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Cert U, 87 mins **** IF YOU are looking for a film for all the family to enjoy this festive season - look no further than Walking with Dinosaurs in 3D. In this 3D animation the popular BBC television series strides on to the silver screen with this live action/ CG animated feature film.Walking with Dinosaurs strikes just the right balance as you enjoy a prehistoric adventure whilst learning a host of educational dino-facts.Parents and children alike will enjoy this film’s great storyline as Patchi the underdog dinosaur triumphs against all the odds to become a hero for the ages. We follow our heroic dinosaur literally from his first days in the herd, through the many ups and downs of this sometimes harsh and unforgiving life, to his rise to herd leader and parent himself. Patchi’s journey will have you on the edge of your seat at times, close to tears at others, and...
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114mins, cert PG *** BEN Stiller directs and stars in James Thurber’s classic story of a daydreamer who escapes the mundanity of his everyday life by retreating into fantasies that re-cast him as the action hero of the hour.The last time The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was brought to the big screen it starred Danny Kaye in the title role, so there is certainly every justification for taking a fresh look at this old favourite.Stiller’s Walter Mitty is a greying (in every way)  picture editor for Life magazine who wishes he could be more like star photo-journalist Sean O’Connoll (Sean Penn) who leads a life of mystery and action in the remotest corners of the world.Perhaps then Walter wouldn’t feel so inadequate in his attempts to connect with colleague Cheryl (Kristen Wiig) who, like him, is facing redundancy from her job as Life magazine downsizes to an on-line only...
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PG-13, 161mins *** PETER Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit has not roused anywhere near the same level of anticipation amongst cinema goers as his much lauded Lord of the Rings trilogy.As a huge fan of the latter I have to admit to being disappointed in last year’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but I’m glad to say ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ comes closer to the pace and jaw-dropping effects of Lord of the Rings.The film picks up where its predecessor left off with Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins joining a hardy gang of dwarves as they attempt to free their mountain kingdom of Erebor from the fire-breathing dragon Smaug.They face a number of challenges along the way, not least of them a lair of monstrous spiders, and of course the obligatory ghastly Orcs who threaten to thrust Middle Earth into eternal darkness.They are begrudgingly helped by a band of suspicious Elves...
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Cert U, 108 minutes *****   WRAP up warm and enjoy Walt Disney Animation’s latest big screen musical adventure ‘Frozen’. The temperatures may be dropping outside but all the family will certainly be aglow with laughter thanks to this wintery fun-filled extravaganza. If you are looking for a festive treat - the impressive 3D version  of this enchanted tale is impressive throughout. Frozen’s storyline success relies on the themes of  sisterly love and selfless sacrifice and boasts two brave female lead characters - the royal sisters Elsa and Anna featuring the fabulous voices of Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel. So forget waiting for your prince charming to come, these sisters are doing it for themselves as they battle the elements to save their family kingdom Arendelle. We join our fearless Anna, as she sets off on an epic snow journey with the rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven.Together the...
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  Cert 15; 1hr 33mins **** AS the United States commemorates the 50th anniversary of  the assassination of President Kennedy on Friday, November 22, a less well known story is told in Parkland of the ordinary people who were caught up in the tragic events of that day.Based on Vincent Bugliosi’s account, Four Days in November, this is a fascinating factual dramatization recounting the events that happened behind the scenes in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, and the three days that followed.A key figure is Zac Efron’s young doctor, Charles Carrico, who struggles to retain his professional composure when the dying President is rushed into Parkland General Hospital’s ER flanked by dozens of secret servicemen. The President’s injuries are so severe that wife Jackie O is still clutching part of his skull and brain matter and as the doctors pump away at the President’s heart the camera never shies...
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  Space has never looked more frightening - or more beautiful than in director Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D cosmic adventure ‘Gravity,’ in which Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play astronauts who find themselves at the mercy of an environment that the opening caption warns us is uninhabitable.Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). They are carrying out what is meant to be a ‘routine’ spacewalk when disaster strikes and Stone is literally set adrift following an explosion of space debris which blows up their shuttle and cuts off all contact with Houston.The sense of loneliness and fear is palpable as Stone floats in this utterly alien environment, her sense of aloneness made all the more heart-rending when we learn that her daughter is dead and there is no-one back on Earth to grieve for her, should the worst happen....
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  His biggest hits may reside in the 1970s but four decades on Leo Sayer can still make an audience feel like dancing, as he proved at the Ulster Hall on Saturday night.I’m not sure what was in the flask he drank from throughout the concert but it certainly kept him vocally and physically buoyed throughout a demanding two and a half hour set.Now aged 65, Leo was in Belfast as part of his Silverbird tour celebrating 40 years in the business. The tour brings together all the hits which, for those who want a more permanent reminder, have recently been collected in the anniversary boxset ‘Just a Box - the Studio Recordings’. The vibe at Saturday’s gig couldn’t have been more different to that of contemporaries the Boomtown Rats who played the same venue a couple of weeks ago - but then I can’t imagine there was ever much...
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Philomena (12A) 98 mins **** Another sorry chapter in the recent history of the Catholic Church is laid bare in Philomena, a dramatisation of BBC political correspondent Martin Sixsmith’s investigative book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.Sixsmith (played by Steve Coogan) had just been sacked as a government spin doctor, amidst a blur of scandalous headlines, when he encountered Philomena’s daughter at an upmarket cocktail party - he attending as a guest, she as a waitress.Overhearing Sixsmith’s journalistic background she asks for his help in tracing her mother’s lost son who was taken from her by the Church as a toddler.At first Sixsmith is dismissive - he doesn’t do human interest stories, but he reconsiders and when he meets Philomena (Judi Dench) she relates the devastating story of how she became pregnant at 15 and, abandoned by her family, she was sent to a convent for unmarried mothers.There she was...
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  HOW rare it is to find a romantic comedy that is both romantic and funny but Nicole Holofcner’s bittersweet ‘Enough Said’ manages to pull it off with utter charm.After meeting at a swanky cocktail party Albert (James Gandolfini) and self-employed masseuse Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) find they have much in common through their easy-going humour, their divorces and the fact that they both have a teenage daughter about to fly the nest to university.The film explores how finding love later in life comes with its share of emotional baggage, not least the recognition that we have each had our parts to play in the failure of past relationships.In Enough Said Eva is given a rare insight into Albert’s past relationship failings, and in a bid to protect her own feelings she chooses not to switch off this tap of information. Ultimately this is a film about taking responsibility for our...
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