Christopher Nolan’s trademark style is brooding, clinical, dark, heavy, elegant and powerful. The acclaimed filmmaker has become a household name, adding a crest of brilliant films to his credit over the last two decades. A visionary director, he’s become respected not only for his output but his method, getting the most from his cast and […]

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Van der Merwe is a common Afrikaans surname that has become synonymous with a stereotypical Afrikaans character, usually a farmer named Koos, who has become the butt of a lineage of South African jokes dating back over 50 years. Decidedly “doff” and larger-than-life, van der Merwe jokes essentially took a similar stance to dumb blonde […]

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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a fun-filled and eye-popping sci-fi comedy action adventure that recalls the quirky, comic spirit of Besson’s previous sci-fi extravaganza The Fifth Element, the CGI dimension of James Cameron’s Avatar and the technologically imaginative and bizarre world of David Cronenberg’s existenZ. Based on the influential comic book […]

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Andy Serkis is the ringmaster in the reboot series of The Planet of the Apes. A pioneer of iconic digital characters, having played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he’s done it again with Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and now War […]

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“Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man…” no, this isn’t the theme tune. It’s how you’d sound counting the number of Spider-Man franchises over the last 15 years. While this superhero has had as many actors don the web-tangled red-and-blue as there have been Hulks in as many years, it’s starting to get ridiculous. No one ever thought they’d […]

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The Promise is a film by Terry George, the same writer-director who brought us the terrifying vision of genocide in Africa, Hotel Rwanda. He’s covering an epic romance drama in the same sweeping fashion as David Lean’s Doctor Zhivago set against the last days of the Ottoman Empire. The Promise hinges on a love triangle […]

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Free Fire is a crime thriller and dark comedy caper from Ben Wheatley, who seems to have been heavily influenced by stylish action directors, Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie. The film is set in a Boston warehouse in 1978 as a meeting between two gangs turns into a bloody shootout and a game of survival. […]

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Tom Cruise has come a long way since he converted to Scientology and stopped aging. He may have found the fountain of youth, trail-blazed a comeback and reinstated himself as a Hollywood legend, but as tall as he is on that pedestal… he’s far from perfect as evidenced in his latest film, The Mummy. One […]

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Toni Erdmann is an unconventional comedy drama written and directed by Maren Ade, portraying a father desperately trying to patch things up with his estranged daughter. A practical joker with a fake teeth and wig disguise that recalls early Leon Schuster pranks, Winfried tries to reconnect with his hard-working daughter, Ines, by resorting to his […]

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Sachin: A Billion Dreams is a documentary about the Indian cricket prodigy, who went on to inspire a nation. Directed by James Irvine and featuring a host of interviews and voice-overs from cricket legends, personalities, family and friends – this comprehensive film covers his early childhood, how he was introduced to cricket and how it […]

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The Founder is something of a biographical docudrama, telling the story of Ray Kroc, the man who founded McDonald’s as we know it today. The golden arches have become embedded in popular culture as the McDonald’s empire has supplanted itself in countries around the world. Adapting its menu to suit its market, the Big Mac […]

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Johnny is Nie Dood Nie, adapted from a play by Malan Steyn, is a reunion drama in the tradition of The Big Chill as four friends gather for a braai on the Sunday after Johannes Kerkorrel’s suicide to reminisce about their student days. Set in 2002, Johnny is Nie Dood Nie flips back-and-forth in time […]

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20th Century Women is the story of a teenage boy and the three women who help raise him, set in Southern California in 1979. The comedy drama comes to us from the mind of writer-director Mike Mills, best known for Beginners and Thumbsucker, and plays out like an adaptation of an essay on gender history. […]

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Silence is the third overtly religious film from director Martin Scorsese, following The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun. It’s a film that Scorsese has been trying to make for more than two decades, based on the novel by Shusaku Endo about two Jesuit priests who travel to Japan in order to find their mentor […]

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South Africa needs Beyond the River, an uplifting sports drama based on a true story. At this point in time, our country’s politics is still divided along racial lines, or rather that’s what some parties would have you believe. We’ve come a long way since our rainbow nation was inaugurated in 1994 under the guidance […]

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 25 years since the original Beauty and the Beast. Before Pixar, Walt Disney was the animation giant responsible for box office success stories, Aladdin and The Lion King. While there’s been some seesawing over the last three decades, they’ve reinvented themselves and have started adapting their most […]

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Alison is the powerful true story of a South African woman, who reclaimed her life after being raped, disemboweled, nearly decapitated and left for dead. Directed by Uga Carlini, this part documentary, part docudrama and has been treated like a fairy tale, getting the inside story from various interviewees, who helped Alison along her journey. […]

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Gold is based on a true story. While it may be set in the ’80s, instead of the ’90s, change a few names and conjoin a few characters… the essence of the story lives on in this film about hitting the big time. Gold is something of a character portrait, blending adventure, entrepreneurship and biographical […]

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Ghost in the Shell is based on a manga series, which was later adapted into an animated feature in 1995. Partly inspired by Arthur Koestler’s The Ghost in the Machine and partly an inspiration for The Matrix, this much-loved Japanese series continues to inspire. Now unveiling its latest iteration, an almost inevitable live-action adaptation, starring […]

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Nelson Mandela has become immortalised as an international icon for peace and transformation. Many know the story of the wise man and freedom fighter, who led a country through a turbulent time in South Africa’s history as newly elected President, after being incarcerated as a political prisoner on Robben Island for almost three decades. This […]

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As a movie title, The Accountant conjures up images of office paper, photocopiers, spreadsheets and responsible haircuts. Luckily the movie poster went for something less sensible: Ben Affleck kitted out like he was going to audit an “entrepreneur” in the slums of Rio. The stark contrast creates a series of nagging questions and presents much […]

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Robert De Niro is a luminary of the sports genre, having starred in the black-and-white Scorsese classic, ‘Raging Bull’ and more recently, ‘Grudge Match’.

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Queen of Katwe is a coming-of-age Disney drama about Phiona, a Ugandan girl from Katwe, who is made aware of a world of opportunity after displaying a remarkable talent for the game of chess. It’s based on an ESPN magazine article and book by Tim Crothers, which has been adapted for film by William Wheeler. […]

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Most people may associate Chocolat with the quaint Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp romance drama released at the turn of the 21st-century about a chocolate shop in a small French village. However, the original “Chocolat” became famous for clowning in Paris at the turn of the 20th-century. Rafael “Chocolat” Padilla became the first black circus […]

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The Magnificent Seven is a revisionist Western remake of a classic Western, which was based on a Japanese film called The Seven Samurai. The story of heroes vs. cowards, little man vs. big man, defending your fortress and fighting for freedom from tyranny and persecution has remained timeless. The altruism at the heart of The […]

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Blair Witch is comparable with Evil Dead 2 in as much as it’s delivering what the first one did, with less novelty and more finesse. The original The Blair Witch Project was one of the first found footage horror films to emerge and while the hype exceeded delivery, managed to carve out a new genre […]

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The Ben-Hur of 1959 starring Charlton Heston is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. A remake of a silent movie, the production took six months to film and six months of post-production to complete at a cost of just under $15 million. Massive sets, thousands of costumes and long days, […]

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Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger will be remembered for his heroic efforts, making an emergency landing on the Hudson River in New York.

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Noem my Skollie or Call Me Thief is the story of Abraham and the Young Ones, a small-time gang that were separated for two years by a dangerous stint in Pollsmoor prison. The film is loosely based on the life of screenwriter, John W. Fredericks, marks a debut for director Daryne Joshua with Dann Jaques […]

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Star Trek Beyond is the third film in the latest iteration of Star Trek. The first two films, Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, were directed by J.J. Abrams, but since he’s crossed over to the Star Wars camp with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, they’ve forced him to pick a side to keep peace […]

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