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In Theatres

Your monthly guide to new releases


By Ingrid Randoja

FEBRUARY 6

 

CORALINE (pictured above)

Nightmare Before Christmas director Henry Selick is a master of stop-motion animation, and now he pairs the old-school art form with cutting-edge 3D technology to tell the tale of an unhappy girl named Coraline (voiced by Dakota Fanning), who steps into an alternate version of her life. Her alternate-life parents dote on her, but there’s something sinister about their desire to keep her from returning home.


PUSH

Nick (Chris Evans) can move objects with his mind, Cassie (Dakota Fanning) can see the future, Kira (Camilla Belle) can implant thoughts into another person’s mind, and all three are being chased through the streets of Hong Kong by The Division, a government agency that controls people with extrasensory powers.


CHE: PART TWO

Director Steven Soderbergh brings the second half of his epic retelling of the life of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara (Benicio Del Toro) to the big screen. After having helped Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl bring socialism to Cuba, Che focuses on the rest of Latin America, and specifically Bolivia, where his dream of a successful revolution comes to a sad end.


HE’S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU

Based on the self-help book by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, this dramedy stars Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johansson and Ginnifer Goodwin as women who have difficulty understanding the various men in their lives.


FANBOYS

A group of Star Wars fanatics and longtime friends (including Jay Baruchel, Sam Huntington and Dan Fogler) drive across the country to sneak into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch and steal an early copy of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.


IT’S NOT ME, I SWEAR

Set in suburban Montreal during the summer of 1968, director Philippe Falardeau’s dark comedy focuses on 10-year-old Leon (Antoine L’écuyer), whose dysfunctional family leaves him feeling suicidal.

 

NURSE.FIGHTER.BOY

A dying nurse (Karen LeBlanc), her 11-year-son (Daniel C. Gordon) and a washed-up boxer-turned-street-fighter (Clark Johnson) come together in the most unexpected ways.


THE PINK PANTHER 2

Steve Martin returns as bumbling French Inspector Jacques Clouseau in this sequel to 2006’s The Pink Panther. Clouseau assembles a team of equally inept coppers — played by Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, Aishwarya Rai and Yuki Matsuzaki — to locate priceless stolen artifacts.

 


Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic

FEBRUARY 13

 

CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC

Making a comedy (based on the book by Sophie Kinsella) about a brand-obsessed young woman (Isla Fisher) with a shopping addiction who finds herself deep in debt may have sounded like a funny idea a few years back when the economy was booming, but that was then and this is now.

TWO LOVERS 

Leonard’s (Joaquin Phoenix) family wants him to settle down with Sandra (Vinessa Shaw), but he’s obsessed with his neighbour Michelle (Gwyneth Patrow), a flighty woman who’s seeing a married man (Elias Koteas). Writer/director James Gray wrote the part of Michelle specifically for Paltrow.

  

THE INTERNATIONAL

An Interpol agent (Clive Owen) teams with a New York Assistant District Attorney (Naomi Watts) to bring down the world’s leading bank, which uses its assets to launder money, buy arms and destabilize governments.

 

UNDER THE SEA 3D

Jim Carrey narrates this environment-minded documentary about the diverse creatures and seascapes off the coasts of Australia and New Guinea.


FRIDAY THE 13TH

When Clay’s (Jared Padalecki) sister goes missing, he and a few friends head to Camp Crystal Lake to search for her and come face-to-hockey-mask with serial killer Jason Voorhees. Friday the 13th co-producer Brad Fuller explains this reboot of the horror franchise as “not a remake of any one of the films per se....we took kills that we loved and story points that we thought were great and put them into a blender.” Good to know.


THE POOL

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

 


Fired Up

FEBRUARY 20

 

FIRED UP

High school football stars Shawn (Nick D’Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) ditch gridiron training camp to attend cheerleading camp with 300 nubile girls.


YOUTH IN REVOLT

Based on the first novel in the Youth in Revolt series aimed at sexually excitable teens, this film version stars Michael Cera as Nick Twisp, a young man who wants to lose his virginity to the beautiful Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday). However, getting her to go along with the plan will take some convincing.

 

THE NECESSITIES OF LIFE

An Inuit Hunter (Natar Ungalaaq) with tuberculosis is sent to a sanatorium in Quebec City, where he bonds with an Inuit orphan.

 

MADEA GOES TO JAIL

Madea (Tyler Perry) may be a senior, but this straight-talking grandma can’t seem to control her temper, or her tongue, and winds up in jail, where she dispenses her own brand of homespun wisdom to the female inmates.

  

STONE OF DESTINY

In the late 13th-century, Britain’s Edward I stole one of Scotland’s most sacred objects, the Stone of Scone — a piece of sandstone which served as the seat for Scottish kings while being crowned — and placed it in Westminster Abby for British monarchs to use when they were crowned. This film recounts the real-life revenge of the Scots, who cheered as a nation when four cheeky university students stole the Stone back on Christmas Day 1950.

 


Kristin Kreuk in Street Fighter:
The Legend of Chun-Li

FEBRUARY 27

 

STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI

It’s been around for 20 years and eaten millions — perhaps billions — of quarters, and now the popular arcade videogame Street Fighter gets a shot at cinematic glory. Kristin Kreuk stars as warrior Chun-Li, an undercover Interpol agent who enters a fighting tournament to avenge her father’s death. Hard core gamers hope this Street Fighter flick wipes out memories of the series’ first film adaptation, the 1994 laugher which, of course,  starred Jean-Claude Van Damme.

 

JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE

Get an up-close-and-personal look at pop-star siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas in this 3D concert film shot during their “Burning Up Tour” this past summer. The tousled trio is joined by guest stars Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato.

 

 

SPECIAL EVENTS ON THE BIG SCREEN


WWE-Pay-Per-View

No Way Out
Sun., Feb. 15., 8 p.m. ET
The WWE heads to Seattle’s Key Arena for a post-Valentine’s Day love fest.


The Who Live at the Isle of Wight

Wed., Feb. 18, 7 p.m.


Metropolitan Opera

Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti)
Live: Sat., Feb. 7, 1 p.m. ET


Thaïs (Massenet)

Live: Sat., Feb. 14, 12 p.m. ET

 

La Rondine (Puccini)
Encore: Sat., Feb. 21, 1 p.m. ET

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