Let’s Go To The Movies

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New Releases

The worldwide TV phenomenon Downton Abbey becomes a grand motion picture event

The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. We return to the Great House with the most illustrious guests the Crawley family could ever hope to entertain, their Majesties King George V and Queen Mary.  With a dazzling parade and lavish dinner to orchestrate, Mary, now firmly at the reins of the estate, faces the greatest challenge to her tenure as head of Downton. Directed by Michael Engler from a screenplay by Julian Fellowes (who created and wrote the 9-season TV series). Read more / Showing from 20 Sept.

Ad Astra – A Positive View Of Space Travel

Brad Pitt plays an elite astronaut who travels to the outer edges of the solar system to find his missing father and unravel a mystery that threatens the survival of our planet. His journey will uncover secrets that challenge the nature of human existence and our place in the cosmos. Directed by James Gray (Lost City of Z, The Immigrant), from a screenplay by Gray and his long-time associate Ethan Gross (“Fringe”) Read more / Trailer / . Showing from 20 September.

The Angry Birds Movie 2

In this CG animated comedy three flightless angry birds and the scheming green piggies take their beef to the next level. When a new threat emerges that puts both Bird Island and Piggy Island in danger, Red (Jason Sudeikis), Chuck (Josh Gad), Bomb (Danny McBride), and Mighty Eagle (Peter Dinklage) recruit Chuck’s sister Silver (Rachel Bloom) and team up with pigs Leonard (Bill Hader), his assistant Courtney (Awkwafina), and techpig Garry (Sterling K. Brown) to forge an unsteady truce and form an unlikely superteam to save their homes. Directed by Thurop Van Orman from a screenplay by Peter Ackerman and Eyal Podell & Jonathon E. Stewart. Showing from 20 September

Writer-Director Brett Michael Innes talks about his masterful adaptation of Fiela Se Kind

With Fiela Se Kind, an iconic South African classic, Brett Michael Innes delivers a heartbreaking story of the walls that separate us and the love that unites, telling the tale of a coloured woman in 1890s Southern Africa who finds a white toddler on her Karoo doorstep and raises him as her own. Read more / Trailer /

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD  Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents nothing could prepare Dora for the most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego, and a rag tag group of teens on an adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization. Directed by James Bobin. It is an adaptation of the Nickelodeon‘s series of the same name. Read more /

IT Chapter Two – Redefining and transcending the horror genre

Evil resurfaces in Derry as director Andy Muschietti reunites the Losers Club in a return to where it all began with IT Chapter Two, the conclusion to the highest-grossing horror film of all time. Muschietti directed IT Chapter Two from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman (IT, the Annabelle films) based on the novel IT by Stephen King. Read more /

Back Of The Moon – A love story that transcends the darkness of Apartheid South Africa

BACK OF THE MOON 1958 Sophiatown. On the eve of his home being demolished by apartheid police, Badman a notorious gangster decides to fight them to the death. But then Eve, a gorgeous torch singer is thrust into his orbit. On the last day of his life Badman finds something worth living for. With Richard Lukunku, Moneoa Moshesh, Lemogang Tsipa, S’Dumo Mtshali, Thomas Gumede, Israel Matsepe-Zulu. Directed by Angus Gibson from a screenplay by Gibson, Desiree Markgraaff, Kutlwano Ditsele. Read more /

After The Wedding – A Gender-Swapping Remake

Isabel (Michelle Williams), a co-founder of an orphanage in Klokata travels to New York to meet a potential benefactor, Theresa. Despite her frustration by the need to justify a charitable donation, she agrees to the meeting, which falls a day before the wedding of Theresa’s daughter (Abby Quinn). Isabel is unexpectedly invited to the wedding and the events that ensue force her to confront decisions she made 20 years ago as well as a man from her past (Billy Crudup), who turns up to be Theresa’s husband. Secrets are also revealed including an unexplained charity worth 20 million dollars. Written and directed by Bart Freundlich. It is a remake of the 2006 film of the same name by Susanne Bier. Read more  / Trailer /

GOOD BOYS  Three sixth grade boys ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party. . Written and directed by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and starring Jacob Tremblay. Read more/ Trailer /

OVERCOMER High school basketball coach John Harrison and his team face an uncertain future when their town’s largest manufacturing plant shuts down unexpectedly. As hundreds of people move away, John reluctantly agrees to coach cross-country, a sport he doesn’t even like. His outlook soon changes when he meets Hannah Scott, an unlikely runner who pushes herself to the limit. Inspired by the words and prayers of a new friend, John starts to train Hannah for the biggest race of her young life. Faith based film directed by Alex Kendrick and written by him and Stephen Kendrick. It is the Kendrick brothers’ sixth film and their second through their subsidiary, Kendrick Brothers Productions. Read more 

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film is a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood. The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), former star of a western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor… Sharon Tate. Read more / Trailer /

RAFIKI The film follows two stylish teens, Kena (Samantha Mugatsia) and Ziki (Sheila Munyiva), who crush on each other despite their families’ political rivalry. When love blossoms between them, they must contend with small town busybodies and the judgment of their conservative society. With the support of numerous international funders and the participation of six co- producers led by South African production company Big World Cinema, pre-production began in December 2016 and was the first Kenyan film in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). Interview with writer-director 
Writer-director Wanuri Kahiu / Trailer/

Angel Has Fallen – The Perfect Collaboration Between Screenwriter, Director and Actor

“I never thought of Angel has Fallen as a sequel. I see it as a fresh, cool installment of the franchise that can stand alone while bringing everything fans love about Mike Banning, says writer-director Ric Roman Waugh of the third installment in the Fallen series, a psychologically tense, kinetic thriller that never lets off the accelerator from its opening killer-drone attack. Read more

47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED In the summer of 2017, a contained, claustrophobic shark movie caused quite the splash. It was called 47 Meters Down. Now, in search of adventure, teenagers Mia (Sophie Nélisse), Sasha (Corinne Foxx), Nicole (Sistine Stallone) and Alexa (Brianne Tju) decide to scuba dive into a submerged Mayan city that is being mapped out nearby. Once inside, the entrance collapses behind them and they must navigate the labyrinthine tunnels and eerie caves in search of another way out as the air in their tanks steadily runs out. It is their worst claustrophobic nightmare, but it gets a whole lot worse when they discover the city is home to some very hungry Great White sharks…Written and directed by Johannes Roberts.

APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT Restored from the original negative for the first time ever, Apocalypse Now Final Cut is Coppola’s most realized version of the film. Coppola’s visually dazzling masterpiece is a surreal, hallucinatory, epic tragedy about the horror of the Vietnam War. A U.S. Army Intelligence officer is sent on a bizarre river journey deep into the jungle to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, a renegade Green Beret who uses primitive tribesmen to wage his own war,

Blinded By The Light explores the power of music to transcend race and religion

Developed from writer-director Gurinder Chadha and British Journalist Sarfraz Manzoor’s shared passion for Bruce Springsteen and based on Manzoor’s celebrated rite of passage memoir Greetings from Bury Park, Blinded By The Light chronicles his experiences as a British Muslim boy growing up in 1980s Luton and the impact Springsteen’s lyrics had on him.
Read more

PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE The first-ever feature film inspired by the beloved, award-winning PLAYMOBIL® role-play toys. The heart-warming tale tells of a young boy who unexpectedly disappears into the magical, animated universe of PLAYMOBIL. His sister embarks on a thrilling journey to bring him home. It was directed by Lino DiSalvo, an American animator, film director, writer and voice actor, who spent almost 17 years at Disney and served as Head of Animation on Frozen; supervising animator on Tangled and Bolt and animator on Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little and 102 Dalmatians.

Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark – Adapting the iconic but deeply eerie book series by Alvin Schwartz

As brought to life by the visionary team of producer Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water, Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth) and director André Øvredal (Trollhunter), the film is anything but an anthology. Instead it’s a tale of a group of young misfits who must confront all the fears that stand between them and the future. Read more

RICHARD SAYS GOODBYE Richard is a world-weary college professor who is given a life-changing terminal diagnosis and decides to throw all pretense and conventions to the wind and live his life as boldly and freely as possible with a biting sense of humor, a reckless streak, and a touch of madness. Written and directed by Wayne Roberts.  The film stars Johnny Depp, Zoey Deutch, Danny Huston  Read more / Trailer /

Stan & Ollie – An Iconic Creative Marriage

Weaned on Saturday morning BBC TV screenings of Laurel & Hardy legendary two-reelers, award-winning Film and Television writer Jeff Pope was gifted a Laurel and Hardy DVD box-set fifteen years ago, and after watching Way Out West,  inspiration led to research the story behind the icons and snowballed into the screenplay for Stan & Ollie. Now showing. Read more

TERRA WILLY Set in the future, it revolves around a 10-year-old boy called Willy, who is separated from his parents following the destruction of their spaceship. His rescue capsule lands on a wild and unexplored planet covered in exotic and colourful fauna and flora. Accompanied by survival robot Buck and Flash, an eight-legged extra-terrestrial creature who befriends them, Willy sets off to explore this weird and wonderful land.
The latest animated feature from TAT Productions, the company behind the well-travelled The Jungle Bunch: The Movie.

HER ONLY CHOICE A woman is faced with a choice to fight for her life or sacrifice it for another. After years of infertility, a newly-expectant mother is diagnosed with a life-altering disease.
Directed by Christel Gibson. With Jamaal Avery Jr., Christopher Bates, Veronica Blakney, Keith Arthur Bolden. Trailer /

MIDSOMMAR With their relationship in trouble, a young American couple travel to a fabled Swedish midsummer festival where a seemingly pastoral paradise transforms into a sinister, dread-soaked nightmare as the locals reveal their terrifying agenda. Written and directed by Ari Aster, and starring Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, William Jackson Harper. Feature: A dark and hallucinatory fairy tale rooted in personal experience/ Trailer /

THE LION KING With the live-action release audiences can journey to the African savanna where a future king is born. Simba idolizes his father, King Mufasa, and takes to heart his own royal destiny. But not everyone in the kingdom celebrates the new cub’s arrival. Scar, Mufasa’s brother—and former heir to the throne—has plans of his own. The battle for Pride Rock is ravaged with betrayal, tragedy and drama, ultimately resulting in Simba’s exile. With help from a curious pair of newfound friends, Simba will have to figure out how to grow up and take back what is rightfully his. Directed by Jon Favreau, screenplay by Jeff Nathanson. Feature: The Lion King roars to life on the Big Screen in a Whole New Way /

SKIN Biographical drama film written and directed by Guy Nattiv. It follows the life of former skinhead group member Bryon Widner. A young man (Jamie Bell) makes the dangerous choice to leave the white supremacist gang he joined as a teenager. With his former friends against him, he is determined to create a new life for himself — if he can make it out alive. Feature: Israeli writer-director Guy Nattiv talks about SKIN / Trailer /

YESTERDAY A struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal when discovers that The Beatles have never existed…and he finds himself with a very complicated problem indeed. Directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) from a screenplay by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and Notting Hill).Feature: A rock ’n’ roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life / Trailer /

STUBER Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) is a chatty, mild-mannered, risk-averse Millennial who works in a sporting goods store while moonlighting as an Uber driver who will do anything to save his five-star driver’s rating. Vic Manning (Dave Bautista) is a middle aged, old school, alpha detective, receives a tip on the whereabouts of the drug dealer who murdered his partner, and calls for an Uber. Can these two very different men share a Nissan Leaf while hunting drug dealers across Los Angeles? Directed by Michael Dowse from a screenplay by Tripper Clancy. Feature: A heartfelt bro-mance / Trailer / Now Showing

GRETA Frances finds a handbag on the New York subway and promptly returns it to Greta (Isabelle Huppert), an eccentric French piano teacher who loves tea and classical music. Having recently lost her mother, young Frances strikes up a seemingly harmless friendship with the lonely and kindly widow who enjoys her company. But when Greta’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic and obsessive, Frances does whatever it takes to end the toxic relationship before things spirals out of control. Directed by Neil Jordan and co-written by Ray Wright and Jordan. Feature: A contemporary thriller about obsession /  Trailer / Now showing

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME Tom Holland returns as our friendly neighborhood Super Hero who, following the events of Avengers: Endgame, must step up to take on new threats in a world that has changed forever. The film expands the Spider-Man film universe, taking Peter Parker out of his comfort zone and his home in Queens, New York City, and hurling him across Europe during what was supposed to be a school vacation – but which becomes his greatest challenge and most epic adventure ever. Directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming).  from a screenplay by Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers.  Based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.   Read more / Trailer / Now Showing




12 Steps To Writing The Perfect Screenplay

Interviews

Writer-director Oliver Hermanus talks about Moffie

South African born film director, writer and photographer Oliver Hermanus’ film Skoonheid caused quite a sensation with its exploration of a conservative, white, Afrikaans man’s obsession for his brawny nephew and won the Queer Palm at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. His latest film is Moffie, an adaptation of André-Carl van der Merwe’s celebrated memoir. It tells the story of a conscript who embarks on his military service in 1981 South Africa.  Read more

Quentin Krog talks about the explosive new SA Film Ander Mens

Ander Mens is a wild and wacky experience that clearly makes Krog the ‘Tarantino’ of SA filmmakers, offering an abundance of action and dark humour with the thrilling story of an ordinary, rather boring bookkeeper, Daniël Niemand (Bennie Fourie), whose life is irrevocably changed after a series of misunderstandings turns his world upside down. While the chaos leads to tragedy, it also helps him achieve a great personal victory. Read more

Rambo: Last Blood – The last chapter of the legendary series.

Almost four decades after he drew first blood, Sylvester Stallone is back as one of the greatest action heroes of all time, John Rambo. Now, Rambo must confront his past and unearth his ruthless combat skills to exact revenge in a final mission. A deadly journey of vengeance, it marks the last chapter of the legendary series. Directed by Adrian Grunberg from a screenplay by Matthew Cirulnick and Sylvester Stallone. Showing from 20 September.

The Zoya Factor

In this Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film, Sonam Kapoor stars as Zoya, a young and successful advertising executive who becomes the good luck charm for India’s cricket team during the World Cup. Based on the book by Anuja Chauhan of the same title.
directed by Abhishek Sharma.  Read more / Trailer / Showing from 20 September

LOSING LERATO is a beautifully told South African action/thriller about a successful young black man who takes matters into his own hands by kidnapping his daughter after life, the law and the woman he once loved separate them. His actions put him on a collision course with the law and he finds himself in a high-stakes hostage situation. Directed by Sanele Zulu, screenplay by Ricardo Arendse and Kagiso Modupe. With 
Kagiso Modupe and Tshimillo Mosupe. Trailer /

HUSTLERS Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients. With Jennifer Lopez, Lili Reinhart, Keke Palmer, Julia Stiles and Mercedes Ruehl  Written and directed by Lorene Scafaria. Read more /

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood – A true original in a landscape of sequels and superheroes.

With Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino continues to evolve and to surprise audiences. While it has all of the hallmarks of a Tarantino film – a wholly original story, with fresh characters, presented with bravura technique – his ninth film also breaks new ground for the writer-director. It is a character-driven story, dealing with mature issues of unfulfilled expectations that inevitably confront us all as we age. In Hollywood, this struggle is particularly dramatic, as success and failure live side by side. In Once Upon a Time…, they do so literally as well as figuratively. Read more

UNCOVERED The story follows Aluta (Nqobile Khumalo), an ambitious and determined young woman who searches for the success which only the corporate world can bring. Having big dreams of being a CEO of a mining company, her life takes a full 360-degree turn. As she dodges bullets while seeking justice for her and her family, this movie will leave audiences on the edge of their seats. Directed by Zuko Nodada. Trailer

The Art Of Racing In The Rain – A Dog’s View On Humanity

For screenwriter Mark Bomback it was a gift to adapt Garth Stein’s beloved novel The Art Of Racing In The Rain, which features a wise and philosophical dog who longs to be reincarnated as a human. Read more

The Kitchen turns the classic mob drama upside down

The Kitchen is a high-impact drama with a strong, female-driven cast and women in key roles behind the scenes, it takes full ownership of a genre not known for putting women at the top.  Defying expectations across the board, it turns the classic mob drama upside down like never before, lending a contemporary tone to the distinctive style and vibe of the era and serving up plenty of action, attitude and shocking turns. Read more

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw blasts open a new door in the Fast universe

After eight films that have amassed more than $5 billion worldwide, TheFast & Furious franchise now features its first stand-alone vehicle as Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.   Read more

THE CURRENT WAR Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse — the greatest inventors of the industrial age — engage in a battle of technology and ideas that will determine whose electrical system will power the new century. Backed by J.P. Morgan, Edison dazzles the world by lighting Manhattan. But Westinghouse, aided by Nikola Tesla, sees fatal flaws in Edison’s direct current design. Westinghouse and Tesla bet everything on risky and dangerous alternating current. Historical drama directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Michael Mitnick. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Holland, Katherine Waterston and Tuppence Middleton. Feature: An Epivc Story About The Man Who Invented the 20th Century /
 Trailer /

THE BEST OF ENEMIES The true story of the unlikely relationship between Ann Atwater (Taraji P. Henson)  , an outspoken civil rights activist, and C.P. Ellis (Sam Rockwell), a local Ku Klux Klan leader. During the racially charged summer of 1971, Atwater and Ellis come together to co-chair a community summit on the desegregation of schools in Durham, N.C. The ensuing debate and battle soon lead to surprising revelations that change both of their lives forever. Directed and written by Robin Bissell. It is based on the book The Best of Enemies: Race and Redemption in the New South by Osha Gray Davidson, which focuses on the rivalry between civil rights activist Ann Atwater and Ku Klux Klan leader C. P. Feature: The True Story Of a Woman Who Turned A Klansman Into An Activist And Friend  / Trailer / 

CRAWL When a massive hurricane hits her Florida town, young Haley (Kaya Scodelario) ignores the evacuation orders to search for her missing father, Dave. After finding him gravely injured in their family home, the two of them become trapped by the rapidly encroaching floodwaters. With the storm strengthening, Haley and Dave discover an even greater threat than the rising water level — a relentless attack from a pack of gigantic alligators. Disaster horror film directed by Alexandre Aja from a screenplay by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen. Read more / Trailer/

CHILD’S PLAY A contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic, Child’s Play follows Karen (Aubrey Plaza), a single mother who gifts her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a Buddi doll, unaware of its more sinister nature. Directed by Lars Klevberg and written by Tyler Burton Smith produced by Orion Pictures. It is a remake of the 1988 film of the same name and the 8th installment of the film series, serving as a reboot. Feature: A contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic film /  Trailer /

SUPER 30 Anand Kumar, a Mathematics genius from a modest family in Bihar who is made to believe that only a King’s son can become a king is on a mission to prove that even the poor man can create some of the world’s most genius minds. He starts a training program named ‘Super 30’ to help 30 IIT aspirants crack the entrance test and make them highly successful professionals. Directed by Anurag Kashyap, based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program Super 30 . Read more / Trailer