Revolutionary Road posterAs Oscar night approach­es anoth­er of the expect­ed heavy­weight con­tenders goes into cin­e­mas: Sam Mendes’ Rev­o­lu­tion­ary Road reunites Kate Winslet and Leonar­do DiCaprio for the first time since Titan­ic (still the high­est gross­ing film of all time fact-fans) in a sto­ry of a mid­dle-class 1950s cou­ple dis­sat­is­fied with the Amer­i­can sub­ur­ban dream. Based on (what I under­stand to be) an awe­some nov­el by Richard Yates. Play­ing at Light­house Petone, Regent-on-Man­ners, Read­ings, Pent­house and Sky City Queens­gate.

Road­show will be hop­ing that Clint East­wood light­ning will strike twice at the Oscars and are using that rare tac­tic, the sneak pre­view, to launch his new film (and his last as an actor) Gran Tori­no. His last per­for­mance was in the mul­ti-award-win­ning Mil­lion Dol­lar Baby in 2004. You can see Gran Tori­no ear­ly at Empire, Read­ings, Pent­house and Sky City Queens­gate. (East­wood’s oth­er new film Changeling opens on Feb 12)

For those inclined toward the crap­pi­er end of the mar­ket there’s Bride Wars, a “com­e­dy” star­ring Anne Hath­away and the woe­ful­ly-man­aged Kate Hud­son. Please note that I total­ly have an open mind about this film — I just don’t have any hope or faith: Empire, Regent-on-Man­ners, Read­ings, Sky City Queens­gate.

The Pent­house keeps it classy with a big­gish-bud­get French WWII movie called Female Agents about some young French women enlist­ed into the British Spe­cial Forces and sent on a sui­cide mis­sion to res­cue a British geol­o­gist. True sto­ry appar­ent­ly. Mean­while the Para­moun­t’s eclec­tic run con­tin­ues with a Czech com­e­dy-dra­ma called Beau­ty in Trou­ble. It’s by one of my favourite film­mak­ers, Jan Hre­be­jk who made the fan­tas­tic Divid­ed We Fall from 2000. Also at the Para­mount, for just a few ses­sions, is a surf­ing movie called Bustin’ Down the Door.

All of the above will be reviewed in next week’s Cap­i­tal Times (and online at Funer­als & Snakes), although I may draw the line at the surf­ing flick.