11/21/2009 1:55:59 PM

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By RWC®/DVS®

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April 2009

Return to Table of Contents April 2009

In Theatres

Your monthly guide to new releases

By Ingrid Randoja

APRIL 3

FAST & FURIOUS (pictured above)

You know a film series has been around a long time when a “midquel” enters the franchise canon. This fourth F&F film brings back the cast — Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster — from the first movie for a story that takes place between the second and third flicks. Got that? The plot revolves around ex-con Dom Toretto (Diesel) and federal agent Brian O’Connor (Walker) teaming up to right a wrong...and drive tricked-up cars really fast.

CLOUD 9

Inge (Ursula Werner) is a sixtysomething, married German woman who catches the eye of 76-year-old Karl (Horst Westphal), and before you know it these two seniors are romping in bed, enjoying a late-life season of passion that catches them both off guard.

THE POOL

Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan) is a poor Indian boy who dreams of swimming in the pristine pool owned by a wealthy family. He even gets a job working for the family in the hopes of making his dream come true.

ADVENTURELAND

In the summer of 1987 college grad James (Jesse Eisenberg) gets a job at a cheesy amusement park to make enough money for a trip to Europe.

APRIL 8

DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION

We’d have an easier time explaining wave-particle duality than the complexities of the manga-based Dragonball universe. All you need to know is that Goku (Justin Chatwin) must locate the seven mystical Dragonballs before the evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters) can get his nasty hands on them and rule the world.

Miley Cyrus as Miley Stewart in
Hannah Montana: The Movie

APRIL 10

HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE

It seems Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) is getting too big for her britches, allowing her pop-star alter ego — Hannah Montana — to behave most diva-ish. Her aw shucks dad (Billy Ray Cyrus) has had enough, and ships Miley back to her small hometown in Tennessee, where the uppity teen learns to appreciate hay, pie bake-offs and gingham.

OBSERVE AND REPORT

While Paul Blart: Mall Cop offered a PG take on the glory-seeking security guard, Observe and Report uses raunchy, R-rated black comedy to mine the same vein. Seth Rogen stars as shopping mall security guard Ronnie Barnhardt, who believes it’s his destiny to capture the flasher who’s been lurking around the mall, and win the heart of Brandi (Anna Faris), the party-hearty gal who works at a makeup counter. But Ronnie’s delusions of grandeur push him into vigilante territory.

HUNGER

British artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen’s acclaimed debut movie is a visceral and gut-wrenchingly candid retelling of the 1981 IRA Hunger Strike inside Maze Prison, during which prisoner Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) leads his fellow IRA inmates on a hunger strike to protest the group’s brutal treatment and the fact they’re labeled criminals instead of political prisoners.

TULPAN

Asa returns home to the deserted steppes of southern Kazakhstan to take up the life of a nomadic shepherd. But he’ll have to marry first, and the only available woman, Tulpan, doesn’t want him because she thinks his ears are too big. But Asa won’t be dissuaded, and sets out to win Tulpan’s heart.

Jason Statham in Crank: High Voltage

APRIL 17

CRANK: HIGH VOLTAGE

If you’re going to make a sequel to Crank, an action flick that sported a ridiculous concept — badass assassin Chev Chelios (Jason Statham) will die if his heart rate drops below a certain number of beats per minute — you’ve got to up the preposterous premise ante. This time around Chev’s heart is replaced by a battery-powered version that will stop unless it gets jolted with powerful electric boosts every so often. (That’s gonna hurt.)

STATE OF PLAY

An all-star cast — Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman — help bring the critically acclaimed BBC miniseries to the big screen. Crowe plays an investigative reporter looking into the murder of the mistress of a popular congressman (Affleck). His snooping uncovers corruption and betrayal that goes higher than anyone could have imagined.

SUGAR

Celebrate the start of baseball season with this flick about poor Dominican pitcher Miguel “Sugar” Santos (Algenis Perez Soto), whose dream of playing pro ball is set in motion when he’s brought up to pitch for a farm team in Iowa. But the culture shock and homesickness he experiences could derail his career before it even begins.

17 AGAIN

Mike O’Donnell (Matthew Perry) is a depressed 37-year-old businessman whose wife (Leslie Mann) wants a divorce and whose kids (Michelle Trachtenberg, Sterling Knight) ignore him. However, his crisis turns into a second chance when he magically transforms into his 17-year-old self (Zac Efron). Suddenly he’s the hot man on campus once more, but this time around he’s got to mentor his loser son and fend off his own daughter, who thinks he’s hot.

APRIL 22

EARTH

The heralded BBC TV documentary series is packaged into a full-length feature by Disney’s new “Nature” division. The film uses stunning cinematography to recount a year in the life of three different animal groups — polar bears, elephants and humpback whales.

APRIL 24

FIGHTING

Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) is barely getting by selling counterfeit goods on the streets of New York. But that all changes when he’s recruited by a street-fighting impresario (Terrence Howard) to brawl in underground matches for big bucks. Their success catches the attention of mobsters, who want a piece of Shawn’s fight club skills.

OBSESSED

Ali Larter (Heroes) stars as a seductive office temp who stalks a happily married man (Idris Elba) and makes life hell for his wife (Beyoncé Knowles).

THE SOLOIST

This uplifting drama is based on the real-life meeting between Los Angeles Times reporter Steven Lopez (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nathaniel Ayers (Jamie Foxx), a homeless man who was once a musical prodigy. Ayers developed schizophrenia while studying at Juilliard, and eventually ended up living on the streets of L.A. where he played violin and cello for fellow down-and-out folks — that is until Lopez came into his life.

SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN

BECEL LOVE YOUR HEART CONCERT

Thurs., Apr. 23, 7 p.m.

Join Diana Krall, Chantal Kreviazuk and friends in this exclusive simulcast concert event benefiting the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s The Heart Truth, an initiative to raise awareness of women’s heart health.