Movies releasing today: Fight, flight, thrills and fiances

-
Four new films open in South Africa today, and the majority tend to be of the action thriller breed... with one romcom thrown in for good measure.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation:
Also known as Get the Gringo(!), this action film sees Mel Gibson (who also wrote and produced the movie) playing a career criminal who is captured and confined to a tough, sprawling Mexican prison. His only ally? A 10 year old boy targeted by a crime lord. Forget all the controversy about his personal life. Apparently Summer Vacation is macho Mel back doing what he does best: dishing out the bloody violence with a sense of humour intact. 81% Fresh.


Premium Rush:
Much loved man of the moment Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in this action thriller about a New York bicycle messenger whose last delivery of the day is far from routine. Suddenly he's cycling for his life, trying to dodge Michael Shannon's morally dubious cop. Premium Rush may sounds like a "Speed on a Bike", but even though its story is simplistic, this one evidently offers an exhilarating ride for audiences, with fantastic stunt work. A must-see for fans of chase films. 75% Fresh.



The Five-Year Engagement:
Jason Segel and Emily Blunt star in this romantic comedy about an engaged couple who just never seem to find time to get married. Life gets in the way time and time again, leading them to evaluate whether they should really be tying the knot in the first place. From the director of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The Five-Year Engagement didn't look at all funny in its trailer, but apparently it's a very palatable romcom - critics have praised the film for its chemistry and sweet "realness", even if it slumps in the middle. 64% Fresh.


Wolwedans in die Skemer:
The popular Afrikaans-language radio serial, TV series and Leon van Nierop novel from the 80s, makes the leap to the big screen. Rolanda Marais plays a young woman who loses her memory after a car accident, and recuperates at a remote hotel run by a secretive family. Meanwhile, an ax murderer lurks. Also with David Louw, Desire Gardner, Gerard Rudolf and Ilse Roos. No word as yet whether this moody soap opera thriller is any good.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is the rebooted Lara Croft gay? Evidence for and against...

-
Image
As some of you know, I’ve been fangirling hard over the new Tomb Raider , the first entry in the video game series since 2008, and ostensibly a reboot for the entire franchise . Taking the form of an origin story, Tomb Raider 2013 depicts the events that transformed a beautiful, if bookish, archaeology graduate into a pistol-packing adventurer with a devil-may-care attitude. We meet Lara Croft as a pretty, fairly ordinary 21 year old, brooding over her work notes, listening to her mp3 player and very much confined to the shadow of her male mentors. By the end of the game, however, she’s taken charge – she’s had to! – and, battered, bruised and bloody, she’s both a survivor and hero, right down to rescuing the princess and carrying her away in her arms. Yeah, this is probably the best point to mention that there will be some Tomb Raider 2013 spoilers in this post, so read ahead with caution. Anyway, I loved the game. Technically it’s near faultless, it looks beautiful, the ov
Read more

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Queer Icon (Part 4)

-
Image
Part 4: The mystery of Lara Croft’s sexuality “Now what’s a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?” – Larson Conway (Tomb Raider, 1996) Despite being an icon for many queer pop culture consumers, Lara Croft’s own sexual orientation remains ambiguous. Outside of the Top Cow comics and live-action films – where Lara is blatantly heterosexual, with a fondness for slightly scruffy bad boys (who keep betraying and hurting her) – the character comes across as primarily asexual. Kurtis Trent is the only male figure who even comes close to being a love interest in the game series. Lara's apparent sexual disinterest is despite the adventurer appearing very sexually attractive herself; a figure of desire with bee-stung lips, voluptuous breasts, toned stomach and impossibly long, athlete’s legs. Yet Lara is never dominated by sexual yearnings or romantic affections. She is very much in control of herself at all times. It’s worth noting, however, that over time th
Read more

Ladies I Love: Part 2 - Rhona Mitra

-
Image
Following on from the first post in this series , you may realise that I have a very definite type. Anyway, today we profile model-turned-actress Rhona Mitra . This 36 year old Briton is of English, Irish and Indian descent. You'll have seen her pop up on the big and small screen multiple over the past decade and a half, although Mitra's claim to fame is that she was the second ever model (some say first if you rule out "unofficial"  Nathalie Cook ) to play iconic video game character Lara Croft . From 1997-1998, Mitra could be found in PR material, as well as at trade shows, events and conventions as a flesh-and-blood embodiment of Tomb Raider 's kick-ass archeologist lead. There have been many official Lara Croft models over the years , but as far as I'm concerned Mitra remains the best. In my mind, of all of them, she most closely resembles the video game character in terms of facial features. Plus she comes from money and had a rebellious boarding
Read more