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The Dictator (15)

(Larry Charles, 2012, Us) Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Jason Mantzoukas, Ben Kingsley, John C Reilly. 83 mins

Having run out of unsuspecting Americans to prank, Sacha Baron Cohen takes the conventional fish-out-of-water route this time, as his Arab tyrant comes to terms with western democracy. But if the story plays it safe, the comedy treads a risky line between lampooning Islamophobia and fuelling it. The high gag rate, animated performance and general broad-spectrum offensiveness help him get away with murder, and worse.

The Raid (18)

(Gareth Evans, 2011, Indon/Us) Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Yayan Ruhian. 101 mins

Throwing more punches than every other movie this year combined, this single-minded Indonesian martial arts epic doesn't let up until everyone in its baddy-infested apartment block, and the auditorium, is pummelled into submission. Pacifists, look away now.

2 Days In New York (15)

(Julie Delpy, 2011, Ger/Fra/Bel) Julie Delpy, Chris Rock, Albert Delpy. 96 mins

Welcome return for Delpy's chaotic,...

If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle, Tuesday, After Christmas, and the other nominations for the 2011 Gopo Awards (Premiile Gopo) have been announced. The 5th Annual Gopo Awards (Premiile Gopo) ”are the national Romanian film awards, similar to the Academy Awards (U.S.A.), the Goya Awards (Spain), or the César Award (France). They are presented by the Association for Romanian Film Promotion.” The full listing of the 2011 Gopo Awards (Premiile Gopo) is presented below.

Best Film

Autobiografia lui Nicolae Ceau?escu (The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu)

Producer, Velvet Moraru; Director, Andrei Ujic?

Eu când vreau s? fluier, fluier (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle)

Producer, C?t?lin Mitulescu, Daniel Mitulescu; Director, Florin ?erban

Mar?i, dup? Cr?ciun (Tuesday, After Christmas)

Producer, Drago? Vîlcu; Director, Radu Muntean

Medalia de onoare (Medal of Honour)

Producer, Liviu Marghidan; Director, Peter C?lin Netzer

Morgen

Producer, Anca Puiu; Director, Marian Cri?...

There's always the temptation to stay inside during the winter, made even more compelling by the wide array of films you can watch at home. But that would be ignoring the 89 reasons why the only place more inviting than a couch near the fireplace is a seat at your local arthouse where the options range from the ancient Roman war epic "The Eagle" with Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell to the fantastical Palme d'Or-winning elegy "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" from Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Many awards contenders will expand across the country while those sick of such serious fare can fall back on revenge-themed thrillers with Jason Statham, Nicolas Cage or the deadly Korean twosome of "The Housemaid" and "I Saw the Devil," the action stylings of Donnie Yen ("IP Man 2") and Tony Jaa ("Ong Bak 3"), or the comedies of John C. Reilly and Ed Helms ("Cedar Rapids...

Gerard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel will be heading to Romania to play in an adaptation of Titus Popovici novel Moartea lui Ip (The Ip's Death) - the feature will be known as So I Say. In the director's chair we find Bogdan Dumitrescu Dreyer, whose previous work includes Never Enough (2004), The Last Station (1998) and also Thalassa, Thalassa (1993) – the Tiger Award winner at Rotterdam Film Festival. The French actor plays the lead character in the project which will be filmed at Sighişoara, Romania, starting with August 22nd. Apart from Keitel, the film will feature Romanian actors Dorel Vişan, Alexandru Bindea, Gabriel Spahiu, Bogdan Iancu, Adina Cartianu and Mihai Constantin. A previous adaptation of Popovici novel was made by Sergiu Nicolaescu, back in 1972, which was known as Then I Sentenced Them All To Death. Written by Piero de Bernardi (co-writer of Sergio Leone's 1984 film, Once Upon a Time in America) and...