Hope Springs (Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell) in Theatres on August 22, 2012

Hope Springs (2012)

Audience
Rating: 3.6/5
Liked the Movie: 69% (n=11,235)

Critics
Rating: 3.4/5
Reviews Counted: 75% (n=110)


Reviews

"Led by a pair of mesmerizing performances from Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, Hope Springs offers filmgoers some grown-up laughs -- and a thoughtful look at mature relationships." - rottentomatoes.com

"Director to Jones: "Just be yourself." Works for me. Master class in acting from the two leads." - Richard Roeper, richardroeper.com

"A surprise that sneaks up and moves you, "Hope Springs" has the courage of its awkwardness, and this is said admiringly in the spirit of the film, which is irony-free and unfashionably earnest." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"Yes, this is the fascinating stuff, a rare (in pop culture) look at the complex nature of the love-sex equation -- when it's too direct, when it's too vague, when it breaks down completely." - Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

"If the film doesn't really explore the pain and bitterness of this marriage, it's still leagues ahead of most such attempts." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

"It's gratifying to see a movie that doesn't have anything to do with superheroics or the end of the world, merely ordinary heroics of the human heart." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"It will make you want to go home and have sex with your spouse afterward. Or at least share a longer hug or a more passionate kiss." - Christy Lemire, Associated Press


Movie Info

Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) are a devoted couple, but decades of marriage have left Kay wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her husband. When she hears of a renowned couple's specialist (Steve Carell) in the small town of Great Hope Springs, she attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Just convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough - the real challenge for both of them comes as they shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place. -- (C) Sony

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hr. 40 min.

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Directed By: David Frankel

Written By: Vanessa Taylor

Distributed By: Sony Pictures

Cast
Meryl Streep (Kay)
Tommy Lee Jones (Arnold)
Steve Carell (Doctor Feld)
Ben Rappaport (Brad their son)
Jean Smart (Eileen Kay's friend)
Elisabeth Shue (Karen the bartender)
Mimi Rogers (Carol the neighbor)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

Total Recall (Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel) in Theatres on August 22, 2012

Total Recall (2012)

Audience
Rating: 3.2/5
Liked the Movie: 48% (n=53,587)

Critics
Rating: 2.6/5
Liked the Movie: 31% (n=149)


Reviews

"If you share its desire for straight adrenaline, the ride works." - Tom Long, Detroit News

"While it boasts some impressive action sequences, Total Recall lacks the intricate plotting, wry humor, and fleshed out characters that made the original a sci-fi classic." - rottentomatoes.com

"Casting and visuals are an upgrade, but we get far too many action sequences and not enough of the mind games." - Richard Roeper, richardroeper.com

"It's big and it's loud, but ultimately not much more than that." - Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

"One of the great advantages of remaking a movie is being given the opportunity to correct problems - something not attempted here." - James Berardinelli, ReelViews

"The Total Recall reboot is a futuristic fiasco, two hours you'll never get back - and every minute is a bad memory." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone


Movie Info

Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) who he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police - controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston), the leader of the free world - Quaid teams up with a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) to find the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy) and stop Cohaagen. -- (C) Sony

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 1 min.

Genre: Action & Adventure, Science Fiction & Fantasy

Directed By: Len Wiseman

Written By: Kurt Wimmer

Distributed By: Sony Pictures

Cast
Colin Farrell (Douglas Quaid)
Kate Beckinsale (Lori Quaid)
Bryan Cranston (Cohaagen, Vilos Cohaagen)
Jessica Biel (Melina)
Bill Nighy (Kuato, Matthias, Quatto)
Bokeem Woodbine (Harry)
John Cho (McClane)
Will Yun Lee (Marek)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

"The Bourne Legacy" (Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton) in Theatres on August 8, 2012

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Critics
Rating: 3/5
Liked the Movie: 43% (n=14)

Audience
Like to See the Movie: 85% (n=109,132)


Reviews

"Sets the stage for better and fuller adventures to come." - Kate Erbland, Boxoffice Magazine

"Writer and director Tony Gilroy, who penned all three previous episodes, has come up with an elegant solution that manages to widen out the story without feeling like a Hollywood cash-in." - James Mottram, The List

"Although there isn't nearly as much action as the original three movies, it's doubtful anyone will leave Legacy not wanting to see more of Renner and Weisz in these roles." - Edward Douglas, comingsoon.net

"Subbing character actor Jeremy Renner into a franchise that requires Matt Damon-caliber magnetism, series scribe Tony Gilroy takes over the helming duties with an overlong sequel that features too little action and an unnecessarily complicated plot." - Peter Debruge, Variety

"Stellar photography and effects cannot quite make up for the staleness of the series and the flatness of the principal character when compared to Matt Damon." - Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve

"Gilroy is an intelligent writer but he is not a technically skillful action director, and so he tries to compensate with a detailed but not very involving tale and characters that like to talk in one too many indoor scenes." - Emanuel Levy, emanuellevy.com

"The Bourne Legacy disgraces the family name" - Blake Howard, 2UE That Movie Show


Movie Info

The narrative architect behind the Bourne film series, Tony Gilroy, takes the helm in the next chapter of the hugely popular espionage franchise that has earned almost $1 billion at the global box office: The Bourne Legacy. The writer / director expands the Bourne universe created by Robert Ludlum with an original story that introduces us to a new hero (Jeremy Renner) whose life-or-death stakes have been triggered by the events of the first three films. For The Bourne Legacy, Renner joins fellow series newcomers Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Stacy Keach and Oscar Isaac, while franchise veterans Albert Finney, Joan Allen, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn reprise their roles. -- (C) Universal

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 2 hr. 5 min.

Genre: Mystery & Suspense, Action & Adventure

Directed By: Tony Gilroy

Distributed By: Universal Pictures

Cast
Jeremy Renner (Aaron Cross)
Edward Norton (Retired Col. Eric Byer)
Rachel Weisz (Dr. Marta Shearing)
Joan Allen (Pam Landy)
Albert Finney (Dr. Albert Hirsch)
Stacy Keach (Retired Adm. Mark Turso)
Scott Glenn (Ezra Kramer)
Oscar Isaac (Outcome #3)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

Schedule of Free Movie Screenings at Instituto Cervantes de Manila this August 2012

Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with Embajada de Argentina (Filipinas) invites you to their...

Free Movie Screenings

Instituto Cervantes' Salon de Actos
855 T.M. Kalaw St.
1000 Ermita
Manila, Filipinas


Schedule for August 2012
Contemporary Argentinian Films


August 2, 2012 (Thursday) - "The Mural" (110 mins)
7:00 PM

"The film recounts the various circumstances that led the painter David Alfaro Siqueiros to make a famous mural in the fifth Los Granados, property of Natalio Botana, with the help of Argentine painter Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Antonio Berni and John Carlos Castagnino and the Uruguayan Enrique Lazarus, more complicated and intertwined relations established between the characters of the story." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


August 4, 2012 (Saturday) - "Carancho" (107 mins)
2:00 PM

"Darin stars in this one as a sleazy, ambulance chasing personal injury lawyer who gets caught up in an escalating cycle of violence and while personal injury law may not strike you as the sexiest of topics the just-released trailer for this one is absolutely fantastic. Yes, please." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


August 11, 2012 (Saturday) - "Aballay, el hombre sin miedo" (100 mins)
2:00 PM

"Aballay was a bad tempered gaucho. After killing a man, the terrified look of the victim's son raised his consciousness about his savagery. Years go by, that kid's look doesn't leave him. Aballay knows that the kid will look for him." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


August 18, 2012 (Saturday) - "Cortazar" (80 mins)
2:00 PM

"Documentary about the Argentine writer Julio Cortazar." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


August 25, 2012 (Saturday) - "Camila" (105 mins)
2:00 PM

"In 1840's Buenos Aires, Argentina, a beautiful young socialite named Camila falls in love with Ladislao, a Jesuit priest. After several failed attempts at fighting his own feelings, he ultimately succumbs to her. The two later escape to a far off, secluded village where they assume new identities as husband and wife and begin running a children's school. After several months of relative happiness, the couple's identity is discovered by a local priest. Under moralistic pressure from both Camila's family and the Catholic church the authorities apprehend the lovers, and imprison them for sacrilege." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


August 30, 2012 (Thursday) - "The Internal Debt" (97 mins)
6:00 PM

"The story of the life of an Indian boy, Veronico Cruz, from his birth in one of the most remote parts of Argentina, until his death in the far-off south Atlantic during the Falklands / Malvinas War." - Instituto Cervantes de Manila


Admission to all the screenings is FREE on a FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED basis.

For more details and for reservations, please contact:
Tlf: (63-2)526-1482 - 85
Fax: (63-2)526-1449
Email: cenmni@cervantes.es

Or visit their website, this article's Source.

Taiwan Film Festival at the Shangri-La Plaza from August 2 - 6, 2012

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office presents...

Taiwan Film Festival

The works of award-winning director Hou Hsiao-Hsien will be featured in this year's Taiwan Film Festival

Shang Cineplex, Cinema 4, Shangri-La Plaza, Shaw Boulevard cor. EDSA
August 2 (Thursday) to 6 (Monday), 2012

Admission is FREE!
Tickets are issued 30 minutes before the screening on a First-Come, First-Served Basis.
Film ratings may be confirmed at the ticket office.
Movies and schedules are subject to change without prior notice.

Schedule at the Shangri-La Plaza

August 3 (Friday)
12:30 PM - The Boys From Fengkuei
3:00 PM - The Man Who Plants Trees
5:00 PM - Classmates
7:00 PM - Three Times

August 4 (Saturday)
12:30 PM - A Time to Live, A Time to Die
3:10 PM - Stars
5:40 PM - Grandma's Hairpin
7:40 PM - Dust in the Wind

August 5 (Sunday)
12:30 PM - The Boys From Fengkuei
3:00 PM - Classmates
4:30 PM - The Man Who Plants Trees
7:00 PM - Three Times

August 6 (Monday)
12:30 PM - Dust in the Wind
3:00 PM - Grandma's Hairpin
5:00 PM - Stars
7:30 PM - A Time to Live, A Time to Die

Step Up Revolution (Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman, Peter Gallagher) in Theatres on August 1, 2012

Step Up Revolution (2012)

Audience
Rating: 4.3/5
Liked the Movie: 86% (n=19,064)

Critics
Rating: 2.4/5
Liked the Movie: 36% (n=56)


Reviews

"No one goes to a "Step Up" movie for the plot or the romance. Only the dancing matters here." - Neil Genzlinger, New York Times

"Delivers plenty of spectacular fancy footwork in what is otherwise a flat-footed fantasy." - Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

"Step Up Revolution treads familiar territory by surrounding its lively and kinetic dance sequences with a predictably generic story." - rottentomatoes.com

"The choreography is solid throughout, but director Scott Speer gets in his own way every time, relentlessly shifting camera angles to close-ups and reaction shots when he should be letting us witness the spectacle." - Sara Stewart, New York Post

"While dance purists won't be impressed by the energetic and athletic choreography -- the dancers have clearly learned routines but not necessarily technique -- date-movie audiences will likely want to go out dancing afterward themselves, and that's fun." - Frank Lovece, Newsday

"[Guzman and McCormick] zero acting experience - and it shows. Same goes for the first-time movie director, Scott Speer, who can't coax even a passable performance from his amateurish cast..." - Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

"Step Up: Revolution" is the fourth of the "Step Up" movies, a series of unconnected stories that serve as showcases for the kinds of young stars who sincerely hope they'll soon be in better movies. - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"Will the next "Step Up" tackle the cutting-edge trend of planking?" - Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News


Movie Info

Step Up Revolution is the next installment in the worldwide smash Step Up franchise, which sets the dancing against the vibrant backdrop of Miami. Emily (Kathryn McCormick) arrives in Miami with aspirations of becoming a professional dancer and soon falls in love with Sean (Ryan Guzman), a young man who leads a dance crew in elaborate, cutting-edge flash mobs, called "The Mob." When a wealthy business man threatens to develop The Mob's historic neighborhood and displace thousands of people, Emily must band together with Sean and The Mob to turn their performance art into protest art, and risk losing their dreams to fight for a greater cause. -- (C) Summit

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hr. 37 min.

Genre: Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts

Directed By: Scott Speer

Written By: Jenny Mayer

Distributed By: Summit Entertainment

Cast
Ryan Guzman (Sean)
Kathryn McCormick (Emily)
Misha Gabriel (Eddy)
Peter Gallagher (Mr. Anderson)
Stephen Boss (Jason)
Mia Michaels (Olivia)
Megan Boone (Claire)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

Brave (Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson) in Theatres on August 1, 2012

Brave (2012)

Audience
Average Rating: 4/5
Liked the Movie: 82% (n=114,380)

Critics
Rating: 3.5/5
Liked the Movie: 77% (n=183)


Reviews

"I really hope that people will give this imaginative little fairy tale a chance, and I can't wait to show it to my 6-year-old daughter." - Dana Stevens, Slate

"In addition to being fast, funny, and unpretentious, Brave is a happy antidote to all the recent films in which women triumph by besting men at their own macho games..." - David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"Brave offers young audiences and fairy tale fans a rousing, funny fantasy adventure with a distaff twist and surprising depth." = rottentomatoes.com

"The tone is uneven and more often morose than joyful. The pacing is slow and at times almost tedious. The end result is something that feels like it was put together from a jumble of Disney clichés tacked onto the skeleton of Beauty and the Beast." - James Berardinelli, ReelViews

"It's a subpar story that seems to exist mainly to sell a new Disney Princess in the form of wild-haired Merida." - Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News

"While co-directors Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell have successfully made a family action fantasy featuring a girl hero - a long-overdue revolution - the story is not as special as the princess inside it." - Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

"We would expect this kind of overstuffed joyride from Dreamworks Animation or the folks at Fox or even Disney itself. But it's terribly ordinary for Pixar, and ordinary is no longer enough." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

"Brave" isn't a bull's-eye, but it's close enough. - Tom Long, Detroit News


Movie Info

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). Merida's actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late. -- (C) Disney

Rated: PG

Running Time: 1 hr. 33 min.

Genre: Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy

Directed By: Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews

Distributed By: Walt Disney Pictures

Cast
Kelly Macdonald (Merida)
Billy Connolly (King Fergus)
Emma Thompson (Queen Elinor)
Julie Walters (Wise Woman)
Kevin Mckidd (Lord MacGuffin)
Craig Ferguson (Lord Macintosh)
Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall)

Source: rottentomatoes.com