Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns and one of the biggest influences of this condition among children and adults over the last four decades must be Stephen King’s It. Stephen King’s bestselling horror novel has been described as a landmark in American literature. Published in the ’80s and clocking in at over 1000 pages, the […]

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Captain Fantastic told the story of a man who decided to raise free range children in the woods, living off the land and off the grid. Viggo Mortensen delivered a striking performance of an unconventional and eccentric father, whose idea of child-rearing raised some pertinent questions for education and society in the modern world. The […]

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American Made is a biographical crime thriller directed by Doug Liman and starring Tom Cruise, who team up again after a successful director-producer-actor partnership in Edge of Tomorrow. Having directed The Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith and Fair Game, Liman was a good choice to direct American Made, which blends action and comedy elements […]

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One of the most written about women in South African history, Krotoa has become the subject of a documentary, a play, a poem and now a film by Roberta Durrant. Krotoa is a South African historical drama based on a young Khoi woman, who was removed from her tribe to serve Jan van Riebeeck and […]

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The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a buddy movie from Patrick Hughes, the director who brought us Red Hill and The Expendables 3. Loosely based on the same dynamic as Midnight Run, we are introduced to prolific hitman, Darius Kincaid, who is paired with an elite bodyguard, Michael Bryce, commissioned to get his new client to a […]

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Edgar Wright is the British director behind cult classics such as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. His ambitious, colourful, quirky, playful and imaginative films are geared towards laughs and thrills and Baby Driver is no different. Always unpredictable, fun and visually-compelling, Wright has added a heist thriller to […]

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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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