Song For Marion

Tonight I have been to see Song For Marion.

Terence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave star in this tender comedy drama. Crotchety Arthur (Terence Stamp) is married to Marion (Vanessa Redgrave). Much loved by her husband, Marion is tragically dying of cancer and wants to get the maximum enjoyment out of life. She sings in the local seniors chorus named The OAPZ - so named because the conductor Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton) wants the chorus to sound 'street'. Elizabeth's aim is to introduce the pensioners to contemporary music from artists like Gnarls Barkley as they prepare for an important Choir of the Year competition. But when Marion is stricken by her illness and unable to participate, it falls to grumpy Arthur to step up to the plate. Will he be able to do his beloved wife proud? The stage is set for a funny and moving story of reconciliation and the redemptive power of music, featuring the unforgettable image of elderly pensioners crooning Ace of Spades by Motorhead!

Beautiful Creatures

A young witch sets out to change her destiny in this brooding, dark teen fantasy. Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert) is a new arrival in the town of Gatlin. A loner at high school, where she is the subject of malicious gossip, Lena lives an isolated existence with her family in a crumbling mansion. Soon, she finds herself attracted to Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), who is bored of small-town life - but Lena has an amazing secret. She and her family are in fact 'casters,' witches who possesses strange and mystical powers. However, Lena and Ethan's romance is threatened by the imminent arrival of her sixteenth birthday, when her powers will be 'claimed' for either light or dark. If she is seized by the forces of darkness, Lena will be powerful enough to rule over all mankind. Can she escape the age-old curse and change her fate? This visually stunning combination of fantasy and romance is adapted from the first novel in the hit Caster Chronicles series.

Hitchcock

Anthony Hopkins plays legendary director Alfred Hitchcock and Helen Mirren is Hitch's wife Alma Reville in this witty biographical drama. As the 'Master of Suspense,' Hitchcock extended a powerful influence over cinema and generations of directors. He forever sealed his reputation with the release of his ground breaking 1960 horror, Psycho, one which turned the shower into an object of pure terror. Now Sacha Gervasi's affectionate film takes a peek behind the (shower) curtain, exploring the marriage between Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) as it plays out against the backdrop of this cinematic masterpiece. From the financial difficulties that arise out of Hitchcock's decision to fund the movie himself to the pressures Reville feels as she supports her husband from the sidelines, Gervasi's film takes a fresh look at this monumental figure. Screen siren Scarlett Johansson co-stars as the unforgettable Janet Leigh whose role as the ill-fated Marion Crane was to terrify audiences worldwide.

Flight

Tonight I have been to see Flight.

Denzel Washington stars in this compelling drama as an airline pilot whose turbulent personal life is exposed. William 'Whip' Whitaker (Washington) is a hard-living womaniser with an alcohol and drug problem. The morning after a boozy episode in an Orlando hotel room, Whip is scheduled to make a routine trip to Atlanta. After a rough take-off, the flight appears to be progressing smoothly - until the plane plummets into a terrifying, heart-stopping dive. Seasoned pilot Whip miraculously manages to land the plane, saving the lives of nearly everyone on-board and his heroism is duly applauded. But then details of his lifestyle begin to surface, casting doubt over his entire character. Can a man still be a hero even when he has a dark side? That's the dilemma at the centre of thought-provoking drama Flight. Robert Zemeckis' first live action film since Cast Away features a riveting turn from Washington as a man thrown into a personal crisis of increasingly stormy proportions.

Les Miserables

Tonight I have been to see Les Miserables.

A ground-breaking film adaptation of the global hit stage musical, with an all-star cast singing their parts live. After serving a long prison sentence for a petty crime, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) becomes a noble force for good. But he reckons without Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe), the policeman who pursues him obsessively for breaking his parole. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of French revolutionary history, Victor Hugo's classic 1862 novel has been adapted for stage and screen many times. But no version is better loved than the stage musical, which continues to break records in its 27th year. In bringing this powerful story of broken dreams and unrequited love to the screen, 'The King's Speech' director Tom Hooper decided to have the performers sing live rather than miming to a recording. The result is a spectacular musical epic of extraordinary immediacy. Its superlative cast also includes Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

The Impossible

Tonight I have been to see The Impossible.

Ewan McGregor stars in an astonishingly realistic disaster movie recreating the 2004 Asian tsunami. British couple Henry (Ewan McGregor) and Maria (Naomi Watts) are enjoying the Christmas holiday of a lifetime in the luxury Thai resort of Khao Lak with their three young sons. On 26 December 2004, the family are relaxing in the pool area when they hear an ominous rumble in the distance. Before they have a chance to react, the entire resort is engulfed in a giant wave as the tsunami strikes. Battered by an intense rush of turbid water, Henry and Maria are separated. In a landscape of utter devastation, they struggle desperately to find and re-unite their family. Based on an incredible true story, 'The Impossible' is a breathtaking, edge-of-seat thriller with a powerful emotional core. It's Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez's follow-up to their haunting ghost story 'The Orphanage'.

Life Of Pi

Last night I went to see Life Of Pi.

A visually stunning, magical journey of adventure involving a young castaway and a Bengal tiger! Piscine Molitor Patel (Suraj Sharma), known to everyone as Pi, was raised in Pondicherry, India, during the 1970s. His rich and unusual upbringing took place in a zoo owned by his father (Adil Hussain), who taught him that animals do not think like humans. Now India is undergoing a dramatic upheaval, so the Patels decide to emigrate to Canada with 17-year-old Pi and some of their beasts. But a terrible storm causes their ship to sink and Pi is cast adrift aboard a raft with his mortal enemy: a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker! Yann Martel's novel was a massive critical and commercial hit, selling more than seven million copies and winning the 2001 Man Booker Prize. Now this much-loved spiritual fable of survival has been brought vividly to the screen by visionary director Ang Lee, who gave us 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Brokeback Mountain'