SPL!NG Movie Review: Persuasion
‘Persuasion’ is based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name. “Based” rather than adapted seems to be the hinge in this case as screenwriters Ron Bass and Alice Victoria Winslow craft a modern version of Austen’s classic “will they, won’t they” romance.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Gray Man
‘The Gray Man’ is an action thriller from Anthony and Joe Russo starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Billy Bob Thornton and Ana de Armas.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Blind Ambition
‘Blind Ambition’ is a stirring and entertaining documentary about four sommeliers who combine their forces to form Zimbabwe’s first national wine-tasting team.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Grand Bolero
‘The Grand Bolero’ is a music drama romance turned thriller about a middle-aged organ restorer who becomes a mentor to a young woman after she arrives at a rural Italian church with nothing but a desire to learn.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain
To say Louis Wain was a cat lover is an understatement of Titanic proportions.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Card Counter
‘The Card Counter’ recalls ’21’, a Kevin Spacey casino heist film based on the true story of the MIT Blackjack team who used their mathematics and card counting skills to rig the system in their favour, winning millions in Las Vegas.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Collision
‘Collision’ is a word usually reserved for “Chopper Dave” style traffic reports to help you navigate bumper-to-bumper morning commutes.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Good Life
Bonnie Rodini is the co-screenwriter and producer of ‘The Story of an African Farm’, a family drama directed by David Lister and starring Richard E. Grant.
SPL!NG Movie Review: John And The Hole
‘John and the Hole’ is a strange and unsettling thriller. The simple title becomes ironic and minimalist when you discover a much more nuanced and human story beneath it all.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Lost Daughter
Having been given the nod by the Academy for her role in ‘Crazy Heart’, it must have come as some surprise that her return to the prestigious ceremony was as a filmmaker rather than an actor. Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘The Lost Daughter’, the adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel also landed two acting nominations.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Licorice Pizza
‘Licorice Pizza’ is Paul Thomas Anderson’s fifth consecutive period film, named after a record store from the ’70s and derived from the appearance of vinyl records.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Courier
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer seems to be the stance Russia and the United States have taken.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Return To Space
‘Return to Space’ is a documentary from Oscar-winning directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin who turn their focus to the stars after their astonishing work on ‘Free Solo’ and ‘The Rescue’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Alpinist
‘The Alpinist’ is an unconventional sports documentary, which tracks Canadian mountain climber, Marc-André Leclerc, whose death-defying solo ascents are some of the boldest in history.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Silverton Siege
‘Silverton Siege’ is a heist thriller that centres on three young freedom fighters who take a bank and its customers hostage in exchange for the release of Nelson Mandela.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Spencer
‘Spencer’ is a moody historical character portrait and unsettling psychological drama from Pablo Larraín. Starring Kristen Stewart as Diana Spencer, this sumptuous film is from the director behind ‘Jackie’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Sodium Day
‘Sodium Day’ is a comedy drama that settles into the a day-in-the-life of a Grade 12 class at John Shelby High in the Cape Flats.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Against All Odds – The Alwyn Uys Story
Alwyn Uys is the name of a paraplegic man whose life story forms the basis for ‘Against All Odds: The Alwyn Uys Story’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood
‘Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood’ is a sweet and nostalgic animated coming-of-age sci-fi adventure drama from Richard Linklater, the director who brought us ‘Dazed and Confused’, ‘Before Sunrise’, ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ and ‘Boyhood’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Sparks Brothers
The Sparks Brothers had a cameo on ‘The Gilmore Girls’ in an episode where the town of Star’s Hollow was invaded by a horde of buskers.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Windfall
‘Windfall’ typically refers to fruit that has been blown down by the wind or unexpected good fortune. Now also a Hitchcockian crime thriller with comedic tendencies, the story follows a man who becomes trapped at a tech billionaire’s vacation home.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Bombardment (In The Shadow Of My Eye)
‘The Bombardment’ (also known as ‘The Shadow in My Eye’) is a harrowing chronicle of a tragic moment in Denmark’s history when Operation Carthage, an RAF manoeuvre, went horribly wrong.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Against The Ice
‘Against the Ice’ is a historical survivalist adventure drama based on the book ‘Two Against the Ice’ by Ejnar Mikkelsen and produced by Baltasar Kormákur, best known for directing accomplished survival drama thrillers ‘Everest’ and ‘Adrift’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Icarus
Vladimir Putin and Russia are in the news, the Oscars are around the corner and so is the Cape Town Cycle Tour… which makes the Oscar-winning sports documentary, ‘Icarus’, as topical as the day it was released.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Little Things
‘The Little Things’ is a crime drama mystery thriller, penned by John Lee Hancock in the ’90s. The project subsequently got stuck in development limbo as a number of directors and stars were attached, but it never got off the ground.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Glasshouse
‘Glasshouse’ is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi western period piece drama and psychological thriller set in the not-too-distant future.
SPL!NG Movie Review: The Tinder Swindler
Taking our relationships into the digital ether, there’s a greater chance for illusion and catfishing. These are the perfect conditions for the events captured in ‘The Tinder Swindler’.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Amandla (2022)
In South Africa, films that echo themes from South Africa’s darkest days are often criticised for being stuck in a time most would rather forget. While a painful reminder, these historical recreations can serve as a contrast to show how much progress we’ve made or how far we’ve still got to go.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Girls Can’t Surf
Ironically titled, ‘Girls Can’t Surf’, this sports documentary returns to the ’80s to a time when professional women’s surfing kicked off, “a circus of fluro colours, peroxide hair and radical male egos”.
SPL!NG Movie Review: Dune (2021)
‘Dune’ journeys with Paul Atreides, a young noble who begins to discover his true calling. Dreams speak to his destiny as he becomes entrusted with protecting the precious resource known as spice, one of the galaxy’s most valuable and vital elements.