‘Murder Mystery’ was a hotchpotch of murder mystery hijinks, a silly distraction that attempted to upscale the fun of ‘Clue’ with just as many oddballs.
‘Stella Murders’ comes from the documentarian behind the SAFTA award-winning ‘Devilsdorp’, a provocative series that covered a spate of killings known as The Appointment Murders and Satanic Murders in Krugersdorp.
Through ‘Chasing the Sun’ and ‘Rassie: The Official Film’, the trophy’s guts-and-glory fairytale has been reframed from several perspectives, shifting from the maverick coach to his star captain for this documentary.
‘Ted K’ is a biographical crime drama chronicle of Ted Kaczynski’s life in Lincoln, Montana, in the years before his capture as The Unabomber.
‘The Worst Person in the World’ (‘Verdens verste menneske’) received two Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay and Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.
‘Top Gun’ was released in 1986, pitting Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer against each other as fierce rivals at the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics programme, better known as Top Gun. The long-awaited sequel to his iconic ’80s movie takes place 30 years later, as Maverick is called on to lead a talented squad of fresh-faced recruits on a critical bombing raid in Iran.
‘Your Place or Mine’ is a sweet romantic comedy from writer turned director Aline Brosh McKenna, featuring a charming cast and an unexpected co-lead pairing in Reece Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher.
Brett Morgen is the visionary director behind ‘Cobain: Montage of Heck’, a biographical documentary about the late Nirvana frontman, Kurt Cobain. Inspired by Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’, it’s been Morgen’s ambition to create similarly eclectic depictions, sanctioned by the Bowie estate for ‘Moonage Daydream’.
Johan “Rassie” Erasmus has been a rugby fan, player, coach and director over his sports career, culminating in winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. A major proponent of the overwhelming success story that characterised the Springboks in what became their third World Cup victory after 1995 and 2003’s dramatic finals, the story was beautifully captured in a rousing documentary series called ‘Chasing the Sun’.
Once regarded as unfilmable, Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’ has now been successfully adapted to film by ‘Marriage Story’ writer-director Noah Baumbach, making it much easier for students studying post-modernism to get the gist without having to read the book.
‘The Menu’ is an elegant yet prickly dark comedy horror from Mark Mylod, which serves as a poetic and political allegory, a spicy blend of art and entertainment.
It’s amazing to think that we live in a society where there are still people who deny the Holocaust ever happened. This is the launchpad for an intimate memoir from Ella Blumenthal, whose compassionate letter to a high profile influencer and denialist became the inception for this vivid chronicle of her storied life in the life-affirming hybrid documentary, ‘I Am Here’.
‘North Hollywood’ is a biographical coming-of-age sports comedy drama, loosely based on writer-director Mikey Alfred’s life and relationship with his father. The film stars Ryder McLaughlin, a real-life skateboarder who does most of his own stunts to create an added level of authenticity in this vivid slice-of-life drama.
Robert Downey Jr. leverages his fame by introducing this documentary directed by Chris Smith, he serves as a sounding board, attempting to redirect the spotlight and there to coax out the real Robert Downey Sr.
For a few decades, it seemed that ‘Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey’ in 1991 was the final chapter of the film franchise, but since the turn of the millennium a script for a long overdue sequel has been pinballed about Hollywood.
‘The Metamorphosis of Birds’ is a curious biographical docudrama from Catarina Vasconcelos – the equivalent of sifting through a family memory box.
‘Wild is the Wind’ is a gritty crime drama centred on two bent cops trying to land a score that will set them up for the rest of their lives.
Pivoting off a dysfunctional marriage on the verge of divorce, this atmospheric and suspenseful horror drama thriller serves as a character portrait and by extension social commentary.
Whatever your thoughts, it’s funny to see ‘Romancing the Stone’ getting its own clone with ‘The Lost City’ starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum.
‘Gaia’ is another name for Mother Nature, a mythological ancestral giver of life. It’s also the title of a local horror thriller from ‘Rage’ writer-director team Tertius Kapp (‘Griekwastad’) and Jaco Bouwer (‘Die Spreeus’).
Having been the subject of ‘The Crown’ and films such as ‘Spencer’, renewed interest in the royal family household has made the timing of ‘The Princess’ documentary quite perfect… maybe too perfect.
‘Do Not Hesitate’ isn’t a music drama but signals by way of a possible tribute to the aforementioned films that things could get heated.
‘Blonde’ is a long-awaited Marilyn Monroe biographical drama starring Ana de Armas from the mind of Andrew Dominik, the writer-director behind ‘The Assassination of Jessie James’, ‘Chopper’ and ‘Killing Them Softly’.
‘Lou’ is a moody, visually-striking and fierce action-orientated crime drama thriller in the tradition of ‘Taken’.
‘I Came By’ is a strange movie title, which comes to serve as an understated act of vigilantism in the context of this dark crime thriller.
Nicolas Cage stars in ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’, a crime action comedy caper that sees the star play a variation of himself in Nick Cage.
‘Pou’ or ‘Peacock’ is one of the best and most elegant horror dramas to come out of South Africa.
Known for starting McAfee Antivirus, ‘Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee’ unpacks the eccentric man’s escape from Belize in the Caribbean after being implicated in the murder of neighbour, Gregory Faull.
‘Everything, Everywhere All at Once’ stars Michelle Yeoh and is written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved Sherlock Holmes was reinvented by Guy Ritchie to become an action hero, Watson sold separately.