Off the screen magazine december 2013

December 2013 Your one resource for what’s happening at the South African Box Office.

www.offthescreenmagazine.com

Feel the Hunger Join us as we look at the second film in The Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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Content s Cover Story: 22 Feel the Hunger

Join us as we look at the second film in the Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

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10 Top and Bottom 10 We look at the films that made an impression this year, both good and bad, as we count the best and worst of 2013

30 Bringing an Icon to the Screen

British director Justin Chadwick talks to us about bringing one of our countries, and indeed the worlds, biggest icon to the silver screen in the new film, Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom

Reviews: Film Released November 15th 34 Captain Phillips 35 Insidious 2 36 The Bling Ring 37 As Jy Sing

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We look at one of the most anticipated films of the year, the sequel to The Hunger Games, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Released November 22nd 38 Imogene 39 Enough Said 40 Justin and Knights of Valour

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Editor Jon Broeke jon.broeke@gmail.com

Deputy Editor Annette Bayne

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annette.bayne@gmail.com

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Nu Metro, Ster Kinekor, Getty Images, UPI.com, Google Images, imdb.com

Released November 29th 41 Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 43 Before Midnight 44 Schucks! Your Country Needs You Releasing December 6th 45 Ender’s Game 46 Mud 47 Black Nativity 48 Free Birds 49 Homefront

Photo Credits

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Editors Letter

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Another year is drawing to a close and that means Christmas and New Years and us looking back at the year in movies. There have been some crackers this year, both good and bad, and we look at them both in this month’s issue. We also have an interview with Justin Chadwick, the director responsible with bringing Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom to our screens, and we get our geek on as we take a closer look at the latest instalment of The Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

We hope you all have a blessed Christmas, happy Hanukah or whatever you celebrate is wonderful and have a special New Year. We’ll see you all in 2014 for our next issue.

Join us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ offthescreenmagazine

Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor Off The Screen Magazine 7

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Top and Bottom

Its December again which means Christmas, New Years and a look back at the year in films, and what a year it was, with some of the best, and worst films that we’ve ever seen. Here, in order of release, are our top ten best films, and worst films, for 2013.

Please note that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom would be on the top list, but because we saw them this month, and there’s already so much about them in this issue, we decided to leave them off, but they are really good films.

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Les Miserable Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway tackle one of the biggest, and hardest, musicals of all time In 1800 France, Jean Valjean (Jackman) is an escaped convict who has gone through an insane amount. He was released from prison, but not being able to find work he stole, just to be caught again and pardoned by a priest (Colm Wilkinson). He makes his way to a small town and becomes mayor, but when he’s recognised as the convict he runs again, but not before taking Cosette (Isabelle Allen as a child, Amanda Seyfried as an adult), the daughter of Fantine (Hathaway), a dying prostitute who Valjean wronged into his care.

They live happily in Paris until the first of the revolutions begins and he finds him caught up in it when Cosette falls for one of the young men fighting, Marius (Eddie Redmayne).

The music, the songs, I Dreamed a Dream, Bring Him Home, Master of the House, just to name a few, make this one of the best films of the year, and one of the best filmed musicals of all time. Add to that the Oscar winning performance by Hathaway and Oscar worthy performance by Jackman and you have a sure fire winner. A fabulous film in a fabulous year.

Wreck it Ralph A new Disney character brings the video games of old back to life Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the bad guy in a video game, Fix-it Felix, but he doesn’t want to be the bad guy. He wants to be the hero and be loved, so he gets it in his head that all he needs to do is win a medal, what Felix does in the game, to get what he wants. He finds a medal in one of the other games, Call of Duty, but manages to lose it again in another game, Sugar Rush, the candy themed racing game. The medal is found by

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Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), a glitch in the game, who uses it to get into the big race.

Now if Ralph wants hi medal back he needs to help the annoying little sprite win the race. He reluctant at first, but as they continue on their quest he begins to see himself in the little girl, and maybe actually starts getting his first friend.

Disney always comes up with fabulous stories and characters for their animated features, but this is the best one I’ve seen for years, for the simple reason that it’s so original. We loved seeing the video game characters of old come back to life for this story, and Ralph and Vanellope are awesome. Add to that a really gut wrenching, touching story of personal growth and strength that we would all want our children to emulate, and it’s no wonder that this film made our top ten.

Lien se Langstaanskoene Carmen Pretorius turns to extreme measures to feed her family and try to help her mother Lien (Pretorius) tries to live a normal life, but she’s finding it really difficult. Something happened to her father, we find out at the end he’s in prison, and because of that her happy life, and that of her mother (Franci Swanepoel), and her brother (Tiaan Kelderman) was taken away. Now they live in a small flat and her mother drinks too much, leading to Lien having to care for the family, but after losing job after job she’s finding that difficult too. Just when she’s reached the end of her rope she gets a crazy idea, so after borrowing a wig and a pair of glasses from the school drama teacher, she goes on a mission, standing on the side of the road begging for money.

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We’ve seen a lot of South African films this year, some really good, and some really not, but this was one of the first that made me sit up and take notice. It’s a really good story, based on a book of the same name, and it is shot beautifully, but the thing that makes it stand out are the performances or Pretorius and Swanepoel who both shine. Swanepoel has been in the industry for years, but this is Pretorius’ first feature, and judging from her work she has the makings of one of SA’s biggest stars. That’s why it’s on our list.

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book comes to stellar life in this adaption of the classic masterpiece Nick Carraway (Toby Maguire) is a wannabe writer who moves to New York in the 20’s to experience its opulence. He rents a small cottage next to the huge mansion of mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and after a chance meeting the two become friends, but Gatsby has an ulterior motive for becoming friends. He knew Carraway’s cousin, Daisy (Carrey Mulligan), who now lives across the lake from his own home, years ago and the two had a crazy love affair. Now he’s back to win her away from her philandering husband (Joel Edgarton), but things don’t go as planned as things end up about as tragically as they can.

This is not the first film based on the novel, and some might even say not the best film, but it is the only one directed by Australian director Baz Luhrmann. He effortlessly weaves the opulence and insanity that was 1920’s America, from the have-lots to the have-nots, the film is crafted in such a way that you don’t even need to hear what’s happening on the screen to get the story. The visuals are just that striking. That’s the reason this film is on our top ten list. It is so visually striking it needs to be there.

Star Trek: Into Darkness June The crew of the Starship Enterprise faces off with their most dangerous adversary ever When a Starfleet library in London is bombed killing several people, and then the Starfleet Admiralty is attacked, resulting in the death of Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood), Kirk’s (Chris Pine) old commander and friend, Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise, including Spock (Zachary Quinto) are given a very specific mission by Admiral Marcus (Peter Weller), travel to Kronos, the Klingon home world, and risk a war, to track down the man responsible, a Starfleet spy John Harrison (Benedict Cumberpatch), and kill him. This mission doesn’t sit well with the crew, but they follow orders, until they reach Kronos and then the truth about their adversary comes to life and things get far more dangerous than they could have imagined.

This film makes it to our top ten because it looks to the past. It leads the Star Trek universe into a bright future by looking too its past films for inspiration, and it does it so very well. There are aspects from several of the past films as well as a bad guy that comes straight out of the Starfleet archives and makes a name for himself again. The acting is great, giving these loved character new life, and the effects are truly out of this world. This is a film all Trekkies are proud of, I’m sure.

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Man of Steel The world’s favourite superhero flies back onto our screens, but never as we’ve seen him before The planet of Krypton is dying, and not even the efforts of Jor-El (Russell Crowe), the planets lead scientist, can save it, so he sends his only son Kal-El (Henry Cavill), to Earth to survive the devastation, and with him he send the genetic blue print of all Kryptonians, the Codex, but at the same moment General Zod (Michael Shannon) tries to over throw the ruling council and take the Codex for himself. He is defeated, but only long enough for the planet to die. Years later Kal, now known as Clark having been raised by humans, lives a hermit like existence, hiding what he is and looking for answers. He finds them in an ancient Kryptonian ship, along with Lois Lane (Amy Adams) a journalist investigating the ship, but as soon as his questions are answered, Zod finds his way to Earth, looking for the man and the Codex.

It’s been another rich year for superhero movies seeing Iron Man 3, The Wolverine and Thor: The Dark World all hitting cinemas in the last twelve months, and each and every one of them are great, but we chose this one for our top ten because a few things that put it apart from the others. Firstly, it’s not a sequel, while the others are. Secondly, it is such a different look at Superman, a very different take on the hero that pretty much started it all. Some loved the new look, but some hated it. We loved it, and so it’s on our list. Lastly, we chose it because of what it stands for, DC’s latest venture into the superhero film industry that has been controlled by Marvel for the last few years. This film is the first, but we already have set dates for Superman vs.

Batman and the Justice League film. Very exciting, and when we look back we’ll say Man of Steel started it, so it gets its place.

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Song for Marion Experienced actors Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp shine through in this heart breaker Arthur (Stamp) is a miserable old fart. He doesn’t talk to his son, he’s rude to the neighbours and everyone he meets, but he’s madly in love with his wife of many years, Marion (Redgrave), so when they discover that she’s dying of cancer his life begins to unravel. To keep the dam water at bay he tries to stop her taking part in her favourite thing, her choir practise, run by Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton), but she refuses, even convincing him to accompany her and attend when she can’t, but after her death he doesn’t know what to do, until he starts going back to the choir and maybe sees a way to survive the unsurvivable.

This is the sweetest, saddest film that we saw this year, but it is just so beautiful that we almost burst into tears again just thinking about it. The sincerity with which Stamp, Redgrave, Arterton and Christopher Eccleston, who plays Arthur’s estranged son, approach their characters and the story makes this a real tear jerker and a definite for our top ten.

Elysium September Matt Damon takes on Sharlto Copely and a corrupt future in South African director Neil Blomkamp’s latest film In the future the rich have moved off world to a space station called Elysium, while the rest Off The Screen Magazine

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___________________________________________________________________________ of us while away in poverty on Earth. Living on Earth is Max (Damon) who is just trying to get through the day when he’s exposed to a lethal level of radiation. He knows the only way to save himself is to get to Elysium, to their radically advanced medical systems, but no one from Earth can get to Elysium. He makes a deal with a smuggler (Wagner Moura) to get to Elysium, but it involves stealing something valuable, problem is the thing is really valuable to the Elysium Secretary of Defence (Jodie Foster) and she will stop at nothing to get it back, even sending a psychotic mercenary, Kruger (Copely) after Max. This film is fast and exciting and a fabulous as a follow up to District 9, Blomkamp’s last film.

The effects are great, especially Elysium itself, and the performances by Foster and Damon are good, but Copely is wonderful. He’s menacing and completely off his rocker, and South African, and that’s why it gets on our top ten list.

Nothing for Mahala Thapelo Mokeona proves that the best things are indeed free in this funny South African comedy Axe (Mokoena) is one of those guys who’s only interested in money and what he can make, but his life is turned upside down when he’s sentenced to community service at Autumn Hills retirement home for DUI. He figures he can just get through the sentence without much effort, not even telling his boss, (Jamie Bartlett) about it, but Reneilwe (Mmabatho Montsho), the manager at the

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home, and Hendrik (Marius Weyers) one of the more wilful retirees, have other plans. She puts Axe in charge of the retiree to keep him busy and the old man drags him all over the place, but as they get to know each other Axe realises that he could be looking at his future, and he begins to think things might need to change.

This is one of the best South African films of the year. It’s sweet, well plotted and the performances, especially by Mokoena and Weyers are heartfelt, honest and completely natural. Bartlett is vicious and malevolent as a man who only thinks about the bottom line, while Shoki Mokgapa who plays Axe’s rival at work, Pule, is right up there with him. The elderly at the home, including Lillian Dube and June van Merch, are wonderful and Casper de Vries’ cameo as a hip hop gangster is really funny. This is good film making, South African or otherwise, and that’s why it deserves its place on this list.

About Time A time travelling movie with a lot of heart On Tim’s (Domhnall Gleeson) 21st birthday his father shares a secret with him, the male members of his family can travel back in time, within their own bodies, to make changes in their past. At first Tim doesn’t believe him, but after trying it, and discovering its true, Tim tries to use his gift to get the one thing he really wants, a girlfriend, but after hitting and missing a few times he begins to think that maybe it’s just not meant to be. Then he meets Mary (Rachel McAdams) and everything changes for him. The two hit it off straight away, but without meaning to Tim erases the whole thing helping a friend. When Off The Screen Magazine

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___________________________________________________________________________ he manages to find her again he does whatever he needs to too make sure they end up together, and then the real magic begins as they start their lives together.

This is one of the most romantic, perfect date movies we saw all year. It’s sweet and full of

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heart and shows the kind of love and relationship the rest of us spend our entire lives looking for. If you are in a relationship, or want to be in one, see this film and see what it could be like, and also how complicated things are when you can travel in time.

And, of course, with the good comes the bad, and here is that bad from the last year. Here are our ten worst films for 2013, in order of release.

Bel Ami Poor Robert Pattinson should have stuck to biting people Fresh to Paris from the war, George Duroy (Pattinson) tries to understand the way the city works, but he soon realises that the men that he thought ran the city actually don’t. It’s their wives who control them. He realises that to get anywhere in the hustle, bustle world of Paris he will have to get the woman on his side, and he does that by seducing three of them, Madeleine Forestier (Uma Thurman) and Virginie Rousset (Kristin Scott Thomas), both wives of men who run one of the most influential newspapers in Paris, and Clotilde de Marelle (Christina Ricci), an acquaintance of the others, but when he falls for Clotilde things go from bad to worse, especially since she’s already married and has no intentions of leaving her husband.

We all liked Pattinson so much in the Twilight series, but in this one he just falls down terribly, but not just him, actors of the calibre of Thurman, Scott Thomas and Ricci all have so much to offer, but they were all wasted in this film. The characters aren’t developed the story is shoddy and the production is annoying with the extreme close ups and annoying directing. Pattinson’s constipated looks get really old after a while, and such an annoyance, especially because we all love him so much. A real waste, and why it’s on this list.

Movie 43 It should have stayed lost on the internet Stoner Calvin (Mark L. Young) and his friend,

J.J (Adam Cagley), decide to get back at his younger, techno-wizz, brother, Baxter (Devin Eash) after he pranks them again, but being stoners they don’t exactly come up with agenius plan, they decide to watch porn on the boys computer to give it a virus and crash it, but how can they get the boy away from his prized computer? They decide to trick him into searching for a video so gross and disgusting that it has been deemed illegal everywhere, the movie is Movie 43, and Baxter needs to help them find it. So they begin the search through a bunch of short films, each more disgusting and repulsive then the last, searching for the film.

There are no redeeming features about this film. It is most disgusting, crass, rude piece of s**t that I have ever had the misfortune to watch. That fact, added to that fact that it stars some of Hollywood’s biggest stars including Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry and Chloe Moretz, and the whole thing is a head scratcher as to why. Avoid at all costs, hence being on the bottom list.

Sleepers Wake SA thriller that completely missed the mark John (Lionel Newton) meets teenage Jackie (Jay Anstey) in the middle of nowhere when he moves there to escape the memory of his dead wife and child. She, her father (Deon Lotz) and her brother (Luke Tyler) are running from the death of her mother. The two take comfort in each other’s arms, even though there is a huge age difference, but when her father finds out Off The Screen Magazine

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We were quite excited about an English language South African film, for a change, but this one, unfortunately, didn’t pan out. The scripting was horrific, the directing was shoddy at best, and while we’re big fans of Anstey, Newton and Lotz, their performances leave a lot to be desired. This was just a step in the wrong direction for SA films, and that’s why it’s on this list and not the former one.

10 Years The reunion that we all wished we’d missed 10 years after they graduated a bunch of friends head back to school for their reunion. There’s the singer (Oscar Isaac) who made good and is now a big star, trying to avoid all the exschoolmates who are now fans. The bully (Chris Pratt) who got married and is trying to use the night as a reason to apologise to all the people he used to pick on at school, the problem is he’s getting more and more drunk and making things far worse. Then there’s the guy (Channing Tatum) who lost his love (Rosario Dawson) at school and hopes to reconnect with her, problem is that she’s now married, and he’s there with his steady girlfriend (Jenna Dewan-Tatum). As the night progresses they all have their moments and either fly or fall on their faces.

Considering the cast in this film, Tatum, Dewan-Tatum, his wife, Pratt, Isaac, just to name a few, it should abe a much better film, but it’s basically the cast making asses of themselves and looking like idiots the whole way through. There’s nothing much to the story, the characters or anything that makes us care about this film at all. It just highlights why none of us wanted to go to our high school reunions. Of course we all went, but that’s another story, as for this it earns it’s place on this list.

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A Lucky Man A gangster with a message. Kind of Ernie Solomon (Levi Du Plooy as a child, Jared Geduld as a teenager and Keenan Arrison as an adult) is a guy trying to find himself on the Cape Flats, but to do so he turns to gangsterism. Of course this doesn’t work, so he decides the place to find himself would be prison, but first he needs to have revenge on the people who set him up to there, namely two other gangsters, and his own cousin.

Confused? So were we. This film is just a huge mess. It jumps backwards and forwards with no real cohesion, the acting is messy and amateurish and the directing is like a second year film student. We understood the point, or at least what they wanted to point to be, but they completely missed it, and instead turned it into a film that made this list.

Die 100 Metre Leeuloop Run for your life.

Enough said When Manie Mol’s (Robbie Wessels) mother sees an advert for a competition in the paper Manie thinks this could be his big chance to become rich and famous. The competition is Die Leeuloop, and basically he has to run, dance and sing his way, all at the same time, 100 metres to win, but he has stiff competition, not to mention an underhanded Indian man who’s trying to fix the race, and presenters Gazi and Dopi, who seem to be helping him.

When we first heard about this film we assumed that it had some connection to Wessels song of the same name, and the fact that it starred the man, we were sure, but it doesn’t. Instead it’s 90 minutes of pointless embarrassment for the South African cinema community. The jokes are silly and not funny, Off The Screen Magazine

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___________________________________________________________________________ the concept is completely ridiculous, and the acting is what you expect after the alst two comments, shocking. A pity because Wessels is a great guy and an artist, but you can’t tell it with this rubbish, which is why it’s on this list, and if we had a worst of the worst of list it would be on that one too.

Blitz Patrolie This one should be arrested for making us all look bad. In Cannes no less When officers Rummy Augustine (Joey Rasdien) and Ace Dikolobe (David Kau) stumble onto a house full of cocaine they think it’ll be the biggest bust of their lives, but when all the evidence is stolen on the way to the evidence hold they need to let the bad guy, Ellerine Naidoo (Santhiran Moonsamy), go. Looking like idiots Ace and Rummy think the whole thing is over, but with the drugs missing and Ellerine, along with his brothers Jerry (Quentin Krog) and Deshi (Kaseran Pillay), looking for them, Ace and Rummy find themselves caught between Indian gangsters, a brick throwing Apartheid terrorist and a corrupt politician.

We were really excited about this film, especially after seeing Material last year and loving Rasdien in it, but we were sadly disappointed. The story is shameful and just badly written, the acting is ridiculous and poor and the jokes aren’t funny, they’re just stupid.

The only redeeming feature of the film is the cinematography, which is actually nice, but even that couldn’t keep it off this list.

Shameful that it represented us in Cannes as well. NFVF, why?

Killer Joe Way, way, way, way, too much When Chris (Emile Hirsch) and his dad (Thomas Haden Church) come up with a plan to kill his overbearing, alcoholic, abusive mother for the

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insurance money, they just need one thing, someone to actually carry out the deed. They approach Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a Dallas police officer who moonlights as an assassin, to do it, but they don’t have the $25 000 to pay him. Quick thinkers they make him a deal to pay him after they get the insurance. He’s not keen at first, but then he meets Chris’ sister, Dotty (Juno Temple), and makes them an offer, he’ll do it if he can have Dotty to do with as he pleases. The two men make the deal, but very soon begin to regret it.

This film is based on a play and should be good, Hirsch, McConaughey, Gina Gershon as the mother, Temple and Haden Church are all good actors, but the director had other ideas.

Instead of letting them act he decided to creep and gross out the audience so much that they’d forget there were even actors in the film, and that’s just what he did. The film goes way overboard with the gratuitous sex and violence that it virtually turned my stomach. Really the kind of film that is best kept for darkened German creep cinemas, not for family outings, way too much.

Killing Them Softly An art film take on gangster culture that doesn’t fit into either world When a mob run card game is hit by three masked men, assassin Jackie (Brad Pitt) is sent to find out who they are and deal with them. He starts by questioning Markie (Ray Liotta) who knocked over the game himself a few years prior, but who was forgiven for his transgressions, but Jackie figures out he’s not involved. Things get complicated when Jackie finds the guys, but knows one of them. He can’t kill someone he knows so he brings in Mickey (James Gandolfini) to do it, but that leads to more complications. It’s just complicated all over.

We weren’t sure what to make of this film. It comes off as an art directors take on a gangster film, with way too many extreme closeups and slow-mo shots. Basically it’s just boring. The story is silly and there’s all this Off The Screen Magazine

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___________________________________________________________________________ dialogue that means nothing, not to mention the speeches by Barrack Obama, trying to get elected the first time, happening behind the action like all the time, which had us all scratching our heads. I’m sure the director had a plan, but it completely evaded us, hence it’s on this list.

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which is a real pity, because without those scenes it could be on the other list. We really want to smack this director for focusing on the wrong thing where this film is concerned.

Film making s about telling a story, not making the audience feel so uncomfortable that they leave the theatre, someone needs to remind the director of that fact, which is why we’re putting it on this list.

The Paperboy Another McConaughey film that left us feeling uneasy. Why Matthew, Why? Ward Jansen (McConaughey) returns to his small southern hometown with his writing partner (David Oyelowo) to investigate the incarceration of Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack) for the murder of the local sheriff.

They hire Ward’s younger brother, Jack (Zack Efron), to drive them, and work with Charlotte Bless (Nicole Kidman), a woman who says she’s in love with Van Wetter and got Ward there in the first place, but as they start looking into the case they realise that things aren’t what they seem to be, but how do you put the genie back in the bottle once you’ve let him out?

We went to this film expecting to see a John Grisham-esque legal drama, but instead got stuck with another Killer Joe. It’s gross and creepy and nasty, but only in certain scenes,

Carmen Pretorius in Lien se Langstaanskoene

And there you have it, our best and worst of the last year. There were some highs and lows, and some really lows. Let’s see what the New Year has in store for us and hope the best we watched this year is the worst of next.

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Feel the Hunger This month sees the release of the second film in The Hunger Games series, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Katniss and Peeta are back in the arena, but this time they’re not facing scared children, they’re facing seasoned killers, and to make matters worse President Snow might kill their families if they come back alive.

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The Story: It’s the day the victory tour begins and Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is just trying to survive the madness that her life has become since winning the Hunger Games. She now lives in Victory Village in District 12, with her mother (Paula Malcomson) and sister, Primrose

(Willow Shields), and down the road from Haymitch (woody Harrelson) and Peeta’s (Josh Hutcherson) houses. Things get far worse when she gets a visit from President Snow (Donald Sutherland)telling her she needs to convince the world that she is madly in love with Peeta, something that she is not, and that her act at the end of the Hunger Games was because of that love, and not in defiance of the Capitol. Her act is causing uprisings, and she needs to stop them or he’ll kill her friends and family. Katniss and Peeta head off on the Victory Tour, travelling through the different districts paying tribute to the fallen tributes, but at the end of the tour Snow is still not convinced, and Katniss knows it. She makes a plan to run away into the woods, but Gayle (Liam Hemsworth) won’t leave, preferring to fight against the Capitol. Katniss doesn’t know

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what to do, should she run or should she stay and fight? Then there’s a special announcement, the tributes who will take part in the 75th Hunger Games, the special quarter quell, will be victors from the past.

Namely, Katniss and Peeta.

The Verdict: The sequel to the hugely successful novel adaption The Hunger Games, has a lot to live up too, and, I’m thankful to say, it completely does that. This is the one of the best novel adaptions I’ve seen. All the things that I loved when reading the book are found in the film. All the angst, the heart ache, the stress that Katniss and Peeta are feeling, the fear and anguish it’s all here in such a beautiful and real way it really is an amazing film. They’ve included the individual sessions where Katniss and Peeta both do effigies of past characters, Peeta of Rue and Katniss of Seneca Crane, beautifully executed in this film. The mockingjays are there, the

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Mist, the baboons, and, of course the lightning tree, all combine to make one of the most effective book adaptions I’ve seen. I will say that I did find the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gayle missing for a large section of the film. It seems that she’s made her decision, that she wants to be with Gayle, but the situation is stopping her, whereas in the book she’s a little more ambiguous about it. Not sure if she wants Peeta or Gayle. The conflict does rise when she gets into the games again, but in District 12 she seems to have made up her mind.

Other than that the film is virtually perfect. The performances are even better than they were in the first film.

Lawrence is such a great actor that she can convey an entire emotion or thought by a single look, and she uses this ability so well to just break your heart. The emotional scenes in District 11 and when Peeta dies in the games are amazing and really give you Goosebumps and tears in your eyes. Harrelson gives Haymitch a whole new level in this film, further sculpting his emotional backstory, and we get far more from Elizabeth Banks as

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Effie Trinket. In the first film she just flitted around as a preened, peacock like distraction, but in this film she really has some emotion, feeling what’s happened to Katniss and Peeta as much as they are feeling themselves. This leads to some really wonderful scenes that Banks really does beautifully. Sutherland is scary and manipulative as Snow, blood falling from his lips and all, Lenny Kravitz is strong and defiant as Cinna, when he’s taken away it really does break your heart, and Stanley Tucci is slimy and has a way too big smile again as talk show host Caesar Flickerman.

The new actors, especialy Philip Seymour Hoffman as Pluttarch Heavensbee, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee, Sam Clafin as Finnick, Lynn Cohen as Mags and Jena Malone as Johanna all give wonderful performances, holding their own against the Oscar winner Lawrence. Check out our magazine in December for a full breakdown of the new characters in the film.

This is wonderful film. If you loved the first one, then you’ll love this one, if you didn’t see the first one then this one will get you hooked.

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New Characters:

Pluttarch Heavensbee played

by Phillip Seymour Hoffman

Pluttarch is the new game maker, the job done by Seneca Crane, played by Wes Bentley in The Hunger Games.

Pluttarch seems to be on Snow’s side, but there is more to the man than meets the eye, something that we discover at the end of the The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and continues in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 1 and 2.

Seymour Hoffman uses his amazing acting ability to bring this character to life. He has depth and mystery, and even though you don’t like him very much, you think he’s out to kill Katniss, there’s something about him, especially thanks to an interaction between him and Katniss at the Capital Ball that makes you think, maybe… Just maybe…

Johanna Mason played by Jena Malone Johanna is one of the most dangerous, and most beautiful of the new tributes battling against Katniss and Peeta in the new games.

She’s insane, a fierce oppose of the Capitol, even though she works for them, and extremely dangerous with his axes. Katniss feels she’s her biggest threat, not only in the games, but maybe for Peeta’s affection too, especially when she proceeds to undress in front of her, Haymitch and Peeta in the lift after the parade. Malone brings Johanna to life beautifully. She’s insanely confident and not at all bashful, but also dangerous and cocky.

Feature Review

She brings out the conflict that Johanna feels, having killed to survive, only to be thrown back into the games. She’s angry and she’s upset and she sides with Katniss to fight back against the Capitol, even though her loyalty isn’t all that apparent.

Finnick Odair played by Sam Clafin Finnick is a champion of the games who is an inflated peacock of a man, but also a very dangerous competitor. He is loved by the people of the Capitol, more because of his good looks than anything else. He is the first of the new tributes to approach Katniss, and immediately the two get off on the wrong foot, but even so, he becomes one of their greatest allies in the arena, mostly because of Katniss’ friendship with another tribute, Mags, played by Lynn Cohen, an older tribute and Finnick’s mentor the year he entered the games. She also volunteered for Annie, another tribute from District 7, to be in the games with the others. Claflin was one of the first actors to be named for the second film in the series, and Finnick was one of the most anticipated new characters to come from the book. He does a fabulous job playing the man child. At first Finnick is cocky, arrogant and a real threat to Katniss and Peeta, but as soon as the games start he is their greatest ally.

Claflin shows Finnick’s fine line between his survival instinct, his fear for those he loves, namely Annie, and his want to do the right thing, even if that means his own death. His portrayal of Finnick just after Mags’ death, Off The Screen Magazine

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Feature Review

and also hearing the Mockingjays, is wonderful, and really breaks your heart.

Beetee played by Jeffrey Wright Another of the tributes battling in the arena, Beetee, from District 3, along with Wiress, played by Amanda Plummer, used his brain to survive his Hunger Game, electrocuting six of the tributes at one time. Since surviving he’s been working for the Capitol, creating things. Katniss likes him and Wiress as soon as she meets them on the first day of training. She feels they are passive, and that she can trust them.

They are the first of the tributes that Katniss wants to join forces with in the games, but neither of them are all there, especially Wiress, their intellect mixing with their post-traumatic stress from being in the games making them unpredictable, but good at heart. Both Wright and Plummer are such accomplished actors that they breathe life into these two very important characters like no one else could have. They are smart, a little condescending at times, and somewhat mentally confused at times, but deep down they are good people, and Wright and Plummer show all these aspects with realism and sincerity.

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Bringing an Icon to the Screen

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Justin Chadwick with Naomie Harris who plays Winnie Madikizela in the film

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This month sees the father of our nation, the one and only Nelson Mandela coming to our screens in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Jon Broeke sat down with director Justin Chadwick to chat about the film, the man and the inspiration he was to all of us, all over the world.

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his sees a film hit our big screen one hundred years in the making. The film tells a tale that has defined us as a nation and as a people ever since Apartheid was created up until the day one of the greatest men to ever walk this Earth took power over our country and strove to make it a great place. Of course the person I’m talking about is Madiba Nelson Mandela, and the film is Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

The film, based on the book of the same name written by Mandela himself, tells the story from his birth in rural South Africa to his moving to Johannesburg to become a lawyer, to his joining the ANC in their struggle against the Apartheid regime, to his arrest and incarceration on Robben Island for 28 years, to his final victory and his appointment as president of South Africa.

British director Justin Chadwick, previously in Africa to make The First Grader, graciously sat down with a group of journalists at 54 on Bath recently to answer some questions about the film, and I was one of those journalists. After sitting and waiting for him to finish a photo shoot, the first question I wanted to ask was why he would tackle something as huge as The Long Walk to Freedom.

“That’s what I kept asking Anant Singh,” he jokes about the producer of the film. “We just made this tiny little film about education in Kenya, which was great, so when he said he’d been thinking about Freedom for many years, I daren’t think how many, I immediately asked who you even think about turning that into a cinematic experience. So I was a bit resistant at first.”

Singh was also the producer on The First Grader, and it was while that film was being released that he put into motion his plan to convince Chadwick to get involved with Long Walk.

“When [The First Grader] was opening in South Africa I came here and, unbeknownst to me, [Anant] had invited a lot of the comrades and the [Mandela] family to that night, so they were all there. I went out with them afterwards and then I stayed here and I started to meet people who had been part of the struggle and the [Mandela] family, and I thought there could be way in. Because of the relationships that had been formed over the many years since this project had been talked about there was a way in to make this project personal, to be a film about the man, flaws and all. About the father, the husband, the man behind the iconic politician that we know, and that felt to me if that was the through line of the story then, maybe, it could be possible. Have the backdrop of the film to be 100 year history that Mandela’s life Off The Screen Magazine

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represents, but mainly the through line would be a love story, a story about family, a story about the cost to that family and the personal side of it.”

And that’s exactly what the film turns out to be, a story about a man struggling against impossible odds, and not about the struggle and the events themselves. It is an amazing feat. The premiere for the film took place the night before the interview and Chadwick had mixed feelings about sitting in the cinema while the film played.

“I was very fortunate,” he says. “That I was able to talk to a lot of people, on both sides of the struggle, who could give me an insight, and I have to say it really resonated last night when I was watching the film, because a lot of the stories that I had heard, those men and woman which were put in the movie, those men and women were there last night watching it. It was very emotional.”

Among those watching was Zindzi Mandela, Mandela’s daughter with Winnie Madikizela. There was one particular scene in

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the film when Winnie has been taken by the police and Zindzi, about 12 years old at the time, and her sister are eating whatever they can find, without their mother there. It was a very emotional scene for Chadwick.

“Zindzi had told me herself about being left alone in the house when [Winnie] was taken off,” he tells me. “She told me about what her and her sister were making, and how they were trying to feed themselves.

I got this real experience when I was with my family watching their family in the same room watching the screen it was emotional, really emotional. Humbling.”

The film is expected to do very well in South Africa, already having broken opening day records, and it has done well overseas already, getting special screening at the White House, among other places. Now there’s Oscar buzz around the title as well, but Chadwick is not taken in by that.

“It scares me that kind of talk,” he laughs. “Because at the end that’s not why you make it. It’s lovely to have the trophies and the trinkets, really super, but that’s not why we made it, and you know that. This film is an independent South African movie, I’m, hopefully, an honorary South African, but none of us made it for that. The film, most importantly, was a South African story, an independent movie in an industry that is so dominated by blockbusters and American product. This is an independent story, financed out of South Africa. Naomie [Harris], Idris [Elba], and I are honorary South Africans in this. It was made by thousands of South Africans, who made it possible, financed out of there to stand up against the studio films. I love the Hollywood films, but when you go to the multiplexes you want South African content to see. You want South African stories, and there are thousands of South African stories to tell.”

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set out to do, but he also learnt a lot from his time working on something about such an inspirational man. He tells us what he’s learnt from the story, and what he hopes the rest of the world will take away from it as well.

“You can live your life by Mandela,” he says.

“By what he said about family, what he said about friendship, children, your enemy, how to deal with life, keeping yourself physically fit, here’s a man who boxed as a young man, and then when he went to prison trained every day.

You see him when he comes out of prison, in his seventies, how he’s there.

He’s ready, mentally prepared. I asked the production company to put a quote from Mandela on the call sheet every day for the cast and crew to be inspired.”

And this film should inspire us all to make this country as great as the great man saw it to be in his dreams. I think we owe it to him, don’t you? Go and see Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom in cinemas right now and be inspired.

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Film Review: Released November 15

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Captain Phillips 9/10 Starring Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi and Barkhad Abdirahman Directed by Paul Greengrass

The Story: Based on the true story of Captain Richard Phillips, Captain Phillips (Tom Hanks) is the captain of a transport ship carrying, among other things, aid to war torn Somalia, when the ship is set upon by pirates.

The captain and his men manage to fend tem off for a while, but they are insistent and manage to get on board. Phillips follows procedures and after an intense standoff, the men on the boat gets the upper hand and manage to get the pirates to leave the ship, but before they do they grab the captain and take him hostage on a small, orange lifeboat from the ship. So what was a pirate situation turns into a hostage situation, with three desperate pirates on one side and the entire American Navy on the other, adamant that these men will not get the captain onto Somali soil.

he actually was in real life. I don’t know if that’s true or not, I wasn’t there, but I can say that for the film, it works. Phillips is an interesting character, not exactly loved by his men, who think he’s a little too stuck to the rules, but they do respect him. When the pirates attack he is command, thinking of his men first, with little concern for himself.

Hanks does a great job of showing the man for what he is, a man. He’s in an insane situation and Hanks portrays the anguish and fear and stubborn resilience that the captain would have had to have to survive, beautifully. He’s flawed and real and absolutely wonderful. A truly Oscar worthy performance. The other stand out is Barkhad Abdi as Muse, the leader of the pirates. A young man with no aspirations to become an actor who was working as a chauffeur when he was offered the role, does a wonderful job portraying a man who isn’t evil, but stuck in a no win situation, almost as stuck as the captain himself. With no real work the men turn to piracy to survive, but the piracy is controlled by bosses who treat these men worse than they treat their victims. Abdi portrays this hopelessness perfectly and really makes the character sympathetic. The film has excitement and action and explosions and everything you could want from this type of film. One I would suggest to anyone that asks.

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Film Review: Released November 15

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Insidious 2 (not rated) Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Barbara Hershey Directed by James Wan

The Story: The famed horror team of

Simpkins in Insidious: Chapter 2, the terrifying sequel to the acclaimed horror film, which follows the haunted Lambert family as they seek to uncover the mysterious childhood secret that has left them dangerously connected to the spirit world.

director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell reunite with the original cast of Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Barbara Hershey and Ty

this one, but if you loved the first Insidious, or The Conjuring, also directed by James Wan, then this is a must for you.

The Verdict: Unfortunately we missed

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Film Review: Released November 15

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The Bling Ring 7/10 Starring Emma Watson, Katie Chang and Israel Broussard Directed by Sophia Coppola

The Story: Inspired by true events accounted in a news article, about a group of teens, Marc (Israel Broussard), Nicki (Emma Watson), Chloe (Claire Julien), Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Rebecca (Katie Chung) who broke into the houses of some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. The kids are consumed with the celebrity lifestyle, attending the same clubs as the celebs and seeing them all around, but not being part of the group. They decide to break into the celebrities houses when they’re not home, and take things like jewellery and clothes and shoes, not to sell, even though they do that, but rather to keep and make themselves feel like they belong to that world.

Of course the inevitable happens and they get caught, turning their lives upside down.

The Verdict: This is a great study of the youth of our world. They seem to be enthralled by the lives of a few celebrities, such as the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus, for example, that they would do anything to be part of that world, even illegal things. It’s a fascinating look at this wannabe lifestyle. Each and every kid plays their roles well, Broussard as a closet gay boy trying to be three different people at once, the good guy which he really is, the boys-boy who his parents want him to be, and the borderline kleptomaniac that Rebecca wants him to be. He walks the fine line well, not falling at any time. Chung carries her insanity well. The one of the group that really comes across as an actual sociopath, she worries and enthrals the audience all at the same time.

The real of the star is Watson. She is so far off what we’ve seen her play before, a real ditsy, borderline nympho, with hardly any morals who just wants to get her way. She does it beautifully and the monologues that she gives, eing interviewed towards the end of the film, are some of the best scenes in the entire film. If you’ve liked Coppola’s work before you’ll enjoy this film. It’s an interesting watch.

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Film Review: Released November 15

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As Jy Sing 5/10 Starring Bobby van Jaarsveld, Leah and Bok van Blerk Directed by André Odendaal

The Story: Mr Conradie (Bobby van Jaarsveld) is the music teacher at a school where sport is held tantamount above everything else, but even so he tries to give his singing team, like a Glee club, the best opportunities, including competing in a big competition. So on the last day of school he rounds them up, including Marna (Franja Du Plessis), Morne (Georic Lomas) and the principal’s daughter Liesel-Lee (Chanell Van Den Bergh), and sets off to a rehearsal camp to prepare for the big competition, but the principal of the school (Robbie Wessels), has other plans and the team end up at a boot camp run by an insane military man (Bok van Blerk).

The Verdict: Another in the line of Afrikaans musicals As Jy Sing just doesn’t hit the right note. There’s a lot wrong with this film. Firstly, there’s a lot to be desired about the plot. It comes off as a mediocre imitation of Glee, but with neither the intricacies nor social messages that makes Glee such a successful show. The characters are about as two dimensional as they could be without having any real soul, in any of them. Even the ones that the writers tried to develop don’t develop enough to become fully fledged characters.

Instead they seem

to become caricatures of what we expect them to be, and not even good ones at that. I will say that some of the music is really good.

Eendag as Ons Groot Is is a wonderful that I’ve heard on the radio a few times and really like, as well as a couple of the songs. Some of the music was written by one of the Coleske brothers and I love their music, but some of the songs seem out of place, and rather silly, not fitting in the rest of the film. I will say though, that eve on those songs, the singers are great. There is a reason that Bobby van Jaarsveld, Karlien van Jaarsveld and Bok van Blerk are as popular as they are, because they are really talented, but that talent is wasted in this film, which is a pity because there really could be something here if they’d just worked it a bit more.

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Film Review: Released November 22

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Imogene 5/10 Starring Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening and Matt Dillon Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini

The Verdict: This is one of those best

The Story: Imogene (Kristen Wiig) was one of the most promising up and coming playwrights, in New York, when she was younger, but her career hasn’t gone anywhere since moving to the big city. She just works at a magazine and dream of the good old days, pretending to fit in with her uber-rich friends.

Things come to head for her, though, when her boyfriend dumps her, and her life begins falling apart. After faking a suicide in hopes of getting her boyfriend back she ends up being placed under the care of her estranged mother (Annette Bening), and being forced to stay at her house, along with her brother, Ralph (Christopher Fitzgerald), the theatre performer who now rents her room, Lee (Darren Criss), and her mother’s new boyfriend, The Bousche (Matt Dillon), who, supposedly, is in the CIA. Imogene doesn’t even try to fit in back home as she, in a delusional haze, waits for her boyfriend to take her back, and her life to go back to normal, but then she discovers that her father, who she thought was dead, is in fact alive and everything she thought she knew and understood comes crashing down.

forgotten comedies. The entire thing doesn’t have any backbone, moving from one mediocre scene to the next without any real point or focus. I think the film makers thought if they put someone as funny as Wiig in a film it will, inherently, be funny, but without actually funny, scripted scenes, there’s nothing for her to work with, and even she can’t work miracles. The funniest part is the twist at the end, which caught everyone by surprise and had us rolling in the aisles, but to sit through 80 minutes just for one funny twist is a little torturous for me to suggest to anyone.

This is not the worst film I’ve ever seen, but also not the worst. Don’t spend the money on this one.

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Film Review: Released November 22

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Enough Said 7/10 Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, James Gandolfini and Catherine Keener Directed by Nicole Holofcener and everything looks great, that is until she discovers that Albert is Marianne’s exhusband, the same ex-husband that Marianne has been telling her about. At first she’s appalled, but then she realises that she could learn all about Albert from Marianne before making a commitment to the man.

And so her spy mission begins, but almost as soon as she’s started, she gets caught.

The Verdict: This is a sweet movie, for

The Story: Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a divorced masseur whose only daughter is about to leave for college and she’s feeling a little lost. When she’s invited to a party by her best friend (Toni Collette), she meets two people, the first is a new potential client, Marianne (Catherine Keener), a poet, and the other is Albert (James Gandolfini). Eva makes friends with Marianne straight away and they begin a professional as well as friendly relationship, while she starts dating Albert

the older demographic. Dreyfus is great, playing a character very similar to the character she plays in The New Adventures of Old Christine. She’s sweet and funny and the kind of mom we all want, but then she also makes some really stupid decisions, like we all do at times. Gandolfini, in his final role before his death, is great. Gone is the gangster and in his place is a great father and man. It’s a wonderful role for him to end his distinguished career on. Add to that good performances by Keener and Collette and you’ve got a good film. There is a slight problem that it’s just not as funny as it could be, and also somewhat forgettable, but for the 90 minutes you’ll enjoy it, so give it a chance.

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Film Review: Released November 22

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Justin and the Knights of Valour 7/10 Starring the voices of Antonio Banderas, James Cosmo and Michael Culkin Directed by Manuel Sicilia

The Story: In a land where knights have been outlawed in favour of the word of law, Justin (Freddie Highmore), the son of one of the most powerful lawyers in the country and grandson to one of the most powerful knights, wants desperately to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps, but because of the law, and his father’s wish for him to be a lawyer like him, it doesn’t seem possible, until he speaks to his grandmother and she convinces him to follow his dream. The dream sends him on a quest to train at the home of the Knights of Valour and return his grandfather’s sword, a sword that was taken

when his grandfather was killed. Justin sets out on his quest meeting Talia (Saoirse Ronan), a feisty bar maid, on the way, and heads off to become a knight, but little does he know the last of the Knights of Valour, the only knight who refused to drop his sword, and who killed Justin’s grandfather, Heraclio (Mark Strong), is amassing an army to storm the palace, and only Justin can stand in his path.

The Verdict: Like many of the other animated films that hit the South African Box Office, this one is sweet and heart-warming with a good message and good animation. Of course, this isn’t a Dreamworks or a Disney production, so it’s lacking a little of the magic that makes those films so iconic, but even so it is good fun and the kids will love it. A note to the parents as well, which I like to add if possible, is that you won’t want to slit your wrists while watching this film either, even if it’s for ten millionth time, so go ahead and take the kids this holiday. They’ll appreciate it, and you won’t hate it.

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Film Review: Released November 29

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 9/10 Starring Idris Elba, Naomie Harris and Riaad Moosa Directed by Justin Chadwick

The Story: Based on the autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, this film tells the tale of the struggle of one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century, and all time, our very own Madiba, Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela (Idris Elba) is a lawyer working in Johannesburg in the 50’s. He’s considered to be a good speaker and an influential man, but he doesn’t want to get involved with African National Congress, the political party of the time trying to get rights for the black people of South Africa against the Nationalist Party government. He’s also a bit of a charmer and a womaniser. He’s been married once before when he meets Winnie Madikizela (Naomie Harris), the first black social worker to work at a big Johannesburg hospital, and the two get married soon after. Mandela still wants to stay out of politics, but events that happen in the country soon after force him to act, so he joins with the ANC to begin fighting against the government, using peaceful demonstrations, but when they are met with hatred and extreme force, Mandela and the other leaders of the ANC have no choice but to turn to violence to get their points across.

This leads to a massive man hunt for the leaders, their arrests and incarceration on Robben Island, an island off the coast of Cape

Town used to house political prisoners. While in the prison Mandela continues the struggle, but with his mind set turning from violence to peace, meanwhile Winnie is taken by the police and put in solitary confinement for 18 months. When she emerges she is full of hatred and wants nothing more than to kill every single member of the government, something that Mandela doesn’t want. When Mandela is released by the government, who finally realise that if they don’t do something the country is going to fall into all-out war, he sets about trying to negotiate the surrender of the government so the country can be turned over to the African people who should have the same rights as everyone else, and slowly he begins to forge loyalty in even those that feared him before, and so he leads the country out of those dark days into the light of the democratic dawn.

The Verdict: Everyone in our country knows the story of Mandela. It’s taught in our schools and forged our very lives, but what I love about this film is that, while the story of what he did for the country is centre stage, it’s the things you didn’t know about the man that really take the forefront. I had no idea this iconic figure was a charmer, womaniser and non-faithful husband. The fact that he was as human as he was makes him more identifiable as a man, and not such a heroiclike figure. The film itself is absolutely wonderful. Justin Chadwick, the director, uses the true accounts and events perfectly to real effect, but doesn’t get bogged down in them.

Yes, the death and destruction that was caused by both sides during the struggle is included because without it there would be no story, but the film isn’t about how bad either side was. It’s about the courage and fortitude of a handful of men who, in the face of unimaginable reason to become hateful and prejudice, didn’t, and instead went about to create a place for all of us to live happily Off The Screen Magazine

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Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Contd) and peacefully. A lot was said about a Brit being cast as Mandela, and not a South African, and it’s still a very contested subject both for critics and the general public, but whatever Elba’s background is you need to give him credit for this role. He gives the character true depth and realism, and he really does embody the former president, to such a point that at the end of the film, when he has all the makeup on to make him look like an old man, he looks just like our beloved leader. He really does an amazing job, more than we could have asked for. Harris is also wonderful as his wife. She is naïve and sheltered at first, but bitter and somewhat

Film Review: Released November 29

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twisted after being released by the police, and Harris shows these subtle changes in her beautifully. She is a great indicator of what could have happened to Mandela and the rest of the ANC leadership being on Robben Island, and why we’re so lucky that they didn’t fall into bitterness, because our country would be very different if they had, maybe something like it is becoming today in the grips of corruption and greed. If you have ever had a warm spot for our president, or wanted to know more about him and the struggle, then you should watch this film. Every South African should watch this film to see were we come from, what it took to get us to that incredible point in our lives, and what we can achieve if there aren’t selfish, insane people in our way. We have a great country, it was great and it could be great again.

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Film Review: Released November 29

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Before Midnight (not rated) Starring Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick Directed by Richard Linklater Delpy), the French-American couple who once met on a train in Vienna. They now live in Paris with twin daughters (Jennifer and Charlotte Prior), but have spent a summer in Greece on the invitation of an author colleague of Jesse's. When the vacation is over and Jesse must send his teenage son (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) off to the States, he begins to question his life decisions, and his relationship with Celine is at risk. Written

by Peter Brandt Nielsen

The Verdict: Unfortunately we missed

The Story: It has been nine years since we

this one, but if you loved the previous two films in the series, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, then you need to go and see this film at cinemas this week.

last met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie

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Film Review: Released November 29

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Schucks!

Your Country Needs You 7/10 Starring Leon Schuster, Rob van Vuuren and Alfred Ntombela Directed by Gray Hofmeyr

The Story: Schucks (Leon Schuster) has had enough ofbeing beaten up for comedies sake, but Shorty (Alfred Ntombela) convinces him that in our country, full of corruption and violence and crime, the country needs Shucks to make us all laugh, so he agrees to do another candid film for the people. He enlists the help of his son, Wayne (Ron van Vuuren) and the two set off to create some of the funniest, most insane pranks that they have ever done to try and make the country laugh at itself, and show it that there is still hope for us.

The Verdict: I have to admit that I’m not a fan of Schuster. His brand of comedy, especially the candid camera stuff, has never appealed to me in a comedy sense, so I went into this film with more than a little trepidation, but, much to my surprise, I found myself laugh quite a lot. Look, the pranks where they are

specifically trying to get the mark to hit them don’t work for me. They are tiresome and childish, but some of the pranks, the girl coming out of the coffin in particular, were really, really funny. The other thing I took away from the film was a hope for our country. We all hear the bad and negative things about what’s going on, but people don’t seem to realise that we have really good people still living here. The kind of person that will pray for you not to cheat on your wife, after you’ve just smashed her R2000 cell phone, or the kind of people that will see hundreds of Rands fall out of a handbag and return it to the owner, not just pocket it and walk away. These people are the kinds of people we need in our country, and maybe, just maybe we need people like Schucks to point them out to us. Well done Mr Schuster.

Very well done.

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Film Review: Releasing December 6

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Ender’s Game 7/10 Starring Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin Directed by Gavin Hood

The Story: It’s been fifty years since an alien force, the Formics, attacked Earth. We managed to fight them off, but we’ve lived in fear ever since that they will return, more powerful than before, and we won’t be able to stop them a second time. To counter this the International Military, the entire military force of the planet, has come up with a new plan to defend our world, by training kids, who have higher abilities to strategize and see the whole picture then adults, and turn these children into the commanders of the armed forces. One of these children, and the world’s hope, is Ender Wiggins (Asa Butterfield).

Colonel Graf (Harrison Ford) thinks the boy could become the ultimate commander of the forces and puts him in a specially training program with other kids who are also vying for the position, including Petra (Hailee Steinfeld), who becomes friends with Ender.

The kids are trained in a series of games and tests to teach them how to defeat the Formic threat, but what happens to them when the reality of what they’re training to do becomes very real?

The Verdict: This is a very interesting film. Based on the book by the same name, the story straddles the fence in terms of whether or not the armed forces are right.

Yes, they trying to protect Earth, without which there wouldn’t be any of us, but at the same time, they’re training these kids to be killers. In one scene Ender hits a boy until he’s on the ground, and then continues kicking him.

When asked why he replies, so the boy would know not to get up, and he’s

rewarded for this. The whole thing is a little creepy, but so is sending a bunch of kids into an arena to fight to the death, so we can stretch reality a little for our films. The up side is that Ender doesn’t like what he’s becoming. He has an older brother and sister. His sister, played by Abigail Breslin in a touching, albeit brief, performance, was also in the program, but she was to empathic, not wanting to fight. His brother on the other hand, Jimmy ‘Jax’ Pinchak, was too violent, resorting to violence before anything else, a real psychopath, so he was kicked out of the program too, which is odd considering what they want the kids to do, but okay. Ender looks to his siblings as what he should be, more like his sister, and what he shouldn’t be, his brother, but he feels the impulses he attributes to his brother, making him think he’s as bad as he is, making the boy really conflicted. Then at the end the truth of what the military got him to do really messes with his head. It’s a levelled and well thought out performance by Butterfield. He is a really good actor and he has the whole spectrum of emotions in this film, which he shows very well. Steinfeld is good, but she has such a bit character that there’s not much for her to work with. A nice surprise was Moises Arias, best known as Rico in Hannah Montana, as a borderline psychotic student that Ender has a run in with. He gives a good performance and is a key point in the story. I liked this film, apart from the ending that’s just too neat and clean and tied up with a bow that it really bothered me, but there were aspects that didn’t sit well with me. It is nice to see SA director Gavin Hood doing well, but this isn’t one of his best works.

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Film Review: Releasing December 6

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Mud (not rated) Starring Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland Directed by Jeff Nichols

The Story: “Mud" is an adventure about two boys, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his friend Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), who find a man named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. He says he is planning to meet and escape with the love of his life,

Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), who is waiting for him in town. Skeptical, but intrigued, Ellis and Neckbone agree to help him. It isn't long until Mud's visions come true and their small town is besieged by a beautiful girl with a line of bounty hunters in tow.

The Verdict: Unfortunately we didn’t see this film, but we’re a little concerned about McConaughey films since Killer Joe and The Paperboy, but we have good things about it so go and check it out and let us know what you think.

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Film Review: Releasing December 6

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Black Nativity 5/10 Starring Forest Whitaker, Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson Directed by Kasi Lemmons

The Story: Based on the stage show by Langston Hughes. When they get an eviction notice and Naima (Jennifer Hudson) is sure they will be out in the street by Christmas, she decides that her only option is to send her son, Langston (Jacob Latimore) to New York to stay with her parents, who she hasn’t spoken to in years. He doesn’t want to go, but doesn’t want to disappoint his mom either, so he gets on a bus and makes his way to New York, but as soon as he gets there things start going wrong, he has his bag stolen, gets lost and is then mistaken for a pick pocket. When he finally gets to his grandparents (Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett) he is totally out of place in the discipline filled, highly religious house. His grandfather, the Reverend Cornell Cobbs does not take fools lightly, and his grandmother is just happy to have him there, but as he starts trying to understand why his

mother left, and tries to figure out how he can help her and save their house, he begins to unravel a secret that has torn their family apart, and threatens to continue to do so.

The Verdict: I didn’t know what to expect when I went in to watch this film, but I can say it wasn’t what I saw. Firstly, it’s a musical, which I hadn’t expected. Some of the songs are really good, while others are just fillers, nothing more. It has a real Rent type feel about the music, but not as compelling as those songs. Secondly, and I was kind of expecting this, it is very heavy on the religion.

I expected a film called Black Nativity to be religious, but not quite like this. Half of the film takes place during a church service. I will say that I liked Whitaker in this film, more than in The Butler. He has some real emotional moments, but even those can’t really save this film. I found it disjointed and preachy, and not in a good way. If you’re into religion and like to see it on the screen, then this could be a film you’d enjoy, if not…

Maybe not.

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Film Review: Releasing December 6

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Free Birds (not rated) Starring the voices of Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson and Dan Fogler Directed by Jimmy Hayward

The Story: After years of fruitless warning of his farmyard brethren of the coming Thanksgiving doom, Reggie the Turkey finds himself spared as the annual Pardoned Turkey. However, Reggie's easy life is disrupted by Jake, a fanatic turkey who drags him along with the insane idea of going back in time to make sure turkeys are not part of the first Thanksgiving. Through foolhardiness

and luck, the pair manages to take an experiment time machine to do just that. Now in 1621 at the Plymouth colony, Reggie and Jake find themselves in the middle of a turkey clan's struggle for survival. In doing so, their preconceptions of the world and themselves are challenged forever in a conflict from which the world will never be the same.

Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)

The Verdict: Unfortunately we didn’t see this one, but you can’t go wrong with an animated film, so go and check it out.

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Film Review: Releasing December 6

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Homefront 8/10 Starring Jason Statham, James Franco and Izabela Vidovic Directed by Gary Fleder agent who took down a biker gang and got the leaders son killed. Gator sees this as an opportunity and gets his girlfriend, Sheryl (Winona Ryder) to contact the bikers to make a deal, Broker for distribution of his meth, but when the bikers come to town it’s more trouble than Gator ever imagined.

The Verdict: This is exactly the kind of

The Story: A school yard fight gets way out of control when Maddy Broker (Izabela Vidovic) gets in a fight with Teddy Klum (Austin Craig). Things escalate after her father, Phil Broker (Jason Statham) and his mother, Cassie, (Kate Bosworth) and father, Jimmy (Marcus Hester) are called and an altercation ensues between Broker and Jimmy, with Broker winning.

Cassie takes this as a personal insult to her and her family, so she goes to her brother, Gator (James Franco), a small time meth cooker who’s looking to get into the big time, to get revenge on Broker, but when he destroys the guys Gator sends to sort him out Gator takes matters into his own hands and discovers the truth about the man. He is, in fact, a retired DEA

film you expect to see when you go watch a Statham film, god action, and interesting story line and a couple explosions thrown in for good measure. Statham is his normal straight faced, a*s kicking self, but with a more lethal edge than we’ve seen before. Vidovic gives a great performance as a girl coming to terms with change, and really getting to know her father for the first time. Franco gives another great performance as a meth dealer who has aspirations of greatness, and gets in way over his head with both his prey and his allies, and Ryder is back in form as his tweeker girlfriend.

She does scared out of her wits very well.

Bosworth is as we’ve never seen her before, foul mouthed, crude and completely insane.

She really is a gem to behold. If you like action and fighting, but with a solid story to back it up, then this is the movie that you should watch. It really is a great watch.

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DVD Reviews

The Mule 6/10

PIG 6/10

Starring Sharon Stone, Billy Zane and Rosemberg Salgado Directed by Gabriela Tagliavini When her brother, Aaron (Billy Zane), a relief worker in Mexico, disappears Reporter Sofie (Sharon Stone) crosses the border to find him.

When she gets there she discovers that he’s been working smuggling people across the border into the States, and to find him she needs to get involved with some really horrible people, but as she gets deeper into the world of the Coyotes, and sees the real struggle of people trying to get to America, she realises that there’s more going on than meets the eye.

An interesting film headed by big actors, this should have been a better movie, but the truth is that it’s a bit boring. Stone is guilty of overacting in a few of the key scenes and she’s lost a lot of the lustre she had back in her heyday, but she gives a solid performance, for the most part. Zane is good, and there are enough twists to keep interest, but only just. Not the best, but not the worst either, just run of the mill.

Starring Rudolf Martin, Heather Ankeny and Keith Diamond Directed by Henry Barrial A man (Rudolf Martin) wakes up in the middle of the desert, his hands tied and a black bag over his head. He has no memories of who he is or how he got there, only a small piece of paper in his pocket with the name ‘Manny Elder’ on it. He’s found by a woman, Isabel (Heather Ankeny) and her small son, and over time he begins a relationship with her, but he’s always drawn to his past and realises that he needs to discover who he was if he wants to be with her. He goes to Los Angeles to find out who he was, but what he finds is more complicated and confusing than he could have imagined.

This film was a great idea, but not well executed. The concept is very interesting and original, but the film itself is slow and confusing and, to be honest, kind of boring. It becomes very convoluted, especially towards the end, which is a pity because there was real promise there.

Servitude 6/10 Starring Joe Dinicol, John Bregar and Rachel Skarsten Directed by Warren P. Sonoda Josh (Joe Dinicol) works as a waiter at a ranch themed restaurant. His girlfriend, Jenny (Kristen Hager) wants him to quit and go to law school, but he’s just not sure, even so he promises that he will, but then he discovers that the German company that’s bought the restaurant is going to shut the place down, and he devises a plan to rally the servers to speak their minds and not take the crap they usually do, for one crazy night before they lose their jobs for good.

This is a fun film, very similar to Waiting… Starring Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris. It’s funny and interesting with some fun and colourful characters. OF course, it’s not really anything special, and ten minutes after watching it you’ll forget it, but while it’s on it’s a good laugh.

The Sacred 4/10 Starring Heather Roop, Brighid Fleming and Cora Benesh Directed by David Chase Jessie (Heather Roop) is a horror fiction writer who is suffering from writer’s block. To try and shake herself out of it she goes up to a cabin the woods, left to her by her aunt, hoping to find inspiration. What she finds instead is Leah (Brighid Fleming), a little girl who lives out in the woods. The two become friends, but as Jessie begins to unravel the mystery surrounding the cabin, and her childhood there, she begins to think there may be more to this little girl than she originally realised.

This film had all the makings of an interesting horror, the cabin in the woods, the past procession, and a little girl who can play creepy pretty well, but the directing is sloppy, the effects are amateurish at best and the whole structure of the film flops badly. The only shining ray of hope is Fleming who could be a great bad girl, but doesn’t get much chance in this. Another real pity.

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