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movie review
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Horrible Bosses 2
03 Dec 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Horrible Bosses was dark, reasonably funny and featured a stellar cast. It was a vent for frustrated employees who wanted to see the little guy take revenge and served its purpose as a comedic stab at interoffice politics. The Office Space style scenario had its quirks and picked up some fans along the way, but no one was […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Spud 3 – Learning to Fly
26 Nov 2014 by SPLING / 1 Comment
Spud 3: Learning to Fly is the third part of the popular series of boarding school misadventures by John Van De Ruit. The film sees many actors reprise their roles, including stars Troye Sivan as John “Spud” Milton and John Cleese as “The Guv”. As if having three Johns wasn’t enough, they’ve gone and added another […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Drop
19 Nov 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
The Drop is a slow-boiling, character driven Brooklyn crime drama based on Dennis Lehane’s short story, Animal Rescue,about a Brooklyn bartender, who finds himself entwined in an investigation after a robbery gone awry. It’s quite surprising that this is Lehane’s first feature film screenplay when you consider his novels: Mystic River, Shutter Island and Gone Baby Gone have all been adapted into […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Interstellar
12 Nov 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Christopher Nolan has become one of the few living directors, who could claim to be a household name. When he releases a film, it’s not just another movie… it’s a cinematic event.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: What If
05 Nov 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Without the Harry Potter thing, Daniel Radcliffe is a pretty ordinary guy, something we tend to lose sight of when it comes to watching him in just about anything post-2011. He’s always been a bit of a cold fish, stubbornly determined yet tempered by his British-ness. Imagining him in a quirky Canadian comedy romance would have been […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
29 Oct 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a popular animated TV series from the ’80s that keeps getting the film treatment. From its first adaptation in 1990, we’ve seen several attempts at a quintessential Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. While there’s no clear front runner, its been a case of hit-and-run for studios exhuming one nostalgic franchise after another.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Snowpiercer
15 Oct 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Snowpiercer is a visually-arresting, thought-provoking and action-packed sci-fi thriller based on French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige. It’s headed by Captain America, one times Chris Evans, who is backed by a critically-acclaimed ensemble including: John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, Tilda Swinton, Kang-ho Song and Jamie Bell.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Gone Girl
08 Oct 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
David Fincher is a heavyweight director with a proven track record, who has become synonymous with dark mystery crime thrillers after Seven, The Game, Fight Club, Zodiac, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now Gone Girl. His latest film, an adaptation penned by Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn herself, is a curiously entertaining dark pearl about a man who becomes the focus of […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Great Beauty
24 Sep 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
The Great Beauty or La grande belezza is a film laced with paradoxes to the point of becoming a paradox in itself. We’re presented with the beautiful city of Rome, in its historical significance and splendor. Director Paolo Sorrentino (This Must Be the Place) has given us a luscious and eye-popping depiction of this glorious city with dazzling […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Calvary
17 Sep 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Calvary is an immense Irish drama about the church, mortality and revenge. As you’d imagine from the movie title and such a severe line-up of themes, it’s a dark, heavy and soulful film led by a tremendous performance from Brendan Gleeson that embodies these sombre qualities.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Boyhood
10 Sep 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Writer-director Richard Linklater has built his film career on ambitious, semi-experimental cinema. He wrote and directed the critically-acclaimed Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight series, turning a chance meeting on a train in Europe into a lifelong conversation between two star-crossed lovers. He brought us the ultimate freewheeling movie, Dazed and Confused, bringing free-ranging conversations and a large ensemble to […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Hard to Get
27 Aug 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Hard to Get echoes a similar passion and energy to the acclaimed Congolese crime thriller, Viva Riva. It’s arguably South Africa’s best action movie ever, powered by a similar sweaty, sexy and dangerous intensity on the back of world-class production values and surprisingly mature film-making for a number of feature film debuts.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Expendables 3
20 Aug 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
The Expendables is a concept that just won’t die. As long as action heroes continue to lose their box office mojo and Stallone is able to wear a beret, we’ll have The Expendables: even if they eventually turn him into a digital mission control entity. We’re indebted to Rambo, Commando and all the muscle man action heroes from the ’80s […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Jersey Boys
13 Aug 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Jersey Boys is a film adaptation of the Tony award-winning musical about Franki Valli and The Four Seasons. While The Four Seasons have a rich history of chart-topping singles, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were a Vivaldi tribute band. Their story may not be as well-known as that of The Beatles, but after the long-running and wildly popular […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Hercules
06 Aug 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Hercules has been doing the rounds this year with three films including: Hercules Reborn, The Legend of Hercules and now Hercules starring the top-grossing actor of 2013, Dwayne Johnson. Of the three, Hercules, is head and shoulders above the rest and we’re not just talking about Johnson’s physique. Although to be fair, it wasn’t going to be much of a task […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy
30 Jul 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most highly anticipated films of 2014. Apart from being yet another superhero comic book adaptation, the ragtag Guardians of the Galaxy have been described as “Space Avengers” and have been toting an exciting trailer in the build-up to their intergalactic adventure.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Cold Harbour
23 Jul 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Cape Town is the setting for Cold Harbour, an African noir crime drama that centres on corrupt cops and the smuggling of abalone. While restrictions are in place, it seems the sea produce, known locally as perlemoen, is a valuable aphrodisiac in Asian markets. We journey with Sizwe Miya, a dedicated township warrants officer, who goes […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Bad Neighbours
16 Jul 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
“Neighbours, everybody needs good neighbours…”, the cheerful theme of the long-running Australian soap drama, is a haunting refrain to some who have experienced nightmare neighbours. While most of us would be quite happy with the prospect of sharing a street with the likes of Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce, Jason Donovan or Natalie Imbruglia – we’re often […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
09 Jul 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Whether you believe in evolution or not, there’s plenty of great contrasts to be made in The Planet of the Apes saga. After it seemed like Tim Burton had broken the franchise, a prequel in Rise of the Planet of the Apes renewed interest in the science-fiction concept, leveraging Andy Serkis and his second most famous digitally rendered performance […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Transformers – Age of Extinction
02 Jul 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
WHAM! BAM! Thank you Michael Bay. Love or hate him, the Transformers director has continued to smash the box office with larger-than-life movies about Hasbro’s popular line of toys from the ’80s. His latest sequel, Transformers: Age of Extinction, is a case of too much “more of the same” with Mark Wahlberg replacing long-running front man, Shia LaBeouf.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Locke
25 Jun 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
When we reach a fork in the road of life, the path we choose often leads to a known set of consequences. Once we’ve knowingly taken the wrong path, getting back on the right path can be tough going as Ivan Locke discovers in the tense drama, Locke.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: 22 Jump Street
18 Jun 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Johnny Depp is probably the most famous thing about the ’80s TV show, 21 Jump Street. Now that the TV show has been loosely adapted to film with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum leading the charge, his legacy is in jeopardy. The first film was a bit of a gamble, taking the TV show’s premise of […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow
11 Jun 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
“Live. Die. Repeat.” The tag line turned mantra for Tom Cruise’s latest science-fiction action thriller is not officially endorsed by Scientology, although many religions would probably find a nugget of truth in the thematic content at play in his latest sci-fi blockbuster, Edge of Tomorrow.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Transcendence
04 Jun 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Transcendence picks up a similar thread to The Lawnmower Man, following the trajectory of a man, whose meddling with computer science turns him into a god. The divide between humanity and technology is narrowing as artificial intelligence evolves. When will machines overtake humanity? It’s a recurring, thought-provoking and timely science-fiction theme that takes root in our collective […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Under the Skin
28 May 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Under the Skin is an original film, based on the novel by Michel Faber. After falling in love with the story and several drafts later, director and co-writer, Jonathan Glazer, decided to move away from an illustrative adaptation and rather tap into the essence of the main character’s experiences. The project was in development for 10 […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Filth
14 May 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
Director, Jon S. Baird is a brave and determined director. When the pig-headed policeman on the front cover of Irvine Welsh’s Filth caught his imagination, he read the novel and was inspired to direct what was then deemed impossible to adapt. The film rights had just expired and Baird took it upon himself to visit Irvine Welsh […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Only God Forgives
07 May 2014 by SPLING / 2 Comments
Only God Forgives is the much anticipated follow-up to Drive from writer-director Nicolas Winding Refn. In many ways, this is an unofficial sequel to Drive: Ryan Gosling takes another lead role, while the sleek cinematography and pulsating soundtrack reverberate with the same intensity. The difference is that Only God Forgives is set in Bangkok, balancing on a much sharper and darker […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: iNumber Number
30 Apr 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
South Africa’s crime epidemic has inspired films like Tsotsi, Jerusalema, A Million Colours, How to Steal 2 Million, Stander, Hijack Stories and more recently, Four Corners. We’re living in a gangster’s paradise with a flourishing subculture of violence and criminality. While the SAPS and local crime watch initiatives are trying to combat this, crime is still a prominent issue in South Africa.
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SPL!NG Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
23 Apr 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 has got a lot to live up to. For starters, it follows Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man franchise, which only really ran out of web in Spider-Man 3. Second, it’s a sequel following a strong series reboot. Thirdly, the title The Amazing Spider-Man 2 puts a bit of pressure to keep it well, amazing. More to the point, it’s […]
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SPL!NG Movie Review: Sabotage
16 Apr 2014 by SPLING / No Comments
It’s funny how some movie titles seem to become self-fulfilling prophecies, allowing their overriding meaning to seep into the film. On the surface, Sabotage is a dark, trashy and intense Arnold Schwarzenegger action thriller with a couple of name stars thrown in for good measure. However, as it builds to a crescendo, it seems as […]
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