Author: Floris Groenewald

I recently watched Star Wars Episode 9: The Rise of Skywalker. This is my review. There’s that famous cliché of parents telling their children “I’m not mad – I’m disappointed.” It supposedly stings more than anger, but that’s not always the point. The point is that the expectation of good behaviour wasn’t met. Now I’m not trying to say that Star Wars films are like children to me – the consumer’s feeling of ‘ownership’ over intellectual property is a topic for another day. But the latest episode, The Rise of Skywalker, definitely left me the most disappointed I’d ever been…

Which 2016 movies were worth watching? It’s a fact that every year Hollywood (and a few others) churn out and endless collection of films to watch – and we’re left wishing that we had enough weekend and money to catch them all. But you wouldn’t want to be the odd one out that’s lost when everyone’s quoting their favourite movie lines at a braai, or being unaware of the biggest shocking twists in pop culture. There’s no way of watching every movie released in a year, so I compiled a handy list… Here are Ten 2016 Movies that you should’ve…

Every January it’s the same. “Here are the top movies of last year”. “All we get is sequels and remakes”. “Top Oscar contenders”. And worst of all: “This year’s most anticipated movies”. But since hindsight is 20/20, I decided to take a look at the past year’s most anticipated movies. Did they deliver? Were they large-scale flops? Here’s a look back at some of 2015’s most anticipated films. Ant-man: As always, Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are highly anticipated. Ant-man showed a lot of promise in its developmental phase. Cult director Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim…

Though the Mission Impossible film franchise took years to take off, it looks like they’ve finally got a decent movie series going. The last three films in the series definitely feel connected. It feels more like an intentional series, rather than an odd collection of movies that coincidentally share a protagonist. In Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, and Simon Pegg are back as a team for the third time now, with Jeremy Renner also reprising his role as William Brandt from 2011’s Ghost Protocol. The necessity of the embarrassingly-named Impossible Mission Force is being questioned by…

Jurassic Park is one of those franchises that started off with a huge, groundbreaking and critically acclaimed blockbuster, and went kinda hit-and-miss after that. While never quite reaching the high standards set by the original classic, Jurassic Park II: The Lost World did so many things right. It was a fun, fuzzy, exciting action-adventure film that hit just below the mark. Which made the third film so much of a disappointment. Steven Spielberg didn’t return to direct the third outing, the story didn’t offer anything new or exciting, and the effects were lackluster. So understandably, I was a bit apprehensive…

You know the drill. All of our favourite Marvel superheroes team up as The Avengers, an all-star, alien-fighting, earth-defending troupe of macho misfits. That’s Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and The Hulk. But haven’t we seen this movie before? Yes, we have. Twice. First in 2012’s The Avengers, and then again last year with (practically the same movie, just dressed up in alien clothing) Guardians of the Galaxy. So is there any more story left to tell? Especially after we’ve already seen Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man star in four movies previously? Well, what The Avengers: Age of…

Which movies are on your list for the top films of 2014? Well, this is my selection of top/favourite 2014 cinema releases. They’re mostly arthouse releases, and the list attempts to represent clever, moving, and entertaining filmmaking rather than laughs, explosions, and bang-for-your-buck blockbusters. I hope you find my list interesting. Here’s my list of the Top 10 Films of 2014… 10. Nymphomaniac This is really one film, so Volume 1 & 2 share a position. It wasn’t quite as sexually explicit or disturbing as the posters, trailers, and word-of-mouth might suggest, but will certainly not be everyone’s cup of…

Interstellar is a big ol’ science-fiction masterpiece that feels much more grand and epic than the usual, plastic fantasy fodder. In a semi-dystopian near future where the earth is dying and crop farming became the primary human concern, Cooper, a NASA test pilot-turned-farmer stumbles on some inexplicable supernatural events while trying to care for his family. Matthew McConaughey brilliantly portrays Cooper, who’s caught between his passions for engineering, space travel, the fate of humanity, and his children. McConaughey is obviously an accomplished and experienced actor, and in this case his work is stellar. Together with Anne Hathaway, some incredible child…

Robert Rodriquez, in this case co-director along with comic book legend Frank Miller, has a special relationship with sequels. He’s never been afraid to continue or revisit stories and characters, and with his successful Spy Kids movies, the El Mariachi “trilogy”, and weird B-movie spoof series Machete, he’s also been able to take film franchises in diverse directions. In this case, however, he’s joined forces with Frank Miller again to adapt more of his Sin City graphic novel “yarns” – shortfilm-sized neo-noir mini-flicks that all have a location (the fictional Basin City) in common. This time, only two of the…

Spike Jonze’s Her is a pretty perfect Valentine’s day release: A love story that might not be ideal viewing for happily infatuated couples, but makes a definite statement about love. Joaquin Phoenix stars as Theodore Twombly, a lonely and possibly anti-social writer whose job is to write “hand written” love letters – a service to those who can’t adequately express their feelings themselves. But he is lonely, introverted, and possibly depressed, and there’s obviously not a lot of loving going on in his life. Until he upgrades his computer’s operating system to a new, artificially intelligent one who develops a…

Today I’m giving you my list of 10 favourite movies of 2013. Note: Not the BEST movies, but my favourites. Of all the newly released movies I saw in 2013, here are the 10 that most impressed, moved and entertained me… Here are my 10 favourite movies of 2013 10. Amour A heartbreaking film, a sad story about old people dying, so it’s obviously not for everyone. But Michael Haneke definitely knows how to tell a story in all it’s ugly, dirty, glory. Yes, it seems scary at first (who likes talking about death?), but as the title suggests, this movie…