Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/621909
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 3 JANUARY 2016 38 This Week The most anticipated IN CINEMAS TODAY St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Met Opera in Cinema – Tan- nhäuser 17:00 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Star Wars: The Force Awakens (PG) 10:35, 14:30 (3D), 18:00, 21:00 (3D) The Good Dinosaur (U) 10:25, 13:45, 16:10, 18:30 Spectre (12) 14:15, 17:50, 20:50 Daddy's Home (12) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:15, 16:00, 18:25, 20:55 Victor Frankenstein (15) 20:50 In the Heart of the Sea (12) 10:00, 13:00, 15:50, 18:30, 21:10 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:30 (3D), 14:30 (3D), 18:00 (3D), 20:15, 20:55 (3D), 23:00 Sisters (15) 11:20, 13:50, 16:20, 18:45, 21:15, 23:45 Spectre (12) 11:25, 14:25, 17:50, 21:05, 23:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 11:20, 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt 2 (12) 14:00, 16:50, 21:15 The Good Dinosaur (U) 11:15, 13:30, 15:45, 18:00 Bridge of Spies (12) 11:30, 14:30, 18:00, 20:50 Tangerine (15) 14:30, 20:50 Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (U) 11:40, 14:10, 16:30, 18:45, 20:50 Love (18) 11:30, 18:00 In the Heart of the Sea (12) 11:30, 14:30, 18:15, 21:00, 23:45 Daddy's Home (12) 11:50, 14:30, 16:45, 18:50, 21:10, 23:25 Paper Planes (U) 11:40, 14:20, 16:30, 18:45, 21:00 Krampus (15) 11:40, 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:10 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Daddy's Home (12) 10:45, 13:00, 15:15, 18:00, 21:00 Sisters (15) 10:30, 13:00, 15:35, 18:05, 21:00 Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (U) 11:00, 13:30, 18:30 In the Heart of the Sea 3D (12) 10:45, 13:20, 15:55, 18:25, 21:00 Star Wars: The Force Awakens 3D (PG) 11:00, 14:00, 17:00, 20:30 Spectre (12) 11:00, 14:00, 18:00, 21:00 Christmas with the Coopers (12) 10:45, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 20:55 The Good Dinosaur (PG) 16:00, 21:00 As has become the watchword of the New Hollywood Order, it's high- powered franchise instalments that will dominate the lists for the next year. But there's a few potential dramatic – and indie – gems that might come out tops after all, TEODOR RELJIC finds OKAY, so The Hunger Games's Mockingjay has flown the coop and made its way to franchise heaven late last year. But there's more than enough studio-fuelled popular adaptations to keep us sated throughout the coming year. And I'm not just referring to the Hunger Games's erstwhile re- placement in the 'teens-vs-totali- tarian regime' subgenre – the Di- vergent saga, which will this year return with Allegiant – but to the dozens of young adult novel, comic book and pop-culture re- boots that will bedeck our screens in 2016. It is perhaps apt to start with a property tied directly to what is arguably at the root of the 'young adult' craze. British thespian 'it boy' Eddie Redmayne (The The- ory of Everything) will headline Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – a Harry Potter pre- quel built on a prop from the orig- inal installment of JK Rowling's beloved boy wizard saga. Red- mayne stars as Newt Scamander, the author of the titular textbook, which was eventually used by Pot- ter himself some 70 years later. In the film, the bumbling Scaman- der opens a literal Pandora's Box after he lets some magical crea- tures loose by accident during an international wizard's meeting in New York. With Rowling herself penning the screenplay and Pot- ter regular director David Yates returning behind the camera, this should be a delectable piece of nostalgia porn for Potterites. Nostalgia is, of course, one of the key motors of the well-oiled Hollywood machine – the box office and critical success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was only the most recent reminder of how powerful a phenomenon it remains. But before we get to the actual Star Wars property slated for 2016, let's consider what is arguably an even bigger nostalgia cash-in: namely, Ghostbusters. The beloved supernatural action- comedy has, by contemporary Hollywood standards, been lan- guishing behind in the reboot stakes. Whichever direction this eventually heads in, it's interest- ing to note that director Paul Feig will be headlining an all-female cast led by game-changer Kristen Wiig – who started something of a feminist micro-revolution in Hol- lywood comedy with Bridesmaids (2011), also directed by Feig. But yes… Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will likely be one of the year's biggest box office smashes. The (potentially) good news here is that, while this spinoff film from the 'main trilogy' – the follow up to The Force Awakens is slated from Spring 2017 – may suffer the fate of the Star Wars prequels in that we'll all have a basic idea of how it's going to end, the fact is that it's an untold story with potentially expendable characters. To wit, di- rector Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) will illustrate the story of how the Death Star plans from Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) were actually retrieved, focusing on the group of pilots who made it all possible. Away from the fan- fare of the 'main trilogy', this has the potential to be a tight little caper (Ocean's Eleven in space?), bolstered by a great cast that can count the likes of Felicity Jones and Ben Mendelsohn among their number. The other alien-and-nostalgia- infused blockbuster we can look forward to is Independence Day: Resurgence. Set 20 years after the events of the beloved origi- nal took place, the sequel soldiers on without Will Smith among its ranks – blame the Fresh Prince's $50 million asking fee – though both director Roland Emmerich and stars Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman make a comeback, along with newbies Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games saga) and Maika Monroe (It Follows). The trailer suggests that darker times lie ahead, which will align this in- stallment with an ongoing trend in commercial genre cinema. Another long-delayed sequel will come in the form of Finding Dory – where Ellen DeGeneres's amnesiac fish returns to entertain us with her ditzy-but-well-mean- ing antics six months from where Finding Nemo (2003) left off. CGI animation will also have its day with Warcraft, an ostensibly live- action adaptation of the colossally popular fantasy video game of the same name. Relying heavily on computer animation but di- rected by the otherwise able Dun- can Jones (that's David Bowie Jr, folks), this could be a fun variant on Peter Jackson's bloated Hobbit franchise – given how Warcraft has been borrowing liberally from JRR Tolkien's milieu ever since Blizzard unleashed their first ver- sion of what since became a global gaming phenomenon. Video games have almost never made for good films though, and we'll have a second case-study with which to test that pattern this year, as the partly Malta-filmed Assassin's Creed also parkours its way to the screens. The superhero machine will con- tinue churning in earnest, most loudly and hammily with Zack Snyder's Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, which ostensi- bly serves as a sequel to the loud and tonally uneven Man of Steel (2013) and which introduced Ben Affleck as Batman himself. With Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) also squeezed into the mix and Jesse Eisenberg as an adolescent, Zuckerberg-like Lex Luthor, this looks like a hot mess that should be experienced as a particularly scintillating car crash – arguably a do-or-die move for the DC Com- ics cinematic superhero universe. Marvel Studios's behemoth, on the other hand, will be Captain America: Civil War, which pits the titular patriot (Chris Evans) against Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) in a dispute Blood and lights: Elle Fanning stars in Neon Demon Joke's on you: Jared Leto takes on the iconic role of The Joker in Suicide Squad Merc with a mouth: Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool