Off the screen magazine march 2014

March 2014 Your one resource for what’s happening at the South African Box Office.

www.offthescreenmagazine.com

Saving Mr Disney Hollywood heavyweight Tom Hanks talks to us about his portrayal of Hollywood icon Walt Disney in Saving Mr Banks

Modern Academy TV actress Sarah Hyland talks to us about her latest foray onto the big screen in the teen film, Vampire Academy

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Content s Cover Story:

16 Saving Mr Disney Hollywood heavyweight Tom Hanks talks to us about bring another Hollywood icon to life, Walt Disney, in the film, Saving Mr Banks

Features:

10 Modern Academy TV actress Sarah Hyland talks to us about her latest big screen venture in the teen novel film adaption of Vampire Academy

22 The Red Head in the Hustle Academy Award nominee Amy Adams talks to us about her nominated role in the seventies action comedy, American Hustle

Reviews: Film Released February 14th 28 Vampire Academy 29 Her 30 Pad Na Jou Hart 31 The Monuments Men 32 Achorman 2: The Legend Continues

16 Released February 21st 33 Saving Mr Banks 34 The Nut Job 35 Ride Along 36 Pompeii

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Editor Jon Broeke jon.broeke@gmail.com

Deputy Editor

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Released February 28th 38 American Hustle 39 The Frozen Ground 40 A Winter’s Tale 41 Dallas Buyers Club 42 Perfect Wave Released February 7th 43 300: Rise of an Empire 44 The To Do List 45 The Grandmaster 46 Vrou Soek Boer 47 Winnie Mandela

Annette Bayne annette.bayne@gmail.com

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

DVD 51 Static Breakout Crush Whole Lotta Sole

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Editors Letter

Published by

We have a great issue for you this March including a chat with one of the biggest Hollywood stars out there, Mr Tom Hanks, about his role as the Hollywood icon Walt Disney in the telling of the making of Mary Poppins, Saving Mr Banks. We also talk to TV star Sarah Hyland about her film, Vampire Academy, and Amy Adams about her Oscar nominated performance in the seventies action comedy, American Hustle. We also have all the reviews of the film’s that opened this month, as well as a few that are about to open, so don’t forget to have a look at those. Thanks for reading our magazine, we really appreciate it, and we’ll see you at the movies in April.

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Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor __________________________________________________ Off The Screen Magazine

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Modern Academy

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Vampire Academy is the latest film adaption of a much loved young adult novel. We chatted to Sarah Hyland, star of the TV show Modern Family, about her role in the film, her co-stars and exactly what Vampire Academy is

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his month sees TV actress Sarah Hyland making her move into the world of movie adaptions of hit young adult fiction books with the release of the first in the series of Vampire Academy movies. We sat down with her and asked her about the movie and what the book, and film, is really about.

“Vampire Academy is about two women,” she says. “Who have to go back to Vampire Academy and deal with the evil things that are going on and, kind of, chasing them as well as normal everyday high school issues, so it’s very hard for them, but the fact that their friendship is so strong makes it better.”

The two women in question are Rose Hathaway, played by Zoey Deutch, and Lissa Dragomir, played by Lucy Fry. Two friends who left the academy because Lissa didn’t feel safe there, and Rose is her sworn protector, but when they are found by St. Vladimir’s Academy, the real name of Vampire Academy, again, and sent back, their troubles really start. We asked Hyland what the two actresses who play the leads were like to work with.

“Lucy and Zoey are soul mates and I just love them so much,” she says. “I actually really miss them. I know they’re here, but I actually haven’t seen

them yet. The first day I met Zoey I immediately clicked with her. She kind of reminds me of me at her age, so we’re just kind of totally over the top. We’re very loud, we were filming in London and people could tell we were American, not by our accents, but by how loud we were. And then Lucy is just kind of this fairy angel. She’s just so tall and beautiful and majestic and just so classy that she just made me and Zoey feel like we’re little, I don’t know, like goblins by her side, like creating mischief and crossing the line with jokes and stuff, but everyone was so amazing. I made such wonderful friends that I still hang out with today.”

Hyland plays Natalie, the daughter of Lissa’s oldest family friend, in the film. We asked Hyland what her character is like in the film.

“Natalie is, at first, a very lovable and a little bit annoying,” she tells us. “An unfortunate, unpopular girl in high school.

When Rose and Lissa come back to St Vlad’s

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they befriend her to stay under the radar because, who better,” she laughs. “She has no friends. Her only friend is gossips and she’s a daddy’s girl to the extreme.”

Natalie is very different from Haley Duffy, the role in Modern Family Hyland is best known for, but she really enjoyed having the chance to play something new.

“It was really fun,” she says about the role. “It’s something different to anything I’ve ever done before, and I just love her because there are these things you can add to her layers. There’s this physicality, and the way she talks and how fast she talks and all this kind of stuff, and the transformation she has over the course of this film. You kind of see her true colours and I don’t know what I can or can’t say, but it was really fun to do.”

St. Vladimir’s is just like any other preppy private high school, but with one obvious difference, it houses vampires, known as Moroi, the good vampires who don’t kill people, and vampire protectors, the dhampir, or half vampires, who are ordained to protect the Moroi against the Strigoi, or bad killer vampires. Hyland told us what it’s like at Vampire Academy.

“The training that they do there,” she tells us. “Is to learn how to harness their powers, because the Moroi have these special elemental powers, on top of being a vampire and living off of blood, and then the Dhampir, who are half vampire, they have heightened senses and don’t feed off of blood, but they’re

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there to learn how to protect Moroi, so basically they’re there to learn how to be bad ass and fight, all the time.

The history of St Vlad’s and their species and everything, so there’s that, but then it’s also a normal high school.

These kids are high school aged, and there’s this drama that comes with girls stealing each-others boyfriends, and best friends stabbing each other in the back. Then there’s the unpopular girl that’s just kind of witnessing it all, because she has nothing to do with anything, so it’s one of those things where it’s great to see. It’s kind of like a mix of normal vampire movie and Hogwarts, because at Hogwarts you have these wizards that if they’re hurt by an ex-boyfriend they can put a spell on them, it’s kind of the same.”

Vampire academy mixes a lot of genres together, like a lot of these teen fiction adaptions are doing. Horror meets romance meets comedy meets action.

“The great thing about Vampire Academy,” Hyland says. “Is that it does blend all genres together really. That’s why I think everybody will love it. There’s explosions and action sequences that guys are going to die over, and there’s romance, and the guys are going to die over the sexuality of the romance with a certain hottie in her underwear,” she laughs again. “The girls are going to love the hot guys, the friendships, the female empowerment that the film bring, which I think is so amazing and Daniel and Mark Waters, who are behind it, are so great in bringing this sort of sadistic, twisted attitude humour that is just for everybody. I think it’s just wonderful.”

You can see Hyland now in cinemas nationwide as a Moroi in Vampire Academy.

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Saving Mr Disney

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This month we are all introduced to the story of the making of the epic Disney film, Mary Poppins, in the new drama, Saving Mr Banks. We chatted to Hollywood heavyweight Tom Hanks about bringing the man who created the Disney Empire, Walt Disney, to life to do battle with Emma Thompson’s P.L. Travers, the author of the Mary Poppins books

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om Hanks started his acting career in a small horror film back in 1980 called He Knows You’re Alone. Four years later, after a slew of TV appearances he got his first big break as the lead in a film about a mermaid called Splash, which is still a fan favourite to day.

Thirty years later Hanks is one of the most profitable and well respected actors in Hollywood with a slew of leading roles including Big, Turner and Hooch, Joe Versus the Volcano, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail, Philadelphia, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar, and Captain Phillips, for which he’s nominated for the Best Actor Oscar this year, just to name a few of the many films he’s starred in. This month we see Hanks take on the role of another Hollywood idol, the man who created one of the biggest studios, and theme parks, and animated empires on the Western seaboard.

That man is Walt Disney, and the film is Saving Mr Banks.

Disney was the man that created Walt Disney Studios, but he was still really loved by all those that worked with him, as you can tell in the film. We asked Hanks what he thought it was about the man that made his people love him so much.

“I think it’s because he was the guy who ran the studio but he still thought exactly as the guy who sat in the animation desk and did all the hard work,” he tells us. “Those films that he was making in Kansas City and when he first came out to Hollywood with his brother were labour-intensive projects that are all about how much you enjoy the personalities of the people in the room.

There are films of him with all those great animators and they are all trying to come up with gags, and they are all pitching things. It’s in these on-going pitch sessions with very funny, very entertaining people that you really get to know them well.

I heard Walt say himself that he hadn’t picked up a pencil to do any drawing in 40 years, but he still thought like that guy who sat and did the drawing. Bottom line, he was a storyteller that always worried about money, but I don’t know how many people who actually ran studios that were in fact filmmakers themselves. They were businessmen, like Jack Warner and all the guys at MGM. At the end of the day they are producers, not filmmakers. “

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“Emma is one of those no maintenance artists,” he says.

“Every time I’ve seen her, I ask myself how she does that.

How does she make it look so easy? How does she just roll it off there? In the work that we did together, there was always something going on between us.”

In the film Disney comes up against the one person the world that he can’t charm over when he finally gets a meeting with the author of the Mary Poppins novels, P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson. Travers is British and proper and not swayed by the pomp and circumstance that surrounds Disney and his studio. She is appalled by the way he wants to turn her character into a fluffy Disney one, and doesn’t shy away from telling him so.

“They didn’t like each other,” Hanks says about the Disney Travers relationship.

“Right up to the end, they did not like each other. The screenplay does a good job at capturing the essence of that without making it like “and then they all lived happily ever after.” She was a tough, mysterious lady who had that very checkered past. No one knew that her real name was Helen Goff, and P.L. Travers comes out of it. Travers was her father’s name. I’ve met a number of authors of children’s books and they’re some of the deepest, darkest people and she was one of them. The “Mary Poppins” books are a lot darker, a lot crueller and probably inaccessible to a broader type of audience.

Walt Disney was in pursuit of the rights for over 20 years before he finally got them and made the film happen. I don’t know if Travers finally caved because she needed the money or it was just too rich of a deal to pass up but it is true that she had script approval, which I would think in the early 1960s would almost be an impossible thing to get but Disney gave that up.”

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The tough lady is brought to life by the incredible Emma Thompson, an actor that needs no introduction whatsoever. We asked Hanks his opinion on Thompson’s Travers.

“Emma is one of those no maintenance artists,” he says. “Every time I’ve seen her, I ask myself how she does that.

How does she make it look so easy? How does she just roll it off there? In the work that we did together, there was always something going on between us. There was always a secret that Pamela had that Disney himself did not see until literally the end. There’s a scene where Walt Disney is saying, “Will you please share with me why this isn’t a good experience for you?” The emotion that Emma had was a woman who was about to break into tears over something she could not communicate and that she wasn’t going to communicate to this guy, who at the end of the day, she thought was not going to care about it. That’s just the quality of an actress who is forever, it seems, at the absolute top of her game. Emma is that. She is so far removed from the old English biddy who lives in the townhouse in London and yet her finger is on the absolute pulse of all the Englishness that goes on with that.”

The film makes use of the Travers character for a lot of the comedy in the film, using her brashness as the butt of a lot of the jokes.

“P.L. Travers was this delightfully, malevolent character that was loaded with a benign brand of victory,” Hanks tells us about how she’s perfect focal point for the comedic angle of the film. “I understand the possessory passion one has in order to keep control of a creation but she was a kook. She’s the nutty lady who lives down the street, who even though she’s mad at you, will probably say things that you will remember for the rest of your life because they’re so funny. At the end of the day, we’re capturing the making of “Mary Poppins” as a joyful, funny, emotional romp but at the same time it has a degree of sophistication to it because everybody is just so convinced about their about their own passions and she’s the source of that.

Everybody loves to enjoy somebody fighting a battle that is important only to them. The

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___________________________________________________________________________ world’s not going to change but it will for the audience who finally gets to go see “Mary Poppins” and Walt understands that. Travers understands that too and wants to have it a certain way, so the wars that she has with everybody are sublime because they are very funny. “ Of course she’s also a very complex character, with a lot of back story which is highlighted in a series of flashbacks into her past, explaining the development that lead to her writing Mary Poppins.

“P.L. Travers is burdened by her past in our film and she cannot escape it,” Hanks says. “There is that aspect to her and the pain and the guilt that she feels, and also the memory of missing this very special man who was her father. When Walt is able to verbalize to her the way he dealt with his pain, she understands because this man who is supposed to be so different from her—Walt Disney with his moneymaking machine of Disneyland and his dancing pigs and his penguins— experienced a difficult childhood as well. It was a real moment that was shared between them and she made her peace with the reality of giving up all that sort of control.

Never in the movie does she talk to Walt Disney as an equal, until that moment. She actually experiences, for a fleeing moment, a sense

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of trust. Walt evens tells her to trust him that he won’t let her down. That’s a substantial moment for P.L. Travers and certainly the way that Emma Thompson captured it on the day was wonderful.”

Saving Mr Banks is showing at cinemas nationwide right now, so go and see the fabulous Tom Hanks as the equally fabulous Walt Disney, alongside the impeccable Emma Thompson today.

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The Red Head in the Hustle

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In David O. Russell’s new seventies con artist comedy American Hustle Amy Adams plays a girl playing a Lady, trying to stay out of jail. We caught up with the red headed actress to discuss the role, the way O. Russell works and the crazy costumes in the film

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my Adams had already been working for eight years before she grabbed our attention with her performance in the live action fairy tale, Enchanted. Since then she’s been a dead person cleaner in Sunshine Cleaning, a nun in Doubt, a girl trying to imitate Julia Childs in Julie and Julia, a girl chasing a boy in Leap Year and Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2. This month sees her as an American pretending to a British lady and trying to avoid being arrested by the FBI in the latest film from Oscar winning director David O. Russell, American Hustle.

In the film Adams’ character is a hustler who gets busted by the FBI and gets caught up in a sting to arrest some of the biggest names in politics and the mob in the seventies. We caught up with her at a Q and A session in LA and asked her about the character she plays in the film, Sydney.

“She is an actress,” she tells us. “But how I saw her is, we’re all actors and actresses.

We’re all pretending in life, from one moment to the next. It’s just how well we do it, and you know, every time you leave the house you are bringing the character of yourself that you want to present to the world. Like when you go on a first date you bring your representative, the one that you like, that side of yourself that’s not embarrassing. It’s just great because you get to see it revealed and torn down and, I think, what I loved about Sydney, slash, Edith and what I loved about what David did with the film is that you got to see her in the most torn down, vulnerable moments, and then you get to see her when she’s on the top of her game, whatever that is.”

It wasn’t an easy role for Adams to take on, even though she’s done difficult roles before.

“She was a hard character for me to play,” she says. “Because she was so on the edge emotionally and I have never played somebody that was so in the midst of the survival of your relationship, survival of your sanity, survival of everything that you’ve created, all of these things you need to do to survive, but inside you actually don’t feel good about yourself, and it’s just like what Rosalyn says, ‘Sometimes all you have are those options’, and it’s funny that the only person she probably relates to the most in the whole movie is that crazy wife of his that she

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hates, but in that moment, she’s like, ‘Oh, no.

I get it’.”

Adams had the double trouble of having two separate accents in the film, the American one that Sydney starts with, and then the British one she puts on while playing Lady Edith, her cover for the cons. It was a difficult balancing act as to where in the script she would have the accent, and where she would leave it off.

“There are times when I made choices to come out of it,” she tells us. “Which is kind of scary, because you always risk people thinking that you’re not doing it right, but there’s a scene, in particular, where at the end of it I go completely out of it because I’m talking to Christina at the airport and I say, ‘Your nothing to me until you’re everything’. It was a great challenge, I mean, I loved the challenge of it.”

Adams is known for keeping to herself on set a lot, using alone time to develop her character and what she wants to do in a particular scene, whereas O. Russell usually has a more organic feel on his sets, where people work together as opposed to

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apart. It was something that took Adams a while to get used to, but after a while she actually got into the different style.

“I definitely had a way of working by myself,” she says. “But when I get to set I find that my method of working changes with every film, because I really feel like I only dance well because I have good partners, and if I close myself off with my choices and my ideas that I’m going to do, then I miss out on so many wonderful things that all of the wonderful actors that I get to work with are throwing at me. When someone gives you a pitch, and it’s a perfect pitch, and you’re like, ‘Um, I was hoping for a curve ball’, you’re going to miss an opportunity. You hit that ball and you see where it goes, and I think that I’ve definitely become more free with that and working on sets like this really challenge that, because you really have to be so free.”

Big part of the film is the costumes, which are seventies inspired. We asked Adams what she thought about the costumes in the film.

“Each character didn’t have a wardrobe,” she jokes. “They had costumes.

These were personalities that they put on, like they were all striving for something better, that we were, kind of, all putting on this armour, in some way, to help us carry off the character that we were trying to portray in our lives.”

If you want to see Adams in her, very low cut, armour, then go and see American Hustle at theatres now.

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Film Review: Released February 14

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Vampire Academy 8/10 Starring Zoey Deutch, Lucy Fry and Danila Kozlovsky Directed by Mark Waters

The Story: In Vampire Academy we meet Lissa Dragomir (Lucy Hale), the last of a royal line of vampires, and her protector and best friend, Rose Hathaway(Zoey Deutch), a trainee guardian. When we meet them for the first time they are living out in the big world having run away from St. Vladimir Academy, the place were vampire’s, or Moroi as they prefer to be called, vampires who don’t kill, are taught to use their elemental magic, and gaurdians are taught to protect their Moroi from the Strigoi, vampires who do kill. Lissa and Rose have run away because Lissa doesn’t feel safe at the school, but the people in charge don’t agree with that, so soon they are found by Dimitri Belikov (Danila Kozlovsky), a high level guardian, and dragged back to the school. Without a choice Lissa and Rose try to go back to the way things were, but soon realise that things aren’t all good at the school, especially when Lissa has to deal with the jealousy and teen politics of a high school filled with entitled vampires, and Rose has to deal with the psychic link that she has developed with Lissa. Then things start to get worse as someone tries to come between them, and Lissa’s magic starts getting out of control.

The Verdict: We really enjoyed this film and choose it as our Movie of the Week because it’s fun, exciting and sure to result in a slew of sequels, a la Twilight and Harry Potter. Based on the series of books by Richelle Mead, the storyline isn’t all together original, but it’s done in an interesting way to keep the fans of other vampire films interested. What makes this film so exciting, and puts it on our list, though, is the performances by Hale, Deutch and Sarah Hyland as Natalie. Hale is prim and proper and everything a vampire princess should be, but deep down she’s strong and kind of dangerous. Hyland is the fish out of water. She doesn’t fit in at the school, being a kind of nerd vampire, but, seemingly, with a heart of gold, that is, until her true intentions are made clear and she is bad ass. It’s nice to see the Modern Family actress spreading her wings and doing a fabulous job about it.

Deutch is a smart ass, cocky, way too confident b***h, and I completely love her.

She is fiercely loyal to Lissa, her sister in many ways, but also a serious bad girl, a tryst with a vampire prince in a library attains to that.

Deutch brings out the strength as well as the weakness of this very complex character beautifully and rivals any other character in this genre of film. If you like other vampire films then you should see Vampire Academy.

It’s good fun.

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Film Review: Released February 14

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Her 8/10

Starring Joaquin Pheonix, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson Directed by Spike Jonze

The Story: A few years in the future we meet the lonely, somewhat lost Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix). He is a letter writer, spending his days conveying other people’s emotions through letters written to their loved ones, and his nights trying to make some kind of human connection by calling sex numbers, and failing terribly to find anyone even close to normal. He continues to stumble through his existence until he purchases a new operating system for his computer. The OS is built in with an artificial intelligence, but before long the artificial begins to look more real than anything else in his life. The computer, named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) becomes his friend and confidant, and before long the love of his life, but the fact that he lives in the real world, and she lives, if in fact that’s what she does, in a computer begins to strain on their relationship as they struggle to understand what a connection truly is in a world not so far removed from our own.

The Verdict: This is an interesting, thought provoking film. What does it mean to have a connection with someone? Do you need to physically touch, or is it just as real via email or telephone? In a world that is constantly moving towards automation and not connecting,

sitting in front of computer all day instead of going out and meeting people, it’s not so far-fetched that you could have an entire relationship without ever touching, via Skype or email or text or the hundred other ways to talk without being in contact.

It really makes you think, especially when you throw actors with the abilities of Pheonix, Johansson and Amy Adams into the mix. Pheonix is awkward and out of touch as the writer, but he seems to be a good guy just looking to connect with someone. Johansson is nothing but a voice in the film, but she uses everything she has to give a wonderful performance that turns out to be as complex as any I’ve seen her do with her entire body. Adams plays Pheonix’s only real friend, and the only real person keeping him connected to reality. She is the anchor of the film and does it beautifully. This is a wonderful film, but it is relegated for the art film scene. Regular people probably won’t get it, and it does get a little uncomfortable at times, especially when Pheonix’s character is having intimate moments with Johansson’s character, as in with himself while she makes sounds. Not for everyone.

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Film Review: Released February 14

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Pad Na Jou Hart 6/10

Starring Ivan Botha, DonnaLee Roberts and Wim Beukes Directed by Jaco Smit

The Story: After the death of his father (Marius Weyers), Basson van Rensburg (Ivan Botha) is given five days to get from Johannesburg to Cape Town to attend the funeral and get control of the company he’s been running, otherwise he’ll be left out and get nothing. Trouble is, Basson is terrified to fly, and, his father has given him a letter telling him needs to stop off at a certain location on the way. Begrudgingly Basson sets off on his quest, but no sooner has he arrived at the location than he receives another letter pointing him somewhere else, and without his car. Walking down the road with nothing but the clothes on his back Basson stumbles on Amory (Donnalee Roberts), a free spirited young woman, with a flat tire, and in return for fixing the tyre, he convinces Amory to give him a lift, so their adventure begins in this mad cap road trip.

The Verdict: This is another example of a South African film that is good at its heart but has a lot of serious issues. The plot is not bad, though completely predictable and stolen from several other films, but all writers do that, so we can overlook that. It’s sweet, has a good moral and shies away from the overly sentimental, which is a good thing. The sweetness and avoidance of the overly sappy is much in thanks to Roberts and Botha. Both

are good in their respective roles. Roberts is a girl with a heart of gold. A wannabe hippy and a rebel, but with a deep dark secret, which we all saw coming in the first ten second of the film, but still takes Botha’s character by surprise. The addition of the mad biker made a nice character point for her to play with, but it could have been used more effectively.

Botha is arrogant, self-centred and completely obsessed with possessions. He looks good in a suit and it’s nice to see him stretching from the Bakgat role which he’s known for. The cinematography is good, even if it is more of the Karoo. Isn’t there other places Afrikaans films can be set? Why do they all seem to have to go through the Karoo to get where they’re going? IT’s a mystery to me. The bad thing about this film, and it really does let it down, is the script. There are a lot of plot points that aren’t explained properly, for example we don’t find out about Botha aversion to flying until after half way. Instead we’re left sitting wondering why a smart, rich, Afrikaans boy would choose to drive to Cape Town instead of fly. We aren’t told about the mission either, so his entire plot is left to confuse us too long. It’s simply unnecessary.

Audiences need to be told things. They don’t want to guess. This could have been a good film, like so many other Afrikaans features coming out, but some things are lacking.

Producers please spend a bit more time going through the script to make sure it makes perfect sense before shooting. Don’t trust the writer. Remember, the writer wrote it, so he knows what it’s supposed to mean, not necessarily what it actually means.

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Film Review: Released February 14

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The Monuments Men 9/10

Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon and Bill Murray Directed by George Clooney

The Story: Nearing the D-Day invasion of Normandy it becomes known to the US military that the Nazi’s are stealing great works of art and transporting them back to Germany as personal items of the leadership.

Professor Frank Stokes (George Clooney) is given the task of assembling a group of artists and art historians to travel into Europe and protect what art is left, and find the art that has been stolen from the people and return it.

So after recruiting James Granger (Matt Damon), Richard Campbell (Bill Murray), Walter Garfield (John Goodman), Jean Claude Clermont (Jean Dujardin), Donald Jeffries (Hugh Bonneville) and Preston Savitz (Bob Balaban), and getting help, sort of, from the French Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett), the men go about trying to locate the missing art, but soon discover that, not only are they in a real war zone, they’re also in a race against the German’s who have started destroying the art, and the Russians, who are claiming it for themselves and taking it back to Russia.

The Verdict: Based on the true story of the Monuments Men in World War II, this is an absolutely wonderful film. It has all the elements that made films like Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line such hits, but adds to that mixture what made the Ocean’s Eleven series so popular.

They use comedy well, but don’t overdo it make you forget that this is a war, and people are dying. What more could you want from a cast? You have some of the greatest comedic actors ever in Murray and Goodman, add to the mix the Oscar winning Dujardin, and the amazing work, especially together of Clooney and Damon, and it’s a winning combination every time. Clooney is also born to have two hats, that of actor and director, because he does it so seamlessly, knowing exactly what shot works for what scene and pulling them all off with integrity and aplomb. It is really a masterful piece of work, and the art is sublime too. You could just sit and watch the film for the paintings and sculptures featured. If you like war films with a twist then this is one you shouldn’t miss.

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Film Review: Released February 14

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Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues 5/10 Starring Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate and Paul Rudd Directed by Adam McKay

The Story: Ron Burgundy is back. It’s been a few years since the events of the first film and Ron and his love Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) have married and had a son, but things get bad when Ron is passed over for a promotion, the job going instead to Veronica. Not able to handle the rejection Ron quits and finds himself at loose ends, until he’s approached by Freddie Shapp (Dylan Baker) a producer who wants Ron to get the old team back together for the very first 24 hour news channel. Ron thinks the idea is completely absurd, but he can’t pass up the opportunity, so he jumps in his RV, with his face painted on the side, and rounds up Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd) and Champ Kind (David Koechner) his old news team, but when they arrive at the news station they realise that they’re not the headliners they’re used to being, instead they’re working the graveyard shift. Then Ron makes a bet with the new headliner, Jack Lime (James Marsden), and the team need to rally

to save his job. What they come up with is a game changing format that changes the face of news in America forever.

The Verdict: If you liked the first film, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, then you’ll enjoy this film. It’s made with the same style, and filled with a lot of similar jokes and insane antic, but I think it’s strictly for Ferrell and Burgundy fans. A lot of the jokes go on for too long and become a little tedious, and the interactions between Carell’s Tamland and Kristin Wiig’s Chani Lastnamé, Carell’s love interest, are odd and uncomfortable and not altogether funny. The highlight of the film is the final sequence, where they bring back the news team smack down that as so popular in the original, but it’s only really funny because of the cameos who make an appearance as the battling news teams, including Will Smith, Marion Cotillard, Tina Fey, Sacha Baron Cohen and Jim Carrey, just to name a few. It really raises the comedy factor of the film, but by that point it’s just too far gone. Not one of Ferrell’s better films.

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Film Review: Released February 21

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Saving Mr Banks 10/10 Starring Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson and Collin Farrell Directed by John Lee Hancock

The Story: When financial trouble knocks on her door author P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) finally agrees to meeting with Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) to discuss the purchasing of her much loved book series, Mary Poppins, for the big screen. She leaves her London home and travels to Los Angeles, a place she feels is terrible and far too full of sycophants, but no sooner has she arrived that she realises, in her eyes, that Disney plans to ruin her vision of Mary Poppins and turn it into a fantastical fairy tale, with singing no less. She agrees to hear them out, but thwarts their attempts to win her over at every turn, all the while reminiscing on the events in her own life that led to her writing the book in the first place. From growing up without anything in Australia, her father (Collin Farrell), a man she loved with all her heart, but ended up breaking it tragically, her mother (Ruth Wilson) and how she never really understood the little girl, and the way everything she is now was created by that time, and the book that Disney wants just too important to her to let go.

The Verdict: Based on the true tale of how Walt Disney bought the rights to Mary Poppins after chasing the author P.L. Travers for over 20 years, this is one of the best films I’m sure I will see this year. It’s smart and funny and sentimental, but not overly so, and features some of Disney’s best ever music, the songs out of Mary Poppins, which have always been among my favourites. In true Disney fashion they have taken a truly heart wrenching tale and turned it into a beautiful

cinematic gem that will be loved for generations. Thompson is amazing as Travers, the proper British woman, who has no discernable sense of humour and hates everything that Disney is, especially what he wants to do with her book, but as the film continues we see a change in her. Her reminiscing of the past changes her heart in such a way that it changes her entire life.

Thompson shows these subtle levels of the character with an accomplished ease that we expect from her now. It’s a pity she wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for her role, because she deserves it. Hanks is full of life and fun as Disney. The larger than life man could only be played by someone with Hanks pedigree, and he does it wonderfully. The supporting cast, including Farrell, Wilson, Bradley Whitford as Don DaGradi, the screen writer on the film, and B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman as the music composers for the film, even though Travers doesn’t want any music in the film.

They all carry their roles beautifully working off of Thompson with ease and each gives a fabulous performance. A special mention needs to be made of Paul Giamatti, who again gives an amazing performance. He is the driver assigned to Travers, and while it’s a small roll, he does it with such a grace that he steals the movie. He really is one of the finest actors of our generation and we should appreciate him a little more. This film is the full package. It has great performances, great story, great directing and great music. If you loved Mary Poppins in any way, shape, or form growing up then you need to see the story of the making of it, and just fall in love with it all over again.

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Film Review: Released February 21

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The Nut Job 6/10

Starring Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser and Liam Neeson Directed by Peter Lepeniotis

The Story: After accidentally causing the destruction of the large tree where all the animals in the central park live, a squirrel, Surly (voiced by Will Arnett), finds himself banished into the city to fend for himself. At first he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but then he happens on a nut shop and it seems like heaven to him, the only problem is that the nut shop has been taken over by a group of thieves trying to break into the bank across the road, and they don’t like squirrels.

Surly forms a plan to get the nuts anyway, but he’s hampered by the arrival of Andie (voiced

by Katherine Heigl) and Grayson (voiced by Brendan Fraser), the

heroes of the park, who have come to try and find food for the other animals. They realise that Surly is after the nuts straight away, and want in. Surly agrees, mostly because he needs their help for his plan to work, and the animals start their plan, as the bank robbers start theirs.

The Verdict: As with other animated features that don’t come from the big studios, Dreamworks and Disney/Pixar, this film isn’t as good as the others we’ve experienced. It doesn’t have the intensity that Frozen had, or the epic humour that made Despicable Me 2 such a huge hit, but it is still a fun animated film that the kids will love. The story is sweet and interesting enough to keep young and old entertained, especially the addition of the good guy who turns out to be the bad guy, and voiced perfectly by Liam Neeson. The other voices are good and suit their characters well. I liked this film, and the kids will love it.

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Film Review: Released February 21

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Ride Along 7/10 Starring Kevin Hart, Ice Cube and Tika Sumpter Directed by Tim Story

The Story: James (Ice Cube) is a no nonsense detective. He hates Ben (Kevin Hart), his sister, Angela’s (Tika Sumpter) boyfriend. He thinks he’s a wise cracking, know it all, and wants him out of her life, so when he finds out that the man has enrolled, and been accepted, into the police academy, and plan on asking Angela to marry him, he has to do something fast to get the man out of her life for good. He decides the way to get Ben out of their lives, and out of the police academy, is to take him on a drive along to show him just how dangerous, and annoying at time, being a police officer can be, but at the same time James is tracking a dangerous gangster, Omar (Laurence Fishburne), and by the end of the ride along Ben might be the only person that can help him.

The Verdict: This is classic buddy cop fare.

You’ve got the strict, no-nonsense cop and the funny, zany, side kick causing trouble for the straight man.

Ice Cube plays the tough cop straight man very well, while Hart, with his razor sharp wit and mouth that just won’t stop, is a classic zany partner. They work well together and carry off the jokes well. Add to that a couple of explosions and Fishburne as a great bad guy and you have a winning formula. Action fans get their fill of gun fights and explosions, while the comedy fans will have all they can handle of Hart running his mouth and getting bettered by a 10 years old in a very funny scene. If you liked Beverly Hills Cop or even Rush Hour or Bad Boys, you will find something in Ride Along that appeals to you.

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Film Review: Released February 21

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Pompeii 7/10

Starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning and Kiefer Sutherland Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson

The Story: As a very young boy Milo (Kit Harington) sees his family killed in an insurgence against the control of Rome. Years later he’s a gladiator, fighting under the name, ‘The Celt, he is very popular in the outer provinces and finds himself sent to the coast city of Pompeii, at the exact same time that Lady Cassia (Emily Browning) is returning from a trip to Rome. They have a chance meeting on the road where he helps her with a horse, and catches her eye immediately.

Fate throws them together again at her villa, right at the base of the volcano, and the attraction between them is obvious, but at the same time Senator Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) comes to visit Pompeii. Cassia’s father (Jared Harris) thinks Corvus is there to discuss growing Pompeii, but the truth is that Corvus has his eyes set on Cassia, and will do anything to get her. Then the volcano starts to rumble and everything changes.

The Verdict: This film has all the aspects of Titanic and Gladiator. In fact, it seems to be a mash up of those two films. It has the epic Roman scale of Gladiator, down to the battle that Milo and his new friend, Atticus, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, aren’t supposed to survive, yet do,

and the love story of Titanic, the two lovers battling the elements, with no hope of succeeding. It’s not that this is bad film, it has good aspects. The effects are good, especially the tidal wave that wipes out half the city and the volcano which is just as terrifying as anything Tommy Lee Jones had to fight, and the love story is good and wellacted, Browning specifically giving another good performance, but it just lacks the scope and feel of the other two films. It’s lacking the awe inspiring impact that the others had. It’s unfortunate, because it’s not terrible, but it’s just not as good. If you liked Gladiator and Titanic, then watch this film and you might enjoy it, but don’t expect to be blown away.

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_______ Film Review: Released February 28

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American Hustle 9/10 Starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper Directed by David O. Russell

The Story: When the con artist team of Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) get busted by FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper), they get far more than they bargained for. The agent makes them a deal, work for him and help him bring down five other hustlers and he’ll let them go free. He offers this deal partly because he wants bigger fish than the two con artists, but also because he immediately has a thing for Sydney, who is pretending to be a British Lady. Irving and Sydney both take the deal, but soon they find themselves in way over their heads at the FBI agents ambition gets the better of his and they find themselves in the cross hairs of some very unsavoury mob men and some even more unsavoury politicians. It all has to do with the gambling rights for Atlantic City and the palms that need to be greased to get the ball rolling. This is instigated by Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), a good man trying to do a good thing, but in a crooked world. This puts Irving and Sydney right in the middle between the FBI and the mob, the proverbial rock and hard place, as they try to figure a way to con their way out.

The Verdict: The hair and makeup alone make this a film worth seeing, which is why they were nominated for an Oscar. The first three minutes of the film is Christian Bale standing looking in a mirror, fixing his atrocious comb over. It is fabulous, not to

mention the amount of weight that he gained for the role, going from Batman to Buttman is no easy feat and he should be respected just for that, but he also gives an amazing performance in this film. He’s a mixture of good hearted guy, beaten down husband to the equally remarkable Jennifer Lawrence as his wife, and cold blooded hustler, and he plays them all really well.

Cooper gives another solid performance as an FBI agent who is a little too ambitious for his own good, wanting bigger and bigger bad guys, regardless of the cost. Adams is regal and refined and very British when she needs to be, and crass and trailer trash and American when she needs to be. She pulls off both the characters she plays in the film with equal ease and it’s a pleasure to watch her hold her own against the likes of Bale and Cooper. The film itself is sleek and smart and interesting to watch, keeping you on your toes the entire time, wondering how, on Earth, these two are going to get out of this thing alive, let alone with some kind of money, and the way they do it sublime. If you like con artist movies along the lines of Ocean’s Eleven or Now You See Me, then this is like the granddaddy of them all, set back in the seventies with the same flair and pomp that made those days so exciting. It is one of the films of the year and well deserves all the Oscar applause it is receiving.

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_______ Film Review: Released February 28

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The Frozen Ground 8/10 Starring John Cusack, Nicholas Cage and Vanessa Hudgens Directed by Scott Walker

The Story: State Trooper Jack Halcombe (Nicholas Cage) has two weeks left until he retires and goes to work security for an oil pipe line, when he lands a case involving a body found in the frozen tundra in Alaska. As he looks more closely at the body he realises that it isn’t a one off crime, and when the officers canvasing the area find another body his fears are realised. He begins to investigate and discovers that the crime is very closely related to a rape and attempted murder of a prostitute (Vanessa Hudgens) from almost a year ago that the Alaskan Police Department didn’t really bother to investigate because the girl was a prostitute, and the guy accused of the crime, Robert Hansen (john Cusack), is a well-respected member of the Alaskan society, but as Halcombe investigates further he finds a pattern of behaviour from Hansen that points to him being, not only a rapist, but a serial killer. All he needs to do is prove it, and that may be harder than it seems.

The Verdict: Based on the true story of a serial killer in Alaska, this is a taught psychological thriller in the vein of Seven. It’s dark and creepy and the use of the cinematographer of the frozen tundra and the seed underbelly of the Alaskan ghetto creates a great ambience to create a really creepy film. We all expect Cusack and Cage to give good performance, especially looking back at the work they’ve done up to this point, and neither one of them disappoint. Cage is a man stuck between what he was made to do,

police work, and something safer and easier, and that pays better, that his wife wants him to do. He easily conveys the confusion in the man’s life. Cusack is completely mental as the serial killer. He’s disturbed and disturbing and thoroughly psychotic, in a clam, calculated and intensely freaky way. It’s one of his stand out performances from a stand out career.

Hudgins really surprises with a really compelling performance as a girl stuck in a hard situation where no one believes her when something terrible happens, just because of her station in life. She’s tough, but vulnerable, mean, but terrified, and completely believable and sympathetic. I really loved her in this film. Serial killer films are decidedly disturbing at the best of time, but when they’re based on true events, they’re even worse. This is one of the better ones, and if you like this genre, then you need to see this one.

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_______ Film Review: Released February 28

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Winter’s Tale 7/10

Starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay and Russell Crowe Directed by Akiva Goldsman

The Story: In the world, every person has a miracle, only one miracle that they can only use for one other person. If you never find this person your miracle goes unused, but if you do, magic can happen, but there are those that are trying to stop these miracles, to bring darkness to the world, and give us only grief. Thief Peter Lake’s (Colin Farrell) life is changed completely the day he meets Beverly (Jessica Brown Findlay) while breaking into her father’s house (William Hurt). She isn’t afraid of him, at all, and offers him a cup of tea, changing the way he looks at the world as he falls desperately in love with her. The problem is he’s being chased by gangster, Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe), one of those agents that want to stop all miracles. He is convinced that Peter’s miracle is meant for Beverly and tries to come in between them, partly to stop the miracle, but partly because he wants Peter,

who was his number two, to come back to the fold, but as Peter and Beverly get closer that seem less and less likely. There are also higher powers helping Peter, and anything can, and does, happen.

The Verdict: I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I walked in to watch this film. I’d read up on it and a film about a thief that has the power to resurrect dead people didn’t sound especially appealing, but I was pleasantly surprised by an interesting little film. The story is crazy, filled with magic and miracles and demons and angels and completely spellbinding from the beginning to the end. Farrell and Crowe are the cornerstone performances of the film. Both with their heavy Irish accents, they weave a tale of magic and miracles like two master weavers. Farrell is the thief with a heart of gold who falls for the girl and has his heart broken. The emotional scenes are so well done they break your heart. Crowe is evil and malicious and everything you’d want from a demon. I especially liked his bouncing off Will Smith in a cameo as Satan. If you enjoy films with an air of magic along the lines of Inkheart, then you may find something appealing in this film. It’s worth the watch if only for the flying horse.

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_______ Film Review: Released February 28

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Dallas Buyers Club 9/10 Starring Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée

The Story: When hustler, electrician and wannabe rodeo star Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) is diagnosed with AIDS after an electrical accident he refuses to believe it.

He is a full blooded American man and only gays get AIDs in 1985, but when he realises that it’s true he immediately wants medication to get better. He bribes a hospital aid to get AZT, the only drug on the market at the time to treat his disease, but after heavily misusing it, makes himself even worse and has to travel to Mexico to get more. There he meets a doctor who tells him that AZT is actually poison and that he should be taking a series of vitamins, proteins and amino acids.

Ron starts taking the new medication and soon he’s feeling a lot better. Then he realises that the medication isn’t available in America, and he’s sitting on a gold mine, so he goes into business with Rayon (Jared Leto), a drag queen who also has AIDS, and the two set up the Dallas Buyers Club to sell this drug to AIDS patients, but then the American government and the pharmaceutical companies get wind of what they are doing and try to put a stop to it.

The Verdict: Based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, this is a difficult film to watch. It doesn’t

pull any punches in showing the way Woodroof was ostracized from his life by his friends after he was diagnosed. The way that people with AIDS were, and still are in some places, treated like second class citizens, which is sad. It’s a fascinating watch, but the reason to watch this film isn’t really the story, even though it is interesting. The reason to watch the film is the performances by McConaughey and Leto. McConaughey is a bigoted, racist, homophobic horror of a human being, but when the events that change his life happen and he has to find a new set of people he can rely on you see a complete change in him, even though he remains a horror of a human being. The scene wher a friend of his dies at one point is really compelling and terrific acting. Leto is funny and very gay and just fabulous as the drag queen best friend of McConaughey’s character, as strange as that may be. He completely engulfs the role, stealing every scene that he is in and filling up the screen with one of the best performances of the year. He should win the Oscar for this one. It is a hard film to watch, but well worth just for these incredible performances. If you enjoy watching Oscar calibre work then this is one that should not be missed.

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_______ Film Review: Released February 28

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The Perfect Wave 4/10 Starring Scott Eastwood, Cheryl Ladd and Patrick Lyster Directed by Bruce Macdonald

The Story: Ian McCormick (Scott Eastwood) is a young man with no direction in his life.

He’s happy to just surf and have fun, and that’s exactly what he plans to do when he leaves home on an extended trip to travel from New Zealand, where he lives with his parents (Cheryl Ladd and Patrick Lyster), to Australia, then to Bali, then to Africa to surf the big waves and have a blast. Along the way he meets Anabel (Rachel Hendrix) and he begins to think that maybe there is more to life than just surfing and partying, but he says the wrong thing and blows it with her, sending her to Mauritius. He follows her but during a night dive gets stung by a jellyfish and dies for twenty minutes, but then comes back to life. This event changes the course of his life forever.

The Verdict: I knew that this was going to be a religious based film before I went to see it, so I was prepared for it, in theory. The problem I had was that the religious aspect of the film is really shoved down your throat.

I saw Soul Surfer about a year ago and, while it’s also a religious based film, the religion part of the film is very subtle. It’s not

force fed to you like it is in this film. That said, it’s not a bad film. It starts off pretty strong with good shots of the beach and the surf and the waves, and not bad performances by Eastwood, and yes, he is related, he is Clint’s son, and Cheryl Ladd, best known from her days as one of Charlie’s Angels, as the mother, but there are only so many scenes of a guy surfing that you can watch before it becomes boring. Then I discovered that a lot of what I loved about the film, the family dynamic, the relationship between Ian and Anabel, was completely fictional. That Anabel didn’t even exist. This left me at a little of a loss because if that aspect wasn’t even true, how am I supposed to believe anything in the film? Including the entire point of him dying and coming back to life. I’m sorry to the film makers, but you have to be honest if you’re making an honest film, otherwise it comes off as a con. This one is not for me.

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Film Review: Releasing March 7

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300: Rise of an Empire 8/10 Starring Eva Green, Sullivan Stapleton and Rodrigo Santoro Directed by Noam Murro

The Story: This sequel to the 2006 hit, 300, takes place before, during and after the events of the previous film. Ten years before Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) brought his Persian forces to the Greek shores to destroy them his father, King Darius (Igal Naor) tried to do the same thing, to quell the verging democracy in Athens, but his forces were surprised by the Greeks, led by Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) who launched an arrow and killed Darius. This led to his son becoming the god king and leading his forces against the Greeks.

While Xerxes leads the ground forces against Leonidas (Gerard Butler), Themistocles masses a force of ships to fight against Artemisia (Eva Green), the leader of Xerxes’ navy. In a series of epic battles the Greeks hold the Persians for as long as they can, but once Leonidas falls there seems to be nothing that can stop the Persians, unless Themistocles can use the king’s sacrifice to rally the rest of Greece to his cause and stop the invaders.

The Verdict: Based on the epic sea battle that took place while Leonidas’ forces were holding the Persian army at bay, this film has all the same feel and grandeur of the first.

Noam Murro has stepped in to take the reigns as director from Zach Snyder, who wrote the screenplay and produced, but Murro has a lot of the same thinking as Snyder, hence the style, the pacing and cinematography is very similar to the original. I loved the shots were the light shines in behind the character giving them an eerie glow. It is a great effect. The effects of the ships and battles are really impressive as well, just as epic as the first film. The Persian capital is really breath taking to see.

Stapleton is good as a man who doesn’t like war, but has a real feel for it. He is fighting for a Greece that is an ideal in his head, but is at the mercy of the politicians, nonetheless he is willing to give his life for his dream. Green is insane and vengeful and psychotic as a Greek girl whose family was killed by the Greeks before she suffered terrible atrocities, to be saved by a Persian. She now believes in the Persians and wants vengeance on the Greeks.

She’s great in the role and handles a sword better than most I’ve seen. I will say though, that the film gets a little slow and plodding.

It’s a bit too much of the same thing, and there are only so many decapitations you can see, even if they are beautifully shot. If you liked the original 300, or any of Snyder’s other work, then you should like this one, just remember it’s not going to be as good as the original.

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Film Review: Releasing March 7

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The To Do List (not rated)

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Johnny Simmons and Bill Hader Directed by Maggie Carey

The Story: In order to shed her uptight image before college, Valedictorian Brandy Klark (Aubrey Plaza) creates a To Do List of all the "activities" she missed out on in high school.

Quickly realising that she is way out of her depth, Brandy solicits her two best friends, her older sister and her burnt-out boss for their help and advice, but even with the guidance of those closest to her, Brandy can't foresee that emotions are not easily kept to the margins.

The Verdict: Unfortunately we missed this one, but if you like teen comedy, and Rachel Bilson, then you should go and see it.

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Film Review: Releasing March 7

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The Grandmaster 5/10 Starring Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Ziyi Zhang and Jin Zhang Directed by Kar Wai Wong

The Story: Based on the life of Ip Man, the man who trained Bruce Lee, the film starts when Ip Man (Tony Chiu Wai Leung), one of the most respected fighters in Southern China, meets Master Gong Yutian (Qingxiang Wang), the greatest fighter in all of Northern China. Gong Yutian is looking to combine the northern and southern styles of kung fu under one leader and challenges Ip to see if he is the man to help him, but even though Ip defeats the man and gains his respect, he declines to work with him, resulting in Gong Yutian leaving his empire to Ma San. Meanwhile, thinking her father was dishonoured by Ip, Gong Er (Ziyi Zhang), Gong Yutian’s daughter, goes looking for revenge. When she finds him she discovers that he’s not the brigand she

was led to believe, and actually kind of likes him. Then her father is killed by Ma San and she goes in search of true vengeance, even though Ip warns her against it.

The Verdict: This is a very stylised, very artistic, very Chinese film, and though it is very beautiful it’s a little too stylised for my tastes. If you like that sort of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon thing then you might enjoy this film, it has a lot of similar aspects to that film, but it doesn’t have the resonance and majesty that made Crouching Tiger such a huge success. The fight sequences are impressive, at the beginning, but after the tenth one, that looks the same as the first, you actually get a little bored, and that’s the problem with the entire film. It’s boring. It’s just too much. Too much fighting, too many slow motion shots, too much philosophical discussions with Chinese music droning in the background, it’s all just too much. The other films in this style of genre had a certain impact, but this one is just lacking it. Add to that the fact that the man is famous for training Bruce Lee, yet Bruce Lee is hardly mentioned, save for a small text section at the end. It just didn’t work for me.

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Film Review: Releasing March 7

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Vrou Soek Boer 6/10 Starring Lika Berning, Nico Panagiotopoulos and Bok van Blerk Directed by Maynard Kraak something we’ve

The Story: When Mareike (Lika Berning) inherits a house and a bakery from her late aunt, who she hardly even remembers, and soon afterwards gets fired from her job in Joburg, she decides it’s time for a change, so she packs up her things and moves out to the middle of nowhere to run the bakery. The problem is that she doesn’t know how to bake, and finds out that the bakery has to make a profit within three months or she will not be able to pay the estate tax and will lose everything the house, the bakery and the farmland the house is on. Add to that the entry into her life of Neil (Nico Panagiotopoulos), the town’s local handyman, come helper and a farmer and sparks fly, but he as a girlfriend, and things just begin to go from bad to worse as she questions her decisions.

The Verdict: This is another in the growing line of Afrikaans movies that had great potential but missed the mark. It’s not that it’s a bad film. The performances from Berning as the girl lost in her own world, Panagiotopoulos as the guy equally lost in his, even Bok van Blerk as Stander, the other guy who becomes the alternate love interest, aren’t horrible to watch. The quality of the film is good, that’s

managed to get right in film locally, even the storyline is passable, though it is broaching on the clichéd at this point since a lot of the Afrikaans romantic comedies are beginning to look the same. Even the directing isn’t bad, giving the actors the correct direction to get the message across. The problem is, again, with the scripting. The beginning of the film, the first twenty minutes is completely erroneous. It takes them that long for the story to actually get going. Van Blerk’s character isn’t even introduced until an hour and half into the film, which really doesn’t work. The timeline also doesn’t work. Berning’s character starts off with three months to get the money, yet at the end she’s been working for eight, and how long exactly did she and Stander date? That isn’t established. Also the jokes that Berning relies on for the laughs are heavy handed and obvious, making them not funny. These are things that could be fixed rather easily if the script had just been worked on a little more, but instead it’s allowed to ruin what might have had some real potential. Please, producers, spend more time on your scripts.

They’re really letting you down.

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Film Review: Releasing March 7

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Winnie Mandela 8/10

Starring Jennifer Hudson, Terence Howard and Elias Koteas Directed by Darrell Roodt

The Story: Chronicling the life of Winnie Madikizela Madela (Jennifer Hudson) from her childhood, born to a father that desperately wanted a son, but she was his sixth daughter, so obviously a little bit of a disappointment, thru her time studying in Johannesburg to become a social worker, through her meeting Nelson Mandela (Terence Howard), the man that would become her husband and change her life, as well as the lives of all South Africans, thru his arrest and incarceration on Robben Island and her arrest and 16 months in isolation in a South African prison. Thru her time as the leader of the Nelson Mandela Football Club, the group of youths that protected her, but also did her dirty work under the leadership of Jerry (Mutodi Neshehe) to Nelson’s release and becoming president, just before her being kicked out of the ANC and being disgraced.

The Verdict: I’m sure most of our readers out there have seen Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and think they know about Winnie’s life from that film, and while a lot of aspects are included in that film, like her time in isolation and her relationship with Nelson, a lot has been excluded, obviously because that film is about Nelson, while this film is about Winnie. In this film we see a lot more detail

about what happened to the woman while Nelson was imprisoned, what happened to her in isolation, and the incident after her release with the Football Club and Stompie, played in this film by Abel Ndebele.

This is a cold, hard look at the woman, holding no punches, but yet done in a respectful way.

You can tell that the creators of this film, Roodt and Andre Pieterse, who wrote the script, and Anné Matié Du Preez Bezdrob who wrote the unauthorized biography on Winnie on which the film is based, Winnie Mandela: A Life. They have created a film that is honest and compelling. Yes, the accents aren’t great, and yes, there are a couple of moments that didn’t realy work, but as a whole it is a fabulous companion for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, or even as a standalone. Howard and Hudson are good in their respective roles.

Howard is subtle and professional in his portrayal of Mandela. Not as grandiose as Idris Elba in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, but more understated, which works well for him. I didn’t especially buy Hudson’s performance for most of the film, but when she has her scene in isolation, talking to the ants, it is some of the best acting I’ve seen, not just this year, but last as well. It is a masterful performance that just gets better from that point.It’s also great to see our own South African actors going toe to toe with the Americans and giving them a run for their money, really holding their own. I also want to give a shout out to Elias Koteas as a policeman amalgam of all the police officers Nelson and Winnie had to deal with in their time. He embodies that bigotry and racism beautifully and gives another great performance. If you liked Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom you will enjoy the other side of the story in this film. If you want to know about Winnie, or are a fan, then you should watch this film, it is that good.

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DVD Review

Static 5/10

Crush 8/10

Starring Milo Ventimiglia, Sarah Shahi and Sarah Paxton Directed by Todd Levin Jonathan (Ventimiglia) and Addie (Shahi) are a young couple struggling to get over the tragic death of their young son. Stuck in a house she never wanted to move to, she moved there for her husband’s writing career, and blaming him for their son’s death, they are ripping each other apart. Then one night a young girl (Paxton) appears on their door step being chased by men in strange masks and things change forever.

This is your run of the mill sieged house thriller, of which there are many. It even has an interesting twist at the end, but by the time you reach it you’re so bored you don’t really care. The film just has no impact and puts you to sleep. Even Paxton and Ventimiglia, who are both good actors, can’t bring this one out of the doldrums. There’s just not much here.

Starring Lucas Till, Crystal Reed and Sarah Bolger Directed by Malik Bader Scott (Till) is the most popular guy at school.

Hero of the local soccer team, he has all the girls eating out of his palm, especially Jules (Bolger), a girl who’s been Scott’s friend all his life, and Bess (Reed), the quiet, shy girl at school who admires Scott from afar, only going so far as to send him secret admirer notes, but when someone starts threatening the other girls who talk to Scott he soon realises that if he doesn’t deal with it he may soon be next.

The concept of the over amorous secret admirer has been done in film a bunch of times, from Fatal Attraction to Swim Fan. This film doesn’t really do anything new, even though it has an interesting twist at the end and the beginning is very exciting, but it is still compelling and good fun. Till, Bolger and Reed are all good in their respective roles, as is Caitriona Balfe as Andie, the wildcard you don’t see coming.

Breakout 7/10 Starring Brendan Fraser, Dominic Purcell and Ethan Suplee Directed by Damian Lee When Jack Damson (Fraser), an environmentalist serving time for accidental manslaughter, finds out that his children, 17 year old Jen (Holly Deveaux) and thirteen year old Mikey (Christian Martyn), are missing in the woods and a strange man, Kenny (Supplee), used Jen’s phone and called her mom, telling her that him and his brother, Tommy (Purcell) are after them, Jack breakouts of prison and goes out into the woods to rescue his kids.

This is a pretty taut, edge-of-your-seat thriller, with good performances from Fraser, Purcell and Deveaux. The standout is Suplee as the brother. He’s naïve and sweet and completely out of his element with his brother. It’s a great piece of acting. It does a take a while for the film to really get going, Fraser only breaks out about an hour in, but once it’s going it’s worth the wait. Not bad.

Whole Lotta Sole 8/10 Starring Brendan Fraser, Colm Mean and Yaya DaCosta Directed by Terry George A comedy of errors combine to create a very funny Irish tale. Jimbo (Martin McCann) owes the local gangster, Mad Dog (David O'Hara) £5000 or he’s going to take his baby. With very few options he decides to rob the local fish market to get the money, but things don’t go as planned and he ends up taking Joe (Fraser) and Sophie (DaCosta) hostage in the antique store that Joe’s watching for his cousin. The police find him almost immediately, but Mad Dog’s after him too, because the brown bag Jimbo took is far more valuable than he realises.

A funny, sweet film that I would recommend to everyone. It is a great combination of quirky characters, including thieving gypsy kids, African woman and people running from mobsters from all over. The performances are great and if you like Fraser, then this is one you shouldn’t miss.

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