Invictus and more movies, SA!
Just one more week to wait until James Cameron's epic sci-fi geekfest Avatar is released, but in the meantime South Africans can amuse themselves with five new films opening locally today. My top 2 picks for the weekend are:
1) Invictus - I'm 100% sure this sports drama will claim the top spot at the South African box office this weekend, seeing as it focuses on this country's greatest moment of sporting glory: when the Springbok rugby team, despite their underdog status, went on to win the 1995 World Cup. This achievement brought together a newly democratic nation still battling to overcome decades of resentment and racial division built up during the Apartheid era.
I've profiled Invictus before as part of this blog's Trailer Tuesday feature, so you can read my in-depth thoughts on the film there. However, in summary, Invictus looks like Grade A Oscar bait. It's directed by multi-Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood, and stars Morgan Freeman as political icon Nelson Mandela - who realised the power of sport to unite a country - and Matt Damon as Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, who accepted Mandela's challenge to win the World Cup.
Invictus is currently 79% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, and reviews seem to confirm my earlier concerns that while the film is rousing, with solid performances, it never quite breaks away from conventionality to establish itself as something truly special. But we'll see. I'll certainly be watching the film, and I'm hoping some of my blog readers will weigh in with their opinion of the movie here as well.
2) Paranormal Activity - This smash hit at the American box office creeps into South Africa cinemas with a surprisingly lack of media buzz or audience interest.
Adopting the same hand-held camera/"found real footage" approach used in The Blair Witch Project, REC/Quarantine and Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity is an indie horror film that has gone on to become the most profitable movie of all time (it was made for just $15 000, and has shot past $100 million in the US alone). Starring unknowns Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, the film centres on a young couple who decide to set up cameras and record the disturbing supernatural occurrences taking place in their new home.
I'm always wary when a film is proclaimed "The scariest movie of all time," as has happened with Paranormal Activity. So despite the fact that the film is 82% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, I will be resisting the hype and entering the cinema with moderated expectations. Still though I'm a sucker for haunted house movies, and by all accounts, Paranormal Activity is an instant classic in that sub-genre.
Other films opening this weekend are:
Fifty Dead Men Walking - A crime thriller, loosely based on a true story, starring Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Ben Kingsley. A young Irish street hustler is recruited by the British police to infiltrate the IRA in the tumultuous political period of the late 1980s. 86% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.
Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year - Bollywood comedy starring Ranbir Kapoor, Shehnaz Padamsee and Gauhar Khan. After botching his academic results a graduate becomes a salesman and finds himself enamored with the world of smooth talking, hard sells and the stratospheric levels of success that can be achieved.
Couples Retreat - Comedy starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Malin Akerman. Four couples head off to a tropical island for a relationship therapy retreat only to find that the counseling portion of their holiday is far more compulsory than they thought. 12% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.
1) Invictus - I'm 100% sure this sports drama will claim the top spot at the South African box office this weekend, seeing as it focuses on this country's greatest moment of sporting glory: when the Springbok rugby team, despite their underdog status, went on to win the 1995 World Cup. This achievement brought together a newly democratic nation still battling to overcome decades of resentment and racial division built up during the Apartheid era.
I've profiled Invictus before as part of this blog's Trailer Tuesday feature, so you can read my in-depth thoughts on the film there. However, in summary, Invictus looks like Grade A Oscar bait. It's directed by multi-Academy Award winner Clint Eastwood, and stars Morgan Freeman as political icon Nelson Mandela - who realised the power of sport to unite a country - and Matt Damon as Springbok captain Francois Pienaar, who accepted Mandela's challenge to win the World Cup.
Invictus is currently 79% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, and reviews seem to confirm my earlier concerns that while the film is rousing, with solid performances, it never quite breaks away from conventionality to establish itself as something truly special. But we'll see. I'll certainly be watching the film, and I'm hoping some of my blog readers will weigh in with their opinion of the movie here as well.
2) Paranormal Activity - This smash hit at the American box office creeps into South Africa cinemas with a surprisingly lack of media buzz or audience interest.
Adopting the same hand-held camera/"found real footage" approach used in The Blair Witch Project, REC/Quarantine and Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity is an indie horror film that has gone on to become the most profitable movie of all time (it was made for just $15 000, and has shot past $100 million in the US alone). Starring unknowns Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat, the film centres on a young couple who decide to set up cameras and record the disturbing supernatural occurrences taking place in their new home.
I'm always wary when a film is proclaimed "The scariest movie of all time," as has happened with Paranormal Activity. So despite the fact that the film is 82% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes, I will be resisting the hype and entering the cinema with moderated expectations. Still though I'm a sucker for haunted house movies, and by all accounts, Paranormal Activity is an instant classic in that sub-genre.
Other films opening this weekend are:
Fifty Dead Men Walking - A crime thriller, loosely based on a true story, starring Jim Sturgess, Rose McGowan and Ben Kingsley. A young Irish street hustler is recruited by the British police to infiltrate the IRA in the tumultuous political period of the late 1980s. 86% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.
Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year - Bollywood comedy starring Ranbir Kapoor, Shehnaz Padamsee and Gauhar Khan. After botching his academic results a graduate becomes a salesman and finds himself enamored with the world of smooth talking, hard sells and the stratospheric levels of success that can be achieved.
Couples Retreat - Comedy starring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell and Malin Akerman. Four couples head off to a tropical island for a relationship therapy retreat only to find that the counseling portion of their holiday is far more compulsory than they thought. 12% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.
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