These other April movies!
… Balibo, directed by Robert Connoly, starring Anthony LaPaglia and Oscar Isaac. Loosely based on the book of same name (originally published as Cover-Up) by Jill Jolliffe.
Narrated by a journalist investigating the death of 5 other journalists, the film follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed whilst reporting on activities just prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975.
… Green Zone, directed by Paul Greengrass, starring Matt Damon, Amy Ryan, Greg Kinnear, and Brendan Gleeson. According to Wikipedia “The film is “credited as having been ‘inspired’ by” the non-fiction 2006 book Imperial Life in the Emerald City by journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran, which documented life in the Green Zone, Baghdad.
An American officer is sent to Iraq in order to find weapons of mass destruction. But things are definitely not what they seem to be and he takes justice into his own hands.
… Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn and produced by actor Brad Pitt, starring Nicolas Cage a.o. Based on the graphic novel of the same name, by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.
Dave Lizewski decides to become a real life superhero, naming himself Kick-Ass, but he gets caught in a bigger fight. Big Daddy, a former cop, trained his eleven-year-old daughter to be a ruthless vigilante, Hit-Girl, and is after an evil drug lord.
… I Love You Phillip Morris, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, and starring Jim Carey and Ewan McGregor. This one should have been released in February but it was been delayed until April.
Based on the biography I Love You Phillip Morris, a True Story of Life, Love and Prison Breaks, written by journalist Steve McVicker, it tells the story of a once law-abiding husband, father and former police officer and his descent into criminality, how he becomes a con-man and his undying love for one-time fellow convict Phillip Morris, his greatest weakness.
… The Shock Doctrine, directed by Mat Whitecross and Michael Winterbottom, based on the book of same name by Canadian author Naomi Klein.
As in the book, in the film Naomi Klein shows us that the new-liberal capitalism is being fed by natural disasters, war and terrorism. A small group of rich people becomes even richer, while the biggest group of poor people becomes even poorer.
… Fantastic Mr. Fox, directed by Wes Anderson, features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and Bill Murray. Based on the Roald Dahl children’s novel of the same name.
Mr. Fox, his wife Felicity and their son Ash move to a hole under a tree. It is too close to where some farmers keep their chickens, turkeys, and apple cider, and and they will do just about anything to get rid of the Foxes.
He’s Dutch/German, he’s 100, he wrote a bunch of books a loooong time ago, they’ve recently been translated into English and suddenly America has “discovered” him. Hans Keilson, this is your life! Read the nice interview De Pers had with him (it’s in Dutch). And yes, we stock both The Death of the Adversary and Comedy in a Minor Key. 
The Independent has a lengthy article about the murky character traits of some of our beloved children’s books writers, like Roald Dahl, J. M. Barrie, and A. A. Milne. Interesting stuff; kind of reminds me of the time that Blue Peter presenter was found with cocaine.
Awards! I posted the full Man Booker Prize 2010 shortlist a few days ago, but there are more awards in the world. A really, really big one is the Hugo Award 2010, the Best Novel category this year was a tie between China Miéville’s City and the City and Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl (both already winners, for the Arthur C. Clarke 2010 and the Nebula 2009, respectively). Many Hugos are given out in quite a few categories – click here to see the entire list of winners.
