Novelties

Film Review

Sex and the City: The Movie

When you find a short story writer you really like, you hope that he or she will produce a nice long novel for you to sink your teeth into. And in the same vein, the Hollywood trend of making movies based on popular TV shows continues. The TV series is long over (though it still enjoys success in syndication on both US and Russian television), but after four years of discussion and rumors, columnist-cum-fashionplate Carrie Bradshaw and her Manhattanite girlfriends (and boyfriends) are back and about to hit a theater near you. The team that brought you the hit HBO show — including the cast as well as writer/director Michael Patrick King and fashion designer Patricia Field — are reprising their roles to renew the search for labels and love. This time they’ll be joined by Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (Best Supporting Actress in 2007 for Dreamgirls) as Carrie’s assistant as they look for the story as it happens in real life. Of course, the same pitfalls that tend to plague cross-genre adaptations await this latest jump from small to big screen as well. Will the characters that seemed so appealing at 17 inches maintain their charm at 17 feet? Will Carrie fi nd Mr. Right or have to settle for Mr. Big? How much will she pay for her latest pair of Manolo Blahniks? Will the writers be able to come up with a story to sustain a 90-plus-minute movie?

For more information and trailer, check out the official movie web site at www.sexandthecitymovie.com.

Timur Bekmambetov is Wanted

Kazakhstan-born director Timur Bekmambetov, who made a splash and broke Russian box-office records with his Night Watch/Day Watch vampire fantasy series, has found his way to Hollywood. His latest movie, Wanted, based on a series of graphic novels by Mark Millar, stars James McAvoy (Last King of Scotland, Atonement) as Wes Gibson, a nerdy young office worker who follows in the footsteps of his trained-assassin father. With a cast including Morgan Freeman and Bekmambetov fan Angelina Jolie, who reportedly wooed the director to give her a role in his first English-language film, Wanted promises to be a visual feast with plenty of cinematic pyrotechnics — and violence — along with free running and parkour stunts. The philosophical-fantasy-comic book-mythology-action-thriller (is that enough genres for you?) was filmed last year in Chicago and Prague on a set designed by John Myhre, the production designer for X-Men. It is scheduled for theatrical release on June 27.

For more information and trailers, check out the official movie web site at www.wantedmovie.com.

Also scheduled to open in English in June are the animated Kung Fu Panda (www.kungfupanda.com); The Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton as Bruce Banner (www.incrediblehulk.marvel.com); and the latest from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, The Happening, starring Mark Wahlberg (www.thehappeningmovie.com).