November 2013 Your one resource for what’s happening at the South African Box Office.
www.offthescreenmagazine.com
All in the Lyrics Author Deon Meyer and Actor Marno van der Merwe talk to us about their work in the new Afrikaans thriller, Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee
The Princess British actress Naomi Watts talk to us about portraying one of England’s greatest icons, Diana, the Princess of Wales
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Content s Cover Story: 16 The Princess
Naomi Watts talk about portraying one of England’s most iconic people, the former Princess of Wales, in Diana
Features:
10 All in the Lyrics We talk to author Deon Meyer and actor Marno van der Merwe about their respective roles in bringing the Afrikaans thriller Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee to life
22 Fighting the Battle
Former child star Josh Peck tells us about his new role in the dance spectacular, Battle of the Year: Dream Team
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Naomi Watts talks to us about bringing one of the biggest British icons to the big screen in Diana
Reviews: Film Released October 18th 28 Gravity 29 Diana 30 Paranoia 31 Jobs
Released October 25th 32 About Time 33 Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee 34 Riddick 35 Battle of the Year 36 Khumba
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Editor Jon Broeke jon.broeke@gmail.com
Deputy Editor Annette Bayne
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annette.bayne@gmail.com
22 Released November 1st 37 Austenland 38 Closed Circuit 39 Salinger 40 Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa 41 The Family Releasing November 8th 42 Thor: The Dark World 43 The Butler 44 Baggage Claim
Photo Credits Nu Metro, Ster Kinekor, Getty Images, UPI.com, Google Images, imdb.com
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It’s November already and the end of the year is racing onto us fast, but there’s still time for a movie or two, and that’s what have for you this month. In our features we talk to Naomi Watts about Diana, the film that explores a part of the former Princess of Wales life that’s not very well known. Author Deon Meyer and actor Marno van der Merwe tell us about the respective work on the new Afrikaans thriller, Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee, and former child comedy star Josh Peck talks to us about doing a dance film. We also have all the usual reviews fo the film coming this month so don’t miss them and be sure to grab the last issue for 2013 coming next month.
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Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor Off The Screen Magazine 7
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All in the Lyrics
This month sees the release of the Afrikaans thriller Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee. Jon Broeke had lunch with the writer/producer of the film author Deon Meyer and one of the stars Marno van der Merwe to discuss the film, the director, Darrell Roodt, and meeting the other star, Neil Sandiland.
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he latest film coming from the pen of bestselling mystery author Deon Meyer hits our screens this month. Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee tells the tale of a down and out music producer and manager, Len, played by Neil Sandilands. He was caught stealing millions from his clients, so lost his job and had to pay back all the money, losing his house, his wife, played by Rolanda Marais, last seen in Wolwedans in die Skemer, and his self-respect in the process. The only thing that keeps him going is his daughter, played by Leandri Scholtz, the only person who still believes in him, but he has no idea what he’s going to do know that his reputation is destroyed, then he meets Robbie, played by Marno van der Merwe, best known for his role of Frank in Pretville. Robbie is a 19 year old farm boy who has moved to the city to become a singer. Len sees the boy sing and sees in him a chance to get back in the business, and get his life back. He signs the boy and they begin to make a career for him, but things take an interesting turn when Robbie calls Len from the road and tells him that there’s a dead girl in his hotel room. Len jumps to the rescue, under the impression that the death was an accident, and gets rid of the body, but when the mother of another girl, one that disappeared at the place the previous concert was played, Len begins to think that maybe the accident wasn’t so
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accidental at all and he begins to investigate. Written and produced by Meyer, the film was directed by Darrell Roodt and is a look into what lengths we will go to too get what we want, to protect those we care about, but what if we’re faced by an act so against our moral compass? What do we do then? I sat down with Meyer and van der Merwe at Yadah Castle in Doornkloof East earlier this month to chat about the film over Middle Eastern food, and asked van der Merwe about working with maybe one of the best known directors in our country at the moment. “Darrell lets us do our own thing,” he tells me. “He allows thing to be very free on the set. He’s also open to suggestions made by the cast. If I think something should be done a certain way then I’ll talk to him about it and he’ll let me try, but if it’s not working then we’ll talk again and he’ll suggest doing it a different way, and usually the way he wants it works best. A good example is the scene in the bedroom when I’m waiting for Oom Len’s daughter. We’d finished shooting the scene and then Darrell asked me to sit on the bed and just sit up. He told me to look freaky. He said we may not even use it at the end of the day, but that he just wanted me to try it and see what it looked like.” Well the shot worked and is now one of the stand-alone images of the film, especially at that moment when we know something is a little wrong with the character.
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Written and produced by Meyer, the film was directed by Darrell Roodt and is a look into what lengths we will go to too get what we want, to protect those we care about, but what if we’re faced by an act so against our moral compass? What do we do then?
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I asked Meyer what he thought about the shot. “It wasn’t even in the script,” he commented. “It was put in purely by Darrell, but it worked.” There were other things that Darrell added into the film that weren’t in the script, the biggest of which happened purely by extremely lucky chance. “The train set that we see when Len first goes to Robbie’s fame house,” Meyer explains. “The one the Marno plays with and his character obviously loves so much, it wasn’t in the script. It was actually at the farm house we used for the shoot, and when Darrell saw it he wanted to use it. Again he told us that he may not even use it at the end of the day, but he could see the potential of this eerie, creepy train set and the way it would connect the audience to the character of Robbie. Now those shots are even in the opening credits of the film.” Another big part of the opening season is the lead actor in the film Neil Sandiland, who couldn’t attend the lunch because he’s back in Los Angeles. Meyer told me how they met, long before Ballade, when Sandiland came to his house to talk to him about another character he wrote. “It was back when Neil was so popular on Sewende Laan. My daughter, Constance, was nine at the time and obsessed with Sewende Laan, so when I spoke to Neil and he asked to come over I said he should, but I didn’t tell Constance. When he arrived for our meeting I told Constance to answer the door, which she wasn’t happy about, but she did, only to find her favorite character standing on the other side. She froze and stared at him for ten minutes. I really wish I had it on video.” Be as starstruck as Constance when you see Sandiland along with van der Merwe, singing and acting his heart out, in Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee, showing at cinemas now.
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Neil Sandiland with director Darrell Roodt
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The Princess
In the new film, Diana, Naomi Watts plays the iconic Princess of Wales. We chatted to her at a round table interview and asked her about the role, stepping into Diana’s life and her dirty jokes.
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utobiographical films about famous people have been all the rage for a while, and this year’s no different, seeing Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln earlier this year and Anthony Hopkins portraying one of the greatest directors of all time, Hitchcock. This month sees another in the line of autobiographical films with the release of Diana, a look at a mostly unknown portion of the former Princess of Wale’s life and her relationship with a Pakistani heart surgeon, Hasnat Khan, played by Naveen Andrews, best known for his role on the television series Lost. The iconic princess is played by British born actress Naomi Watts and during a roundtable recently we managed to ask her a few questions, starting with what she took home from the experience of playing the former Princess of Wales. “It’s definitely the most challenging thing I’ve ever done,” she tells us. “To take on the role of the most famous woman of our time, is very scary. To take possession of that
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character when everyone feels they know her so well and that, therefore she belongs to them, it was very scary.” Part of the scariest thing to wrap her mind around was the amount of paparazzi that followed Diana, and the public interest in her life. “I cannot imagine,” she says about that kind of attention all the time. “I mean, I’ve had a tiny glimpse of it, but to walk through that on a daily basis in life, that’s a fairly unimaginable existence to have to deal with. You know when you have to plan your life every second of the day. I think that would be exhausting.” She has a small taste of it though, as there are often people around her apartment in New York. “Yes,” she agrees. “And it can be irritating, but yeah, they’re not as aggressive, but there are days when they are and you get a new set of people on your doorstep. Even last night, I was going to dinner and there were people, and I couldn’t actually see beyond, I couldn’t see because the flash bulbs were going, so Off The Screen Magazine
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I had to hold my head down to look carefully in case I was going to trip over. And then someone said something rude like ‘Look at us… we’re not that ugly’ and then I suddenly went,” she shows the face she pulled at the guy. “And that was the shot they got. It can be awkward, but it’s not my life every single day, so I cannot imagine how you would cope with that if it were. It makes you anxious.” The film focuses on the time between Diana’s divorce from the Prince of Wales, and her relationship with Dodi al-Fayed, the more well-known relationship, which she was in at the time of her death. It also tells about a relationship she had during that time with a Pakistani doctor. In the film there’s a line that says, ‘It’s easy to give love, but it’s hard to receive love,’ something the Princess obviously believed at the time. We asked Watts if she believes the same thing. “Yes I do,” she told us. “I can identify with that. Especially if you’ve gone through something… You know her parents divorced very early on and she was separated from her mother. I guess with that comes a sense of abandonment. It’s hard to trust love.” Most little girls dream of being a princess, or a ballerina, but Watts said she wasn’t like other little girls.
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“I was more of a tomboy,” she says. “I had an older brother. I mean I’m sure I did, but I didn’t have Barbie dolls or anything like that. I played with my brother’s soldiers.” She may have not wanted to be a princess, but she knew from an early age that she wanted to act. “Well there are a few,” she says about the moments that drew her to the theatre and screen. “One I do remember was when I saw my mother on stage, I was about 4 and a half years old in… just in the small village that we lived in, in Shoreham in Kent. And she had a big costume on and she was speaking in a funny voice. And I remember looking at her from the front row with my grandmother and I kept waving to her and of course she was in character and ignoring me, which I didn’t understand. But I remember thinking it was so interesting. I think she probably felt my energy and eventually gave me a little wink or a wave or some kind of gesture. And once
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___________________________________________________________________________ that happened, I understood that it was this fantastic world of pretend and I was sort of transported into it somehow. I remember thinking, ‘I want to do that’.” Something not a lot of people know about Diana was that she loved to tell politically incorrect jokes, some of which are in the film. We asked Watts if she knew any jokes, or what her favourite joke was. “Oh I’m terrible,” she laughs. “I never remember jokes. I’m the world’s worst. But yeah, that’s something I heard over and over again from people that knew her, that she did tell great jokes in this sort of ice-breaker sense. There was a piece of footage that we stumbled across that was never supposed to be seen by anyone, when she was practicing how to speak publically. She cracked quite a few jokes during that.” The jokes showed another side to the Princess, who was famously shy and naïve, especially when she was first married to Prince Charles. It was an interesting aspect in the film and in the character for Watts. We asked Watts if she now had a different image of Diana, from the famous one we all know and love.
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“I mean, I had knowledge of her,” she tells us. “I had a good feeling about Diana, before this script came to me. I wasn’t saturated by information about her, like I became once I took on the role… and I certainly discovered new things about her. I knew nothing about this love story, which was an interesting part of it. What I learnt most was that she had a great sense of humour, she was intelligent, she had this rebellious streak. I think it was something we already knew, but what became much clearer was this unbelievable level of compassion and empathy. That’s a really admirable quality in somebody.” In a last question we asked Watts what she thinks Diana’s fans and family will think about the film, will they be for it, or against it? “I don’t know, she answers honestly. “I’m not in contact with them and I don’t know them. I can only hope that they feel we have treated her story and her legacy with respect and sensitivity. That’s what we set out to do and hopefully if they get to see the film that’s how they’ll feel. I’m not in control and I’ll never know the answer to that.” Diana is showing on screens right now.
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Fighting the Battle This month sees more dancing coming to the big screen in the form of the B-Boy extravaganza, Battle of the Year. We sat down with one of the stars of the film, former child comedy star Josh Peck to talk about the dancing, the jokes and what makes this film different from Step Up.
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ancing films are a firm favourite at the South African Box Office. From the Step Up films to lesser known classics like Centre Stage they appeal to the artist in us. Nowadays hip hop and street dancing is growing in popularity and many huge competitions are happening, not only in South Africa, but around the world, which people travel from far and wide to compete in. One of the biggest competitions in the hip hop calendar is the Boty, the Battle of the Year, a competition held in France where the best of the best come to see who the best actually is. This month sees the release of a film that combines the narrative of a story with the facts of a real life competition in Battle of the Year. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul Dante, played by Laz Alonso, wants to put the country that started the Sport back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake, played by Josh Holloway, who was a championship basketball coach, to coach his team. Armed with the theory that the right coach can make any team champions, they assemble a Dream Team of all the best dancers across the country. With only three months until Battle of the Year, Blake has to use every tactic he knows to get twelve talented individuals to
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come together as a team if they're going to bring the Trophy back to America where it started. Former child comedy star, appearing in such shows as The Amanda Show and the wildly popular Drake and Josh, Josh Peck stars as the assistant coach of this Dream Team. We chatted to him about his character. “Franklyn, with a y,” he tells us. “Works for Dante in the movie. Dante is sort of this hip hop mogul in the respect of Jay Z or Richard Simmons. Franklyn is definitely not a player in the company in the beginning of the movie. It’s hard to know whether or not they even know if he exists, but he is immediately enlisted to help WB, who’s the head coach of the Dream Team, to act as the assistant coach, and he has an encyclopaedic knowledge for BBoying, so he’s definitely quite an asset.” Peck’s character seems to know everything there is to know about BBoying. We asked him if he can dance too, something his co-stars suggested he could. “I’m blessed,” he says. “I have moves for days. They were procured early on in Hebrew school and they’ve grown ever since. They’re more specialty moves, and if you watch them they may not seem like dance,
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might seem like a borderline seizure, but they’re beautiful.” The comedian comes through. We ask what his street name would be if he was a BBoyer. “My nickname is Shoah,” he says, “So it would probably be Shoah. B-Boy Shoah. Respect.” But jokes aside, Peck is surrounded by some of the best dancers in the world for this film. We asked him what he thought about the dancers, and the dancing in the film. “I was so inspired and so blown away by what these guys can do,” he honestly tells us. “What I love about the film is that traditionally B-Boying is relegated to the side lines of dance films. It’s a specialty thing you see for ten seconds of a three minute dance battle, but in this film it is the centre piece. The star of the movie truly is the dance and to see it captured in this way, in 3D, is really seeing it coming at you, it’s really an experience I don’t think people have ever had before, so I think the payoff is huge.” Had he heard of any of the dancers before the shoot? “Well, I’d seen Planet B-Boy, when it originally came out,” he says. “The documentary that the moves based on, so when I met Do Knock, who’s a big part of the documentary, I was like, ‘I’m a fan of these guys’, I had a fan girl moment.” Of course a large name attached to the project was actor and singer Chris Brown. We asked Peck what the pop star was like. “Chris Brown. Chris Breezy. Christopher Bra-heez-y. He doesn’t know that
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“I have moves for days. They were procured early on in Hebrew school and they’ve grown ever since. They’re more specialty moves, and if you watch them they may not seem like dance, might seem like a borderline seizure, but they’re beautiful.” I call him that, so I don’t do it to his face,” he jokes. “No, Chris is such a talent and to watch what he does and how gifted he is, physically, it was just really inspiring. Also just the fact that we can bro-down and just hang out on set and he didn’t have any airs about him, he was just there to work really hard and have a good time, was really refreshing.” Of course Peck doesn’t really know much about dancing and B-Boying, so what did he bring to the role? “I think this characters been seen before in certain dance films, in some respects,” he tells us. “So what I thought was great was what was written was stuff that I didn’t know about, which was all the knowledge about B-Boying and his ability to be an assistant coach, and what I could sort of bring to it was the natural sarcasm and the comedic relief which I try to have in my normal life. To sort of inject that into who this character was. I feel that in dance films you always get this great dancing, but sometimes you don’t get such a well-rounded story or full characters, and what I think is great about Battle of the Year is you get all those things.” Watch Peck giving his team pointers and watch them strutting their stuff on the big screen right now.
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Film Review: Released October 18
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Gravity 8/10 Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
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yan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a doctor on her first space mission to connect some or other gizmo to the Hubble Telescope so NASA can see further into space. She’s on a spacewalk connecting the gizmo along with another engineer and the commander of the mission, Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) when an errant Russian missile hits one of their satellites. The strike causes a mass of space debris to fly in the direction of the mission and before they can get out of the way their ship is hit and destroyed and they are left adrift in space. They cling to each other as they make their way to the International Space Station, cut off from all ground communication, so they don’t even know if NASA can hear them, but worse than that, they only have minutes before the debris, which is in a orbit with Earth, comes around again and finishes the job it started at their ship. This film had the very real risk of being pretentious and boring. The entire film is set around two characters, or one after Clooney’s character dies, spoiler alert, so
there was a risk that Bullock wouldn’t be able to carry an entire film by herself, which has happened to other, just as well versed and respected actors. Thankfully this is not the case with this particular film. She does a great job keeping the humanity in the story and giving her plight a human face, making the audience really care whether or not she makes it. Clooney does a fine job with his performance as well, acting as the voice of strength and reason for Bullock’s character, and getting her through the harder parts of her journey. The story is simplicity itself, but it is structured together in a strong script that keeps it running well, though there are some interesting moments, like why Bullock’s character had to have a dead daughter is beyond me, but that’s obviously something the writer wanted to do to humanise her even further, I suppose. The hero of the film is the visual effects. There are a bunch of panoramic shots of the Earth from the astronaut’s point of view, and even though they are facing almost certain doom, the Earth looks incredible. I also need to mention the homage shots the Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, especially Bullock in the foetal position in front of the Space Station door, the Earth in the porthole. It’s a great shot and we can tell that someone watched their Kubrick. This is an interesting, compelling film and a good, well spent time.
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Film Review: Released October 18
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Diana (not rated) Starring Naomi Watts, Naveen Andrews and Douglas Hodge Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel
Diana is a compelling portrait of Diana, Princess Of Wales during the final two years of her life. The film stars British-born Academy Award nominated actress Naomi Watts who assumes the leading role of the eponymous and iconic princess. Naveen Andrews, best known for his roles in The English Patient and the hit television series Lost, co-stars as Dr. Hasnat Khan. Fellow Brits Douglas Hodge, Geraldine James, Charles Edwards and Juliet Stevenson round out the supporting cast. Masterfully directed by Oliver Hirshbiegel (Academy Award nominated for Downfall), the film is based on a screenplay by internationally acclaimed playwright Stephen Jeffreys (The Clink, Libertine). The compelling love story charts how finding true personal happiness allowed Diana to achieve her defining successes, as she evolved into a major international campaigner and humanitarian. Unfortunately we didn’t see this film, but if you love Diana and the British Royals then you need to go and see this film.
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Film Review: Released October 18
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Paranoia (not rated) Starring Amber Heard, Liam Hemsworth and Harrison Ford Directed by Robert Luketic The high stakes thriller Paranoia goes deep behind the scenes of global success to a deadly world of greed and deception. The two most powerful tech billionaires in the world (Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman) are bitter rivals with a complicated past who will stop at nothing to destroy each other. A young superstar, Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth), seduced by unlimited wealth and power, falls between them and becomes trapped in their twisting, turning, life-anddeath game of corporate espionage. By the time Adam realises his life is in danger, he is in far too deep and knows far too much for them to let him walk away. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to see this film, but if you like espionage, or Harrison Ford, then you should go and see this film at cinemas now.
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Film Review: Released October 18
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Jobs 8/10 Starring Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney and Josh Gad Directed by Joshua Michael Stern
An autobiographical look into the life of Apple Computer founder, Steve Jobs. In the 70’s Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) is a university student who is trying to find his course in life while getting high and having fun. It’s only after he’s finished college, and stumbles onto an idea formed by his friend, Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) for a revolutionary computer system that his course suddenly becomes abundantly clear. Together with Steve he forms Apple Computers and with the help of an investor, Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney), they begin to take on the computer world. They’re very successful at first, but after IBM and Dell begin to follow suit and create their own computers, Jobs’ erratic behaviour and almost obsessive need for perfection in everything begins to take its toll on the company’s bottom line. As a result the board fires him from his own company, even when he’s on the brink of creating something extraordinary with the Macintosh computer system, but when things continue to go downhill the company looks back to Jobs to save them. This is a very interesting film, as all these true life autobiographical films are, if you are keen on the subject or the person. I had no idea that Apple actually created the first personal computer, because the other companies took control soon after. They even created the first operating system, before Bill Gates created Windows. It’s very interesting
to see what they managed to accomplish, but then you also see the bad side to the great man that created the company. Jobs was not a nice person. He was brilliant, and could see things were others just couldn’t, but that didn’t make him a very nice human being. He spent most of his life claiming his daughter wasn’t his, and shutting her out of his life completely. Add to that the way he treated the people who worked at Apple and you can tell why he was kicked out. Kutcher gives a solid performance as Jobs. He obviously did a lot of research into the man before taking on the role and it shows. The rest of the supporting cast give good, solid performances, but something that impressed me was how close the actors resemble the actual people. The casting is very impressive. If you’re interested in the history of computers, or in Steve Jobs’, life then you should watch it.
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Film Review: Released October 25
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About Time 10/10
Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams and Bill Nighy Directed by Richard Curtis
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im (Domhnall Gleeson) has always had trouble meeting girls. He has tried everything he could, but things always seem to go wrong, but when he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) at one of these blind restaurants, it’s love at first speak, and after at first sight as well, but when he changes the past to help a friend he loses her. You see, Tim has an interesting ability. He can travel backwards within his own time line to make changes. Tim now has to use his gift to find
Mary again, which he does, but things don’t go quite as planned. After a few tweaks in his past Tim and Mary finally get together, but as they continue their lives together there are a few times when Tim has to go back to fix mistakes, but soon he discovers that there are some things that even time travel can’t, or maybe shouldn’t, fix. This is a beautiful, sweet, moving film, in the vein of Nicholas Sparks, though it has nothing to do with him. It’s a great film for a Friday night date movie. Gleeson steals the show as the time travelling young man who wants nothing more than to get a girlfriend. He is endearing and tries his best to do the right thing, though sometimes that’s not as simple as it seems. McAdams is what every man wants for a girlfriend/wife. She’s funny and kind and everyday normal and just the right amount of sexy to make any man happy. The supporting cast of Lydia Wilson as Tim’s free spirited and often in trouble little sister Kit Kat, Lindsay Duncan as his plain, stern but still loving mother, Tom Hollander as Harry, the playwright who Tim lives with in London, who is mean and unpleasant, but still wonderful and especially Bill Nighy as Tim’s father, who has the same ability as Tim. He is the mentor figure, helping to guide Tim, not only through the time travel, but also through his life and the ups and downs that he faces. The thing I loved most about the film is that, while the time travel is an integral part of the story, it doesn’t take the lead. The actual hero of the film is the love story between Mary and Tim, which is beautiful. They are perfect for each other and share the kind of love that the rest spend our life time searching for. At the end of the day the moral of the story is to live each day to the fullest, and not to take anything for granted.
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Film Review: Released October 25
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Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee 8/10 Starring Neil Sandilands, Marno van der Merwe and Rolanda Marais Directed by Darrell Roodt
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en (Neil Sandilands) is a record producer and manager in the music industry who has fallen on hard times. Once one of the best and brightest he was caught having embezzled millions of Rands from his artists and has lost his wife (Rolanda Marias), his job, all his money and his self-respect. The only thing keeping him alive is his daughter (Leandri Scholtz) as he tries to win back her trust, then he meets Robbie de Wee (Marno van der Merwe). Robbie is a farm boy who has moved to the city to become a singer and Len sees in the boy a light and a way back into the real world. He steps up as the boy’s manager and starts to mould his career, sticking to the straight and narrow while doing it and staying away from the indiscretions of his past, but when Robbie calls him on the road and tells him that there’s a dead girl in his hotel room, Len delves back into the darkness to protect the boy and himself, but no sooner has he
fixed that problem than he realises that there may a bigger one than he could have imagined. Now Len faces a moral dilemma. Can he turn a blind eye to what’s going on around him to save his rekindling career, or will he do the right thing? There’s been a bit of a downturn in Afrikaans films lately, both in quality and in attendance by the general public. I’m glad to say that this film addresses at least one of these factors, and let’s hope that by doping that the other is addressed as well. The film is great. Written by thriller writer Deon Meyer, the story is intriguing and encompassing. It is a little slow in the first thirty minutes or so, just developing the characters and introducing them all to the audience, but after the phone call where Robbie tells Len the girl is dead, the film picks up pace and doesn’t stop until the thrilling ending that takes your breath away. Director Darrell Roodt is back at his best with this film creating a skilful world that the audience immerses in for the duration of the project. This world is aided by great performances by van der Merwe who is naïve and shy and completely harmless, until the truth comes out, Scholtz who is sweet and endearing and represents the best part of her father, and Marais who is vindictive and petty and just after the money, though there is nothing to get, which is very funny when she realises it. The star of the show is Sandilands. He seamlessly moves between honesty, trying to do the right thing, and doing unimaginable things, even if they are for the right reasons, at least in his mind. His performance holds the film together and gives it real resonance. I would hope that each and every movie goer in the country goes and see this film, not just the Afrikaans speaking ones. It is worth the money, not just to support our local industry, but also because it’s a good film.
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Film Review: Released October 25
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Riddick 7/10
Starring Vin Diesel, Katee Sackoff and Matt Nable Directed by David Twohy
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iddick, the convict and murderer turned emperor of an alien civilization, is back. After being double crossed by Vaako (Karl Urban) in the search for his home world, Furya, Riddick (Vin Diesel) is left for dead on a planet that seems to want nothing more than to kill him. There are dog like creatures hunting him, and scorpion like creatures hiding in the water, also out to kill him, but Riddick is too tough, too smart and too dangerous to let something like that get to him, so he repairs the broken leg he got in
the double cross and manages to get to better ground. Then he sees the rain heading for him and he realises that he has to get off the planet. He starts a beacon at an abandoned mercenary station and two ships arrive. The first led by Santana (Jordi Mollà), a really not nice guy looking to take Riddick’s head and get the reward, the second is led by Boss Johns (Matt Nable), the father of the mercenary Johns who we met on the dark planet in Pitch Black. He’s looking for Riddick for another reason. He wants to know what happened to his son. These two teams clash as they try to find Riddick, but Riddick just wants off the planet before the rain hits and the monsters in the water kill them all. The third instalment in the adventures of our favourite anti-hero I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film. I loved Pitch Black. It’s one of my favourite sci-fi horror films of all time, and Riddick one of my favourite characters, but he lost a lot of his appeal with The Chronicles of Riddick. The introduction of the different alien species and turning him into the saviour of the world just didn’t quite seem to fit. They’re back this time to the formulae that made Pitch Black so popular. Riddick on a planet, fighting monsters and scaring the hell out of the other people in the planet with him, but ending up being their only hope, a great formulae. I will say that this film didn’t capture me the way Pitch Black did, probably because Riddick was such an unknown entity in the first film and now, with all the convolution of the second film, he’s a little less than he was, but that’s not say that he isn’t still cool. The way he beats the scorpion is really cool, and the dog is awesome. Diesel is good again as the title character, and the supporting cast are bad ass and exactly what you expect them to be. This is a good film if you like Riddick, but again, don’t expect Pitch Black. It just isn’t quite that good.
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Film Review: Released October 25
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Battle of the Year (not rated) Starring Josh Peck, Josh Holloway and Chris Brown Directed by Benson Lee
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attle of the Year is an international dance crew tournament that attracts all the best teams from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years. Los Angeles Hip Hop mogul Dante (Laz Alonso) wants to put the country that started the Sport back on top. He enlists his hard-luck friend Blake (Josh Holloway), who was a championship basketball coach, to coach his team. Armed with the theory that the right coach can make any team champions, they assemble a Dream Team of
all the best dancers across the country. With only three months until Battle of the Year, Blake has to use every tactic he knows to get twelve talented individuals to come together as a team if they're going to bring the Trophy back to America where it started. Inspired by the actual world championship held yearly in France. Unfortunately we didn’t see this film, but if you like dancing and appreciated the Step Up films, then you should go and see this one.
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Film Review: Released October 25
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Khumba 7/10 Starring the voices of Jake T. Austin, Liam Neeson and Steve Buscemi Directed by Anthony Silverston
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he second animated feature coming out of our country by the Triggerfish Studios, Khumba tells the tale of a zebra born with only half of his stripes. Khumba (voiced by Jake T. Austin) is blamed for the drought that has hit his home, because he only has half his stripes. He begins to think that the others are right and it is his fault, so when he learns about a magical pool of water in the mountains, the place where the first zebra got his stripes, he thinks that if he can get to the pool he can get the rest of his stripes and save his people from the terrible drought, especially when the Mantis, the magical creature of the savannah, shows up and draws him a map. Khumba runs away from his herd to try and find the pool, even though his friend, Tombi (voiced by Annasophia Robb) tries to stop him. He’s aided in his quest by Mama V (voiced by Loretta Devine), a mothering wildebeest who takes Khumba under her arm, and Bradley (voiced by Richard E. Grant), a neurotic ostrich who is also cared for by Mama V. Together they head off to the mountains to find the pool, but hot on their trail is evil leopard Phango (voiced by Liam Neeson), who believes that killing Khumba will fulfil a prophecy and he will stop at nothing to do just that. The second animated feature from Triggerfish Studios is a fun romp with a good moral
message, exactly what you want from a film most of the kids in South Africa will go and watch. It’s sweet and nice and not a bad watch, but does it match up with the other films in its category, like The Smurfs 2 or Turbo or Triggerfish’s last feature, Adventures in Zambezia? I don’t think so, but I’m alone in this. My issue wasn’t with the story, or with the voices which are all great, especially Neeson as the bad guy for a change, or even with the animation, which is also very good. The problem I had was that I just couldn’t get an emotional connection with the characters. I don’t know why, but the film just didn’t touch me the way that Zambezia did. There are also the issues of not enough South African voices in a South African film, but we understand the money issues, so we look over that, in fact the addition of the Springboks, with heavy Afrikaans accents, and who are quite funny, almost makes up for the American accents everyone else has. It’s also a first for an animated feature to be released in Afrikaans as well as English at the Box Office, so a big kudos to the film makers. Let’s hope that this is the first of many Afrikaans language animated film, then the voices have to be South African.
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Film Review: Released November 1
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Austenland 8/10
Starring Keri Russell, Jane Seymour and JJ Field Directed by Jerusha Hess
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ane (Keri Russell) is a woman disillusioned with her life. She’s a huge fan, in fact she’s obsessed, with Jane Austen novels, and madly in love with the Jane Austen character Mr Darcy. After another bad break up she decides she needs to do something and heads off to England to a fully immersive Austen experience, known as Austenland, run by the somewhat delusional Mrs Wattlebrook (Jane Seymour), hoping to find her place in the world and love. Things don’t go well as first, since she’s on the cheap package and treated like the poor relative in one of the Austen books, but she’s helped along by the insane Miss Charming (Jennifer Coolidge), a gaudy, rich American also at the experience to find love. Just when Jane has virtually given up
hope she meets Martin (Bret McKenzie), the stable hand at the experience, and they hit it off. Problem is that she’s not supposed to be cavorting with the help, something Miss Wattlebrook tells her in no uncertain terms, so she starts spending more time with one of the male actors in the house, Mr Nobley (JJ Field), and she begins to find herself attracted to him as well. Who will Jane choose? And what in this insane experience is actually real? This film is as complicated as an Austen novel in itself. The story is interesting, especially in a world where people live in books, or films, or the internet instead of in the real world, I think everyone can find some level to relate with. Russell is sweet, somewhat naïve, but at the same time strong willed and stubborn, everything you would want from an Austen heroine, following in the footsteps of Emma and the Dashwood sisters. Field is sombre and sullen and completely at home as the broody hero of the piece, while McKenzie is charming and smooth and the perfect temptation for Jane. The rest of the supporting cast are wonderful, especially Coolidge, who has almost every single comic relief moment in the film, and carries them off with fervour, Seymour, who is the perfect lady, or so she likes to believe, and the rest of the house actors, James Callis as the over the top Colonel Andrews, Georgia King, as the even more over the top Lady Amelia Heartwright and Ricky Whittle, as the uberbuff Caribbean ship captain. The entire film is good fun, teaching us to live in the now and not fall for the idea instead of the reality, and the ending cements that whole concept when the truth comes out. A good, fun, date film.
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Film Review: Released November 1
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Closed Circuit (not rated) Starring Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall and Claran Hinds Directed by John Crowley
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n the international suspense thriller Closed Circuit, a high-profile terrorism case unexpectedly binds two ex-lovers together on the defense team, testing the limits of their loyalties and placing their lives in jeopardy. One morning, a busy London market is decimated by an explosion. In the manhunt that follows, only one member of the suspected terrorism cell survives: Farroukh Erdogan (Denis Moschitto), who is arrested and jailed. Preparations begin in what promises to be the trail of the century. But there is a hitch: the government will use classified evidence to prosecute Erdogan, evidence so secret that neither he nor his lawyers can be allowed to see. Hence the need for the Attorney General (Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent) to appoint a Special Advocate, an additional government-
approved lawyer, Claudia SimmonsHowe (Golden Globe Award nominee Rebecca Hall), one who has clearance to see classified evidence and who can argue for its full disclosure when the trial to "closed" session. The rules for the Special Advocate are clear: once the secret evidence is shared with her, Claudia will not be allowed to communicate even with the defendant or with other members of the defence team, but just as the case is on the eve of going to trail, Erdogan's lawyer dies suddenly, and a new defence attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana), quickly steps in. Martin is tenacious, driven, brilliant- and an ex-lover of Claudia's. The two lawyers make an uncomfortable pact to keep their former affair hidden. But as Martin begins to piece the case together, the outlines of a sinister conspiracy emerge, one that will draw him and Claudia dangerously close again. Unfortunately we didn’t see this film, but if you’re a fan of John Grisham-esque court room thrillers maybe you should go and check it out.
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Film Review: Released November 1
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Salinger 5/10
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton and Judd Apatow Directed by Shane Salerno
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n autobiographical look into the life of one of America’s greatest novelists, J.D Salinger. The film looks at the life of Salinger from the perspective of a film maker trying to find the reclusive, almost hidden writer. The film tells of Salinger’s life, from growing up, to joining the 2nd World War, to his writing of his piece of history, Catcher in the Rye. The film looks at his love life, meeting his first wife when she was only 14 and he was already in his thirties, his rampant indiscretions that led to several failed marriages after his first fell apart. His children, who hardly knew the man, and the way he shunned away from any public aspect of the writing industry, especially facing his fans. It also chronicles his entrenched need to control and have everything perfect, even
going so far as threatening legal action, and ending long standing friendships with editors, of magazines that changed the title to a piece he wrote. He ended up alone in the middle of nowhere, writing work that no one will ever read. This film is exactly as it sounds in the write up, boring and tedious. The style is like a search for the man, but instead of an interesting story and compelling narrative, he relies on big name Hollywood stars to give his film credence, which it doesn’t. The thing I couldn’t understand about the whole thing, though, was why anyone would make this film in the first place. Salinger was an egocentric, border-line paedophile, who wrote a good book once and then flitted off into the sunset. There are thousands of writer, musicians and actors just like him. One hit wonders, yet they don’t get their own film. I suppose if you are interested in Salinger, or his work, what little was actually published, you may care that he lives like a hermit in America now, but if not don’t waste the money watching this film.
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Film Review: Released November 1
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Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (not rated) Starring Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicoll and Greg Harris Directed by Jeff Tremaine ighty-six-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his eight-year-old grandson Billy, in "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa". This October, the signature Jackass characters Irving Zisman (Johnny Knoxville) and Billy (Jackson Nicoll) will take movie audiences along for the most insane hidden camera road trip ever captured on camera. Along the way Irving will introduce the young and impressionable Billy to people, places, and situations that give new meaning to the term "childrearing". The duo will encounter male strippers, disgruntled child beauty pageant contestants (and their equally disgruntled mothers), funeral home mourners, biker bar patrons, and a whole lot of unsuspecting citizens. Real people in unreal situations, making for one really messed up comedy. Unfortunately we missed this one, but we suspect it’s strickly for the Jackass fans. This film has a bit more of a storyline than the original Jackass films, but the style of comedy is the same. If you liked them, you’ll like this one, if not steer clear.
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Film Review: Released November 1
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The Family 6/10 Starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Diana Agron Directed by Luc Besson
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hen we first meet the Blake family, Fred (Robert De Niro), the dad, Maggie (Michelle Pfeiffer), the mom, Belle (Diana Agron), the daughter and Warren (John D’Leo), the son, they are an American family moving from the French Riviera to another very small town in the middle of France. Of course in no time we realise that there is something not quite right about this family. They are, in fact, not the Blake’s at all. They are the Manzoni family, a former mob family from Brooklyn on the run after Giovanni, the father’s real name, ratted out his bosses. Now they’re being protected by a grumpy, miserable FBI agent Stansfield (Tommy Lee Jones) and being chased by Gio’s former bosses and hit men hired by those bosses. The family finds themselves in the middle of nowhere, trying to figure things out again, but they’re all a little unstable, all violent and they live by their own rules, despite being under 24/7 FBI surveillance.
This is kind of like a funny look at a gangster movie, but not quite. There are funny aspects to the film, like the way the family deals with their problems, the mother blows up a corner café because the owner is rude, the father keeps killing people who don’t do the things he thinks they should, the daughter brains a boy who gets a little fresh with her, he deserves it, but she goes a little over board, and the son blackmails and bribes his way through everyone in the school until he gets busted. They are a typical mob family where they all need therapy. That part of the film works, but the story is splotchy, especially the coming-in-in-the-middle thing that they did. You don’t have the back story or the details so you feel out of it from the start, then it jumps and doesn’t make as much use of the comedy as it could. Then there’s the book Gio is writing that seems to be forgotten about halfway through the film, even though everyone is so worried about it before that, it’s all a little strange. The performances are good, but not wonderful, not what you’d expect from De Niro and Pfeiffer. If you have nothing else, then watch this, but if you have another option, take it.
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Film Review: Releasing November 6
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Thor: The Dark World 9/10
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins Directed by Alan Taylor
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t’s been two years since the events in Thor and a few months since the events in New York in The Avengers and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been busy trying to bring peace back to the nine realms, plunged into chaos since the destruction of the Bifrost, but just as the Asgardians think they’ve finally bought back peace Heimdel loses sight of Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Thor travels to Earth to find out what’s happened to her only to find her infected by an ancient weapon, long thought destroyed by Odin’s (Anthony Hopkins) father, the Aether, a weapon forged by the dark elves, beings that ruled the darkness before the light came to the universe. The releasing of the Aether wakes Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), the leader of the remaining dark elves and he moves on Asgard, leaving terrible destruction in his wake, to try and get the Aether for himself. Thor battles him, but his thoughts are on Jane. Can he get the weapon out of her before it kills her, or will he lose everything he loves to this ancient evil? The latest in the series of Marvel superhero films, Thor: The Dark World stands up well to the other films in the franchise, and that’s saying something considering that we expect a lot from these films now. Hemsworth
has got the Thor character down very well, not even having to try. All he has to do is stand with the hammer in his hand and he’s great. Hopkin’s gives a great supporting performance as the father, and king, who is torn between following his duty and his pride, and love, for his son. Portman gives a far superior performance in this film, compared to Thor. She actually has some substance this time and does a great job, thanks for the better writing for her character in this sequel. Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki and delivers another great performance, easily balancing his insanity with his love for his family, and his search for vengeance. Another good performance. Something I loved a lot about this film was the heavy load of comedy. Whether it’s coming from Kat Denning, reprising her role as Darcy, the wise cracking intern and doing a fantastic job, or Stellan Skarsgard, back as Erik Selvig, but not quite as together as we’ve seen him before, running around naked and working in his underwear. Even the interactions between Thor and Jane are really funny and the director made good use of the comic timing of these really good actors. This is another fabulous film to add to the Marvel roster and just makes me excited to the see the next one.
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Film Review: Releasing November 6
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Lee Daniel’s The Butler 6/10 Starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey and John Cusack Directed by Lee Daniels
B
orn on a cotton farm in the south of America and watching his father murdered before his eyes, Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), survives and leaves as soon as he can and makes his way north into the cities, hoping for a better life. He doesn’t find it, having to resort to stealing, until a man takes kindness on the boy and teaches him a trade. The trade is butlery at a hotel. He does this for years until his skills are noticed and he’s asked to work at the White House under the presidents of the United States, which he does for eight terms under four different presidents, including Eisenhower (Robin Williams), Kennedy (James Marsden), Johnson (Live Schreiber), Nixon (John Cusack) and Reagan (Alan Rickman). All the time America is changing around him as the civil rights struggle happens, his son (David Oyelowo) even fighting for equality, while he serves the
men that control the country, all the time trying to reconcile his life with his work and his family. I was really excited about this film when I saw it, especially when you read off the cast list, it’s a like a who’s who from the Oscar card, but, unfortunately, the film doesn’t live up to the expectations and I was left felling rather disappointed. The entire thing plods along and is quite boring, which is a pity. There just isn’t enough focus on singular events to make them have any impact, instead it becomes just a steady barrage of scenes that mean very little. The high point of the film is a dinner that Cecil and his family have after not seeing his son, Louis, for years. He has now joined the Black Panther movement and after an altercation his mother, Oprah Winfrey, slaps him for begin disparaging to his father. It’s an emotional high point for the script, but it comes too late, and loses impact very soon after as we go into another run of seemingly disconnected scenes. Even the performances by Winfrey and Whitaker, both fabulous actors, just doesn’t get anywhere because they aren’t given the script and the scenes to work with, so they end up being caricatures of what they should be, instead of well fleshed out characters. What I did like were the presidents. Each of the actors that portrayed a president did a good job of becoming that president, but then they were only on screen for a total of five minutes each, not enough time to really enjoy their performances. For what could have been an Oscar worthy film it really is a shame that it didn’t pan out correctly.
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Film Review: Releasing November 6
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Baggage Claim (not rated) Starring Paula Patton, Derek Luke and Taye Diggs Directed by David E. Talbert Unfortunately we missed this film, but if you’re a fan of Tyler Perry films you should enjoy this one. Go and check it out and let us know what you thought.
Montana Moore (Paula Patton) is a true catch. Successful flight attendant, devoted daughter and sister, supportive friend… and single. Poised to be the final eligible Moore sister now that her youngest sibling is newly engaged, Montana, with the help of her two best friends Gail (Jill Scott) and Sam (Adam Brody), has 30 days to find Mr. Right. Because time is tight they decide to use available resources and devise a plan to use her airline "status" to conveniently meet up with eligible ex-boyfriends, racking up 30,000 miles and countless comedic encounters – in Montana's search for the perfect guy.
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DVD Reviews
Gambit 6/10
Dead Man Down 6/10
Starring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman Directed by Michael Hoffman Harry Deane (Colin Firth), the curator of the private art collection of Lord Shabandar (Alan Rickman), comes up with a plan to make a lot of money. Enlisting the help of his friend, The Major (Tom Courtenay), a skilled forger, he’s going to convince Shabandar that he’s found a very old painting and then sell it to him. All he needs is the help of a Texas girl, PJ Puznowski (Cameron Diaz), but as the plan begins to fall apart, and Harry’s feelings for PJ grow, things begin to go from bad to worse. This is a fun, heist movie, but I will say the best part is the first ten minutes and then it’s a bit boring after that. The hotel scene did make me laugh, and good performances by Firth and Rickman carry the film pretty well.
Starring Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace and Terrence Howard Directed by Niels Arden Oplev Victor (Colin Farrell) is a hired gun for gang boss Alphonse (Terrence Howard), but he has an ulterior motive. He is after revenge on Alphonse for killing his wife and daughter years before. Things get complicated when the woman in the apartment across the way, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), a woman scarred from a motor accident, confronts him with evidence of a murder he committed with a deal, kill the man that disfigured her or she’ll go to the police. Now Victor has to deal with her and his growing feelings for her, as well as staying on track to get his vengeance. This is not a bad film, the action is intense at moments, and the story is interesting and compelling, but it just lacks the impact that other revenge films, like Lucky Number Slevin, had, even with good performances by Farrell, Howard and Rapace. Not a bad Saturday night, but a little slow in the middle.
Struck by Lightning 6/10 Starring Chris Colfer, Allison Janney and Rebel Wilson Directed by Brian Dannelly Walking out of school one day Carson Phillips (Chris Colfer) is struck by lightning and dies. We then move back in time to see what he did up to that point in his life. All he wants to do is get out of Clover, the small town he’s stuck in, to become a writer an publish in the New Yorker, but his drug popping mother (Allison Janney), and the roster of people he has to go to high school with are not making it easy for him. So he decides to blackmail a bunch of them to better his chances, but he starts seeing a different side to them and himself, all the while marching to his death. This sounded like an interesting film when I read about it, but it doesn’t seem to go anywhere. You know the lead character is dead in the first five minutes of the film, and the rest seem arbitrary. No one grows, not changes, and the hero, who you want to win gets struck by lightning. Colfer and Janney give great performances though, but even those can’t really bring this film out of the doldrums.
Magic Magic 4/10 Starring Juno Temple, Emily Browning and Michael Cera Directed by Sebastian Silva Alicia (Juno Temple) travels to South America to spend some time with her cousin, Sarah (Emily Browning), but no sooner has she arrived than Sarah is called away to deal with some school stuff. Alicia carries on with her friends, Augustin (Agustín Silva), Sara’s boyfriend, Brink (Michael Cera), Augustin’s friend, and Barbara (Catalina Sandino Moreno), Audgutin’s sister, to a small island, but as soon as she arrives the isolation begins to get to her and she sees a change in the others. Even Sarah’s return doesn’t help, but soon it becomes apparent that the problem isn’t them, it’s her. Even great actors like Cera, Temple and Browning can save this film. It flitters between psychological thriller and art thriller, not really living in any world. Just not a good movie, boring and tedious.
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