What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…
Genre: Hilarious Comedy, with a hint of Action
Studio: Legendary Pictures
Release date: June 5, 2009

Tagline: Some guys just can’t handle Vegas!

Director: Brooklyn born artist Todd Phillips is equally successful as a director, writer, producer and (rarely) an actor. He is currently working on a movie Due Date, and his most famous achievements so far are films: frat House, Road trip, Starsky & Hutch, School for Scoundrels. He is very famous for directing hilarious, often dark, comedies.

Writer: The screenplay for The Hangover was made by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The two have already worked on various very successful movies like: Four Christmases, Full of it, Rebound and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

Ed Helms is playing the role of nerdy Stu Price, the man who just doesn’t have any luck, and whose life is about to change in Vegas. This brilliant actor has been working on: The Night at the Museum, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Monsters vs. Aliens, The Office and Family Guy; so you probably know him from these movies or TV shows.

Zach Galifianakis is also an excellent addition to the cast – witty, funny and charming, he is portraying Alan garner, troublemaker. Galifianakis has also been very active in the past few years, playing in American dad, Into the Wild, Wonder Showzen etc.

One of the funniest roles in the movie is the one played by hilarious Ken Jeong. He is portraying Mr. Chow, and you will surely be laughing every time he hits the screen. Recently, Jeong has been spectacular in the TV hit series Community.
Finally let us introduce the lady in the movie – heather Graham, she is playing jade, and is really stunning, charming and beautiful as always. (Her biggest success so far is Austin Powers: The Spy who shagged me).
There is one special cameo in The Hangover; we have to mention – Mike Tyson. Former sport superstar and the boxing World Champion is credited as himself and you will love his character.
Plot summary: Doug and Tracy are getting married. Before the wedding, Dog hits Vegas with his best friends and her brother, in order to have fun and party before he gets married. His friends are immature, his wife’s brother is even worse, but they are all keen and eager to party.

Once they get to Vegas, trouble begins. After one wild night, guys wake up with the worst hangover, Doug is missing, and they have no clue what happened last night. Their suite is ruined, they are exhausted and barely alive, and the worst part is – they have just few hours to find Doug and clean up this mess because they have a wedding to attend.

Recommendation: This is a real funny comedy we have been waiting for. Go out with your friends, check out The Hangover and have fun, watching how our heroes solve some crazy problems and try to survive the craziest night of their lives!

11 TOUCHING STORIES ABOUT LOVE AND NEW YORK
Genre: Melodrama, Romance with a hint of Comedy

Studio: Vivendi Entertainment

Release date: October 16, 2009

Directors: New York I love you, is a movie consisting of eleven short features, directed by various artists, and approximately 10 minutes long. Each director is a very famous name, and in a way connected to NY (either born there, or currently residing in the city).

Here is the list of directors and their most famous movies:
Fatih Akin (Gegen Die Wand / Head On)
Yvan Attal (I got a woman, Happily ever after)
Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents, American Pimp)
Brett Ratner (Red Dragon, W-Man, Blue Blood)
Shunji Iwai (Suwaroteiru, Undo)
Wen Jiang (The Sun Also Rises)
Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace, Bitter Memories)
Mira Nair (Monsoon Rain, Amelia, Vanity Fair)
Natalie Portman (actress: V for Vendetta, Star Wars, and Garden State)
Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age)
And Randall Balsmeyer – who directed transmissions

Writer: Emmanuel Benbihy is the writer of the whole New York I Love You concept, and each director worked on further developing his own story. Benbihy also worked on a previous selection of films inspired by one legendary city – Paris je t’aime. (Movies inspired by Shanghai, Rio and Jerusalem are currently in development).

Cast: This movie (actually, these short movies) gathered spectacular cast: Hollywood stars, European icons, legendary actors, and brilliant newcomers. Here is the list of famous faces you will see in New York I Love You, and their most memorable roles so far:
Andy Garcia (Things to do in Denver when You’re dead, Desperate Measures, Twisted)
Bradley Cooper (Hangover, Nip/Tuck, Yes Man)
Shia LaBeouf (Transformers, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)
Blake Lively (Gossip Girl)
Robin Wright Penn (What Just Happened, Beowolf, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Forest Gump)
Hayden Christensen (Star Wars, The Virgin Suicides)
Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Troy, Haven)
Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow, Prozac Nation, The Ice Storm)
Rachel Bilson (The O.C, Unbroken, The Last Kiss)
Ethan Hawke (Reality Bites, Gattaca, Before Sunrise)
and many more

Plot summary: New York is the city that never sleeps, a big apple embracing millions of people from all over the world. Every moment of every day, love is in the air in NY. This movie shows us different stories and destinies of New Yorkers who are spontaneous, love seeking and often quite unhappy. They live, love, hurt and share their secrets with their town, which is totally personalized in this movie. From Tribecca to Brooklyn, through upper-eastside and over Manhattan, love is everywhere and it comes in various shapes and sizes, often charming and beautiful, but still hurtful and painful.

You will meet all kinds of people, different characters and faces, their love life and their wishes. Some of them will be charming, others you will feel sorry for, and there are ones that will remind you of the people you know and love. All in all, you will see how new Yorkers love and live, and all that through the eyes of 11 different marvellous directors.

Recommendation: Spectacular, inspiring and hearth warming! This is a must see, especially if you are a lady, a romantic soul or in love with New York.

Bright Star

Genre: Biographic movie, Romantic Melodrama

Studio: Apparition, and Pathe Distribution

Release date: September 18, 2009 (US release date)
November 6, 2009 (UK release date)

Tagline: First Love Burns Brightest!

Director: Jane Campion is an Academy Award winner (for her movie The Piano), and a brilliant portraitist of various human nature’s, stories and destinies. This New Zealand born artist is equally successful as a writer and director and her most memorable movies are: The Piano, Portrait of a Lady, Holy Smoke, In the Cut, and The Water Diary.

Cast: Ben Wishaw is a spectacularly talented young British actor, nominated for BAFTA, Bambi and European Film Award, for his remarkable role in the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. He has been very active since, and made few amazing movies: The International, I’m Not There and Briteshead Revisited. In this feature, Ben Wishaw is portraying John Keats.

Lovely Abbie Cornish is playing the role of Frances Fanny Brawne in the movie Bright Star. She is an Australian actress and a true rising star in Hollywood with amazing filmography; she played in: One Perfect Day, Everything Goes, Candy, Elizabeth: The Golden Age etc.
Paul Schneider is portraying Charles Armitage Brown in the Bright Star, and we know him from: Away We Go, Lars and the Real Girl, Live free or die and other movies.

Kerry Fox is in the role of Mrs. Brawne. She is also a New Zealander, and well known to true cinematography lovers. Her biggest movies so far are: Inconceivable, He Said, Intervention, Cold Blood, and many more.

Plot summary: The movie bright Star follows a secret love affair between a young, talented, but very poor poet named John Keats and his neighbour; charming student of fashion college – Fanny Brawne. Against all odds these two start hanging out, and despite the fact they are completely different, they fall in love, out of the blue. He was never interested in fashion and she didn’t admire his poetry at all.

After his brother get ill, she decides to help John nurse him back to health, and starts hanging out with him even more, asking him to teach her about the poetry, which he agrees to do. The world of poetry becomes their connection, and the love affairs starts blooming. Her mother finds out about their romance, and decides to put an end to it, but by then, it is already too late, they are in love, obsessed and completely co-dependent.

Unfortunately, family is not their biggest problem. John Keats starts feeling worse and worse and they found out that he is terribly ill. That is when the real pain emerges because although their love is strong, and great – there are some things they can’t overcome together; and his illness is one of them.

Recommendation: Jane Campion is the true master of portraying touching love stories so prepare to be blown away by all those emotions this movie is packed with. Poetry transformed in a movie that is what Bright Star is. Brilliant, strong, and fool of love. This fall – it is a must see movie!

LET’S PLAY

Genre: Animated movie full of Adventure; excellent Comedy for the whole Family

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Release date: June 18, 2009

Tagline: No toy gets left behind

Writers: John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton were in charge of treatment, and screenplay was written and developed by Michael Arndt. Talented Mr. Arndt won Academy Award and BAFTA for his previous movie Little Miss Sunshine, so the expectations are very high regarding third sequel of Toy Story Saga. Pixar Animated Studios had an idea to hire someone fresh, new and with a great sense of humour for this third part and Michael Arndt is certainly an excellent choice.

Director: Toy Story 3 is directed by Lee Unkrich, the man behind Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo. He has also been working on A Bug’s Life and Cars, and has won Annie and Hochi Film Awards.

Tom Hanks is reprising his role of Woody. He is an Academy Award Winner and one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. You know him from: Philadelphia, Apollo 13, Forest Gump, Catch me if you Can, Big, Punchline, Turner and Hooch, Sleepless in Seattle and many more.

Another Academy Award Winner – Whoopi Goldberg is back for the Toy Story 3. She is currently hosting The View, but made memorable roles in The Ghost, Steam, Whoopi, Absolutely Fabulous, Rat Race etc.

Joan Cusack is narrating Jessie the Yodelling Cowgirl. This Oscar nominee is absolutely fantastic in this animated feature, and has proven her talent in the past in movies: Working Girl, Nine Months, War Inc, Runaway bride, Raising Helen…

Michael Keaton is also a wonderful actor and he is doing the voiceover for the character called Ken, in the Toy Story 3. He has been acting for over 20 years and we know him as Batman, and from Jackie Brown, Multiplicity, My Life, and Speechless.

Among other members of the cast, you will certainly recognize timothy Dalton (former Agent 007) who’s playing Mr. Pricklepants, and fantastic Tim Allen (Home improvement, galaxy Quest), a Golden Globe Winner, who’s here narrating the character named Buzz Lightyear.

Plot summary: Andy, the owner of toys, is going to college, and all his toys will end up in the attic. That was the original plan, but, accidentally, toys were thrown away and picked up by the garbage cleaners. Toys end up in the children day-care centre, having to deal with little kids who aren’t always the nicest ones. They try to escape, but Buzz unfortunately gets injured. Toys normally, try to help by resetting him – but fail, and so Buzz ends up thinking that he is Spanish, and that is a character someone will adore but others won’t quite understand.

Toy Story 3 is a must see movie, don’t miss it for the world!

KEEP YOUR HANDS OF THE HAIR
Genre: Documentary movie with a Comedy written all over
Studio: Roadside Attractions and Kinosmith

Tagline: Daddy, how come I don’t have a good hair?

Director: Jeff Stilson (winner of Primetime Emmys for The Osbournes and The Chris Rock Show).He was a writer, producer, director and even actor in critically acclaimed shows like: Da Ali G Show, MTV VMA’s, Academy Awards Show, and Late Show with David Letterman. Stilson is a true legend among writers and directors of live award shows, and especially reality TV programmes which he has been doing for over a decade. This documentary – Good Hair – gained excellent reviews and established Jeff Stilson as a remarkable documentary director.

Co-writers: Chris Rock is the main idea developer and the person who gathered the whole creative team on this documentary. Co-writers are Jeff Stilson (also a director of this film), Lance Crouther, Paul Marchand, and Chuck Sklar – they are all Rock’s friends and were working with him on Everybody Hates Chris (his super successful TV series).

Cast: This documentary is edited and presented as a series of interviews with famous African American people, who talk about their obsession with hair.

Chris Rock is critically acclaimed actor and he has a wide range of fans among celebrities, so it comes as no surprise that more than 20 famous African Americans agreed to be a part of Good Hair.

Here is a list of those who talk about their “good hair” in this documentary:
Sandra Denton a.k.a Pepa (singer, from a band called Salt’N’Pepa)
Maya Angelou (actress – Down in the Delta, How to make an American Quilt)
Eve (famous rap, r’n’b musician)
Meagan Good (actress – The love Guru, Kevin Hill)
Ice-T (legendary rap musician, and actor – Law&Order: SVU)
KRS-One (famous r’n’b artist)
Raven Symone (actress – Cheetah Girls, Kim Possible, Tinker Bell: The Winter Story)
Kerry Washington (actress – Boston legal, I think I love My Wife, Mr. and Mrs. Smith)

Plot summary: What would you do if your 5-year old daughter would ask you this question: “Daddy, how come I don’t have a good hair?” Well, if you were Chris Rock, you’d make a movie about the “good hair” and investigate the $9 billion dollars industry revolving around black hair.

Rock found a perfect balance between a serious aspect of this topic and funny approach we are all used to, when it comes to this stand-up comedy king. Many famous artists talk about their hair “insecurity” and passion and discuss their experiences (some are hilarious, others are seriously shocking).

Recommendation: Good Hair received excellent critics and won a Special Jury Prize on Sundance Film festival. It is an excellent documentary about the world we live in, beauty and aesthetic norms we are exposed to, and eventually about our need to change our natural look, for no good reason, most of the times. Touchy and hilarious – a definite must see!

Explore, Learn, Live and love
Genre: Drama with a hint of Romance, Period Piece set in the 1960s

Studio: Koch Entertainment (for United Kingdom) and Sony Pictures Classics (for USA)

Tagline: Sometimes an education isn’t by the book

Director: Lone Scherfig, famous female director from Denmark. She is also a writer and has won (so far) more than 20 awards on various international festivals: Berlin International Film Festival, British Independent Film Award etc. Her most successful works up to date are: Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, Italiensk for Begyndere and Hjemve.

Cast: Director Lone Scherfig is known for her excellent casting sense, and in this movie she hired fabulous actors, both newcomers and recognizable legends.

Carey Mulligan (24 years old British actress) is portraying a main character – lovely Jenny. This extremely talented young actress already starred in few wonderful movies and TV series like: Pride & Prejudice, Doctor Who, Brighton Rock, Never Let Me Go, and Public Enemies etc.

Alfred Molina, legendary British actor (and Toni nominated artist) is playing Jenny’s father – Jack. You certainly recognize him from Art, Law & Order, Spider-man 2, Frida, Raiders of the Lost Ark…

Golden Globe nominee Peter Sarsgaard is playing the role of David; a mysterious, charming and loveable older man Jenny meets and falls in love with. He is best known for his roles in Shattered Glass, Kinsey, Orphan, Garden State, Boys Don’t Cry…

David has a partner and a best friend Denny, and he is played by young actor Dominic Cooper. You may know Mr. Cooper from Sense & Sensibility, Starter for 10, Mamma Mia, The Duchess.

Gorgeous Rosamund Pike is playing Denny’s mistress, charming and experienced Helen. Rosamund Pake rose to fame playing various characters (and winning many international awards) in movies: Die another Day, Surrogates, Fracture, Doom, and Devil You Know.

Finally, biggest acting legend on this list is Emma Thompson, who won 2 Academy Awards (for Sense and Sensibility and Howards End) is playing a role of Jenny’s Headmistress. She is (as always) brilliant and proves why she truly is the true icon of British acting.

Plot summary: Jenny is a young, gifted and very intelligent young girl. She is almost 17 years old, and her life changes drastically once she meets and older man David, and falls in love with him. Before she fell in love, her biggest dream was to get a scholarship and go to Oxford University.

But, after meeting David, and learning how care free and happy life can be, she starts forgetting what she originally wanted to achieve. David is wealthy and provides her with things she never thought she would have. But, one day, the truth hits her and she finds out a bit more about her charming older boyfriend and his friends.

Recommendation: An Education won 2 awards at Sundance in 2009 – Audience Choice and Cinematography prize. It is an absolute must see this year!

This year’s highly anticipated horror movie “The Stepfather” is actually a remake of a popular thriller/horror from 1987, originally directed by Joseph Ruben. This comes as no surprise if you follow the movie industry nowadays, because this year is certainly the year of remakes, in all genres.

The idea about the remake of “The Stepfather” exists for few years now, but the production started last year and film was wrapped in 2009. Since the release the movie gathered mostly negative critics, because unlike the original (which is considered a cult movie in its genre) it lacks tension, drama and thriller part. As for the profit, it made more than $24 millions, which is more than invested budget (around $20 million) so it gained profit after all.

Terry O’Quinn, an actor who played the original stepfather in 1987, was approached by the director Nelson McCormick, with an offer to appear in this remake, but he decided to turn down the offer. In this reworked “The Stepfather” Dylan Walsh (Dr. Sean McNamara from “Nip/Tuck”) is playing the role of the bad father and main villain David Harris.

One more famous actor is in the cast – Penn Badgley, known as Dan Humphrey from ultra successful TV show “Gossip Girl”. He is playing a smart, suspicious young man Michael Harding who eventually finds out something’s wrong with his stepfather. Rising star Amber Heard (from “The Informers”, “Pineapple Express” and “Zombieland”) is playing Kelly, his girlfriend and a companion in his fight against the sneaky, evil stepdad.
Here is the plot summary of new version of “The Stepfather”. When young Michael Harding returns home from military camp where he goes to school, he finds his mother with her new man she’s deeply in love with – David Harris. He looks like a perfect partner, carrying father, great role model and the nice, warm and loving person. Eventually, Michael starts suspecting that this picture perfect gentleman is perhaps not the guy he seems to be.

Michael gathers his girlfriend, father and mother’s friends together, and they start solving the David Harris mystery. There’s only one question left – what are his motifs, and more important, are they too late to stop him?

This is an intense movie, strong psychological thriller with various horror elements. Music is excellent and actors are very persuasive. But, if you are a fan of an original, then you may not be thrilled with this remake since it is very similar, and maybe lacks some tension which was included in the original.

Anyhow, fans of the genre will certainly be satisfied because “The Stepfather” is definitely bringing some drama and chills to the theater. If you decide you want to see a good horror movie at the cinema, put “The Stepfather” on your list.