Movies opening today, SA!
Six new films open in South Africa today and these are my top 2 picks for the weekend and coming week:
1) Inglourious Basterds - Finally there's something at the cinema worth getting excited about! It's been a long wait (over 2 months) for locals but Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated World War II action-adventure-drama is here. I've profiled the film before so I don't have much else to add other than it looks like a great deal of stylish fun - a more comedic, gory and intense take on WWII caper films like The Dirty Dozen (which I adore, for the record).
For those of you who don't know much about Inglourious Basterds, it centres on 2 completely separate groups out for Nazi blood on the night of an important film premiere in Paris. The top German leadership - including Hitler himself - will be present at the event. Keen to collect as many Nazi scalps as possible, American Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his top secret military unit, the Basterds, team up with German double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark to infiltrate the premiere. Meanwhile, a young Jewish woman, Shosanna Dreyfus, who escaped the execution of her entire family, schemes revenge of her own.
The impressive cast of Inglourious Basterds includes Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger and a handful of Tarantino regulars who pop up in cameos. Inglourious Basterds is 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and comments from my favourite movie bloggers suggest the film is Tarantino's ballsy best since Pulp Fiction... *swoon*
Oh, and out of interest, if it matters to you, Inglourious Basterds is 2 and a half hours long.
2) Gamer - Oh dear, I was so looking forward to this Running Man-like sci-fi action flick. It comes from the directing team behind the madcap Crank movies, it has a fantastic premise - in the future humans control and "play" other humans in highly popular online war games - and it even has Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall as the villain to Gerard (300) Butler's grim hero, an unwilling gladiator. Hell, I was so keen I even blogged about Gamer before, as part of the weekly Trailer Tuesday feature.
Alas, Gamer met with much rejection, critically and commercially, when it was released in American cinemas in September. Scoring just 29% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is considered exhilarating, but otherwise sloppy, superficial and excessive. Taking itself way too seriously, it has none of the charm of the Crank movies. Once again, it's apparently a case of a film concept being far stronger than its execution. Then again, there are apparently people out there who like Gamer a lot, so perhaps it is still worth checking out... after Inglourious Basterds of course.
In terms of other movies opening today, there's the following:
Fokofpolisiekar - A feature length documentary on the controversial Afrikaans punk-rock band. I saw the trailer yesterday, and honestly I had no idea they were so (apparently) culturally significant. Then again I'm not a young Afrikaner still struggling (apparently) against Calvinist conservatism and Apartheid guilt.
Little Ashes - Arty drama about the friendship, and much more, that developed between 18 year old artist Salvador Dalà (Robert Pattinson), poet Federico GarcÃa Lorca (Javier Beltran) and filmmaker Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty) in tempestuous Madrid during the 1920s and 30s. Twi-hards, prepare to see your hero like never before! 23% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Aladin - Bollywood musical based on the classic fantasy adventure and Middle Eastern folk tale. This time around the magically-enhanced action takes place in a contemporary urban setting. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt, Jacqueline Fernandez, Juhi Chawla and Sameera Reddy.
Moon - Intellectual sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell as a lone astronaut overseeing a mining operation on the moon in the not too distant future. As the astronaut's 3 year contract draws to a close, isolation begins to take its toll on his mental state. Reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey apparently, and 89% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
1) Inglourious Basterds - Finally there's something at the cinema worth getting excited about! It's been a long wait (over 2 months) for locals but Quentin Tarantino's highly anticipated World War II action-adventure-drama is here. I've profiled the film before so I don't have much else to add other than it looks like a great deal of stylish fun - a more comedic, gory and intense take on WWII caper films like The Dirty Dozen (which I adore, for the record).
For those of you who don't know much about Inglourious Basterds, it centres on 2 completely separate groups out for Nazi blood on the night of an important film premiere in Paris. The top German leadership - including Hitler himself - will be present at the event. Keen to collect as many Nazi scalps as possible, American Lieutenant Aldo Raine and his top secret military unit, the Basterds, team up with German double agent Bridget Von Hammersmark to infiltrate the premiere. Meanwhile, a young Jewish woman, Shosanna Dreyfus, who escaped the execution of her entire family, schemes revenge of her own.
The impressive cast of Inglourious Basterds includes Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger and a handful of Tarantino regulars who pop up in cameos. Inglourious Basterds is 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and comments from my favourite movie bloggers suggest the film is Tarantino's ballsy best since Pulp Fiction... *swoon*
Oh, and out of interest, if it matters to you, Inglourious Basterds is 2 and a half hours long.
2) Gamer - Oh dear, I was so looking forward to this Running Man-like sci-fi action flick. It comes from the directing team behind the madcap Crank movies, it has a fantastic premise - in the future humans control and "play" other humans in highly popular online war games - and it even has Dexter himself, Michael C. Hall as the villain to Gerard (300) Butler's grim hero, an unwilling gladiator. Hell, I was so keen I even blogged about Gamer before, as part of the weekly Trailer Tuesday feature.
Alas, Gamer met with much rejection, critically and commercially, when it was released in American cinemas in September. Scoring just 29% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is considered exhilarating, but otherwise sloppy, superficial and excessive. Taking itself way too seriously, it has none of the charm of the Crank movies. Once again, it's apparently a case of a film concept being far stronger than its execution. Then again, there are apparently people out there who like Gamer a lot, so perhaps it is still worth checking out... after Inglourious Basterds of course.
In terms of other movies opening today, there's the following:
Fokofpolisiekar - A feature length documentary on the controversial Afrikaans punk-rock band. I saw the trailer yesterday, and honestly I had no idea they were so (apparently) culturally significant. Then again I'm not a young Afrikaner still struggling (apparently) against Calvinist conservatism and Apartheid guilt.
Little Ashes - Arty drama about the friendship, and much more, that developed between 18 year old artist Salvador Dalà (Robert Pattinson), poet Federico GarcÃa Lorca (Javier Beltran) and filmmaker Luis Buñuel (Matthew McNulty) in tempestuous Madrid during the 1920s and 30s. Twi-hards, prepare to see your hero like never before! 23% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Aladin - Bollywood musical based on the classic fantasy adventure and Middle Eastern folk tale. This time around the magically-enhanced action takes place in a contemporary urban setting. Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt, Jacqueline Fernandez, Juhi Chawla and Sameera Reddy.
Moon - Intellectual sci-fi thriller starring Sam Rockwell as a lone astronaut overseeing a mining operation on the moon in the not too distant future. As the astronaut's 3 year contract draws to a close, isolation begins to take its toll on his mental state. Reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey apparently, and 89% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Comments
I must say that Moon looks interesting. I'd never heard about it before reading it in your post but I might look at catching it this weekend as well. Thanks for the info on it.
Its definitely worth the wait. I din't feel it was two and a half hours long.
Terrance, I'm hoping to see Inglourious Basterds tomorrow evening, after which my review will obviously appear on my blog. I hope you found it as excellent as everyone has been saying?
Suresh, glad to be of assistance when it comes to your movie viewing choices:) Thanks for reading, and thanks for your comments.
Goblin, great to hear your thoughts on Moon:) So happy to hear it's worthwhile viewing. I didn't know anything about it till this last week.