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February
NEWS
Movies Based On Books
2009 May
Though spring is definitely in the air
this May, Movie Based On Book Club feature boasts the first taste of this
year's summer blockbuster season with the hugely anticipated Angels &
Demons, set to hit the big screen on May 15th. In this adaptation of Dan
Brown's bestseller, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon of The Da Vinci Code
fame takes on a secret organization set out to destroy the Vatican.
Controversies aside, Angels & Demons promises to be dark, creepy,
nail-biting, thought-provoking, and just plain fun.
Also, set to be released on DVD this month: last year's epic love story The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the stark emotional indie film Wendy
and Lucy, and the familial drama A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
April
This month's Movie Based On Book Club feature boasts three
films that promise plenty of thought-provoking drama, as well as the best form
of guilty pleasure fit for a quiet Saturday night at home.
April 24th marks the release of The Soloist, a poignant and emotional
film about the redemptive power of friendship, based on true events first
chronicled by journalist Steve Lopez in articles for the L.A. Times.
Written by the screenwriter of Erin Brockovich, directed by Joe Wright
--- responsible for Oscar nominees Atonement and Pride & Prejudice
--- and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jamie Foxx and Catherine Keener,
The Soloist will surely be one to keep your eye on come next year's awards
season.
If April showers are keeping you indoors this month, then fans of romance,
mystery and suspense are in luck, as Lifetime Network rounds out its Nora
Roberts 2009 Collection. High Noon and Tribute --- featuring
the likes of Brittany Murphy, Cybill Shepherd, Tippi Hedren and Jason Lewis of
“Sex and the City” --- will be airing on April 4th and 11th.
Lastly, April's DVD releases include the animated family-friendly film
The Tale of Despereaux
and the over-the-top Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man.
March
March's Movie Based On Book Club feature has just two offerings,
but luckily they just so happen to include one of the most highly anticipated
movies of the season, as well as a critically acclaimed TV series based on a set
of hugely popular international bestsellers. March 6th marks the release of
Watchmen, the big-screen, live-action adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave
Gibbons's groundbreaking graphic novel about a band of retired superheroes
attempting to uncover a plot against them in an alternate 1985. Directed by Zack
Snyder --- whose 2006 adaptation of Frank Miller's comic 300 broke box
office records --- this larger-than-life, action-packed thriller is sure to draw
in huge crowds and bring out the fan boys and girls in all of us.
If vengeful superheroes just aren't your cup of tea, then starting March 29th,
you can spend your Sunday evenings with the women of "The No. 1 Ladies'
Detective Agency." This new HBO series based on Alexander McCall Smith's
charming novels revolves around Precious Ramotswe, Africa's very own Agatha
Christie, and her (mis)adventures solving other people's problems in her
Botswanan village.
New on DVD this month are some of last year's favorites, like Twilight
and Marley & Me, along with the heart-wrenching Holocaust film The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the French drama A Secret.
February
Love (or
something like it) is in the air this month, as February's Movie Based On
Book Club feature offers a few excuses to work a trip to the theater into your
Valentine's Day plans. Releasing just in time for the big day with that special
someone are He's Just Not That Into You,
inspired by the bestselling relationship guide from "Sex and the City"
writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo and featuring an all-star cast boasting
the likes of Drew Barrymore, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Connolly and Scarlett
Johansson; and Confessions of a Shopaholic, a madcap romantic comedy that
follows unlikely heroine Rebecca Bloomwood as she conquers life, love and
looming credit card debt in the big city. Sure to be a big draw with teen
audiences is Youth in Revolt, starring
Juno and Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist's Michael Cera
as a sex-obsessed 16-year-old wooing a girl he can't have.
For some
alternatives to these chick-lit and teen-angst movies, be sure to check out Neil
Gaiman's Coraline --- a delightfully creepy animated film à la The
Nightmare Before Christmas fit for the whole family --- and the
highly acclaimed Gomorrah, which won big at last year's Cannes Film
Festival and depicts real-life organized crime in modern-day Naples.
And those who prefer to enjoy movies from the comfort of their own homes
will be thrilled with the plethora of films available on DVD this month. They
include Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, The Secret Life of Bees, Nights in
Rodanthe, The Midnight Meat Train, Choke, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People,
Body of Lies, Sex Drive and What Just Happened.
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Angels & Demons Cast
May 2009
Angels & Demons
Cast: Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, Stellan Skarsgard,
Pierfrancesco Favino, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Director: Ron Howard
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: May 15th (wide)
Based on:
ANGELS & DEMONS by Dan Brown
The team behind the global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code returns for the
highly anticipated Angels & Demons, based upon the bestselling novel by
Dan Brown. Tom Hanks reprises his role as Harvard religious expert Robert
Langdon, who once again finds that forces with ancient roots are willing to stop
at nothing, even murder, to advance their goals.
When Langdon discovers evidence of the resurgence of an ancient secret
brotherhood known as the Illuminati --- the most powerful underground
organization in history --- he also faces a deadly threat to the existence of
the secret organization’s most despised enemy: the Catholic Church. When Langdon
learns that the clock is ticking on an unstoppable Illuminati time bomb, he jets
to Rome, where he joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and enigmatic
Italian scientist. Embarking on a nonstop, action-packed hunt through sealed
crypts, dangerous catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and even to the heart of the
most secretive vault on earth, Langdon and Vetra will follow a 400-year-old
trail of ancient symbols that mark the Vatican’s only hope for survival.
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March 2009
April 2009
High Noon
Cast: Emilie de Ravin, Ivan Sergei, Cybill
Shepherd
Director: Peter Markle
Air Date: April 4th at 9pm ET/PT on
Lifetime Network
Based on: HIGH NOON by Nora Roberts
In the Nora Roberts movie High Noon, expert
hostage negotiator Lieutenant Phoebe McNamara juggles her high-pressure career
with the demands of raising her young daughter and contending with her
agoraphobic mother, Essie. When Phoebe meets handsome bar owner Duncan Swift, he
can’t resist her take-charge attitude and attempts to earn her affections.
Though she tries to resist his charms, Phoebe soon realizes no amount of
negotiation will keep Duncan at arm’s length. When Phoebe is assaulted by an
unknown assailant in her precinct, she can’t help but be deeply shaken. She
later receives a series of mysterious and threatening messages, and soon
discovers she is the target of a psychopathic killer out to destroy her
personally and professionally.
Tribute
Cast: Brittany Murphy, Jason Lewis, Tippi Hedren,
Diana Scarwid
Director: Martha Coolidge
Air Date: April 11th at 9pm ET/PT on Lifetime
Network
Based on: TRIBUTE by Nora Roberts
In the Nora Roberts movie Tribute
Cilla McGowan is a former child star who has found more
satisfying work restoring old houses. In search of a normal life, Cilla buys her
grandmother’s farmhouse in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to rescue it from ruin.
Her hope for serenity is soon eclipsed by haunting dreams of her famous
grandmother, who died of a supposed overdose in the house more than 30 years
ago. Cilla soon forges a romantic relationship with Ford Sawyer, her handsome
new neighbor, who ultimately comforts and protects her when her dark dreams and
family secrets spiral into a real-life nightmare.
The Soloist
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Catherine
Keener, Tom Hollander, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Steven Root
Director: Joe Wright
Distributor: DreamWorks
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Release Date: April 24th
Based on: THE SOLOIST: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely
Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez
In The Soloist, an emotionally soaring drama about
the redemptive power of music, journalist Steve Lopez discovers Nathaniel
Anthony Ayers, a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the
streets of L.A. As Lopez endeavors to help the homeless man find his way back, a
unique friendship is formed, one that transforms both their lives.
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