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Let's go to the Movies

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Ratings: ***** Must See   **** Excellent  *** Entertaining   ** Average    * Dull

MARCH 2010 releases   LATEST RELEASES       JAN 2011             FEB 2011

CONVICTION When Betty Anne Waters' (two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank) older brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) is arrested for murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1983, Betty Anne, a Massachusetts wife and mother of two, dedicates her life to overturning the murder conviction. Convinced that her brother is innocent, Betty Anne puts herself through high school, college and, finally, law school in an 18 year quest to free Kenny.  With the help of best friend Abra Rice (Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver), Betty Anne pores through suspicious evidence mounted by small town cop Nancy Taylor (Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo), meticulously retracing the steps that led to Kenny's arrest.  Belief in her brother - and her quest for the truth - pushes Betty Anne and her team to uncover the facts and utilize DNA evidence with the hope of exonerating Kenny. Read more   

THE DILEMMA
**** A comedy of how far you can bend a brotherly bond before it snaps. Vince Vaughn and Kevin James star in this comedy about a man who finds out that what you don't say to a friend is just as important as what you do.  Ronny's (Vaughn) world  is turned upside down when he sees his best friend Nick's (James) wife (Winona Ryder) in the arms of another man (Channing Tatum), shattering the sheen of his best friend's perfect marriage.  Ronny makes it his mission to get answers before he tells Nick the news that no one ever thinks he will have to hear.   As his amateur investigation dissolves his world into comic mayhem, Ronny learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own.  With Ronny's own relationship deteriorating by the day, he must decide how and when he will reveal the truth to his best friend.  Read more Read an interview with director Ron Howard 

LOVE AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE PURSUITS
Natalie Portman (Black Swan) lights up the screen in this frank, funny, and heart-wrenching adaptation of bestselling author Ayelet Waldman's novel about life, loss, and family. Emilia (Portman) is a Harvard law school graduate and a newlywed, having just married Jack (Scott Cohen), a high-powered New York lawyer, who was her boss - and married - when she began working at his law firm. Unfortunately, her life takes an unexpected turn when Jack and Emilia lose their newborn daughter. Emilia struggles through her grief to connect with her new stepson William (Charlie Tahan), but is finding it hard to connect with this precocious child.  Emilia is also trying to overcome a long-standing rift in her relationship with her father caused by his infidelity.  But perhaps the most difficult obstacle of all for Emilia is trying to cope with the constant interferences of her husband's angry, jealous ex-wife, Carolyn (Lisa Kudrow). Ultimately, Emilia's and Charlie's playful and sometimes tender exchanges help Emilia to open her heart. Can Emilia rediscover her own capacity for love in time to salvage her failing marriage, mend fences with her parents and build a family from the wreckage?  Directed by Don Roos (Opposite of Sex) from his own screenplay, this tearful, terrific tale proves that even with a pursuit like love, nothing is impossible…

NIGHT DRIVE
*** Against the tranquil backdrop of a game reserve, South African thriller Night Drive tracks a group of tourists left stranded during a night-time game drive after their vehicle breaks down. As a series of terrifying events unfolds, the tourists realise that wild animals are the least of their fears. Local legend has it that the Hyena Man - a power-obsessed madman who once traded in animal parts - heads a well armed, well trained group of poachers who are on the hunt for human body parts and who are known to trade in live human beings. Sean Darwin (Christopher Beasley), a maverick cop with the Endangered Species Protection Unit, becomes the visitor's only hope for survival.  Says writer-director Justin Head:  "It's gory as hell, but violence is not a subject I take lightly and it's one of the film's themes: that all-consuming cycle of violence. I think nowadays audiences see violence on screen all the time, so it's desensitized them in a way. But I believe that violence is still meant to be shocking and disturbing."  Read more.   

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