In Cinemas this week (16 – 22 December)

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Blamed for the terrorist bombing of the Kremlin, IMF operative Ethan Hunt is disavowed along with the rest of the agency when the President initiates “Ghost Protocol”. Left without any resources or backup, Ethan must find a way to clear his agency’s name and prevent another attack. To complicate matters further, Ethan is forced to embark on this mission with a team of fellow IMF fugitives whose personal motives he does not fully know.

Cast:
Tom Cruise (Ethan Hunt)
Simon Pegg (Benji)
Jeremy Renner (Brandt)
Paula Patton (Jane)

Director: Brad Bird
Writer: Josh Appelbaum, André Nemec
Runtime: 133 min
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Midnight in Paris

Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents’ business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil’s daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he’s about to marry.

Cast:
Owen Wilson (Gil)
Rachel McAdams (Inez)
Kathy Bates Parker (Gertrude Stein)
Adrien Brody (Salvador Dalí)

Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Runtime: 94 min
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked (Greek)

Playing around while aboard a cruise ship, the Chipmunks and Chipettes accidentally go overboard and end up marooned in a tropical paradise. They discover their new turf is not as deserted as it seems.

Cast:
Jason Lee (Dave)
Justin Long (Alvin)
Matthew Gray Gubler (Simon)
Jesse McCartney (Theodore)

Director: Mike Mitchell
Writer: Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger
Runtime: 87 min
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2011

New Year’s Eve

The film chronicles the lives of several individuals in New York on New Year’s Eve, including two people who become trapped in an elevator, a couple preparing to give birth and a man who enjoys his last New Year’s before dying.

Cast:
Halle Berry (Nurse Aimee)
Robert De Niro (Stan Harris)
Sarah Jessica Parker (Kim)
Ashton Kutcher (Randy)

Director: Garry Marshall
Writer: Katherine Fugate
Runtime: 118 min
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Killer Elite

Based on a true story, Killer Elite pits two of the worlds’ most elite operatives – Danny, an ex-special ops agent, and Hunter, his longtime mentor – against the cunning leader of a secret military society. Covering the globe from Australia to Paris, London and the Middle East, Danny and Hunter are plunged into a highly dangerous game of cat and mouse – where the predators become the prey.

Cast:
Jason Statham (Danny)
Clive Owen (Spike)
Robert De Niro (Hunter)
Dominic Purcell (Davies)

Director: Gary McKendry
Writer: Matt Sherring, Ranulph Fiennes
Runtime: 116 min
Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

In Time

In the not-too-distant future the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest try to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man comes into a fortune of time and ends up on the run from a police force known as ‘time keepers’.

Cast:
Cillian Murphy (Raymond Leon)
Justin Timberlake (Will Salas)
Amanda Seyfried (Sylvia Weis)
Olivia Wilde (Rachel Salas)

Director: Andrew Niccol
Writer: Andrew Niccol
Runtime: 109 min
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Arthur Christmas 3D (Greek)

Arthur Christmas reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child’s question: ‘So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?’ The answer: Santa’s exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the center of the film is a story about a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.

Cast:
James McAvoy (Arthur)
Hugh Laurie (Steve)
Bill Nighy (Grandsanta)
Jim Broadbent (Santa)

Director: Sarah Smith
Writer: Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith
Runtime: 97 min
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: Greek
Production Year: 2011

Tower Heist

Josh Kovacs is the manager of a residential apartment in New York. He is close to all the tenants, especially Arthur Shaw, a financier. One day Shaw is arrested by the FBI for fraud. Josh thinks it’s a misunderstanding that can be resolved. But later he learns that the employees’ pension which he asked Shaw to handle is gone. When one of the employees tries to kill himself, Josh’s views of Shaw change. He goes to see him and loses his temper. He loses his job. The FBI agent in charge of Shaw tells him that Shaw might walk and recovering the pension fund is unlikely. She tells him that it’s been rumored that Shaw has 20 million laying around if he needs. Josh thinks he knows where it is. So with two other employees who also lost their jobs and an evicted tenant, they set out to get into Shaw’s penthouse to get the money. But they realise they need the assistance of someone who knows what they are doing. So, Josh asks a guy he knows is a thief named Slide to help them.

Cast:
Ben Stiller (Josh Kovacs)
Eddie Murphy (Slide)
Casey Affleck (Charlie)
Matthew Broderick (Mr. Fitzhugh)

Director: Brett Ratner
Writer: Ted Griffin, Jeff Nathanson
Runtime: 104 min
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Real Steel

In the near future, robots have taken over for humans in the boxing ring. A former boxer and small-time promoter struggles to make a living with patched-up robots in shady venues. When he discovers he has an 11-year-old son who believes that a robot found in the junk heap has what it takes to win, he finds himself with a shot at the big time.

Cast:
Hugh Jackman (Charlie Kenton)
Dakota Goyo (Max Kenton)
Evangeline Lilly (Bailey Tallet)
Anthony Mackie (Finn)

Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: John Gatins, Dan Gilroy
Runtime: 127 min
Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Colombiana

A young woman grows up to be a stone-cold assassin after witnessing her parents’ murder as a child in Bogota. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target – the mobster responsible for her parents’ death.

Cast:
Zoe Saldana (Cataleya)
Michael Vartan (Danny Delanay)
Callum Blue (Richard)
Cliff Curtis (Emilio Restrepo)

Director: Olivier Megaton
Writer: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Runtime: 108 min
Genre: Action, Crime, Drama
Rating: 15
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

Happy Feet Two

Mumble, The Master of Tap, has a problem because his tiny son, Erik, is choreo-phobic. Reluctant to dance, Erik runs away and encounters The Mighty Sven – a penguin who can fly! Mumble has no hope of competing with this charismatic new role model. But things get worse when the world is shaken by powerful forces. Erik learns of his father’s “guts and grit” as Mumble brings together the penguin nations and all manner of fabulous creatures – from tiny Krill to giant Elephant Seals – to put things right.

Cast:
Elijah Wood (Mumble)
Robin Williams (Ramon / Lovelace)
Pink (Gloria)
Brad Pitt (Will the Krill)

Director: George Miller
Writer: George Miller, Warren Coleman
Runtime: 100 min
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rating: K
Language: English/Greek
Production Year: 2011

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1

The Quileute and the Volturi close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses different threats to the wolf pack and vampire coven.

Cast:
Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan)
Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen)
Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black)
Billy Burke (Charlie Swan)

Director: Bill Condon
Writer: Melissa Rosenberg, Stephenie Meyer
Runtime: 117 min
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Rating: 12
Language: English
Production Year: 2011

The Smurfs

When the evil wizard Gargamel chases the tiny blue Smurfs out of their village, they tumble from their magical world and into ours — in fact, smack dab in the middle of Central Park. Just three apples high and stuck in the Big Apple, the Smurfs must find a way to get back to their village before Gargamel tracks them down.

Voices:
Hank Azaria/Ilios Zervos (Gargamel)
Jonathan Winters/Costas Darlasis (Papa)
Katy Perry/Sissy Christidou (Smurfette)
Alan Cumming/Haris Grigoropoulos (Gutsy)

Director: Raja Gosnell
Writer: Peyo, J. David Stem
Runtime: 103 min
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Rating: K
Language: English
Production Year: 2011