Movies today, SA!
Five new movies open in South Africa today in time for the long weekend: 1 drama, 2 action flicks (1 of them a comic adaptation) and 2 comedies.
The drama in question is Milk, the Academy Award-winning film (for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay) which FINALLY is released locally today. Milk focuses on the true story of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who, in 1977, became the first openly gay man voted into public office in America. Needless to say he riled up some serious opposition in the process.
Sean Penn is supposed to be quite superb in the title role, and for once he seems to be playing a cheerful, optimistic go-getter as opposed to a dark and tormented character. Milk is 93% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Also finally opening in South Africa today is Punisher: War Zone, a third attempt at adapting the kind-of popular Marvel comic for the big screen. Punisher: War Zone focuses on grieving-cop-turned-vigilante Frank Castle who has declared war on organised crime in New York. This time he takes on a disfigured mob boss called Jigsaw.
Despite faring poorly at the box office and scoring just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, I'm admittedly curious to watch the film. For one thing, I want to see how Rome's Ray Stevenson fares in the title role. He certainly looks much more like the comic character than Thomas Jane in the 2004 film. Plus, Punisher: War Zone has been compared to excessively violent 80's action films, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.
The other big action film of the weekend is The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. The film centres on an Interpol agent who seeks to expose corrupt activities (including arms brokering and murder) by one of the world's most powerful banking organisations.
Apparently Watts has little to do, but Owen in gratifying in his usual grim avenger mode. Judging by the trailer, The International is carried by several entertaining action sequences and enough jet-setting locations to rival a James Bond film. In fact, I'm expecting The International to be better than the most recent Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The International is 58% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
In terms of comedies this weekend, first up is I Love You, Man, a bro-mance starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd. Basically Rudd plays an successful real estate agent who realises he has no close guy friend to act as Best Man at his wedding. So he embarks on a series of awkward "man-dates" to find a suitable buddy.
I'd heard good things about this film, but never really followed it up. Apparently it plays out like a conventional romantic comedy, except instead of being boy-meets-girl, it's a boy-meets-boy tale that explores the complexity of close male friendships. I Love You, Man scored a surprising 81% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finally there's The Promotion, which admittedly I was completely unaware of until last week. This workplace comedy pits American Pie's Seann William Scott against Talladega Nights' John C. Reilly as they vie for the same managerial position within a Chicago grocery chain. Naturally in these unstable economic times these 2 very different men will do whatever it takes to get the job, including destroying the reputation of their rival.
The film scored a 52% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, so it probably isn't a bad movie option for the weekend.
The drama in question is Milk, the Academy Award-winning film (for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay) which FINALLY is released locally today. Milk focuses on the true story of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who, in 1977, became the first openly gay man voted into public office in America. Needless to say he riled up some serious opposition in the process.
Sean Penn is supposed to be quite superb in the title role, and for once he seems to be playing a cheerful, optimistic go-getter as opposed to a dark and tormented character. Milk is 93% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Also finally opening in South Africa today is Punisher: War Zone, a third attempt at adapting the kind-of popular Marvel comic for the big screen. Punisher: War Zone focuses on grieving-cop-turned-vigilante Frank Castle who has declared war on organised crime in New York. This time he takes on a disfigured mob boss called Jigsaw.
Despite faring poorly at the box office and scoring just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes, I'm admittedly curious to watch the film. For one thing, I want to see how Rome's Ray Stevenson fares in the title role. He certainly looks much more like the comic character than Thomas Jane in the 2004 film. Plus, Punisher: War Zone has been compared to excessively violent 80's action films, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your viewpoint.
The other big action film of the weekend is The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts. The film centres on an Interpol agent who seeks to expose corrupt activities (including arms brokering and murder) by one of the world's most powerful banking organisations.
Apparently Watts has little to do, but Owen in gratifying in his usual grim avenger mode. Judging by the trailer, The International is carried by several entertaining action sequences and enough jet-setting locations to rival a James Bond film. In fact, I'm expecting The International to be better than the most recent Bond film, Quantum of Solace. The International is 58% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
In terms of comedies this weekend, first up is I Love You, Man, a bro-mance starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd. Basically Rudd plays an successful real estate agent who realises he has no close guy friend to act as Best Man at his wedding. So he embarks on a series of awkward "man-dates" to find a suitable buddy.
I'd heard good things about this film, but never really followed it up. Apparently it plays out like a conventional romantic comedy, except instead of being boy-meets-girl, it's a boy-meets-boy tale that explores the complexity of close male friendships. I Love You, Man scored a surprising 81% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finally there's The Promotion, which admittedly I was completely unaware of until last week. This workplace comedy pits American Pie's Seann William Scott against Talladega Nights' John C. Reilly as they vie for the same managerial position within a Chicago grocery chain. Naturally in these unstable economic times these 2 very different men will do whatever it takes to get the job, including destroying the reputation of their rival.
The film scored a 52% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, so it probably isn't a bad movie option for the weekend.
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