Movies releasing in SA today: Girls who Play with the Social Network
It's a bumper week for new movies releasing at South African cinemas.
For people in the mood for a laugh there are two comedies making their debut today. The Infidel is a British comedy about a Muslim (Omid Djalili) who undergoes a crisis of identity when he learns that not only was he adopted, but his birth parents are Jewish. Amusing and nonthreatening, The Infidel was very well received when it screened as part of the Durban International Film Festival earlier this year, and the film is 62% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Less highly rated is You Again, an all-star comedy that has achieved a pitiful 15% Fresh rating. Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman and Betty White star in this tale of a mother (Curtis) and daughter (Bell) who come face to face with their respective high school arch-nemeses at a family wedding. Cue cat fights, contrived revenge schemes and characters learning to be better people. Despite the enticingly talented female cast, critics are calling this film a massive, unfunny flop.
In terms of my personal new release picks of the week, first up is The Girl Who Played with Fire, the highly anticipated Swedish-language sequel to the excellent The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is based, of course, on Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium Trilogy of novels. The unlikely duo of journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and enigmatic goth hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) are both back, this time tackling a sex trafficking ring while Lisbeth is accused of a series of murders.
The Girl Who Played with Fire has a 68% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is apparently not quite as good as its predecessor, preferring to superficially skirt issues and throw undeveloped characters and caricatures at the audience. However, the movie's narrative is apparently much tighter than the first, and once again the crime thriller's chief asset is the scarily intense Rapace as Lisbeth.
If an exploration of human darkness isn't for you, well, you may find The Social Network only has mildly more positive things to say about our species. Zombieland's Jesse Eisenberg, new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and America's future Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara, star in this real-life tale of how the online phenomenon of Facebook began, and the trouble the multi-billion dollar website caused for its founders. Fight Club, Seven and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's David Fincher directs.
The Social Network is a massively impressive 97% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. That's a dangerously high score that flirts with over-hype, but if critics are to be believed, the film is a fascinating, exhilarating and exceptionally well-made masterpiece utterly relevant to our logged-in generation.
For people in the mood for a laugh there are two comedies making their debut today. The Infidel is a British comedy about a Muslim (Omid Djalili) who undergoes a crisis of identity when he learns that not only was he adopted, but his birth parents are Jewish. Amusing and nonthreatening, The Infidel was very well received when it screened as part of the Durban International Film Festival earlier this year, and the film is 62% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Less highly rated is You Again, an all-star comedy that has achieved a pitiful 15% Fresh rating. Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman and Betty White star in this tale of a mother (Curtis) and daughter (Bell) who come face to face with their respective high school arch-nemeses at a family wedding. Cue cat fights, contrived revenge schemes and characters learning to be better people. Despite the enticingly talented female cast, critics are calling this film a massive, unfunny flop.
In terms of my personal new release picks of the week, first up is The Girl Who Played with Fire, the highly anticipated Swedish-language sequel to the excellent The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is based, of course, on Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium Trilogy of novels. The unlikely duo of journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and enigmatic goth hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) are both back, this time tackling a sex trafficking ring while Lisbeth is accused of a series of murders.
The Girl Who Played with Fire has a 68% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film is apparently not quite as good as its predecessor, preferring to superficially skirt issues and throw undeveloped characters and caricatures at the audience. However, the movie's narrative is apparently much tighter than the first, and once again the crime thriller's chief asset is the scarily intense Rapace as Lisbeth.
If an exploration of human darkness isn't for you, well, you may find The Social Network only has mildly more positive things to say about our species. Zombieland's Jesse Eisenberg, new Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and America's future Lisbeth Salander, Rooney Mara, star in this real-life tale of how the online phenomenon of Facebook began, and the trouble the multi-billion dollar website caused for its founders. Fight Club, Seven and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's David Fincher directs.
The Social Network is a massively impressive 97% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. That's a dangerously high score that flirts with over-hype, but if critics are to be believed, the film is a fascinating, exhilarating and exceptionally well-made masterpiece utterly relevant to our logged-in generation.
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