Better than Newry Prices! FREE Jewellery Gift worth 40 Get a FREE GIFT worth 40 when you spend 100 or more this Christmas Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer Stephens Green Shopping Centre Tel: (01) 478-5336 Film Reviews This Weeks Releases Zac makes sure all metro Arts & Entertainment life In Town This Weekend Feedback Festival Inaugural festival highlighting this years breakthrough Irish acts, including Cap Pas Cap, 202s, The Dead Flags and The Holy Roman Army (pictured). All proceeds go to the Peter McVerry Trust supporting homeless young Dubliners Tomorrow, Whelans, 25 Wexford Street D2, from 8pm, 10. Tel: 1890 200 078. www.whelanslive.com The Pogues Christmas Party No Christmas is complete without The Pogues annual knees-up which this year runs for three nights expect a particularly rabble-rousing rendition of Fairytale Of New York Tonight to Sun, Olympia Theatre, 72 Dame Street D2, 7.30pm, 44.20 to 54.80. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.pogues.com James Morrison Soul crooner Morrison returns with a pocketful of earnest heart-string tuggers (Pieces Dont Fit Here Anymore, Please Dont Stop The Rain) and veritable cockle warmers (You Give Me Something) Sun, The O2, East Link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, 6.30pm, 39.20 to 49.20. Tel: 0818 719 300. www. jamesmorrisonmusic.com Book Now Alicia Keys Its been more than eight years since the release of the phenomenally successful Songs In A Minor, yet Alicia Keys has managed to avoid the usual pitfalls bestowed on young starlets simply by keeping her private life exactly that and focusing on the important stuff: the music. Genuine talent helps, of course hit singles Fallin, If I Aint Got You and As I Am earned her not only 12 Grammys but also Aretha-for-the-Noughties cred. Fourth album, The Element Of Freedom, is released on December 11 May 21, 2010, The O2, East Link Bridge, North Wall Quay D1, 6.30pm, 44.20 to 65.70. Tel: 0818 719 300. www.aliciakeys.com Johnny Mad Dog (15A) Running time: 97min The Descent: Part 2 (18) Running time: 94min The Box (15A) Running time: 116min Me & Orson Welles (12A) Running time: 114min H aving already proved he can do comedy in 17 Again, adorable High School Musical star Zac Efron continues to show that hes more than just a bite-sized sex muffin in this smart art house/indie crossover. Not that playing a pretty, wannabe 18-year-old actor involved in backstage romantic entanglements is exactly a giant leap. Hes the Me of the title, a wide-eyed youth who charms his way into the minor role of lute carrier in a hot 1937 production of Julius Caesar by convincing its wildly charismatic, skirt-chasing director, Orson Welles (newcomer Christian McKay the real star here), that hes an ace ukulele player. Once in the door, he spots his next challenge: getting into the knickers of Welless career-hungry assistant (Claire Danes) with pleasingly non-pat results. Its astonishing to think the already bullish, cigar-chomping Welles, who had yet to direct Citizen Kane, is only 22 here, something this latest intelligent, yet highly accessible, film by director Richard Linklater (The School Of Rock, Before Sunrise) doesnt make enough of. But then this story isnt really about Welles. Its about Zac. Based on Robert Kaplows novel, its a slight, if delightful, mix of coming-of-age tale meets lets put on the show right here. Sparkly, if unmemorable, its unusually old fashioned charm makes this more like something Zacs army of tiny, squealing fans would take their mums to rather than the other way round. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh Once upon a time, the words from the director of Donnie Darko would have had cult fans pulses racing. But Richard Kellys reputation took a bashing with the over-ambitious Southland Tales and this latest sci-fi folly will do little to restore it. Its the 1970s, and Norma (a miscast Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (a decent James Marsden) are struggling to pay for their sons tuition. Norma is a teacher facing budget cuts, while Arthur works at NASA and longs to go into space. A mysterious box is delivered to their home and it seems to have the answer to their problems: if they flick the switch on the box, they will receive one million dollars. But if they do so, someone they dont know will die. Its an interesting, if horrible, proposition. After the inevitable happens, the pair await the money and the repercussions. Its at this point that an intriguing film turns into an overblown episode of The Twilight Zone. Characters make senseless decisions. And a series of twists are so preposterous, you cant be bothered to get your head round them. Anna Smith This may be dubbed the African City Of God but Jean-Stphane Sauvaires mind- blowing film is in a different league: bracingly real, it comes without the Brazilian movies sentimentality. A murderous band of child soldiers are on a rampage. Charged with overthrowing the president of an unnamed African state, they are psyched-up to committing acts of violence and coercion through drugs and mindless mantras (if you dont want to die, dont be born) fed to them by an adult general. Teenager Johnny Mad Dog keeps tentative control over his ramshackle unit (powerfully played by non-actors and ex-boy soldiers) who betray signs of their stolen youth: one wears a doll around his neck, another has fairy wings on his back. Its these softening touches that bring humanity to this otherwise unrelentingly brutal story. An important, near-flawless, piece of film-making. Zena Alkayat Neil Marshalls chicks with picks flick was hands down best horror of 2005. Fans of that original prepare to plummet into disappointment. The story picks up where we broke off: traumatised by the death of her daughter, a young fit Scottish woman called Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) has been taken pot-holing by her gal pals to the Appalachian Mountains. This somewhat unusual cheer-her-up exercise backfires when the girls are set upon by a bloodthirsty breed of what I can only term sperm orcs: blind, Gollum-like creatures oozing what (politely) looks like wallpaper paste. Lone survivor Sarah is here dispatched back down the hole again by local police who suspect her of murdering her friends. She and her singularly ineffective rescue crew then get brainlessly chased around the tunnels to the point where We have to get out of here now! feels like the only line of the script and certainly the only voice in my head. As editor of The Descent, debut director Jon Harris must have seemed like a safe pair of hands. However, the polystyrene rocks out-act his cast as the terrifyingly intense claustrophobia of Marshalls movie is replaced by suffocating boredom. Fear keeps you alert one of the gore-splattered hunted tells another no wonder I was near comatose before the end. LI-Z 14 metrolife Friday, December 4, 2009 Planet 51 (U) Running time: 90min Cracks (15) Running time: 104min Those of you who remember Back To The Future will recognise the world of this animation immediately. Kids sit smooching in 1950s-style cars listening to Earth Angel. The town square is a near- replica of BTTFs Hill Valley. The only difference is here the inhabitants arent human: theyre alien. In a neat twist, the biggest fear of the little green suburban citizens on Planet 51 is an invasion from humaniacs. Their fears come true when vain astronaut Captain Charles T Baker (voiced by Dwayne The Rock Johnson) lands, American flag in hand. With cute animated characters and a fun premise, this family cartoon gets off to an entertaining start. There are in-jokes for adults, from Star Wars and ET nods to occasional sexual innuendo. But this becomes too relentless in its references: almost every scene is a riff on a popular sci-fi film. And while kids may giggle at the scatological humour, this also outstays its welcome. Anna Smith Whats the most important thing in life? free-spirited gym teacher Miss G (Bond girl Eva Green) asks her adoring class of 1930s schoolgirls. God? they offer. Desire, she purrs. And when a sultry Spanish aristocrat joins the school, Miss G develops a crush, miffing her disciples and revealing chinks in her own psychological armour. An erotically- charged Malory Towers is how Id pitch this exquisitely shot directorial debut by Jordan (daughter of Ridley) Scott. 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