At the movies

Disney's reinvention of 'A Christmas Carol' opens in cinemas this week, Gerard Butler is hell-bent on revenge in 'Law Abiding Citizen', and William Dafoe and Julia Roberts head up an all-star class in the drama 'Fireflies in the Garden'.

A Christmas Carol
Voices of Jim Carrey, Colin Firth
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Running time: 1 hr 34 min
Genre: Drama, Animation
Age restriction: 10M

The Charles Dickens classic 'A Christmas Carol' has undergone a Disney transformation just in time for the festive season.

The animated movie — which makes use of motion-capture technology similar to that used on 'Beowulf' — tells the story of the miserly old man, Ebenezer Scrooge. Seven years after the death of his business partner, Scrooge is visited by the old man's ghost. The spirit warns him that he will be visited by three ghosts — the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-to-Come.

Scrooge is shown things by each ghost, and must learn the error of his ways before his time on earth runs out.

Jim Carrey provides the vocal talent for Scrooge and the three ghosts. He is joined by Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn and Gary Oldman.

Read the review of 'A Christmas Carol'.

Law Abiding Citizen
Starring Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx
Directed by F Gary Gray
Running time 1 hr 48 min
Genre: Thriller
Age restriction: 16 LV

After a violent home invasion by criminals causes the death of his wife and daughter, the otherwise ordinary Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is told that one of the criminals who killed his family would get off due to his cooperation with the district attorney's office while the other would be put on death row.

Outraged, and hell-bent on revenge, Shelton sets out to punish not only the criminals, but the entire justice system. However, he is soon captured by the authorities and put in jail himself.

But it soon becomes apparent to prolific yet corrupt Assistant DA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) — the same man who got Shelton's family's killer off — that even high prison walls will not be enough to keep Shelton from punishing those who kept the criminals from getting the sentence they deserved.

Read the review for 'Law Abiding Citizen'.

Fireflies in the Garden
Starring William Dafoe, Julia Roberts
Directed by Dennis Lee
Running time: 1 hr 33
Genre: Drama
Age restriction: 16 LSV

Meet the Taylors, the very picture of the successful mid-Western family.

Patriarch Charles Taylor (Willem Dafoe) is a tenured professor on track to become president of his university; son Michael is a prolific and well-known romance novelist; daughter Ryne is poised to enter a prestigious law school; and on the day we are introduced to them, matriarch Lisa (Julia Roberts) will graduate from college.

Then tragedy strikes: An accident occurs and one of their own is taken from them. While the shattered family struggles to deal with this turn of events, old tensions begin to resurface as the far more nuanced reality of the family's history and relationships come to light.

Now, as relatives and friends gather around them, one major secret that lingers just out of view and threatens to destroy everyone's sense of familial security is unearthed, bringing to light devastating long-buried skeletons from the family's past.

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