Flawless

Set in London, in the 1960s, Flawless tell the tale of a diamond heist plotted to perfection by Laura Quinn (Moore), a female executive frustrated by the glass ceiling at her place of work, and her accomplice (Cain), a soon-to-retire janitor. The two join forces to steal from their company, the London Diamond Corporation.

Unfortunately for Radford, the film received mixed reviews from both critics and audiences alike. Some even classified it as a disappointing comeback for Demi Moore.

Trivia

Flawless premiered in Germany in early 2007 but was given a limited release in the US in early 2008. It comes to the UAE in early 2009.

Michael Radford tee-ed off his cinematic career by making documentary films. He is also multi-lingual, he is nearly fluent in Spanish, French and Italian and can even speak some Mandarin.

X-men Origins: Wolverine

Cinema lovers in the UAE are certainly in for a treat this week: the latest X-men flick opens here a day before its worldwide release on May 1. So, your reviews will be the first ones to make internationally read movie-based websites and blogs.

Writer, producer, director and actor, Gavin Hood, takes a crack at making his first X-men film with this Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston and Lynn Collins starrer. The film is said to be a prequel to the famed, Marvel comics-inspired, X-men trilogy. This superhero, science-fiction thriller focuses on the violent past of Wolverine (Jackman), a popular, claw-wielding mutant, as he seeks retribution from Victor Creed, aka Sabretooth (Schreiber), for the death of his girlfriend. The script also explores his stint at the Mutant X program. Early reviews of the film claim that though ardent fans of the series might be left a little disappointed due to few glaring flaws in the plot, most audiences will find it an adventure.

Trivia

Zack Snyder, director of the recently released Watchmen, was offered a chance to make X-men Origins: Wolverine. However, due to his commitment to Watchmen, he had to refuse. In order to portray the role of Victor Creed/ Sabretooth to perfection, Schreiber put on 18 kilogrammes worth of muscle.

State of Play

This Hollywood adaptation of the critically acclaimed, six-part, British TV series is captained by Kevin Macdonald and features Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren and Jeff Danniels in leading roles. The plot of this political thriller revolves around the investigation of a suspicious death prompted by a journalist (Crowe). The deceased is the mistress of congressman (Affleck). The film studies the conflict between the press and politicians.

Fans of the original mini-series are not completely satisfied with this big screen adaptation, but State of Play has received positive reviews from most critics and movie goers with some bloggers quoting it in their online reviews as a “twisty substantial thriller”.

Trivia

Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were initially signed on to essay the roles of the journalist and the congressmen. This would have marked their first reunion since the successful Fight Club. Unfortunately, both had to bow out due to prior commitments.

Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks and Nicholas Cage were all considered to play the role of the journalist before Russell Crowe was finalised.

davina@khaleejtimes.com