Coming to Cinemas (21/3/2013)

Moving into the third week of March, we have a couple of animations for the English and Malay speaking kids, a concert and a comedy about love, and possibly the 'last' film by Steven Soderbergh.

Let's watch the trailers of the releases for this week.

Andrea Bocelli: Love In Portofino

Director: David Horn
Cast: Andrea Bocelli
Running Time: 1 Hour 36 Minutes
Language:: English / Italian
Classification: U
Synopsis: Andrea Bocelli performs the most famous love songs from the Pizzetta in Portofino, Italy. Backed by supporting talent and a 40 piece orchestra. The evening is hosted by multiple Grammy award winner David Foster. The concert is preceded by a rare interview with Bocelli which is exclusive to cinemas.

Bola Kampung The Movie

Director: Wong Kuan Loong
Cast: Ezlynn, Afdlin Shauki, Harris Alif, Marsha Milan, Aznil Nawawi, Adila Shakir, Baki Zainal
Running Time: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
Language:: Malay
Classification: U
Synopsis: Based on the hit television animation "Bola Kampung", about a boy named Iwan and his friends who stumble upon a group of kids dressed in fancy costumes playing football in strange places and when Iwan's team is invited to play this increasingly popular style of football known as Street Soccer, the boys are hooked instantly. The movie takes Iwan and the gang on an all-new adventure when Iwan has to send a princess on the run from assassins from the virtual world back to her own world. However, whilst doing so, Iwan and his friends are pulled into the virtual world too. In order to get back to their own world, they have to select three challenges, one of which is football, only to them, it is Street Soccer a.k.a. Bola Kampung. Thinking that it is a piece of cake, they find to their horror that football in the virtual world is played against giant robots. Will Iwan and his friends ever be able to return to their own world?

Finding Mr. Right (北京遇上西雅图)

Director: Xue Xiaolu
Cast: Tang Wei, Wu Xiu Bo
Running Time: 2 Hours 3 Minutes
Language:: Mandarin
Classification: U
Synopsis: Willful city girl Jia Jia travels to Seattle to give birth to the son that will help her win over her rich married boy friend. But nothing goes as plan when she is stranded in a small house with 2 other pregnant ladies unable to reach her boyfriend. Help came unexpectedly when driver Frank befriends her and was there through the birth of her son.
Trailer Impressions: It is not everyday that you get a contemporary China production coming to Malaysia, not counting Hong Kong (which has been sending out misses so far this year). Finding Mr. Right (北京遇上西雅图) is a lighthearted look into maternity tourism; a major contention issue between the former British colony and their Mainland overlords, but instead of diving head first into the heat, it tries to sidestep it by placing the location to sleepless Seattle. I haven't seen any of Xue Xiaolu's works so this rare Chinese modern rom-com has my curiosity, if not expecting too many political undertones but more of satirical jabs.

Gila-Gila Remaja 2

Director: V Nagaraj
Cast: Hairul Azreen, Faralyna Idris, Fizz Fairuz, Taiyuddin Bakar
Running Time: 1 Hours 40 Minutes
Language:: Malay
Classification: P13
Synopsis: The sequel of the 1985 classic "Gila-Gila Remaja" follows the modern youngsters in Malaysian society and takes a long ride to see the struggles faced by the young guns with actions, comedy, relationships and family. Hairul Azreen as Afiq is a youth who comes from a wealthy family and is interested in only motorcycle races and dance. Meanwhile, Faralyna Idris as Lisa is a poor village girl who mostly keeps to herself. Fizz Fairuz plays Haikal, Lisa's strict brother who tries to control Lisa's conversations and acquaintances. In college, Afiq falls for Lisa, but Lisa misunderstands Afiq behaviour because of their closeness, as she is also Erna's best friend. Kris, who is interested in Erna, is jealous of Erna and Afiq's friendship, which leads to a rivalry between the two.

Side Effects

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum
Running Time: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
Language:: English
Classification: 18
Synopsis: "Side Effects" is a provocative thriller about Emily and Martin (Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum), a successful New York couple whose world unravels when a new drug prescribed by Emily's psychiatrist (Jude Law) that is intended to treat her anxiety has unexpected side effects.

Trailer Impression: Steven Soderbergh's so-called 'last' film before he goes to (semi-)retirement from making films (though I hardly believe it will take long). Just after Magic Mike, Soderbergh is back to making medical-related thrillers after the paranoia that was Contagion. Adding new strong faces (Rooney Mara) and reusing old ones (Jude Law), Soderbergh seems to have a solid cast to deliver the chilling side effects of anti-depressants; a subject that could be of interest if you watched I Am Fishead.

The Croods

Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Emma Stone
Running Time: 1 Hour 38 Minutes
Language:: English
Classification: P13
Synopsis: A computer-animated film from DreamWorks Animation set in the prehistoric era, when a man's position as Leader of the Hunt is threatened by the arrival of a prehistoric genius who comes up with revolutionary new inventions like fire. Surviving in a volcanic world is tough enough, but caveman Grug (Cage) gets a rude awakening when an earthquake forces him to leave behind the only world he knows. With his family in tow, he ventures out into the volatile world in search of a new home. The situation becomes even more complicated when Grug's eldest daughter, Eep (Stone) falls for a nomad (Reynolds) they encounter on their dangerous journey, whose quirky and imaginative search for 'tomorrow' is at odds with Grug's reliance on the traditions of yesterday.

Trailer Impression: After running paralleled to Blue Sky's Ice Age franchise, this time DreamWorks is going head-on to immitate the formula of family survival in a pre-historic age. There have been some surprising comments about this so far that makes it more than meets the eyes of its marketing, so it might be worth checking out to see if this has any strong chance to be an early Oscar contender.

FilmBah's Pick of the Week

Another good week that could get better by the time is month is up. I do have to miss some of these releases, but would probably catch them through other means. It all comes down to between Soderbergh's Side Effects and last week's Warm Bodies, which I have yet to see in favour of Django Unchained. While I suspect the the showtimes of Warm Bodies would be more forgiving, because Malaysian audiences don't want to see good movies in bigger halls, I do feel a little urge to see Soderbergh off before I see his name for a while.

 Releases according to CinemaOnline.