWING AT:

Nu Media Westgate

*****

MAN ON A LEDGE

Genre: Thriller, Crime

Starring: Sam Worthington and Elizabeth Banks

Ghafla Rating: 8/10

An ex-cop turned con threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The nearest New York Police officer immediately responds to a screaming woman and calls dispatch. More Officers arrive with SWAT and tactical command along with fire-fighters. The police then dispatches a female police psychologist personally requested to talk him down from the ledge. However, things aren’t as straightforward and clearcut as they appear to be.

SHOWING AT:

Nu Metro Westgate

*****

JANAAT 2

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Starring: Emran Hasmi and Randeep Hooda

Ghafla Rating: 7/10

After fixing matches in 2008, Emraan Hashmi returns to being the greedy KKC Sonu Dilli.

SHOWING AT:

Nu Media Westgate

*****

UNDER THE SEA IN 3D

Genre: Documentary

Starring: Jim Carrey

Ghalfa Rating: 8/10

An underwater look at the diverse coastal regions of Southern Australia, New Guinea and the Indo-Pacific areas and the impact of global warming on the oceans.

SHOWING AT:

IMAX Theatres, 20th Century

*****

AT THE TOP OF THE BOX OFFICE is:

THINK LIKE A MAN

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Starring: Chris Brown, Gabrielle Union

Ghafla Rating: 8.5/10

Four women have given up on getting their men to do what they want until they find a how to book written by Steve Harvey. They start using his advice about relationships, and their men start falling in line, until the men discover what the women have been doing, then the war is on.

SHOWING AT:

Not Screening In Kenya

*****

An unusual flick we think is worth looking forward to (from the Sundance Film Festival):

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

Genre: Drama

Starring: Quevenzhane Wallis and Dwight Henry

Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink, in “the Bathtub,” a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink’s tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe; for a time when he’s no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack-temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink’s health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.

*****

An expected action release soon on Kenyan screens:

BATTLESHIP

Genre: Action, Sci Fi

Starring: Alexander Skarsgaad and Liam Neeson

Based on the classic Hasbro naval combat game, Battleship is the story of an international fleet of ships who come across an alien armada whilst on a Naval war games exercise. An intense battle ensues over sea, land and air. What do they aliens – known as ‘The Regents’ – want?

*****

In other news, the Offical Trailer to the Expendables 2 is out. Check it out:

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