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Movie Reviews
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Noah
09 Apr 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Darren Aronofsky’s Biblical fantasy epic was spawned from his fascination with the character of Noah. On the surface, Noah was a man commissioned by God to build an ark and gather two of every bird, animal and reptile before the floods cleansed the earth of humanity. The retelling of this Old Testament story tends to […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Captain America – The Winter Soldier
01 Apr 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Captain America doesn’t really have any super powers. He’s a super soldier, armed with a shield that doubles as a boomerang frisbee. His agility, strength, healing and endurance abilities make him slightly more difficult to kill than you or I, but let’s face the facts… he’s a G.I. Joe at a fancy dress party.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Four Corners
26 Mar 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Pollsmoor Prison is overpopulated and way beyond capacity, famous for Nelson Mandela’s incarceration and infamous for its prolific gangsterism. A gang war has been raging for almost a hundred years between ‘The Numbers’, several prison gangs divided by their 26, 27 and 28 affiliations, exercising their rule by means of extreme violence. Their bonds extend beyond […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel
19 Mar 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Wes Anderson is a marvelous film-maker, one whose body of work is simultaneously aloof and delightful. He builds worlds in his films that exist entirely independent of real-life, yet still deeply connected. The Grand Budapest Hotel is one such film, recounting the adventures of a legendary concierge and his trusted lobby boy between the wars at a […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Lego Movie
12 Mar 2014 by SPLING / 1 Comment
It seems strange that LEGO, the beloved building block toy brand, has only just got a movie adaptation in The LEGO Movie. Well, it was worth the wait… because The LEGO Movie is nothing short of AWESOME! While still regarded as a toy for kids, it’s a rite of passage for many people who used to […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: 300 – Rise of an Empire
05 Mar 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
It’s been 8 years since Zack Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 hit the big screen. The standalone film blazed with battle cries, cutting edge visuals and ancient Greek “This is… SPARTA!” machismo. It set in motion the careers of its director, Zack Snyder and Gerard Butler.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: American Hustle
26 Feb 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
When David O. Russell makes a movie, people sit up, take notice and then stand up. He reportedly said he hates plots and is all about characters. Well, the critically acclaimed director has managed to get Oscar-nominated performances out of his cast in his last three films. It’s no wonder he’s developing a loyal following of […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Anchorman 2
18 Feb 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was Will Ferrell at his best. The comedian’s larger-than-life attitude, the character’s over-the-top ego and the chauvinistic news room of the ’70s made Anchorman an instant cult hit. Catchphrases, big hair and bigger facial hair made way for an almost inevitable sequel for the ridiculous newsman and his cohorts. Well, the day […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Her
12 Feb 2014 by SPLING / 2 Comments
We’re living in an age when being without our phone makes us feel disconnected from society. No social media, no messaging services, no Internet and no fast track to our list of contacts makes us feel insecure and out of touch. These mobile devices have become more than our personal assistants, they’ve become an integral […]
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They’re Saying Wes Anderson’s ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ Is His Best Ever
07 Feb 2014 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Wes Anderson has gained a cult following due to his whimsical humour, grand story telling of witty characters and unique stylistic films. His latest feature, ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, is a crime caper that revolves around a concierge, with a thing for sleeping with older women, and his protégé in training. Critics are rating it his best ever.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Inside Llewyn Davis
05 Feb 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Inside Llewyn Davis is a Coen brothers film that captures the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961 through the eyes of a fictional character, who was inspired by the memoirs and music of Dave Van Ronk. This beautifully shot music drama truly takes us there as we experience a week in the life of a struggling […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Don Jon
29 Jan 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is quickly establishing himself as a bankable actor after a series of significant roles in films like The Dark Knight Rises, Inception and Looper. He’s more than that, pushing forward with his Just Hit Record brand by writing and directing his first feature film, Don Jon.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Grudge Match
22 Jan 2014 by SPLING / 1 Comment
Sylvester Stallone has been making good progress on his Hollywood bucket list. After finally playing opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Escape Plan, the next big fish was Robert De Niro, who co-stars with Stallone in Grudge Match.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Wolf of Wall Street
15 Jan 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
“For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” The verse is often misquoted, but seems fitting when you consider the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort, a stock broker whose extraordinary biography became a film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
08 Jan 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an adventure-slash-comedy directed by and starring Ben Stiller. Every couple of years, Stiller decides to direct a film and the result is always interesting: Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder and now The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, an adaptation of a short story by James […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug
18 Dec 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Will they be releasing an extended edition of The Hobbit trilogy? It seems as though that’s already happening. If anything, there will be a special director’s cut, which will probably get a cinema release, drawing all of the films together in the space of three-and-a-half hours. If not, there will undoubtedly be a fan-made version […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Escape Plan
11 Dec 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Escape Plan is the culmination of a big idea that has been simmering, along with their testosterone levels, for a couple of decades. Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have finally made a movie together. The quintessential ’80s action icons have trail-blazed their way into Hollywood history and pop culture with long and impressive careers. Now […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Ender’s Game
04 Dec 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Ender’s Game is based on Orson Scott Card’s classic science fiction novel. South African writer-director, Gavin Hood, best known for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Rendition and Tsotsi, was entrusted with bringing the book to life and for the most part, he’s succeeded. It’s not an entirely faithful adaptation with a number of casting and story compromises […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Mandela – Long Walk To Freedom
27 Nov 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Nelson Mandela is an extraordinary man, whose life story plays like a political version of The Count of Monte Cristo. He was born into a rural family, educated as a lawyer, discriminated against in his own country, branded a “terrorist” leader, a political prisoner for 27 years, only to be inaugurated as President of South […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Hunger Games – Catching Fire
20 Nov 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
The Hunger Games underplayed its hand. While competent and carried by a strong performance from Jennifer Lawrence, Gary Ross seemed like the wrong director for the film. Getting the Seabiscuit and Pleasantville director on-board must have been a ploy to cushion the adult themes to appeal to a much broader audience. While marketed as a […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Captain Phillips
13 Nov 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
In an age dominated by superheroes, it’s always refreshing to hear about real-life heroes. You know, those people who see an opportunity to step in and have the courage to follow through. Captain Richard Phillips is one such person, who made headlines worldwide when the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama container vessel he was captaining became […]
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Quentin Tarantino’s Top 10 Movies For 2013 So Far
07 Nov 2013 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
If you’ve been struggling to find the right movies to watch this year, there’s no one better to take advice from than Barry Ronge. Wait, no, not Barry Ronge – Quentin Tarantino.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Family
06 Nov 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
The first thing you’ll notice about Luc Besson’s Mafia action comedy, The Family, is its stellar cast, featuring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Tommy Lee Jones. The film functions as a tongue-in-cheek look at the life of a gangster trying to escape his sordid past. It’s also a fish-out-of-water comedy in the way that […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Riddick
30 Oct 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Pitch Black introduced us to the dangerous escaped convict by the name of Richard B. Riddick. The survivors of a prisoner transport ship were stranded on a planet becoming prey to the local flesh-eating alien inhabitants. This gave Vin Diesel, now the poster boy for The Fast & The Furious, xXx and The Chronicles of […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Jobs
23 Oct 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur, a pioneer and a creative genius. This is the iconic Jobs we know from the media, yet we only know half the story. Jobs the biopic drama about the Apple founder is an eye-opening journey, taking the tempestuous Jobs from his days as a hippie in college to his crowning […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Gravity
15 Oct 2013 by SPLING / 1 Comment
Gravity writer-director, Alfonso Cuarón has always wanted to be two things: a director and an astronaut. These lifelong dreams meshed somewhere along the way to become his magnum opus, Gravity, a breathtakingly beautiful, mesmerising, visceral and moving space film about a medical engineer and an astronaut, who work together to survive after an accident leaves […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Prisoners
09 Oct 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Prisoners is an epic crime drama thriller from Denis Villeneuve, director of the Oscar-nominated foreign film, Incendies. The film pivots on two powerful co-lead performances from Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal with fine direction from Villeneuve. Prisoners makes a wonderful comparative character study of two men approaching the same dire situation from a subjective and […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Way Way Back
02 Oct 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
Think Little Miss Sunshine meets The Wonder Years. That’s essentially what’s going on in The Way Way Back. The film was inspired by a conversation one of the writer-director’s had with his stepfather when he was in the way back seat, which is now the opening scene. This is where the title The Way Back […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Runner Runner
25 Sep 2013 by SPLING / 1 Comment
Runner Runner is a slick crime thriller that immerses itself in the world of online gaming, corrupt casinos and underhanded entrepreneurship. Brad Furman, director of The Take and The Lincoln Lawyer, has crafted a high stakes cat-and-mouse game that meshes the flash of Las Vegas with the grit of Costa Rica.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Paperboy
18 Sep 2013 by SPLING / No Comments
The Paperboy is a strange and unusual thriller with a first class cast. Director Lee Daniels has followed up his Oscar-nominated drama, Precious, with a film based on a novel by Pete Dexter that carries a similar intensity. As palpable as the tension is, The Paperboy also seems overly ambitious and experimental.
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