Off the screen magazine july 2014 by Jon Broeke

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Contents On the Cover: 30 BATTLING OUR EXTINCTION Up and coming beauty and film star Nicola Peltz talks to us about her part in coming into one of the most successful franchises in films in Transformers: Age of Extinction

Features: 20 THE MARRIED ONE Funny man Seth Rogen talks to us about appearing next to teen idol and former High School Musical star Zac Efron in Bad Neighbours

38 FIVE FILMS THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW WERE SHOT IN SA With the influx of big budget Hollywood features being shot in our country, we have a look at 5 features you might recognise, but didn’t know were shot right here

Nicola Peltz prepares to do battle in Transformers: Age of

Extinction

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Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne look ____________________________________________________________________ into the fraternity in Bad

20 Neighbours

76 Character actor and master of motioncapture Andy Serkis talks to us about bringing Caesar to life in Dawn of the

Director Dave Green goes over the script with the boys from Earth to

70 Echo

Planet of the Apes

38 70 SOUNDS OF ECHOES Director of the new found-footage kid’s film, Earth to Echo, talks to us about his experience of Echo home

76 PLAYING APE Character actor and master of the motioncapture world Andy Serkis tells us about getting into character to play Cesar, the leader of the apes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Regulars:

12 WHAT TO SEE IN JULY Galaxy

Guardians of the

Step Up: All In Cold Harbour 84 DSTV THROWBACK The Death and Life of Bobby Z

Reviews: 46 RELEASED JUNE 13TH Stars

The Fault in our

Edge of Tomorrow 50 RELEASED JUNE 20th

We look at five films that you’ve probably heard of, but never knew were shot in South Africa

How to Train Your Dragon 2 In Secret 55 RELEASED JUNE 27TH Locke Belle Transformers: Age of Extinction 60 RELEASED JULY 4TH House of Magic The Invisible Woman Blended 64 RELEASING JULY 11th Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Earth to Echo

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Editors Letter

t’s July, which means we are half way through 2014, and we hope your year has been as good as ours so far. This month is dominated by the alien robot. Firstly, Nicola Peltz, formerly known for her stint as Katara in The Last Airbender, tells us about working with Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg in the latest Transformers film, Transformers: Age of Extinction, then secondly, Director Dave Green tells us about bringing another, much smaller, alien robot to the big screen in Earth to Echo. A little closer to home we talk to Andy Serkis about bringing the ape Cesar to life in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Seth Rogen and Zac Efron go to war, with each other, in Bad Neighbours. We also have our regular content, reviews of some of the films that released in June, as well as the films to look out for in the month of July. We love to hear from our readers, so please, take five minutes to drop us line at – offthescreenmagazine@gmail.com – Whether it’s a comment, a complaint or just to shoot the breeze, we’d love to know your thoughts. We also love to receive reader reviews, so if you’ve seen a movie and want to tell us about it, please do. Also remember to visit us at our website: www.offthescreenmagazine.com for other interviews, and content. Thanks for reading our magazine, and, as always, we’ll see you at the movies.

Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor

Editor Jon Broeke jon.broeke@gmail.com

Photo Credits Nu Metro, Ster Kinekor, Getty Images, UPI.com, Google Images, imdb.com

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What to see in July

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Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Dave Bautista, Djimon Hounsou Director: James Gunn The Guardians of the Galaxy are five outlaws and criminals bought together to save the world. Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), also known as Star-Lord, but only by himself, leads a group made up of the racoon-looking alien, Rocket Racoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), the walking tree, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), the master assassin, Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the maniac, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), as they attempt to keep a powerful orb that Quill found out of the hands of Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who wants to use it to destroy the world, along with his boss Thanos (Josh Brolin), the guy from the end of the Avengers movie. They have bad guys on their trail, like Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou), and they have no reason to fight for the world, but they decide to make a stand, and are the galaxies only hope.

What to see in July

I’m not an expert about the Guardians of the Galaxy, only having seen them mentioned as part of another hero’s storyline, but they seem like great characters. They’re quirky and independent, and it’s fun to have the, quote, bad guys as the good guys for a change. It gives the scriptwriter a lot to work with in terms of character development, and let’s hope they’ve taken full advantage of that. I also like the addition of the Nova Corp, a group of interstellar cops, much like the Marvel universes answer to the Green Lantern Corp on the DC side. I’m especially keen to see Glen Close as Nova Prime Rael, one of their leaders. She’s fabulous and should have real fun with the role. This film promises to have everything that fans of the Marvel franchise of films are looking for, action, comedy and adventure. It should fit nicely next to the X-Men films and Spider-Man.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens st August 1

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What to see in July

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Alyson Stoner, Briana Evigan, Ryan Guzman, Adam G. Sevani, Misha Gabriel Hamilton Director: Trish Sie It’s been a while since The Mob made such an impact in Miami. They’ve travelled to Los Angeles, trying to make a name for themselves, but it just didn’t work and now they’re back where they came from, working dead end jobs hoping for a better future, then they get wind of a massive competition in Las Vegas, so they pull together all their friends from all around the place to go and battle for their very lives. The fifth film in the series this one looks to be bigger and better than the last one, which everyone really enjoyed. The dancing was huge in Step up: Revolution and the set pieces were really impressive. Yes, the acting is not great, and I’m not expecting it to be much better in this film, but I am looking forward to even bigger set pieces and more impressive choreography. It’s also great to see the characters from the previous

What to see in July

films coming back. Andie, Briana Evigan, is back, her character from Step Up 2: The Streets, Moose, Adam G. Sevani, is back. He had a small part in Revolution, but looks to have a much bigger role in this one, but most exciting for me is the inclusion of Alyson Stoner, who was Channing Tatum’s little sister in the first Step Up film. The trailer doesn’t show much of her, but I’m hoping she will have a significant role. If you liked the other Step Up films, I’m sure you’ll like this one too. I know I will.

Step Up: All In opens July 25th

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What to see in July

Tony Kgoroge Fana Mokoena, Deon Lotz, Yu Nan, Thomas Gumede, Zoloni Mahola Director: Carey McKenzie A seasonal southeasterly storm washes up the mutilated body of a Chinese man on a Cape Town beach. For township cop Sizwe Miya (Tony Kgoroge), this is an opportunity to prove himself and earn the promotion he desperately needs. His boss and mentor, Venske (Deon Lotz), gives Sizwe the case but assigns a rookie cop, Legama (Thomas Gumede), to keep an eye on him. Sizwe discovers that the homicide is linked to Triad (Chinese mafia) abalone smuggling in Cape Town. A Chinese shipping executive, Soong Mei (Yu Nan), tries to seduce him into giving her information about the case. Sizwe seeks advice from his former comrade Specialist (Fana Mokoena), now a crime boss. A tip from Specialist leads to a major abalone bust, but Venske calls Sizwe away from escorting the seized abalone and the shipment is stolen. The whole thing is a set up. With Venske already on his Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

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What to see in July

payroll, Specialist is using Sizwe as an unwitting ally in a criminal scheme of his own. Sizwe is promoted to detective but it’s a bitter triumph; he knows that it’s all part of Specialist’s plan. In a world where selfinterest and corruption have overtaken personal loyalty and civil duty, Sizwe is left with no one to trust. He refuses to go along with the scheme and his life is threatened. Integrity demands that he betray a friend and take the law into his own hands, so he defies Venske and plays Specialist off against the Triad. This looks to be a great South African film. The talent is sound, Kgoroge (Invictus, The First Grader), leading the pack with South African actors Lotz (Skoonheid, Roepman), Mokoena (Man on Ground, World War Z) supporting and the international flair coming from Yu Nan (Expendables II), this looks like it’s going to be a good film, especially with that storyline, but I am going to be cautious when seeing it, since I’ve been very excited about South African films in the past and ended up being bitterly disappointed. Let’s hope this one follows through and gives the audiences a good, solid crime thriller.

Cold Harbour th opens July1725

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SethSethRogenRogen

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The Married One A married man, his wife, and their baby, takes on an entire fraternity led by Zac Efron, in the new comedy, Bad Neighbours, for control of the street on which they live. Seth Rogen, who plays the man, not the baby, told us about the film

eth Rogen gained word wide popularity when he Knocked Up Katherine Heigl in the second really successful release by now comedy legend, Judd Apatow, the first being The 40 Year Old Virgin. Since then heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been played a Praying Mantic, made a porno with Elizabeth Banks, smoked a lot of weed with James Franco, became a superhero and even get saved as an alien. This

month sees him battling an entire fraternity in Bad Neighbours which pits him against Zac Efron in a battle of wits, in which neither of them is armed. Rogen talks about director Nicholas Stoller, his character, his fight scene with Efron, the massive paries and the awkwardness of shooting funny sex scenesâ&#x20AC;Ś How did you get involved with this project? A few years ago, Evan Goldberg and I had been

trying to find something to work on with the writers, Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, and they came to us with this idea one day. It was originally about three guys in a town who go to war with a frat. It was about them not wanting to grow up and dealing with that kind of struggle. They wanted Zac Efron to be the frat guy. I thought it was a funny idea, which seemed simple and clear, so we pitched it to Zac. He liked it and got on board. We wrote

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Mac (Seth Rogen) dances it up at a frat party __________________________________________________________

Seth Rogen

“The kids were so good that it was actually really easy. They didn’T love The scenes where they were dressed up though.”

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Seth Rogen

the script, and Nick Stoller came on to direct. You and Nicholas Stoller have a history that stretches back to the television series, “Undeclared.” How did your relationship develop? I think we met in 2000. We actually shared an office on “Undeclared.” We were the two youngest writers. I was eighteen and I think he was twenty-four. It was ridiculous. We wasted a lot of time, but we were both very fast writers. Considering how lazy we were, the two of us wrote a proportionately large amount! Do you have an instant rapport with Nick Stoller now? Yes, Nick and I have been good friends this whole time even though we've never actually worked together since “Undeclared.” I would go to his screenings, and he would come to ours. I was the producer on this film, so depending on how you look at it, we were both calling the shots in our own way! It was great. I was excited that he was very enthusiastic about trying to make a different type of movie than he had made before. I love his other movies, but I knew this story wasn't going to be like his other films. It was

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) garden while spying on the frat exciting to hear that he was willing to reimagine his visual and editing styles as well as the overall tone because this film is somewhat dirtier in humour than his other movies. It was exciting to watch him do something so different. The film still feels like a piece of Nick Stoller’s other works, as it has a balance of raunchy and real emotion. Yes, I think that's something that Judd Apatow instilled in all of us. That's why we all have a similar sensibility in that regard. Almost everyone who came from “Undeclared” and “Freaks & Geeks” as a writer feels that way, including Jenni Konner who does “Girls,” which is different and explicit at times but also emotional.

Could you relate to the character of Mac? Yes, that is one of the reasons I wanted to be a part of the movie and get it made. We couldn't think of a movie that was explicitly about the struggle after you have a kid of not going out and having fun anymore. That to us was a funny, fertile, relatable area. It's probably why I don't have kids! Now that you have experienced directing with your last film, did that make you want to show up on the set of Bad Neighbours with your own megaphone? No, it didn’t. Many times I’d show up on set and say that I’m so glad I’m not directing this movie. It’s nice to not direct if someone extremely great is directing. It probably

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“The fact

__________________________________________________________ There were a few moments with little sequences in the movie where it looks like you’re actually walking around at the party. We gave out cameras to the background people in the scenes, and Evan and I went around with little cameras as well. Sometimes, if they were shooting in the other house, we would have a hundred people in the frat house with music playing telling people to just party for ten minutes and we’d film it. There were definitely times it felt like a party.

No, there was no training involved. We blocked out the scene with the stunt coordinator, and we shot the fight scenes in such small chunks. We’re not trying to display the action; it’s more about the jokes. When we were walking through the scene the day before, we would come up with a lot of the ideas that were used in the scene. Then, you film ten seconds at a time. You isolate every moment. It’s still fun because you get your little moments. You can riff and do stuff there in the connective tissue.

How did you go about the fight scene with Zac? Did you train at all?

We didn’t necessarily rehearse for this movie. We maybe had a day or two

ThaT iT’s funny makes it a lot less weird. Sex scenes are generally always a little weird.” would have been frustrating if Nick didn’t do a good job and we had to stand around and take over! I was mostly thinking, “Thank goodness I don’t have to tell the extras to do this in that scene.” There are some pretty huge party scenes in the film. Was it shot on stages or on location?

Seth Rogen

What is the ratio of material you came up with on the fly to the material in the script? Was there material from rehearsals that was used?

The party scenes were all shot in houses. There was almost no soundstage work in the entire movie. The only set in the movie that I can think of is the bedroom that Zac and I fight in. Other than that, we packed tons and tons of people into real houses! It was crazy and really fun. Did the party scenes in the film ever turn into real parties?

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Seth Rogen

In the movie, when we go through the fraternity’s history, you have Andy Samberg and The Lonely Island guys in one scene and the Mail Order Comedy/”Workaholics” guys in another. It seems like such a great Easter egg hunt for people who know them.

where we sat around and read the script, but we did have a lot of conversations. It’s not what you would call a traditional rehearsal. We improvised a lot because we wanted the film to feel loose and natural. The structure and the scenes are so funny and ridiculous that it’s not too hard to come up with funny areas. If you just act normally, the scenes are so ridiculous that it is funny. That is the best place to be when you’re not relying on verbal intricacies for laughter. The situations themselves are funny. There are a lot of moments that require large genitalia in the movie. Was there a dedicated prosthetics team? There actually was a prosthetics team on the movie! There were also a lot of prosthetic butts, although you only see a few of them

in the movie. There was every prosthetic body part you can have! Is it awkward shooting a funny sex scene? It is a little awkward. The fact that it’s funny makes it a lot less weird. Sex scenes are generally always a little weird. People always say never to work with babies, but you have babies in the film. The kids were so good that it was actually really easy. What you see in the movie didn’t take hours to achieve. They were the happiest babies ever, and it makes the movie so much better. They gave us so much extra stuff that we didn’t end up using. They didn’t love the scenes where they were dressed up though.

Yes, exactly. Jake Johnson is also in the third scene. I always know how cool the audience is by how big an applause the “Workaholics” guys get. That’s one of my favourite parts of the movie, and the soundtrack in those scenes is amazing, too.

Bad Neighbours opens in SA Theatres July 18th

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Cover Story: Nicola Peltz

Battling our Extinction This month sees the fourth instalment in the Transformers franchise hit our big screen with Transformers: Age of Extinction. We sat down with Nicola Peltz who takes over as the rose among the thorns as the new pretty girl in the franchise.

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Cover Story: Nicola Peltz

hen M. Night Shyamalan decided to turn The Last Airbender into a live action film he cast a young unknown actress in the key role of Katara. Up until that point a young Nicola Peltz’d had small roles in two features, but The Last Airbender was her big break, putting her right in the sights of the Nickelodeon spotlight. It’s taken a few years since then, including a recurring role in the TV show Bates Motel, but Peltz is back in the limelight now taking over as the beautiful female presence in the latest in the Transformers franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction. In the film Peltz plays Mark Wahlberg’s daughter, a normal teen who wants to have fun with her friends, wants to have a boyfriend, and wants live a normal life, but has an extremely overprotective father who not only refuses to let her sees boys, let alone date one, but also brings a rundown truck back to their Texas home that turns out to be Optimus Prime. This at a time when a CIA hit squad is hunting the Transformers down. “I play Tessa Yeager,” she told us when we sat down to chat to her about the film. “Who is Mark Wahlberg’s daughter in the movie. She is a tough girl Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

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and definitely responsible – to the point where I would even say that she is the true adult in the house – and she is very smart. It was fun to play the arc that she has in the film.” We asked her about getting the role. “Well, I was shooting a TV show when I found out they were casting for this movie,” she told us. “I was so excited just to audition for it! So I did, and as I didn’t hear anything back for a little bit I assumed it wasn’t happening for me; but then I got a call back, met Michael Bay and even did an audition with Jack Reynor.” Reynor plays her boyfriend; the boyfriend that her father doesn’t know exists, until he saves their lives. Peltz takes over from

Megan Fox who starred as the pretty girl in the first two Transformers films, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who was the pretty girl in the last film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. We asked if she’d been a fan of the previous Transformers films. “Yes, definitely, I loved those movies!” she said, excitedly. “I have seven siblings, and my two younger brothers just love anything that has to do with Transformers. So, when I told them I was auditioning

Cover Story: Nicola Peltz

they were so excited for me.” With two younger brothers who are such fans of the franchise Peltz has ideas as to what makes these films so popular. “I think it all has to do with Michael Bay,” she thinks. “Because he is such a genius. He really brings these robots to life, and you totally feel for them. To watch him work and then see what he has achieved with these movies is just mind-blowing!” Michael Bay is a presence on the set. We asked what Peltz’s impression of him was. “Michael has so much energy,” she said. “He has to control all the cast and crew, and he gives 110% all the time. And he moves so quickly! What he gets done in a day is insane, because other filmmakers would probably take a week. So, it blows my mind how fast he is, and we just try to keep up with him. Michael is like a kid: he likes cars and blowing things up.” Bay is also known for blowing things up on his sets, not being a fan of

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ Optimus Prime brandishes his sword in Transformers: Age of Extinction

“When you

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have a scene with a Transformer, There is a pole with a face on it, and you can feel silly as an actor; but it’s fun and you go for it.”

faking things with CGI, if possible. We asked Peltz about that experience. “There was this huge one I’ll never forget,” she told us. “10 minutes before the explosion Michael told us what we were going to do, which was to run from one place to another in 4.6 seconds. In these big action sequences – where you only have one take – your adrenaline takes over and you just go. And we could feel the heat on our backs, so we ran! It was crazy and fun.” We asked how you prepare for that type of thing. “Jack and I went through boot camp for a

month before we started filming,” she said. “We were in the gym 8 hours a day, but I’m really happy we did that because it prepared us for all the running and jumping we would have to do.” Thankfully they had the training, because they did most of their own stunts. “Michael likes to put you in as much as possible,” she told us. “To make it more real. And I love it, because I’m always down to trying things. It’s fun!” As real as things can be in the film about giant talking robot aliens. We asked Peltz what it was like to act alongside something that really wasn’t even there. “When you have a scene with a Transformer,”

Cover Story: Nicola Peltz

she told us. “There is a pole with a face on it, and you can feel silly as an actor; but it’s fun and you go for it. You have to use your imagination.” Of course it helped to have such great people to work with on the film, including her dad, Mark Wahlberg. “Mark is amazing!” she said. “He is obviously very talented, and I have learned so much from him. And he is such a great guy!” A lot of the comedy in the film, and there is a healthy dose of it, comes from the witty banter between the characters, including Peltz, Wahlberg and Reyner. “He doesn’t know that I have a boyfriend or that he is a race car driver,”

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ Cade (Mark Wahlberg), Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and Lucas (T.J. Miller ) run for their lives

Nicola Peltz attending one of the premieres for Transformers: Age of Extinction___________________________________________

Cover Story: Nicola Peltz

have to literally pinch my leg to avoid laughing and ruining the scene.” To finish off we ask Peltz what she thinks people will take away from the film. “Transformers: Age of Extinction is a huge production that also has these intimate moments’ people can relate to,” she said. “Like the story of an over-protective dad that is scared of losing his daughter. The action sequences are so much fun and amazing to watch, but the movie also has a beautiful human element to it.” Too see the beautiful girl amongst the men and robots go and see Transformers: Age of Extinction at cinemas now.

she told us about when Wahlberg’s character meets Reyner’s character. “So, when the character of Shane comes into the mix my father is so shocked! He is very over-protective, which is why Tessa hid that relationship from him. It’s really funny when they all get into Shane’s car and find out about each other. It was a fun dynamic to play…” But the witty banter is not only between these two characters, there is a lot of it elsewhere too.

“Oh yes!” Peltz exclaims. “And not just with Mark and Jack Reynor, who plays my boyfriend, but also with the characters of T. J. Miller and Stanley Tucci. Stanley is great at improvising, and I would

Transformers: Age of Extinction opens in South Africa June 27th Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and Shane (Jack Reyner) sit in Bumblebee

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Five films that you didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know were shot in SA Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

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With the influx of big budget Hollywood films coming to our shores recently like Blended, opening this month, and Safe House which opened last year we decided to have a look at the films that were shot here, but no one knows. People don’t know because instead of shooting here as South Africa, the films were shot here pretending our shores were somewhere else. Here’s our list of 5 films you didn’t know were shot in South Africa:

The Last House on the Left

Paxton), they think they’ve got away with it, but when the car they’re in breaks down and they seek refuge they choose the last lake house on the left, which just happens to be the house that Mari’s parents, John (Tony Goldwyn) and Emma (Monica Potter) are staying at, and when the parents found out what’s happened, when Mari washes up, still alive, on the lakeshore, they come up with more and more brutal ways of punishing those responsible. The film is based in Connecticut and the film was supposed to be shot there, in Westport, where the original film was shot in

1973, but the threat of hazardous weather at the location led to the production being moved to sunny South Africa. Rumour has it the filmmakers actually built both the exterior and the interior of the house in South Africa to avoid moving the production to a sound stage, and leading to the authenticity, even though they weren’t even in America.

CAST: Garret Dillahunt, Sara Paxton, Tony Golwyn, Monica Potter, Aaron Paul DIRECTOR: Dennis Iliadis A group of criminals, led by Krug (Garret Dillahunt), kill two young girls, Paige (Martha MacIsaac) and Mari (Sara Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

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Chronicle CAST: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan DIRECTOR: Josh Trank Three friends, Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B. Jordan find some kind of glowing object underground during a party. They all touch it and pass out. The next day they discover they have these incredible powers, the ability to move things with their minds, and even the ability to fly. As they try to figure out what to do with these powers, and have some fun with them as well, they begin to realise that Andrew’s past, and his abusive father, could lead to him using the powers for the wrong reasons, but as they try to help him, things go from bad to worse. Based in Seattle, Washington, Chronicle was shot in Cape Town which they then changed to look like Seattle, adding the famous sky needle with CGI. The final battle scene was

even shot at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town and a large portion of it was shot at Cape Town Studios. So you can’t even be sure if the city you’re looking at is actually the city you’re looking at. It could be Cape Town.

Dredd CAST: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey DIRECTOR: Pete Travis Dredd (Karl Urban) is a judge, the only law in a world of the future gone crazy. He has the right to

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judge and execute if needs be, but there is so much crime in the mega-city, a small piece of land with way too many people living in it, to really make much difference. On a routine call Dredd and his rookie partner, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) find themselves locked in one of the megabuildings in the city and subject to the gangs that control it. They need to survive long enough for the doors to open again, but the leader of the gang, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) wants them dead, and she has a lot of soldiers to get her what she wants. Possibly the first big budget film that was actively marketed about being shot in South Africa, this entire film was shot in the Cape Town Film Studios, which are on the shores in Cape Town. Rumour has it they had to postpone production for a while since when they arrived the roof wasn’t finished on the studio, but soon after it was all complete and they could work. They built the entire interior of the mega building at the studio and ended up having an incredible set to work on. It shows that we, in South Africa, can build with the nest of them, even if it’s an entire future crime ridden city.

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which is unusual since most films shot here are shot in Cape Town. This looks like an interesting take, given that it’s set in the future were the world has pretty much collapsed, another look at what we have to offer in South Africa in terms of creating other worlds.

Kite CAST: Samuel L. Jackson, Callan McAuliffe, India Eisley DIRECTOR: Ralph Ziman In a post-financial collapse society one girl, Sawa (India Eisley), seeks vengeance for the deaths of her family. She’s aided in her quest by Karl (Samuel L. Jackson) her father’s expartner and Oburi (Callan McAuliffe), a young man with a dark secret who knows more than he

possibly should. She uses these two and anything else she can she seeks out the man who killed her parents, killing anyone that gets in her way. Not much is known about this film at the moment, since it hasn’t been released yet, but we do know that it’s based on the hit anime film of the same name and looks great. The cast was here shooting the film in 2013, shooting in and around Johannesburg,

Mad Max: Fury Road CAST: Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult DIRECTOR: George Miller

In a desolate world that has been ravaged with time, haunted by the deaths of his wife and son, Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) has left the Main Force Patrol, driving in his stolen Pursuit Special, trying to survive on his own at the wastelands of the Outback Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________

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as society begins to sink to the bottom. While heading to points unknown, Max clashes with a berserk gang of marauders led by the Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron). There is even less to see for this film, not even a trailer on Youtube, but we do know that it was shot in part at the Cape Town Film Studio, as well as certain places in Australia. The

original was set in Australia, so is this one, but it’ll be interesting to see if anyone can pick out which scenes were shot in Australia, and which ones were shot here. We bet you can’t, but we’ll have to wait until the film comes out only next year.

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So there you have it, the five films that you didn’t know were shot in South Africa, or maybe you did. Point is that we have the ability to shoot any kind of film here, from small independent dramas, to big budget Hollywood features, so let’s go SA filmmakers. Start making your films.

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The Fault in our Stars RELEASE DATE: June 13th CAST: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Laura Dern, Nat Wolff, Sam Trammell DIRECTOR: Josh Boone

THE STORY Hazel (Shailene Woodley) is a normal 17 year old teenager, with one big difference, she’s dying from cancer. She’s had various forms of cancer since she was a very small child, but now she’s mostly healthy, with the exception that her lungs don’t work so well anymore, leading to her having to walk around with an oxygen tank all the time. On a begrudging visit to one of the support groups her mother (Laura Dern) send her to Hazel literally runs into Augustus (Ansel Elgort). He’s a former cancer patient who is now in remission. He’s charming and funny and catches Hazel’s fancy right away. He’s also immediately smitten by her, so they start a relationship,

but only as friends. Hazel doesn’t want to get to close to him, knowing that she’s going to die soon, but her plan fails miserably as they both fall head over heels for each other, but with the her looming fate, and the possibility of even worse things happening, is she going to be willing to follow her heart?

THE VERDICT This is one of the most hauntingly beautiful films you’ll ever see. You know, from the first moment it starts, that it’s not going to be a happy movie, after all it’s about a group of kids dying from cancer, but that doesn’t stop you getting completely immersed in the story and the characters and really getting your heart broken when the inevitable happens. Woodley is fabulous as Hazel. She’s smart and cocky and is the embodiment of any teenager suffering from a

terminal disease. Her parents think she’s depressed, and I suppose she is, but wouldn’t you be? Knowing that you could die at literally any moment? Fighting to breathe all the time, and struggling to come to terms with the fact that you’re going to leave your parents all alone, but she has a quite strength that shines through from the first moment all the way through. Elgort is a wonderful surprise. He gives an amazing performance as her love. He sees the world a little differently than Hazel, which is probably part of the attraction. Where she’s a little despondent and looking with realistic eyes, he chooses to see the world as a great place all the time, as a wonder, one to be cherished, no matter how much time you have on it. It really puts him in the viewer’s heart from the moment you meet him, but

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the best part of Elgort’s performance is at the end when, spoiler alert, Gus’ cancer returns. He then becomes emotional and scared and gives a wonderful performance as a dying young man. It’s a heart wrenching moment. The supporting cast, Dern as Hazel’s mother, Willem Dafoe as the author that Hazel and Gus go to visit in Amsterdam trying to answers, Nat Wolff as Gus’ best friend, and Sam Trammell as Hazel’s father, all give great performances and really enhance the entire film. Everything about this film is beautiful, from the performances, to the cinematography, and the musical accompaniment, which is also great. I would highly recommend seeing it.

10/10

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Edge of Tomorrow RELEASE DATE June 13th CAST: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson DIRECTOR: Doug Liman

THE STORY Cage (Tom Cruise) is an officer in the American army who finds himself demoted to private, arrested and railroaded into a massive offensive against an alien enemy that has taken control of all of Europe. He terrified to go to war, trying everything to get out of it, but to no avail as he finds himself strapped into a ‘Jacket’, a weaponised exoskeleton, and thrown into the invasion, but five minutes into the fight he gets blown up, killing one of the leader class of aliens as he does. He wakes up to find himself back at the beginning of his ordeal,

forced to live the day over and over again, returning to the beginning each and every time he dies on the field of battle. It’s only when he tries to save Rita (Emily Blunt) the face of the offensive, a woman that almost single-handedly won the only success for the humans, that she tells him that she knows what’s happening to him. After he dies again she tells him that he was infected by the blood of the alien he killed, and now he has a gift, the same gift she had for a while, and that he needs to use his gift to find the leader of the aliens and destroy it. So Cage starts training with Rita to find and destroy this intelligence, dying hundreds of times along the way and

hoping to just survive to see tomorrow.

THE VERDICT It’s Tom Cruise battling aliens, living the same day over and over, what’s not to love? I will say that the story line is a little thin, but you don’t expect Shakespeare from this type of film. The aliens are really cool, the way they are depicted on the screen, like metal rings all stuck together, but able to move independently of each, gives the animators a lot to work with in terms of their movement, and they take full advantage of it. The movements and fights are really spectacular, but I will say that they little too close to the sentinels from The Matrix. The Omega is a none-entity though. I would have liked something a little

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more menacing than a shiny ball hovering in the air, especially looking at the drone aliens, but hey, it is what it is. Cruise gives another solid performance as a man willing to do anything to stay out of the fight, but then finding himself thrust into a never ending one. He starts off as a coward and ends off as a hero. The fight sequences with the Jackets are also really cool to watch and Cruise and Blunt both do great jobs with it. Blunt is fun as a girl that knows whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going on, has lived a battle thousands of times, and is now a bit of a bitch. She really had fun with the role, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m sure she enjoyed being able to shoot Cruise as many times as she did. The humour is what makes this film stand out for me. I never thought watching Cruise get hit by a car, get shot, get blown up, etc. could be so funny. There are some really funny, really dark moments in the film, which really had me giggling. If you like action films with a good dollop of comedy thrown in then this is your film. It will also appeal to the sci-fi lovers out there, but only just.

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How to Train your Dragon 2

RELEASE DATE June 20 CAST: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Djimon Hounsou DIRECTOR: Dean DeBlois

THE STORY It’s been five years since the vents in the first film and things have changed considerably in Berk. Now everyone loves the dragons. They each have dragons of their own and compete in massive dragon races, now the most loved sport in the whole village. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Toothless are still firm friends and spend their time searching for other worlds and other dragons, but things are less simple at home, where his dad, Stoick (Gerard Butler) wants Hiccup to be the new chief of Berk, but Hiccup is not sure, so instead he runs away, and finds a dragon trapping station that’s been destroyed by a huge ice breathing dragon. There he discovers that Drago

(Djimon Hounsou), a dangerous man who his father has had runs-ins with before, is coming to capture all dragons. Hiccup thinks he can talk Drago out of his plan, so goes off to talkto him, coming face to face with the dragon that destroyed the station, as well the dragon rider that goes along with it, someone from his past, Valka (Cate Blanchett)

THE VERDICT The first How to Train your Dragon was a revelation in terms of story line and animation. It was smart and beautiful and one of the few times I’ve ever seen a lead character loose a leg in an animated film. The sequel is

even better. Its slick and smart, the animation is completely wonderful, especially the flying. The dragons are gorgeous, and the characters are well created and completely believable. The voices are great, everything about this film is great. I will say though, that there are several moments that I thought may be a little sad or too frightening for very little children, the reason it’s not 10/10, but if you have strong kids, or they’ve seen other films before, then go and see this one. The kids will love it.

9/10

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In Secret

RELEASE DATE June 20th CAST: Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Jessica Lange, Oscar Isaac DIRECTOR: Charlie Stratton

THE STORY As a child Therese’s (Elizabeth Olsen) mother passes away. Her father can’t care for her, so he sends her to live with her aunt, Madame Raquin (Jessica Lange), and her sickly son, Camille (Tom Felton). Years later the three move to Paris and Therese is forced into a loveless marriage with Camille. She wants to love him, wants have some kind of connection beyond the sisterly, caref giver feelings she has, but she just doesn’t,

so she resigns herself to the loveless marriage and working in her aunts store, that is until she meets Camille’s friend, Laurent (Oscar Isaac). The two are immediately attracted to each other and begin a steamy affair, but they know they can’t be together permanently because of her marriage, so they decide to kill Camille, and the web of deception and betrayal begins to unravel.

then slows down tremendously. It gets a little more interesting when the two start the affair, but then wanes again. You can only see the two jumping into bed together so many times before you get tired of it. It really gets interesting when they start to plot Camille’s death, but even that is slow and uninspired, and just not exciting. It’s a pity because the performances are good. Lange is great as a domineering mother, Isaac is driven as a man who knows what he wants, and will do anything to get it, Olsen is wonderful as the girl who just can’t control her feelings, and Felton shines as the sickly young man who does love her, but just doesn’t know how to show it. I’m not sure where the fault in the film lies, because the cinematography was also great, beautiful classic France, but it just didn’t capture my interest. A pity.

6/10

THE VERDICT Based on the novel "Therese Racquin" by Émile Zola, which a classic piece of French literature, I expected a lot more from this film, but just didn’t find it. Truth be told, I found it rather boring. It starts off pretty good, but

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RELEASE DATE June 27th CAST: Tom Hardy, Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson DIRECTOR: Steven Knight

THE STORY Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) is a devoted husband and contractor. He is expected at home to watch his favourite team play soccer with his sons and his wife, and has a massive concrete drop the following day, the largest one in English history, but when he leaves the site, instead of heading home, he gets on the highway heading the 2 hours to London. In the course of the drive we discover that he had an affair with a woman who is now having his baby. He tells his wife, risking losing his marriage, and tells his boss he won’t be there for the drop tomorrow, risking his career, all in trying to do the right thing and be a good man.

Locke

talking on a phone, how boring is that going to be? But I was gladly wrong, and found myself glued to the screen the entire time. It is literally Hardy, sitting in a car and talking on the phone the entire time, now explosions, no car wreck, just a guy driving to London, but his performance is so engrossing that you just want to see every second of it. Helping him to keep the attention of the viewers are the amazing vocal performances by the people he’s called including, Ruth Wilson as his wife Katrina, Andrew Scott as the guy helping him at work, Donal, Ben Daniels as his boss Gareth and his sons, played by Tom Holland and Bill Milner. They all give Hardy a platform to work from and without then the film wouldn’t have been as good. I would have liked a more

significant ending, something that really finished off the film without a doubt, but that’s life, I suppose. Things don’t end with a nice little bow, they are messy and complicated, and that’s this film. If you enjoy great subtle performances then this is the film for you.

8/10

THE VERDICT I expected to be bored in this film. An hour and a half of a guy driving in a car,

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Belle RELEASE DATE June 27th CAST: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Matthew Goode, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Sarah Gadon, Sam Reid, James Norton, Tom Felton DIRECTOR: Amma Asante

THE STORY When she’s a young girl, Dido (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), also known as Belle, is taken in by her father’s uncle (Tom Wilkinson) when her father has to leave to captain a ship in the Royal navy. This is awkward since the child is coloured, but according to law, because the child is akin to the family she is allowed to be taken in. They pass her off as a playmate for their other niece, Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon), and the two grow up together. When they reach the age to find husbands, the only thing girls in that time did,

Elizabeth is taken to meet men, but Dido is virtually hidden away, but this doesn’t help since her exotic looks, and healthy dowry, leads to suitors. This is more complicated by a law that is in front of her uncle, the supreme lord judge of England, which could destroy the slave trade in England and cost a lot of people a lot of money, and the man who has Dido’s affections and stands against slavery, Mr Davinier (Sam Reid)

THE VERDICT Period pieces run a very big risk of being very good, like Great Expectations, or rather bad, like In Secret. This film walks the fence. The good side is the sets and costumes, which are stunning really putting you back in the turn of the 20th

century England. The acting is good as well, especially from Mbatha-Raw who gives a solid performance as a girl stuck between two worlds, with her feet in both, but not really fitting in either. She shows the struggle the girl has between who she is, who she wants to be, and who she knows she should be, all three very difficult paths for her to follow. Wilkinson and Emily Blunt as Dido’s aunt, give good performances as people who have a very definite idea of what they should do, and what they’re allowed to do, but the personal aspect of it changes everything. Wilkinson especially gives a good job with the slave law that is at the core of this character, seeing both sides of the problem, but being pressured on all sides.

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I N CIN EMA S Gadon is lovely as a girl stuck in a horrible time to be a girl, having to find a husband to support her, but the only guys looking are looking for girls with money. Her part in the film highlights one of the more interesting aspects of the film, comparing woman in the 1800â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s with slaves. Both were virtually for sale, and then belonged to their owners. Thank Heavens for womanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lib. The down side of the film is that it runs pretty slowly. The

filmmakers could have cut about twenty minutes off the total running time and it would have been tighter and more intense, but that is a small bit of the big picture. It is a good film for those that like period films.

8/10

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Transformers: Age of Extinction RELEASE DATE June 27th CAST: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

THE STORY It’s been a while since the events in Chicago that took place in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the feelings towards the Transformers has completely changed. The Autobots that are left are in hiding and the Decepticons are being hunted down by a CIA hit squad. In the middle of this a garage inventor, Cade (Mark Wahlberg) finds a run down, almost destroyed truck and takes it home to break it down for parts, much to the chagrin of his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), but as soon as he starts working on the truck he realises that it’s a Transformer, in fact, it’s Optimus Prime. The two humans, and along with her boy-friend, Shane (Jack Reynor) get caught in the middle of a conspiracy to destroy all the Transformers,

Autobots and Decepticons, by a rogue government man, Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) and atechnology company billionaire, Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), but their plan could result in the end of the world and the extinction of our race, something the Autobots aren’t sure they want to stop.

THE VERDICT I was a huge fan of the first Transformers film, since I was a fan of the TV series a few years prior, but my interest has somewhat waned since. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was good, but not great, and Dark Side of the Moon was even worse. I couldn’t exactly tell you what was wrong with the two films, but it was just too much of what made the first one good, and became too much all around, even though I liked the actors. The same thing has happened with this one. Firstly, it’s almost three hours long, which is all least an hour too long, and after

the fifth robot fight you just want it too end. Secondly, it is very much more of the same, its robot’s versus robots all the time, again. There’s even Megatron again, albeit in a roundabout fashion. I will say that the CGI and effects are excellent, as they were in the other films, and the story is a little more open this time. They introduce a couple of things, a bounty hunter trying to capture Optimus for the creators, the ones that made the Transformers, which is an interesting plot point, but not really explored very much. There’s also the addition of the Dinobots, which I was really excited about, but they just appear, wreck an entire city, and then go away. No explanation as to who they are, or where they’re from, or anything. The viewer is kind of left in the dark. The human aspect is good, firstly that humans are now using the metal that lets Transformers transform to

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make things, leading to disaster, as we knew it would, and also that they have the ability to destroy Transformers now. Of course they use it for bad, but it’s nice to see humans with a chance against these colossal robots. The humans in the film, namely Wahlberg, Tucci, Peltz, Grammer and Reynor, are all good. This isn’t really an acting heavy film, but they are all good with their one liners, which are all over the film, and their interactions are interesting and compelling. Grammer is good as the bad guy, for a

change and he is maniacal in his pursuits. Peltz is good, but there’s something Bay, the director, does with his leading ladies. I don’t know if it’s lighting or makeup or what but she looks way over tanned or photo shopped or something. Don’t get me wrong, she’s gorgeous, but not very natural. He did the same thing to Megan Fox in previous Transformers films, and to Scarlett Johansson in The Island. It’s not bad, just not natural. That said, she is good in the film. If you’re a fan of the other Transformers film then you’ll like this one, but if not, steer

clear. It’s just more of what you didn’t like in the other films.

8/10

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IN C INEM AS Thunder, the magician’s toys and Jack and Maggie to save their home.

THE VERDICT

The House of Magic RELEASE DATE July 4th CAST: the voices of Murray Blue, George Babbit, Shanelle Gray, Grant George DIRECTOR: Jeremy Degruson, Ben Stassen

THE STORY When a small tabby cat (voiced by Murray Blue) is abandoned in the suburbs, he has no idea where to go or what to do. Through a set of circumstances he finds himself in an old dilapidated house that everyone else on the block, including the rats, are afraid of. There he meets the magician who welcomes the cat, who he names Thunder into the family, much to the chagrin of Jack the rabbit (voiced by George Babbit) and Maggie the

mouse (voiced by Shanelle Gray) who don’t want him there. Things get really bad though when the magician has a bicycle accident and ends up in hospital, giving his greedy, conniving nephew Daniel (voiced by Grant George) the opportunity to sell the house under his nose, so it falls on

Animation always does well at the box office, so there’s no real risk of this one not doing well, but the question is, whether or not it’s worth taking your kids to see it over the holidays? Well, the answer is, sure. It’s not the greatest animation in the world, it’s not Pixar or Dreamworks, it’s a European company, but it is a cute story and cute characters. I will say that there are a couple of rather scary moments, as well as the start of the film is the abandoning of a little kitten, which could disturb a few younger viewers. Truth is it disturbed me a little, but it is fun and, if they can see past the bad bits, kids will enjoy it.

8/10

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The Invisible Woman RELEASE DATE July 7th CAST: Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joanna Scanlan DIRECTOR: Ralph Fiennes

THE STORY In the 1850’s Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) is possibly the biggest writer, and celebrity, in England. He is adored by all that meet him, and especially by those that read his work. While he’s staging a play he meets Nelly (Felicity Jones) a young girl in a family of actors who Dickens immediately becomes infatuated with. After getting to know each other they start having an affair, with the full knowledge of his wife (Joanna Scanlan) and her mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), but desperate to keep it away from his public. Soon Nelly realises that he is always in the public eye, and

rumours start to spread. They try to weather the storm, but things get really complicated really quickly.

THE VERDICT There have been a slew of period pieces this month, from In Secret, to Belle to this one. This film fits in well with the others. IT has stunning visuals, from the clothes, to the locations, to the vehicles it is all perfect of the time period and put together beautifully. The aspect I liked about this film, different to the others, is the way it compares celebrity from back then to celebrity now. It’s interesting to see that if Dickens had been alive today we would probably have Keeping Up with the Dickens’ instead of the Kardashians. It’s interesting to see the origins of the celebrity culture we have today, and that it

comes from as far back as 1850’s England. That being said, other aspects are strange. Like Dickens’ relationship with his wife, I don’t think he ever even liked her, let alone loved her. It probably stems from marrying off the girls, as in Belle. A strange custom that is still real in some African cultures, but I just don’t really understand. Nelly’s mother also isn’t so concerned about the fact that they are seeing each other, than she is about Nelly’s reputation. Dickens wife also doesn’t seem to care very much about the affair, having full knowledge of it. A different time, I suppose. Something else that bothered me about the film is that it is very slow. It’s done in a series of flashbacks, starting after Dickens’ death and moving back as Nelly remembers, but the entire film could be at least half an hour shorter, to keep the pacing more intense, and less boring.

7/10

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Blended RELEASE DATE July 4th CAST: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Terry Crews, Bella Thorne, Emma Fuhrmann DIRECTOR: Frank Coraci

THE STORY After the blind date from hell, Jim (Adam Sandler) and Lauren (Drew Barrymore) keep getting thrown together, and when their credit cards are accidently switched and he comes to her house to drop it off, they both find out about a trip to Africa that is going wanting. Both jump at the chance and the next thing you know Jim and his three girls, Larry (Bella Thorne) Espn (Emma Fuhrmann) and Lou (Alyvia

Alyn Lind), and Lauren and her two boys, Brendon (Braxton Beckham) and Tyler (Kyle Red Silverstein), are thrown together at Sun City resort, but as they spend more time together, and with each-others kids, they start to realise that maybe the other isn’t so bad after all, and maybe first impressions aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.

THE VERDICT I went into this film with high hopes. I’ve loved the other work that Barrymore and Sandler have done together, The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, but while those two films

were some of the best films I’ve seen this one just isn’t up there. I think it’s because instead of the sweet, love story that made the other two so good, we’ve ended up with more along the lines of Grown Ups 2, and while a lot of people liked that film, it just doesn’t stand up to the other two. That said, there are a lot of things to actually like about this film too. Barrymore and Sandler are great together, no matter what they’re doing. They seem so comfortable on the screen. The kids are good too, playing very strange caricatures, some of them, of crazy kids, especially the boys, who are

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a little too much to be believable, but the girls are great. Lind is really cute, and at that age that’s all you really need, Thorne shows some real depth as a girl who doesn’t quite know how to be a girl, but the real performance to take note of is Fuhrmann. I noticed her back in The Magic of Belle Isle in 2012, and this time around I didn’t even recognise her with her really bad haircut. She gives a wonderful performance as a little girl who’s lost her mother and doesn’t know how to let go. The scene with her and Sandler, when she finally does just that, is heart breaking and one of the highlights of the film. If you like Sandler, then you’ll get something out of this film, but if you’re expecting

another Sandler/Barrymore romantic comedy, I’m afraid you’re going to be a little disappointed.

7/10

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RELEASE DATE July 11th CAST: Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Jason Clarke, Toby Kebbell, Nick Thurston DIRECTOR: Matt Reeves

THE STORY It’s been at least ten years since Caesar (Andy Serkis) led the apes out of San Francisco and to freedom in Muir woods. They’ve been living in peace ever since, but the human population hasn’t been that lucky. Most of the world has been wiped out by a flu-like virus that has been attributed to the apes, making those that are left hate them. The apes think that all the people are dead now, but then they run into a few in the forest. It’s a tense meeting, but Caesar lets the humans go, only to have one of them, Malcolm

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

(Jason Clarke) return. He and a few others are trying to reestablish a settlement, but they need power from a dam, which is on ape land, so Malcolm asks Caesar for permission to get the dam working and then they’ll leave. Caesar agrees, wanting the humans gone as soon as possible, but some of the apes, especially Caesar’s second-incommand, Koba (Toby Kebbell), who wants to just attack and kill all the humans, but Caesar will not allow it. This hatred, in the apes and the humans, starts to fester and leads to things getting out of control, and war.

THE VERDICT I’ve never been a huge fan of the Planet of the Apes

films. I don’t have a really good reason why, but they just never really appealed to me. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The story is intense and captivating and the performances by everyone, especially the apes, are astounding. What puts this film head and shoulders above the other Planet of the Apes films, are the special effects, especially the performance-capture apes. Serkis as Caesar and Kebbell as Koba are both astounding. They look incredible on the screen, starting and ending the film with an extreme close-up of Caesar’s eyes. You really cannot tell that these are not real apes. They look as real as any ape you’ll see at any zoo. It is really amazing. The sets are great too, from the desolated city where the people are living, to the ape city which is also really cool. Serkis and Kebbell are also wonderful for the performances they give in the film. Both are so completely into their characters that you just buy every single thing that happens to them in the film. They are completely and utterly awesome. Add to that great supporting performances by Clarke,

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Gary Oldman as the leader of the human settlement, Keri Russell as Clarkeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s girlfriend, Kodi Smit-McPhee as his son and several others including Nick Thurston as Caesarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son Blue Eyes and Karin Konoval as Maurice the ape teacher, and you have the makings of a fantastic film. This is a really incredible film where technology and performance work hand in hand to make a wonderful experience. I highly recommend it to any viewer out there.

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RELEASE DATE July 11th CAST: Teo Halm, Astro, Reese Hartwig, Ella Wahlestedt, Jason GrayStanford DIRECTOR: Dave Green

THE STORY Three best friends, Alex (Teo Halm), Tuck (Astro) and Munch (Reese Hartwig) are spending their last days together before they all have to move to make way for the freeway that’s going to be built over their houses. On the last day that they’re there Alex’s cell phone goes nuts. After some puzzling the boys discover that the strange picture on his phone is a map, leading out into the desert. They follow the map and discover what they first think to be some kind of junk in the sand, but what turns out to be Echo, an owl looking alien who wants to

Earth to Echo

get home. He needs their help to rebuild his spaceship so he can do just that. So they boy’s last night becomes an adventure as they try to help Echo, but they’re not the only ones who read the map, or the only ones looking for the ship.

THE VERDICT I was quite keen to see this film when I heard about it, but then I realised that it’s the dreaded found-footage format that I complain about all the time. Before I get to that, let me say that it is actually a good film. It’s not completely original, in fact, it’s not original at all, looking like a watered down version

of Super 8, or a newer version of E.T. – The Extra Terrestrial, but still it is fun and interesting. The acting is good by all four of the lead actors, none of them have much of a resume, but they really could have. The effects are good, Echo is really cute and the story, though not original, is compelling and makes you want to watch, but then there’s the found-footage thing. I don’t like foundfootage. It actually gives me motion sickness, so this is the last found-footage film I will be reviewing, but what bugs me so much about this film is that it is actually a good film, but it’s ruined, for me at least, because of the found-footage thing. Why could you not put the camera on a tripod, filmmakers? What is so wrong about a steadycam rig? The viewer doesn’t need to be made to feel ill, really. If you like found-footage, though I can’t imagine why, then you’ll like this film. I’m actually hoping that it won’t put people off because it’s a nice film. Can we not be done with found-footage? Am I alone here?

7/10

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Director Dave Green

SOUNDS OF ECHOES Its little alien owls, dangerous CIA agents and young love in Dave Green’s feature directorial debut, Earth to Echo. He tells us about using the found footage style, the kids he worked with and what he hopes people will take from the film

n the new kids’ sci-fi feature, Earth to Echo, sees three kids, Alex, played by Teo Halm, Tuck, played by Astro and Munch, played by Reese Hartwig, going above and beyond to help their new friend, Echo, a toy owl looking alien robot who is trying to rebuild his ship and get home. The film is shot in the found-footage style, with massive use of Youtube videos and Google Earth maps. First time feature director Dave Green tells us about his cast, his choice of found-footage style and what the film is really about…

Why did you decide to go with the found-footage format? Kids are cutting their own movies together. They’re not just shooting footage and letting footage exist, we wanted to lean into the deal that really Tuck, the kid who films this movie, he’s not only shot the whole thing, he’s also cut the whole thing, and he’s put music to it, when he feels that it’s necessary. He’s put titles in there and he can pause the movie and he can interject, and he can add commentary. How much freedom did you give the kids on the set?

There was a looseness to the way we made the film. Obviously we had a script every day and there was a schedule, you know, but when I hired the kids we all sat down together and I told them that I’d hired them because they were great and I had a lot of trust in them, and I wanted them to know, you know, welcome to the team, but it was also empowering the kids to feel totally comfortable, and totally like free on set, if they felt they wanted to invent something that was great. We always did the lines, but some of the best stuff in the movie that makes the kids relationships fell absolutely real, are those little filler things that we

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Director Dave Green plots a shot in Earth to Echo

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Director Dave Green

â&#x20AC;&#x153;What was so important for me was just telling a story about kids that could actually inspire change on their own.â&#x20AC;?

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Director Dave Green

could never come up with in a script. What was the most exciting part of making this film? Building suspense out of what the characters didn’t know was probably the most exciting part, because we were able to put ourselves in the kids’ shoes and think of what it would be like if we found a map on our cell phones that led out to into the desert. What would I do with that? And if I was twelve, thirteen years old and didn’t have the power to just get in a car and drive out there, what would I do? The question mark of what the map is, and indeed, what it leads to, was a huge driver

From left: Tuck (Astro), Emma (Ella Wahlestedt), Munch (Reese Hartwig) and Alex (Teo Halm) say goodbye to Echo

for the kids in getting out into the desert, and is also a huge driver for us, as the audience, not knowing what’s ahead of us in the film. What is this film really about? This group has imagination. They want to discover something. The story takes place on the last night that these kids are getting to spend together because they are being forced to move out of their neighbourhood, a huge freeway is being built over where they live, so the movie is really about this group of kids and how they have to say goodbye to each other and how they have the best adventure of their lives, and how that adventure changes their lives, on what feels like the last night

they’ll ever see each other again. Tell us about Alex. Alex comes from a tough upbringing. He’s used to not having the kind of friends that he’s come to find in this place he now calls his home. Having this ground with Munch and Tuck as his best friends, is really the best part of his life, because he’s never really had that, but then, in the story, he’s being forced to move again out of this neighbourhood and that’s really hard for him. What was so important about this story? What was so important for me was just telling a story about kids that could actually inspire change on their own. The same could be said about Echo, who is this tiny little robot creature

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“This group

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has imagination. They want to discover something.” cinematography

that you think is wounded and powerless and you think is helpless, and is just too small to do anything. In the beginning, when you first meet him, you think he’s just junk in the desert, but he’s not. Tell us about Tuck. What Tuck really does in the movie is to be the instigator. Tuck is the one who tells the others to not be lazy, to not take no for an answer, to not think small, but to think big, to be inspired. To go out into the middle of the desert, to go on the biggest adventure they’ve ever been on and see if they can change their course, and thanks to him, they do, in part, anyway.

I think, for us, and what was so great about Maxime [Alexandre], our cinematographer, was that he has a very childlike imagination and he was great about thinking about were the camera would go from the character’s point of view. He told us several times that the camera wouldn’t go here, or here it would be here because this character would be scared,

Director Dave Green

and he would duck right now and you want to feel that energy and emotion in the camera work, so we should put it there. Tell us about Echo I didn’t want to make him just a robot. I thought that if we’re going to make him just a robot we have to give him a soul. We have to feel for him, we have to feel like there is an organic core to him, you know. So, certain animation ideas came up when we were conceptualising, but thought he could breathe, and just be nature that this robot is breathing, it’s taking in your air, then it is alive. He has a soul, right? Tell us about some of the reactions you’ve had from viewers of the film? One of the things that I am super happy about, and after we’ve shown the film to several audiences, is that we’ve heard from some kids,

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_______________________________________________ especially one kid who was about nine or ten years old that came up to me and told me that the film makes him believe that he, a kid, could do anything he could put his mind to. So I was like, Wow, I didn’t know that would be the reaction. I didn’t know we were making that movie, but if that’s the message, then that’s fantastic. I think that at the end of the movie the kids have really accomplished something that’s much bigger than them, and thematically, that’s what the movie is really about.

Director Dave Green Echo in Earth to Echo

What do you want people getting from this film? It was important to me because when I go to the movies I want to eat popcorn and I want to laugh and cry and I want to be excited, I want great action and suspense and feel for my characters, basically I want the whole package, so whether Echo was a horror movie or a sci-fi or a comedy or whatever, whatever genre we dipped into for the film it always came back to making it the most fun ride we could, and also telling ti from our characters point of view, which is a little rare.

Earth to Echo opens in South African cinemas 74 July 11th

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Andy Serkis

PLAYING APE IN TODAYS’ WORLD AUDIENCES ARE EXPECTING MORE AND BETTER VISUALS, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO BIG BUDGET HOLLYWOOD FILMS. AT THE FOREFRONT OF THIS WAVE OF EXPECTATION IS ANDY SERKIS, ARGUABLY THE FIRST NAME IN PERFORMANCE-CAPTURE ACTING.

GI, or Computer Generated Images, have become something of a staple in pretty much all big budget Hollywood features. What would Independence Day be without the alien ships or King Kong without the gigantic gorilla? But sometimes simple CGI isn’t enough especially today when the audiences are becoming more

knowledgeable and demand better and better visuals in their films. One of the arsenals of todays’ filmmaker is performancecapture technology which allows a filmmaker to actually use a suit to capture an actors’ actual performance on a computer, making it part computer generated and part actual person. At the forefront of this form of acting is the absolutely wonderful character actor Andy Serkis, whose performance-capture

work includes Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and the gigantic gorilla in King Kong. This month sees Serkis back in an ape suit, albeit a much smaller one this time, as he reprises his role as the incredibly intellectual ape Caesar in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Serkis talked to us about Caesar, working with his co-stars on the film, Keri Russell and Jason Clarke, the director Matt Reeves, and his

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Andy Serkis

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dawn of the Planet of the Apes asks a central question: Should one species be more important than another?â&#x20AC;?

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Andy Serkis

performance-capture work on the film… Tell us about your character, Caesar, and his journey in this film. I think people were surprised as to how much they related to him as a character, and I think the conversations afterwards were very much about how he would probably be, because he’s leading the apes into a new dawn, into a new civilization, into a new era, that the story would focus on him as a leader. I suppose then the questions started to be about when we wanted to drop into the story, the next time around. Where do we find Caesar in this sequel?

What’s happened in between, globally, is that this pandemic, the simian flu, which is what it was known as, or became to be known as, has wiped out vast quantities of the world’s populations, and the apes are looking out over San Francisco, and gradually these lights are beginning to dim and to become none existent, so we get a sense that, for all intents and purposes, that humanity is gone, that they all have left, or what have you. The sightings are becoming fewer and fewer, and the way the ape colony is set up, in the hills in Muir Woods, or Ape Mountain, which is where they have carved out this amphitheatre and their home. Tell us about the apes discovering the humans. For about the first ten or twenty minutes or so of the film you think it’s going to be just the apes, but then all of a sudden, crash, human beings come into their

environment, and it’s a real shock. You can’t quite believe it. It takes everyone by surprise, most of all the apes. They hear gunshots in the woods and suddenly, their world just collapses from there on in. Talk us through Koba and Caesar’s relationship Koba is very much of the mind that humans need to be eradicated. That they should be taken away and got rid of. That apes shouldn’t have anything to do with them, and the more venom that comes from Koba, the more Caesar is trying to defend the idea that apes can help humans, and help get them what they want, and then they’ll go and there’ll be no more interaction, and then there will be a sense of freedom from that situation, from the humans encroaching on their land, but Koba is appalled by the very idea.

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“Performance-

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capture isn’t about doing gross body movements. It’s at its most Reeves has powerful is in its done just an amazing stillness” job of teasing Gary Oldman plays the human leader, Dreyfus; tell us about him in the film. One of the other major figures in the human community is Gary Oldman’s characters, Dreyfus, who is a very pragmatic, hard core survivalist, who is going to make sure that the human beings are going to survive, at any costs. He is absolutely clear minded and everything is black and white as far as his opinions of apes and how they murdered humanity, as Koba is about humans doing the same to apes. They are sort of parallel characters to each other. What are the Planet of the Apes movies really about? The movies really do mean something, and they’re very tenderly play the emotional

that out of what is, extensively, a great big blockbuster movie. It certainly has that, it has scale, it’s epic, it’s a mythic journey, but at the same time it has this incredible tenderness and emotionality to it, which is really, really important. What are the central themes of the film? Dawn of the Planet of the Apes asks a central question and Caesar really is posed that question, and that is: Should one species be more important than another? Should we have the right, on this planet, that one kind of person is better than another kind of person? That’s what the film is underpinning. Any kind of absolute belief system is absolutely flawed, because it doesn’t take into account that people are different, and we need to embrace

Andy Serkis

that, and acknowledge that, but not only that, actually celebrate it. How is Matt Reeves as a director? It’s been such an incredible pleasure working with Matt on this project. He’s an unbelievably generous human being, compassionate human being, a brilliant story teller, and, as a director, for actors, pretty much one of the greatest. I think he truly seeks the emotional centre of every point of a very ambitious project, and it has been hugely taxing for him. In the big machinery of it all, in the huge behemoth production that this is, he’s managed to carve out every single scene so it’s about getting right into the centre of the drama, whether it be between apes, or apes and humans, or just humans amongst themselves, it’s always about the reality and emotionality of the scene, Tell us about working with Keri Russell Keri was so… She’s such a truthful actress and I really enjoyed working with her, in every single scene we had together, and I think we both brought out, just the real route of the motions of the scenes we were in. I was just mesmerised by what she did actually. There’s a

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_____________________________________________________ real simplicity and honesty. I think she’s an incredibly honest actress. Tell us about working with Jason Clarke Jason was fantastic to work with. He was very giving, very hard working, totally committed. We really gave

each other 150% every single take. He really pushed himself, physically pushed himself. He was required to do a lot of heavy lifting in this film, and he’s knocked about by all manor or apes and dragged around and beaten up, but even then he really went for the heart of the emotion for the scene.

Toby Kebbell’s plays Koba, your rival for control of the apes. What do you think about his performance in the film? He’s just been so devoted to getting under the skin of Koba and mining it for all it’s worth, and he’s bought a great deal of humour to it.

He’s made Koba very anarchic, so there again, a multi-dimensional character, because he could have, very easily, been this very dark nemesis character who is just bad through and through, but you just totally understand, and at times you’re really swayed into believing his ethos. You understand where he’s

Andy Serkis

coming from, because Toby has a real fantastic ability to switch between being completely innocent and being the instigator. Looking into his eyes you can see just how vulnerable that character is. You shot the whole film in a performance-capture suit,

what was it like for the other actors, you think? People, I think, assume that the performance-capture process is going to be alienating to an actor who is playing a live action character, but actually I think they just forget after about five minutes. Once you get over looking at my

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face when I have lots of dots all over it, and the head mounted camera, once you’ve literally been in that situation for five minutes. I think they were both, maybe, weary of how that might be, playing and entire movie opposite an actor in a performance-capture suit, but they didn’t even think about it, and it meant nothing, I know meant nothing, after just a few minutes or acting with each other, because actors are actors and they look into each-other’s eyes and know whether or not the other person is being truthful or not and that’s what all of this is about. So, yes, they gave themselves totally over to it, and I really admire them for that.

performance-capture in the film What’s wonderful about performance-capture technology, as a technology, is that it improves with every movie. The envelope is always being pushed as different solutions are needed for the art and craft of making it more of a transparent technology, so you’re not aware of it. Obviously shooting on these locations was a huge challenge because of the extreme weather conditions. What is the most important thing for you in a performance-capture performance? Performance-capture isn’t about doing gross body movements and pantomiming, it’s actually where it’s at its most

Andy Serkis

powerful is in its stillness. Being brave enough to hold a close-up, and internalise, and not feel you’re having to demonstrate your ape-ness, as it were. Tell us about the facial capture element The great thing about facialcapture is that captures absolutely every individual thought, and subtlety, and emotion very clearly, and the multitude of performance-capture cameras around you do the same as a very close-up shot from a regular camera.

Dawn of the Talk us about the Planet of the advancements of Apes opens in South Africa Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ 81 July 11th

throwback

CAST: Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne, Olivia Wilde, Jason Lewis, J.R. Villarreal, Joaquim de Almeida DIRECTOR: John Herzfeld

THE STORY Tim Kearney (Paul Walker) is a three time loser. A small time crook and former marine who just can’t seem to get his life back on track. He is given another lease on life by DEA agent Tad Gruzsa (Laurence Fishburne) when he is approached to pretend to be a legendary drug dealer named Bobby Z. Gruzsa needs Kearney because a major over the border drug kingpin Don Huertero (Joaquim de Almeida) has kidnapped another DEA agent and will only release him if Gruzsa hands over Bobby, someone Huertero has never met, but has seen pictures. Problem Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde) consoles Kit (J.R. Villareal)

Kearney (Paul Walker) can’t quite believe the deal he’s being offered is, Bobby is dead, so Gruzsa gets Kearney, who looks like Bobby, to impersonate him to get the agent out, but things don’t go as planned and Kearney finds himself on the run, not only from the kingpin, but also from the DEA agent who put him there, and all this with Bobby’s 13 year old son (J.R. Villarreal) in tow.

THE VERDICT This isn’t a film that anybody has watched. It didn’t even get a cinema release, but, as

I’ve come to realise recently, that doesn’t even matter. This is great film. It’s full of adventure and action and comedy and even a little good acting, which is nice. Walker plays the lead characters, and he’s really good. I’ve liked him since his The Fast and The Furious days, and this film was shot the year after 2 Fast 2 Furious and two years before Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the franchise, and the one that really boosted Walker into the limelight. Since the he’s done two more Fast and Furious films as well as slew of smaller films, before his untimely death in a car accident in November 2013. This time around Walker is not behind the wheel of a car, but he does get to play with guns, ride a horse, and a motorbike, and he gets behind the wheel of a car for

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Don Huertero (Joaquim de Almeida) has Kearney (Paul Walker) by the throat…

a little while, but not for long. Fishburne is also great as the DEA agent, who is a little of cliché, obviously, but still he plays the role for all it’s worth and has real fun with it. This film was one of Olivia Wilde’s first, before she played the strange girl in TRON: Legacy and the alien in Cowboys & Aliens. She is good in this film too, playing the plaything of Bobby and Huertero, and the guardian of Bobby’s kid. Villarreal is also good as the son, a smart ass who has never really known his father, but likes the guy a lot, when he’s not

really his dad. He gives the film some emotional core. If you’re a fan of Walker, or a fan of a smart action film, then you’ll enjoy this film. Enjoy Walker for what he was, a great actor that was taken way before his time.

THE DEATH AND LIFE OF BOBBY Z IS ON SUNDAY, 20 JULY AT 20:00 ON MNET MOVIES ACTION

Off The Screen Magazine ________________________________________________________________ …And Elizabeth (Olivia Wilde) is in the same predicament with one of his cronies