Storyline

A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

Details

Country: USA | South Africa
Language: English
Release Date: 17 February 2012 (Romania)
Also Known As: Casa conspirativa
Filming Locations: Cape Town, South Africa

The Buzz: Universal is in the action-picture business this year, what with this picture kicking off a roster that also includes the remake Contraband, Battleship, The Bourne Legacy, 47 Ronin, and — just maybe — Snow White and the Huntsman. What we’re most interested in here is the interaction between Reynolds and Washington since we imagine it’ll be adversarial, somewhat humorous, and really handsome. Daniel Espinosa, director of Swedish hit Easy Money (which is up for a sequel and a Hollywood remake), makes his Stateside debut.

Storyline

Sean Anderson partners with his mom’s boyfriend on a mission to find his grandfather, who is thought to be missing on a mythical island.

Details

Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 10 February 2012 (Romania)
Also Known As: Viaje 2: La isla misteriosa
Filming Locations: Hawaii, USA

The Buzz: This is the most awkward shoehorning of Dwayne Johnson into an action film to date; at least his character in the upcoming G.I. Joe sequel exists in that world’s mythology, and the Fast and Furious franchise has never strived for narrative credibility. I think the original Journey’s worldwide gross triggered the sequel greenlighting, and I sense that U.S. audiences will yet again only be marginally interested this quest to find Michael Caine. Five bucks says Josh Hutcherson has already forgot he made this movie as he prepares to spend the next few years in the Hunger Games universe; meanwhile, Kristen Davis finds herself nearly benched in yet another movie.

Storyline

A car accident puts Paige (McAdams) in a coma, and when she wakes up with severe memory loss, her husband Leo (Tatum) works to win her heart again.

Details

Country: USA | Brazil | France | Australia | UK | Germany
Language: English
Release Date: 24 February 2012 (Romania)
Also Known As: Für immer Liebe
Filming Locations: Chicago, Illinois, USA

The Buzz: What do Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum have in common? They’ve both starred in adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels; meanwhile, in North Carolina, Sparks must be thinking that this story would have made for a best-seller.

Storyline

1889. German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse while traveling in Turin, Italy. He tossed his arms around the horse’s neck to protect it then collapsed to the ground. In less than one month, Nietzsche would be diagnosed with a serious mental illness that would make him bed-ridden and speechless for the next eleven years until his death. But whatever did happen to the horse? This film, which is Tarr’s last, follows up this question in a fictionalized story of what occurred. The man who whipped the horse is a rural farmer who makes his living taking on carting jobs into the city with his horse-drawn cart. The horse is old and in very poor health, but does its best to obey its master’s commands. The farmer and his daughter must come to the understanding that it will be unable to go on sustaining their livelihoods. The dying of the horse is the foundation of this tragic tale.

Details

Country: Hungary | France | Germany | Switzerland | USA
Language: Hungarian | German (only a few words)
Release Date:31 March 2011 (Hungary)
Also Known As: Das Pferd von Turin
Filming Locations:  Budapest, Hungary

The Buzz: Bela Tarr’s final film will be released in New York City as part of a complete retrospective of his work at Lincoln Center. Loved throughout the world, Tarr’s work is rarely seen in U.S. theaters, and with a national release promised for Turin Horse, I suggest putting yourself to the test if you’re uninitiated. Curiously, Christopher Hitchens wrote of the incident fictionalized here in his last Vanity Fair essay before his passing.

Storyline

Cuba, 1948. Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment. From Havana to New York, Paris, Hollywood and Las Vegas, two passionate individuals battle impossible odds to unite in music and love.

Details

Country: Spain | UK
Language: Spanish | English
Release Date: 19 November 2010 (Ireland)
Also Known As: Chico i Rita
Filming Locations:Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión, San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba

Box Office

Budget: €9,200,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: £81,172 (UK) (21 November 2010) (40 Screens)
Gross: £81,172 (UK) (21 November 2010)

The Buzz: Indie distributor GKIDS is handling two of the film nominees for this year’s Best Animated Feature Oscar. One day, a feature such as this beautifully rendered romance from director Tono Errando is going to sashay away with the award, too.

Storyline

Back from a tour of duty, Kelli can’t wait to rejoin her old life in the rust belt town she’s always lived in. She’s ready to experience the old feelings of everyday life- the carpet under her bare feet, a cold beer in front of the television, the smell of her baby’s head. Slowly, though, she realizes that her everyday life doesn’t resemble the one she left. Struggling to find her place in her family and the rust-belt town she no longer recognizes, what can she reclaim of her share of the way of life she’s been fighting to protect?

Details

Country: US
Language: English
Release Date: 10 February 2012 (USA)
Filming Locations: Beacon, New York, USA

The Buzz: Michael Shannon takes a backseat to Linda Cardellini, who has earned solid reviews for her portrayal of a soldier who cannot readjust to her routine and wife and mother. Director Liza Johnson is one to watch; in-the-know reviewers assert that she’s made a well detailed film that is held back by familiar storylines.

Storyline

A nine-year-old amateur inventor, Francophile, and pacifist searches New York City for the lock that matches a mysterious key left behind by his father, who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Details

Country: US
Language: English
Release Date: 20 January 2012 (USA)
Also Known As: Tan fuerte y tan cerca
Filming Locations: JC Studios, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross: $20,941,702 (USA) (29 January 2012)

Storyline

An ex-cop turned con threatens to jump to his death from a Manhattan hotel rooftop. The nearest New York Police officer immediately responds to a screaming woman and calls dispatch. More Officers arrive with SWAT and tactical command along with fire-fighters. The police then dispatches a female police psychologist personally requested to talk him down from the ledge. However, things aren’t as straightforward and clearcut as they appear to be.

Details

Country: US
Language: English | Spanish
Release Date: 27 January 2012 (Romania)
Also Known As: Al borde del abismo
Filming Locations: New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend: $8,001,932 (USA) (29 January 2012) (2998 Screens)
Gross: $8,001,932 (USA) (29 January 2012)

Storyline

A crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, having faced segregation while kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.

Details

Country: US
Language: English | Italian | German
Release Date: 20 January 2012 (USA)
Also Known As: Tsiteli kudebi
Filming Locations: Kerner Optical Sound Stages, San Rafael, California, USA

Box Office

Budget: $58,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend: $18,782,154 (USA) (22 January 2012) (2512 Screens)
Gross: $33,750,118 (USA) (29 January 2012)

Storyline

Unemployed and newly-divorced Stephanie Plum lands a job at her cousin’s bail-bond business, where her first assignment puts her on the trail of a wanted local cop from her romantic past.

Details

Country: US
Language: English
Release Date: 10 February 2012 (Romania)
Also Known As: Очень опасная штучка
Filming Locations: Ambridge, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend: $11,515,790 (USA) (29 January 2012) (2737 Screens)
Gross: $11,515,790 (USA) (29 January 2012)