Movies today, SA!
Just 3 new films open in South Africa today, which is a good thing because I have yet to see either of my top 2 picks from last Friday - Inglourious Basterds and Gamer. Yup, I've been a slacker when it comes to movie-watching this week!
Anyway, seeing as tomorrow is Halloween, it's kind of inevitable that my Film of the Week is a creepy looking horror/sci-fi hybrid called Pandorum. You should know the drill by now: Two astronauts (Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster) wake from hyper-sleep to find themselves on an apparently deserted space ship with no memory of their mission or how they got there. As the 2 men explore the craft a terrifying truth becomes apparent and so begins their desperate quest for survival.
Right, so the big question is whether Pandorum is the next Event Horizon? Honestly, the film's chances aren't that bad, considering it comes from the same production team responsible for the "Resident Evil" film franchise, including Event Horizon's director Paul W. S. Anderson.
Pandorum is, however, only sitting at 28% on Rotten Tomatoes - which, although not unusual for a horror film, isn't exactly a good sign as to the film's overall quality. Then again, Event Horizon scored only 21% at its time of release, before developing a cult following. Delving a little deeper, it seems that the major criticism of Pandorum is that the film borrows/steals messily from everything from Alien to Sunshine to The Descent.
I'm still intrigued though, but then again I'm actually quite forgiving of heavily flawed sci-fi and horror as long as the films fulfills their fundamental emotional purpose and crawl under my skin.
Also opening this weekend is the quirky Woody Allen comedy Whatever Works, starring Curb Your Enthusiam's Larry David as well as Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr. David plays an eccentric, intellectual New Yorker who abandons his comfortable lifestyle for a more bohemian existence that allows him to revel in sarcasm and rants. After meeting a naive young woman (Evan Wood) fleeing her conservative family in the South, he discovers that the life of a nonconformist isn't as carefree as he thought.
Woody Allen has always been a love-him-or-hate-him filmmaker and Whatever Works seems to continue the trend. The film is currently sitting at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, having neatly divided critics in half. While some call the film funny and thought provoking (on the topic of relationships), others consider it to be contrived and offputtingly misanthropic.
Personally I'm always grossed out by the much-older-man-with-young-girl love affair that seems to preoccupy so many middle-aged filmmakers, so I think I'll give this one a miss.
If neither of these movies are to your taste, and you're somewhat religious, there's animated family film The Adventures of Toby, which consists of 3 short Christian stories for children. Made locally by Yipee! Films, the movie arm of commercial animation studio Bugbox, The Adventures of Toby deals with everyday challenges facing children, and presents solutions using imagination, adventure and a biblical perspective. Both this weekend and next weekend (7-8 November) the film will be screening for FREE at all Nu Metro cinema complexes in South Africa, at 11am and 1pm.
You also still have a week and a half to catch Michael Jackson's This Is It, which opened this Wednesday worldwide, and is a feature length documentary focused on the preparations made in early 2009 for the King of Pop's highly anticipated new concert series (the first London show was set for 13 July). Of course, Jackson died from a drug-induced heart attack in June just before his grand return to the stage, and over 10 hours of backstage footage was hastily assembled into movie form to cash in on the sudden surge of fandom. Still, people are loving the film apparently, and This Is It is 81% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finally, you can see animated family film Disney's A Christmas Carol a week before anyone else in South Africa... and the world actually. You can catch a paid preview of the film at all of Nu Metro's 3D cinemas nationwide tomorrow (Saturday) at 1pm. I've blogged before about this latest movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' festive tale - this time it's been made using performance-capture CGI-animation, and stars Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman in multiple roles.
Anyway, seeing as tomorrow is Halloween, it's kind of inevitable that my Film of the Week is a creepy looking horror/sci-fi hybrid called Pandorum. You should know the drill by now: Two astronauts (Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster) wake from hyper-sleep to find themselves on an apparently deserted space ship with no memory of their mission or how they got there. As the 2 men explore the craft a terrifying truth becomes apparent and so begins their desperate quest for survival.
Right, so the big question is whether Pandorum is the next Event Horizon? Honestly, the film's chances aren't that bad, considering it comes from the same production team responsible for the "Resident Evil" film franchise, including Event Horizon's director Paul W. S. Anderson.
Pandorum is, however, only sitting at 28% on Rotten Tomatoes - which, although not unusual for a horror film, isn't exactly a good sign as to the film's overall quality. Then again, Event Horizon scored only 21% at its time of release, before developing a cult following. Delving a little deeper, it seems that the major criticism of Pandorum is that the film borrows/steals messily from everything from Alien to Sunshine to The Descent.
I'm still intrigued though, but then again I'm actually quite forgiving of heavily flawed sci-fi and horror as long as the films fulfills their fundamental emotional purpose and crawl under my skin.
Also opening this weekend is the quirky Woody Allen comedy Whatever Works, starring Curb Your Enthusiam's Larry David as well as Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr. David plays an eccentric, intellectual New Yorker who abandons his comfortable lifestyle for a more bohemian existence that allows him to revel in sarcasm and rants. After meeting a naive young woman (Evan Wood) fleeing her conservative family in the South, he discovers that the life of a nonconformist isn't as carefree as he thought.
Woody Allen has always been a love-him-or-hate-him filmmaker and Whatever Works seems to continue the trend. The film is currently sitting at 48% on Rotten Tomatoes, having neatly divided critics in half. While some call the film funny and thought provoking (on the topic of relationships), others consider it to be contrived and offputtingly misanthropic.
Personally I'm always grossed out by the much-older-man-with-young-girl love affair that seems to preoccupy so many middle-aged filmmakers, so I think I'll give this one a miss.
If neither of these movies are to your taste, and you're somewhat religious, there's animated family film The Adventures of Toby, which consists of 3 short Christian stories for children. Made locally by Yipee! Films, the movie arm of commercial animation studio Bugbox, The Adventures of Toby deals with everyday challenges facing children, and presents solutions using imagination, adventure and a biblical perspective. Both this weekend and next weekend (7-8 November) the film will be screening for FREE at all Nu Metro cinema complexes in South Africa, at 11am and 1pm.
You also still have a week and a half to catch Michael Jackson's This Is It, which opened this Wednesday worldwide, and is a feature length documentary focused on the preparations made in early 2009 for the King of Pop's highly anticipated new concert series (the first London show was set for 13 July). Of course, Jackson died from a drug-induced heart attack in June just before his grand return to the stage, and over 10 hours of backstage footage was hastily assembled into movie form to cash in on the sudden surge of fandom. Still, people are loving the film apparently, and This Is It is 81% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Finally, you can see animated family film Disney's A Christmas Carol a week before anyone else in South Africa... and the world actually. You can catch a paid preview of the film at all of Nu Metro's 3D cinemas nationwide tomorrow (Saturday) at 1pm. I've blogged before about this latest movie adaptation of Charles Dickens' festive tale - this time it's been made using performance-capture CGI-animation, and stars Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman in multiple roles.
Comments
Emm, I think I've seen about half of an Allen film, so I'm in a similar situation. Thanks for taking the time to comment, and hope you enjoy your next cinema visit!