Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free to be the monsters they are without humans to bother them. On one special weekend, Dracula has invited some of the world’s most famous monsters — Frankenstein and his wife, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more — to celebrate his daughter Mavis’ 118th birthday. For Drac, catering to these infamous friends is no problem — but his world could come crashing down when a human stumbles on the hotel for the first time and befriends Mavis.
Columbia Pictures presents a Sony Pictures Animation film, Hotel Transylvania. The film features the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade, and CeeLo Green. Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. Produced by Michelle Murdocca.
Classification PG
Now is Good - A whole new world
Tessa is 17 and passionate about life. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she determines to use every moment, compiling a catalogue of what she imagines a teenager should experience, including losing her virginity and taking drugs.
With the help of her friend Zoey, she sets the list in motion. While her family deals with fear and grief, each in their own way, Tessa explores a whole new world.
Falling in love with Adam, her new neighbour, wasn’t on the list, but it proves to be the most exhilarating experience of them all.
Classification 12
Taken 2 - Protecting one’s family
Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent who stopped at nothing to save his abducted daughter in Taken. When he is targeted by a mysterious figure seeking vengeance, Bryan must employ his “particular set of skills” to protect his family against an army out to kill them.
From acclaimed filmmaker Luc Besson (who co-scripted and produces Taken 2), co-screenwriter Robert Mark Kamen (who has penned both Taken films with Besson), and director Olivier Megaton (Columbiana, Transporter 3), Taken 2 follows the global success of Taken, released in 2008, which earned $224 million at the box office. Audiences cheered Neeson as Bryan Mills, an overprotective father whose skills – forged through years of covert ops – were put to the test long after his retirement from the CIA. Resolute in his quest to rescue his daughter after she was kidnapped in a plush Paris apartment, Bryan’s journey in Taken was instantly understandable to any parent.
Bryan’s warning, addressed to the men who had Taken his daughter, and his subsequent making good on the promise contained within, captured the imaginations of audiences around the world and made Taken one of the most successful and relatable action thrillers of recent years. “The situation Bryan finds himself in is something any of us can relate to,” says Neeson. “If your child was threatened, you’d do anything to right that wrong.”
Neeson confesses that he enjoys the physicality of the role. “It’s great to do that stuff, and we have a terrific stunt team,” he enthuses. “I have a wonderful stunt double, Mark Vanselow, who’s my buddy, and he’s been in my life, professionally, for 12 or 13 years. He does all the hard stuff! Returning to Bryan was a chance to get with Mark again and do all the fight training.”
Taken 2 picks up two years after the events of Taken. Bryan’s relationship with his daughter Kim has grown stronger, and he hopes to reunite with ex-wife Lenore. “Even before he encounters the new threat to his family, Bryan is on a mission to get closer to Kim and Lenore,” says director Olivier Megaton.
Kim was a passive victim in the first film, but in Taken 2 it’s clear the interim two years have changed her. Under the tutelage of her father, she’s developed some of his instincts and is much better equipped to cope with the crisis that develops during their family reunion in Istanbul. “She’s her father’s daughter, and she’s finding out what she’s capable of,” says Grace. “In the first film, Kim was young and naive and didn’t know much about the real world,” adds Megaton. “But something incredible happened to her, and she reconstructed herself. She has matured. She doesn’t want to be passive again.”
Lenore, too, is changing. After Kim’s kidnapping and Lenore’s separation from her new husband, it seems there may be a chance for Bryan and Lenore to reconcile. “Their connection has suddenly become very strong because Lenore has been going through a hard time,” explains Neeson. “Bryan is a shoulder for her to lean on, and the relationship grows from there.”
Lenore, like her daughter, has matured since the events of the first film. “Lenore wasn’t very likable in Taken,” Megaton points out. “She was always well-dressed, always perfect, but we tried to give her a bit more humanity in this one.”
Bryan’s encounters with Murad are memorable, and Neeson is particularly fond of his character’s final battle with the Balkan baddie. “Bryan, at this stage of his journey, is genuinely sick of killing,” says Neeson. “He has physically become a machine when he gets into the mindset of taking out these bad guys. I think his big worry is that the machine may take over from the human being. For the sake of his daughter, his ex-wife and his own soul, he wants to stop.”
Classification 14
Films are released by KRS