By saying Fanie Fourie’s Lobola (FFL) is an awesome South African flick I do not mean compared with other South African films, or lekker for a local flick. Oh, no, I mean FFL is a world-class film with a strong South African flavour.
Klein Karoo
Wanneer ek ’n Afrikaanse film gaan kyk, veral ’n rom-kom, hou ek altyd duim vas dat dit my rok gaan opblaas. Semi-Soet (hoofsaaklik te danke aan Nico Panagio) het dit reggekry, Klein Karoo in ’n mindere mate.
Django
This is another Tarantino masterpiece and you are either going to love it or hate it, but if you have seen other Tarantino films you know what to expect walking into the cinema – buckets of blood, dark humour, priceless cameos and razor sharp dialogue. The only surprise element is the romance. Even though Django …
Top 12 films of 2012
WRITTEN FOR AND FIRST PUBLISHED BY WWW.LITNET.CO.ZA I compiled my list of 12 best films for 2012 in about five minutes. Yes, there were that many brilliant films this year. Once it was compiled I realised that almost all of them transcended their genre – an action film surpassed the action, a drama moved into …
Skyfall – possibly the best Bond film ever
From the gob-smacking opening animation to the last tender moments between James and M, Skyfall is utterly breathtaking. The good Skyfall is a hell of a ride. The action is non-stop, but clever, inventive and totally funny at times. Look out for the Caterpillar excavator on the train and the Komodo Dragons in the pit. Very funny! ...
Safety Not Guaranteed – wonderfully trippy
WRITTEN FOR AND FIRST PUBLISHED BY WWW.LITNET.CO.ZA First time director, Colin Trevorrow, manages to perfectly balance a quirky reality, a possible fantasy, dry humour and even a little romance. And Derek Connolly’s first script is brutally sharp and engaging throughout.
Pretville – ‘n Lang lawwe musiekvideo
OORSPRONKLIK GESKRYF VIR EN EERSTE GEPUBLISEER DEUR LITNET Die Suid-Afrikaanse filmbedryf lê na aan my hart. En die hele Hartiwood-span – werkers en spelers – is ongelooflik gaaf. Ek was op die stel en by die press junket en die akteurs kon nie uitgepraat raak oor hoe awesome die ervaring was nie. Die stel wat …
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Charmingly traumatic
The team behind Beasts of the Southern Wild has created a broken, battered and yet hauntingly brave world, where beauty is not guaranteed, but utterly worth fighting for, and you get to spend some time in this world.
Bernie – constructively weird
What do you get when you put Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine in a comedy based on a murder that actually happened? One weird-ass film that delights and shocks. The most brilliant aspect of this documentary is that it combines the “movie”’ about Bernie and Marjorie’s lives and real interviews done with real people who …
Wolwedans in die skemer – Lekker creepy
Onheilspellend. Dit is ’n goeie beskrywing vir Wolwedans. Die creepy musiek, die skelm kyke, die duistere geheimpies, en die verdomde hadidas! Ek was effe benoud toe ek halfpad deur die film besef ek is alleen in die teater …
Dear Zachary: a shocking story
I didn’t see this one coming. I did not predict being so completely overwhelmed and saddened by this true tale. Know as little as you can about this documentary before you go and watch it.
The Troll Hunter
What a brilliantly filmed and executed hoot! An intelligent mockumentary that manages to both mock and scare!
Semi-soet: Uiteindelik! ʼn Afrikaanse komedie wat werk!
Semi-Soet is werklik snaaks, bevat geen schmaltz nie, net hope plaaslike talent. Veral Nico Panagio beïndruk.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Die resensie is geskryf vir en eerste gepubliseer deur www.sarie.com ‘n Fliek vir jou, jou ma én jou ouma! So paar weke terug dink ek dit wys om die besonderse Woody Allen-film, Midnight in Paris, aan te beveel aan ʼn vriend se bejaarde ma. Sy het Parkinsons en kan nie meer lekker beweeg of bestuur nie, maar met …
Young Adult
Die resensie is geskryf vir en eerste gepubliseer deur www.sarie.com Charlize se nuutste fliek is ongemaklik, maar die moeite werd. Young Adult is nie ʼn plesierige Sondagmiddaguitstappie nie. Dit is ook nie die komedie wat die voorprent dit uitmaak om te wees nie. Dit is ʼn ernstige en deeglike ondersoek na die menslike psige en die film …
Lucky
Die resensie is geskryf vir en eerste gepubliseer deur www.sarie.com Dit is vir my moeilik om Lucky te resenseer. Eerstens, is dit ʼn reuse verantwoordelikheid om iemand anders se werk/drome te kritiseer. Tweedens, het ek ʼn sagte plekkie vir die groeiende Suid-Afrikaanse film industrie.
Magic Mike: nie die tipe ‘sexy’ wat jy verwag nie …
Die resensie is geskryf vir en eerste gepubliseer deur www.sarie.com Magic Mike se voorprent is (opsetlik) misleidend. Dit beeld die fliek uit as ‘n sexy komedie oor ‘n manlike ontkleedanser. Een, dit is nie ‘n komedie nie, en twee, die sexy element van die fliek maak jou met tye ongemaklik. Magic Mike is meer as ligte Vrydagaand-vermaak.
Essay oor die gebruik van bloed in films.
Geskryf vir en gepubliseer deur Litnet Ons is geneties aanmekaar gesit om op bloed te reageer. Goed, party meer as ander. Ek is vies daarvoor as ek van my bergfiets afval, verlam daardeur as dit my geliefdes s’n is en hartseer wanneer dit op die pad langs die motorfietsryer poel.
Take Shelter – My best movie of 2012 and it’s only April!
When you review films, a hazard of the job is that you tend to watch quite a few of them. (Tough life, I hear all of you sigh.) You do grow slightly jaded, though. It takes a phenomenal film to raise your blood pressure, to make you forget that you are evaluating the film – …
The Hunger Games
Written for and published by www.sarie.com [image src=”http://www.reneywarrington.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-hunger-games-poster.jpg” align=”center” size=”large” width=”400″ height=”593″]
Kyss Mig – utterly romantic and undoubtingly relevant
Kiss Me (Kyss Mig) is a series of beautiful, tenderly crafted, well-acted scenes carefully strung together in a feature length film that warms the heart. And the chicks are hot! (Note to self: remove last sentence before publishing.)
Project NIM – How much have humans really evolved?
We humans can be such idiots. We can be great, we can be generous and kind, but we are mostly cruel, self-involved schmucks. In the story of NIM the chimpanzee we are especially vindictive characters. In a nutshell NIM is taken from his mother at birth. He is given to a human family to raise. ...
The Descendants – ʼn Perfekte balans tussen humor, hartseer en familie-waansin
Dit gebeur soms dat ʼn uiters vermaaklike, besonders goeie fliek ook lewensverrykend kan wees. Ek kan The Descendants nie hoog genoeg aanskryf nie. Dié rolprent vang die goeie, die slegte en die alledaagse van familielewe met deernis en wysheid vas. ʼn Moet vir elke fliekvlooi.
Buck – A subtle life lesson
Buck (short for Buckshot) Brannaman is the real horse whisperer. The oke Robert Redford phoned. What he manages to coax out of a horse never saddled or ridden before in a few minutes is astounding to the owners, onlookers and viewers of this film.
The Tillman Story – An embarrassing tale of the US government
Written for and first published by Litnet. That the US government (or any other government for that matter) covers things up and mostly gets away with it should not come as a surprise to anyone. That the US uses their cover-up to glorify their cause, to market their war, that I still find appalling.
Midnight in Paris: Nie ‘n ligsinnige romanse nie
First published on www.sarie.com. Enige iemand wat al in Parys (Frankryk, nie Vrystaat nie) was, weet watse betowering die stad inhou. Dit lê in die kanale, die nou klippaadjies, die laatnag kuiery in kafees, die Notre Dame wat soos ʼn gotiese spinnekop op ‘n eiland sit en natuurlik in die locals – die norses …
ROSA
It is just under 10minutes long, it was made by one guy, a guy with no budget whatsoever and no backers to keep happy. What bliss. It is called ROSA and it is utterly breathtaking.
50/50
Oorspronklik gepubliseer op www.sarie.com As die lewe druk, is daar mooiweersvriende wat wegsluip. 50/50 bring hulde aan die mense wat bly, aan hul ongevraagde advies, hul selfsugtige optredes, maar bowenal hul onvoorwaardelike liefde vir jou.
Gasland (2010)
When are we going to learn that if we stick crap into the earth, she’s gonna spit it out right back at us? And that we’re going to end up eating it, drinking it and bathing our children in it? Whether it is garbage in landfills, acid water eating at the foundations of Joburg or …
A Town called Panic! (2009) – A raucous, French, stop frame animation
Horse, Cowboy and Indian live on one hill. Horse is the brains of the household, Cowboy and Indian the adolescent creators of chaos. Steve, his wife, his cows and his precious tractor live on the other hill and Steve is permanently pissed off. Whether you ring his doorbell or touch his studio, I mean tractor, …
Friends with Benefits
Oorspronklik gepubliseer op www.sarie.com Friends with Benefit (FWB) gaan nie enige Oscars wen nie. Ook nie die filmindustrie ‘wiel’ herontwerp nie. Dit is wel ʼn bogemiddelde komedie, met ʼn skerp, effense onhebbelike draaiboek en twee sexy, tog uiters bekwame hoofspelers in die vorm van Mila Kunis en Justin Timberlake.
Lovely, Still (2008)
Originally published on www.litnet.co.za Lovely, Still is a gentle film utterly worth watching, but when sitting down to view it, one should know more or less nothing about the film. (Except that the performances by veterans, Ellen Burstyn, aged 79, and Martin Landau, aged 80, will steal your heart and to some extent, break it.) …
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Om ander mense se harde werk af te kraak, is ʼn tydverdryf waarvan ek wegbly. Ek hou bloot nie daarvan nie. (En as die film plaaslik is, is die kanse goed dat jy in iemand by ʼn volgende premiere raakloop wat betrokke was by die einste film en jou dan uitkyk oor hulle glas whiskey.) …
Incendies – die storie van ʼn ma
Oorspronklik gepubliseer opwww.sarie.com Ek hoop vir die dag wanneer sinnelose oorlog, die uitbuiting van vrouens en die verwoesting van kinders se onskuld, ‘ou nuus’ is. Wanneer films soos Incendies, wat eenvoudig gaan oor die liefde van ʼn ma, nie meer so broodnodig is nie. Ons is nog ver van daardie dag af, maar by films …
Skoonheid – Beautiful and brave
Originally published by www.litnet.co.za under my column Reeltime. I needed to hug someone after watching Skoonheid. One, because I was happy to have just watched the best South-African film ever made, and two, to calm my nerves. Oliver Hermanus has made a rather brilliant, but exceedingly disturbing film.
Super 8 – A highly enjoyable blockbuster
Super 8 uses a technique made famous by the mother of all alien films, Alien, and that is to never do a full frontal of the alien, to not zoom in on every fang and all the dripping gore. What you don’t see, what your own imagination comes up with is way scarier than what …
Skoonheid – Beeldskoon, maar brutaal
Oorspronklik op www.sarie.com gepubliseer. Ek wil Skoonheid graag aanbeveel. Ek wil ook nie. Dit is sonder twyfel die beste Afrikaanse/Suid-Afrikaanse film nog ooit verfilm. Dit is ook sonder twyfel, een van die ontstellendste films wat ek al gesien het, en ek is nie ʼn sensitiewe kyker nie.
The Bang Bang Club has little ‘bang’
I don’t get it. War photographers Greg, Joao, Ken and Kevin, the four original members of The Bang Bang Club, lived the kind of lives, during the violent end of apartheid, that legends and great films are made of. So why is The Bang Bang Club, the film, so boring?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
Harry Potter7 is a damn near perfect film. Whether you are a devotee to the franchise or not, Deathly Hallows: Part II is, a remarkable finale that will entertain until the last line of dialogue is spoken.
Ek joke net
Candid camera films was nog nooit ‘hogere’ kuns nie. Dit kan wel vlymskerp kritiek wees en dit moet verseker snaaks wees. Vat Borat as voorbeeld. Sacha Baron Cohen kan jou in een toneel laat lag, huil en met afgryse gevul laat terugsit. Selfs Schuster se films kwalifiseer. (Wie sal die taxi vergeet wat die luislang …
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids is not a chick flick just because there’s a lot of chicks in it! It will appeal to anyone with a slightly twisted sense of humour and a tendency toward the politically incorrect. I fitted the bill and loved every minute of it.
Jane Eyre
I love the sprawling, poetic nature of great English literature. I love Mia Wasikowska. (And don’t tell anyone, but I am a romantic at heart. Wuthering Heights, by the other Brontë,tore me up for days. Shush.) Rotten Tomatoes, my trusted benchmark, also summarises the film as follows: “Cary Fukunaga directs a fiery and elegant adaptation, …
Getroud met Rugby
Laat ek net eerstens my hand oplig en sê, ek het nog nie een episode van die reeks Getroud met Rugby gesien nie. Inderwaarheid het ek nie geweet van die reeks tot ek die film se voorprent gesien het nie. Ahem. Hier volg my resensie in elk geval.
The King’s Speech
Come on, this film could only be great. You can throw Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter in an Afrikaans play about General Christiaan de Wet that launches it at the KKNK and it would be great. Add a great director, Tom Hooper (The Damned United, Longford) to the mix and The King’s …
The Black Swan
My mother was right all along! Darren Aronofsky, the director of The Black Swan, agrees. Balance is everything. Nina tries to be the sweet, innocent girl her overprotective, smothering mother demands of her. She wears white and pink, sleeps in a frilly, pink bedroom fit for a teenager and lives only for ballet. Until the …
Eternity
I thought that with Liefling the South African film industry had hit rock bottom. I was so completely wrong. Eternity, which the creators call a ‘romantic thriller’, feels like a late night e-tv movie. Without the soft porn.
Winter’s Bone
When a film so bleak, so gut wrenchingly forlorn as Winter’s Bone, manages to tenderly lift out the resilience, and even kindness, of the human spirit, I stand in awe. At the point where the rest of us would have given up, broken down and started bawling for our mama’s, that is where the tale …
easy A
I might have to watch this film again! The script is so clever, it moves so fast, that I am sure I missed a few things! And Emma Stone’s performance is worth seeing a second time!
‘RED’ – A great Bruce Willis film
RED is cinema at its most entertaining. Half the magic lies in the perfect casting. Helen Mirren plays the aristocratic dame/assassin. Bruce Willis is the tough guy with the soft inside. Morgan Freeman is wise, John Malkovich is crazy and Mary-Louise Parker is ditsy. Need I say more?
‘Liefling’ – ‘n Lang, cheesy Afrikaanse musiekvideo
Ek is nou al ʼn week lank van koffie af en vir ʼn week lank wag ek al vir die onttrekkingsimptome om in te skop. Die verblindende hoofpyn wat halfpad deur Liefling opgedaag het, sal talle mense dan toeskryf aan die gebrek aan kafeïen. Hulle is verkeerd. Dit is die sage wat op die groot …
Unstoppable
Unstoppable was so exhilarating I just about had an asthma attack! And I am only prone to asthma when I encounter a particular little white flower in a campsite, in the middle of nowhere, late at night when my inhaler is 90km’s away.
The White Ribbon: A brilliant, but unbearable film
It does occasionally happen. I watch a film highly rated on Rotten Tomatoes and hate it! I understand why ‘White Ribbon’, the black and white German epic, is a masterpiece and deserve the rating. I am not sorry I watched it either. I still hate it.
The Damned United (FILM)
Michael Sheen played Tony Blair in The Queen, David Frost in Frost/Nixon and just to keep things interesting he shined as Lucian, the pissed off vampire, in Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. The man simply is an extraordinary actor and The Damned United gives him the vehicle to shine even further.
Eclipse (FILM)
I do not ever watch schlock such as Eclipse. Then my friend Shane asked me to watch the first one as he wanted to debate the film afterwards. As our debates are amusing as a rule I grudgingly agreed. I traipsed off to the cinema only to sit through an unbearable experience which, for weeks …
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (FILM)
With such intelligent and poignant films on offer such as The Wind that Shakes the Barley you would think that humanity grasps the futility of war. Not.
The man without a past (FILM)
If you woke up today with no name and no memory of the childhood that shaped you, the people you hurt or even the kind of person you were, who would you choose to be? Would it be a choice? Could you start over and ‘get it right’ this time around? These are the …
Zombieland: A thrill ride
‘Zombieland’ is one of the most offensive films I have ever seen. I loved it! Yes, it is filled with the obligatory zombie killing that the genre requires (and which is executed with great glee by an ass kicking Woody Harrelson), but more importantly it is side splittingly politically incorrect.
Flame & Citron (FILM)
Certainly one of the worst movie titles ever. Maybe it sounded better in the original Danish? Flammen & Citronen. Hmm, okay, it’s a little better. Don’t let a badly chosen title stop you though from watching this incredibly complex, but hugely entertaining film based on actual events.
Moon (FILM)
Moon is not a first date movie. In fact, I am not sure what kind of film Moon is. Yes, it certainly is brilliant as you never see it coming (and I normally irritate fellow movie goers by whispering to them what is coming as I always see it coming), but it is also an …
Red Cliff (FILM)
I don’t often regret not living in China. But had I lived in China when seeing ‘Red Cliff’ I would have seen the four hour version and not the 2.5 hour version edited down for Western audiences. Dammit!
Let the Right One in (FILM)
Using an innocent, lonely 12-year old girl called Eli as your villain is a stroke of genius. It mixes up the vampire genre, but more importantly sets the stage for an emotionally and ethically complex film. ‘Let the Right One in’ thus rises above the horror genre and becomes much more than avampire flick. .
After the Wedding (FILM)
I have seen many great films over the last few years. Some one-liners and plot twists have faded from memory, while some scenes and characters are still as clear as day. ‘After the Wedding’ will be a film that is utterly impossible to forget.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
George Clooney’s charm is undeniable. I went against my organic, fair trade and recycling principles to buy a darn Nespresso machine because he is the ‘Nespresso guy’. There is just no resisting him as Mr. Fox, a chicken thief gone ‘straight’ in this stop-motion animation film.
Seven Samurai, The Hurt Locker, 2 Days in Paris
There is only one advantage to having food poisoning. You are so horribly ill you can do nothing but watch movies. Yeah!
‘Hellboy II’ as the new ‘art film’ (Written for www.litnet.co.za)
Many moons ago, as the manager of a photographic gallery, I naively thought if I opened both of the gallery doors and put up the “Open” sign it would be obvious to the general public that they would be welcome. Still, they hovered at the entrance and asked permission to come in! They were intimidated …
Into Great Silence (FILM)
Voor ek wagval en my opinie lig oor hierdie dokkie, moet ek twee dinge noem:
‘Departures’ (FILM)
Only the Japanese can make a film that is both heartbreaking and uplifting, without it turning soppy. ‘Departures’ moved me to tears, but was always authentic. It celebrates life through showing a deep respect for death.
Waltz with Bashir (FILM)
Sadly not a lot of people will see this beautiful film. ‘Waltz with Bashir’ is on at Nouveau, it is a subtitled animated documentary that deals with war.
District 9 (FILM)
District 9 – 2009 (Written in English 31/08/2009) Given the runaway success of ‘District 9’, the film might just start a new trend worldwide – using the f-word with a distinctive Afrikaans/Benoni accent. Met die kappie op die ‘o’.
Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince (FILM)
Ten minutes into The Halfblood Prince I had the vague feeling that I had seen this movie before. And of course I had, because I had seen the previous five Harry Potter films. Still I hoped to be surprised, to be blown away.
Kristen Scott Thomas (RANTS)
Kristin Scott Thomas is fluent in French, lives in Paris, sees herself as French and has a thriving French film career. Who knew?
Coraline 3D (FILM)
I don’t do horror. Prison Break scares me. So did Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I’m a real sissy, I know. It is surprising, then, that I went to see Coraline when the mere trailer had me petrified. It just looked so damn incredible that I couldn’t miss it.
Gran Tarino (FILM)
Before calling Gran Tarino an endearing, incredibly funny and refreshingly un-schmaltzy film, I have to state up front that I am not at all objective when it comes to Clint Eastwood as a director. No, I simply love his movies – from Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our …
Rachel Getting Married (FILM)
What a beautifully crafted, intelligent, complicated, perfectly cast masterpiece of a film. Yes, it deserves all of that.
Doubt (FILM)
Nah, Meryl, Philip and Amy were playing it up for the Oscars. (Sorry Meryl.) Don’t get me wrong, they’re all outstanding actors, but in this film, I felt them aiming for that little statue.
Watchmen (FILM)
Watching ‘Watchmen’ is like going on holiday. You come out of the dark cinema, step into sunny Joburg and it feels like you’ve been away for a week. ‘Watchmen’ suspends your reality and sucks you into a strangely dated, 80’s world with some awesome music.
Ghost Town (FILM)
Tori Amos once said, Everything has been said, what is important is the way you say it. Ghost Town says it with intelligence, wit and well acted performances from Ricky Gervais, Greg Kinnear and the gorgeous Téa Leoni. They all shine in this toned down, authentic film about regret, setting things right and being courageous.
Gone, baby, gone (FILM)
One line at the beginning of the movie sets the tone for this incredible film. The aunt of the missing little 3-year old is trying to convince two private detectives to take the case.
Hellboy I and II (FILM)
It is all about having fun and pretends to be nothing else but a movie about a cartoon character. Hellboy is a blood red, cigar smoking, cat loving, superhero whose destiny is to ultimately open the gates of hell and destroy the earth. But for the meanwhile he kills the baddies and grinds his horns …
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (FILM)
Slow, melancholy, haunting, beautiful, powerful.
The Jane Austen Book Club (FILM)
Maria Bello will get me into hot water. Focus, focus.
Black Snake Moan (FILM)
Imagine a blonde, skinny, big eyed nymph. Go ahead, close your eyes and imagine it. Does that in any way sound like Christina Ricci? Little Wednesday from The Addams Family? No, I hear all of you say. Go watch Black Snake Moan and forever hold your peace.
Pan’s Labyrinth (FILM)
The haunting Pans Labyrinth is definitively not for the fainthearted or those with small children. It is as cruel and dark as it is beautiful. It deserves the 100% Cream of the Crop ‘tomatometer’ rating. The story is set in post-war Spain and begins with the young Ofelia and her delicately pregnant mother being …
The Transformers (FILM)
The Transformers – 2007 (Written in English 24/07/2007) Transformers? Two hot chicks and a yellow Camaro. Nice. The movie was quite funny, the special effects awesome and the soppy element bearable. The lead guy was a wimp, but we don’t care because the lead girl was tough, flawed, beautiful and did I mention hot?
Grindhouse (FILM)
Grindhouse – 2007????? (Written in English 29/06/2007) Ah! Can someone, Nu Metro or Ster Kinekor or Sol Kersner, please buy Grindhouse and release it in South Africa some time soon! I have to see Rose McGowan sporting a machine gun for a leg after the zombies chewed off the original limb! There is no …
Driving Lessons (FILM)
‘Driving Lessons’, 2006 (Written in English 06/2007) This is an intelligent and incredibly funny film. It had me in hysterics from the moment Dame Evie appeared. The film refrains from becoming clichéd or soppy by not falling into certain potholes that I can’t mention without revealing the plot. Rupert Grint, a.k.a. Ron Weasley …
(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance (FILM)
(Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance – 2005 (Written in English 04/06/2007) Lady Vengeance is a Japanese film with English subtitles and it stars no one I have ever heard of. As it scored 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, and we are working our way through their top 100, we decided to get it. It is not …