“Iewers in Suid-Afrika is daar ’n dorpie genaamd Schusterton. En soos enige ander dorpie in die land, het Schusterton ’n sekuriteitsmaatskappy wat na die veiligheid van die inwoners omsien. Daar is net twee probleme. Eerstens is Schusterton die veiligste dorp in die land waar daar min tot niks aangaan nie. Tweedens is die grootbaas tronk …
Deadloch – a crazy cracker of a show (Amazon Prime)
“When a local man turns up dead on the beach, two vastly different detectives are thrown together to solve the case, fastidious local senior sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and a rough-as-guts blow-in from Darwin, senior investigator Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) along with their overeager junior constable Abby (Nina Oyama). As the town prepares to …
Hartklop moes eerder ʼn grusame dood gesterf het
“kykNET (DStv-kanaal 144) kondig met trots aan dat die kanaal se eerste mediese drama, Hartklop, op Dinsdag 18 Julie om 20:00 begin. As jy nog altyd iets soos Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Doctor, Chicago Med of New Amsterdam in Afrikaans en binne ’n plaaslike konteks wou sien, sal dié nuwe reeks beslis jou hart vinniger …
Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande – Ag, nee man
Die lewe is te kort om na die Real Housewives van enige dorp te kyk. Mens weet mos dit is ʼn klomp straatkatte in fancy dress. Dus vermy ek die franchise met groot tevredenheid, en kom ons wees nou eerlik, ook met ʼn mate van oordeel. Die kinders sal my judgy noem. Skeel my min. …
Mrs Davis – the nun, the hot ex-boyfriend, the algorithm and the whale
“After being ousted from her convent, Sister Simone vows to destroy the one responsible: a powerful artificial intelligence known as Mrs. Davis. To exact her revenge, Simone makes a deal with the algorithm and is thrust into a dangerous world of secret societies, religious conspiracies and age-old legends as she searches for the whereabouts of …
Die Vredesduiwe – wat ʼn heerlike verrassing (KykNET)
Die fliek vertel die verhaal van ’n nuwe dominee en sy eksentrieke vrou wat amok op ’n klein dorpie maak wanneer hulle ’n sangkompetisie vir die Erfenisdag-basaar van stapel stuur. Neels van Jaarsveld en Amalia Uys is te sien as dominee en mevrou-dominee en die res van die rolverdeling sluit groot name in soos Anel …
Steinheist – good enough
The biggest corporate scandal in South African history, the fall of Steinhoff led to a loss of R200 billion. Steinheist untangles the story: the investors who were taken in; the victims and the CEO, Markus Jooste, who’s still a free man.
Slow Horses – how utterly thrilling
“Following a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents — and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb — as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.” Rotten Tomatoes
Phoenix Rising – The devil in heels (ON SHOWMAX)
“PHOENIX RISING follows actress and activist Evan Rachel Wood as she takes her experience as a survivor of domestic violence to pursue justice, heal generational wounds, and reclaim her story. Almost a decade after escaping a dangerous relationship, Wood co-authors and successfully lobbies for passage of The Phoenix Act, legislation that extends the statute of …
Recipes for Love and Murder
When a woman seeking advice about an abusive husband is found dead, recipe advice columnist Tannie Maria, and her colleague, rookie journalist Jessie, spring into action, determined to solve this small town Karoo murder and catch the killer. Big city cop Khaya and his team of local police officers always find themselves just slightly behind …
Ozark – Why, why, why?
Ozark – Why, why why? “…this drama series stars Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde, a financial planner who relocates his family from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Ozarks. With wife Wendy and their two kids in tow, Marty is on the move after a money-laundering scheme goes wrong, forcing him to pay …
Anxious people – what a delight
“A bank robber holds open house attendees hostage, then vanishes, leaving police baffled.” Rotten Tomatoes
Yellowjackets – Meh
“Yellowjackets” tells the narrative of a team of wildly talented high-school girls soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they have attempted to piece back together. Rotten Tomatoes
Troukoors – Goed vir ʼn plaaslike reeks…
“In this sexy Afrikaans comedy, a freak accident sets a wedding planner on an unexpected path. Together with her friends she navigates life and love while wondering if the perfect person, and day, really exists.”
Klein Karoo 2 – Waar was die hekwagters?
ʼn Werklike suksesvolle komedie is soos ʼn goeie jazz vertoning. Die tydsberekening, die melodie, die saamvloei van instrumente en verskillende stemme, dit als volg hul eie patroon. Jy moet improviseer en laat waai, maar tog al die parte in ʼn soomlose geheel saamvleg.
Doom Patrol S3 – Your favourite jersey
“Doom Patrol — part support group, part superhero team — is a band of superpowered freaks fighting for a world that wants nothing to do with them.” Rotten Tomatoes
MAID – Shades of grey
“Single mother Alex turns to housecleaning to make ends meet as she escapes an abusive relationship and overcomes homelessness to create a better life for her daughter, Maddy.” Rotten Tomatoes
The Chestnut Man – damn good Scandi-noir
A figurine made of chestnuts is found at the scene of a grisly murder; from this creepy clue, two detectives hunt for a killer linked to a politician’s missing child. Rotten Tomatoes
The good lord bird – equal parts comedy, beauty and tragedy
Based on the award-winning novel by author James McBride, “The Good Lord Bird” is told from the perspective of Henry “Little Onion” Shackleford, a newly freed teenager who joins abolitionist John Brown on a holy crusade to end slavery. Onion encounters Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, and he finds himself as a part of the …
Katla – when we hold on too long
“…Nordic noir represents the bleakest of the bleak, often centering on brutal crimes tinged with shocking violence. The tales invariably feature protagonists who, while possessing a generally ferocious sense of justice, are nonetheless tortured, brooding, and generally introspective. The settings, whether city streets or remote villages, are desolate and harsh. Combine these elements with densely …
Paardebloem – ‘n reuse verrassing
’n Weduwee besef sy is swanger en op haar ouderdom word sy gedwing om alles in haar lewe te heroorweeg… Dit is deel van kykNET se Storiefilmprojek van 50 TV-rolprente van sowat 50 minute elk, wat reeds in Desember begin het.
The White tiger
What it is about “Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to successful entrepreneur in modern India. Cunning and ambitious, our young hero jockeys his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra-Jonas), who have just returned from America. Society has trained Balram …
Lupin
As much as I love ground-breaking and edgy series such as The Handmaid’s Tale or Sharp Objects, a good old fashioned crime caper is nothing to be sneezed at. Lupin is popcorn entertainment at its best, pure escapism with a good dose of French panache.
Pretend it’s a city
What a treat to hear someone speak, someone unencumbered by today’s worries, political correctness and Twitterati mob opinions. It made me hark back to school debate clubs, because I swear even at 18 years old, we were having far more constructive debates than what is currently unfolding on social media. Imagine having to debate both …
4 Mure, episode 1
Soos na die 1918 griep, voorspel slim mense dat ons na Covid-19, ook ʼn ‘roaring twenties’ fase gaan inbeweeg – musiek, boeke, kuns, films, seksuele avonture, gaan als blom. Terwyl ons wag vir dié groot opskop, braai ons alleen en Showmax ons alleen. Gelukkig is daar vrek goeie geselskap in die vorm van 4 Mure.
Kiss the ground – is there hope?
Activists, scientists, farmers and politicians turn to regenerative agriculture to save the planet’s topsoil.
Ekstra medium – ekstra lekker
‘n Man wat ‘n wielietjietas deur ‘n verlate veld in die industriële gebied sleep, is nie ‘n tipiese opening vir ‘n televisiereeks nie. Dat hy boonop ‘n discobal onder die arm dra, is egter die eerste wenk dat jy nou in Beer Adriaanse en Retief Scholtz se wêreld is. En die klimaat daar lyk matig, …
Teenage bounty hunters – an unexpected oddity
Rebelling against their buttoned-up Southern community, 16-year-old fraternal twin sisters Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini) Wesley team up with veteran bounty hunter Bowser Jenkins (Kadeem Hardison) for an over-the-top adventure as they dive into the world of bail-skipping baddies and suburban secrets while trying to navigate high school drama – love, sex …
Lovecraft Country came out of leftfield
Atticus Black, a young black man, joins his friend and uncle on a road trip in the 1950s to find his missing father. Buckle your seatbelt for this new HBO show. Lovecraft country is wholly unpredictable and quite crazy at times, but it carries an emotional weight that keeps all of its almost-conflicting elements together. It is ...
I was not supposed to enjoy Cursed
Cursed is a re-imagination of the Arthurian legend, told through the eyes of Nimue, a young woman with a mysterious gift who is destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake. After her mother’s death, she finds an unexpected partner in Arthur, a humble mercenary, in a quest to find Merlin and deliver ...
The old guard – a bit lacklustre
Led by a warrior named Andy (Charlize Theron), a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries. But when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to Andy and Nile (KiKi ...
Netflix Originals Series, a way to travel the world
Irrespective of whether you love or hate Netflix, one cannot argue that the company completely changed the face of television. Especially in countries such as South Africa, where we had to wait months for M-Net to bring international series to our screens (let us not even mention the evil that is dubbed TV of the 1980s) …
Lockdown: Streaming content, part 2
Most of us are under lockdown and turning to online entertainment. Some nights, I don’t even know what to watch, and I write about film and series for a living. So, I thought it would help for me to sift through the jumble by compiling a list of every title that a) I have ever ...
Lockdown: Streaming content, part 1
Most of us are under lockdown and turning to online entertainment. Some nights I don’t even know what to watch, and I write about film and series for a living. So, I thought it would help sift through the jumble, to compile a list of every title that a) I have ever reviewed positively and …
Westworld: “New gods are coming, and they are very angry”
Obviously, everyone knows Westworld season two was a perplexing mess of gorgeous imagery, remarkable acting and relevant commentary, but good lord, a haphazard plot that was all over the place. I could not keep track of who was a host, who was not, or who was a crook and who was a cowboy. In contrast, season one …
Queen Sono – an uneven mess
For about two minutes I was seduced by Queen Sono’s incredible cinematography, vibrant colour treatment, fresh styling, beautiful people and director, Kagiso Lediga’s love letter to Joburg, and Africa. Then it all came crashing down. The dialogue is peppered with corny Hollywood one-liners (I’ve got this! Let’s go get’em!), rather sexist tropes (If you’re going …
Rolling thunder revue, a Bob Dylan story by Martin Scorsese on Netflix
Rolling thunder revue: a Bob Dylan story by Martin Scorsese captures the troubled spirit of America in 1975 and the joyous music that Dylan performed during the fall of that year. Part documentary, part concert film, part fever dream, Rolling thunder is a one-of-a-kind experience from master filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
Game of Thrones se finale seisoen – ewe veel pyn en plesier
Dit was ’n onbegonne taak vir die arme skrywers van seisoen 8, om aan miljoene (fanatiese) bewonderaars se verwagtinge te voldoen, om al die moord en geweld en intrige in seisoene 1 tot 7 te regverdig, en om die beste TV-reeks van die 21ste eeu netjies af te rond. Ek is seker daar was baie …
Die Spreeus – as dit maar net scary was
Die Spreeus is ’n bonatuurlike rillerreeks waarin twee onverskrokke speurders van die Spreeus-ondersoekeenheid – Bas Koorts en Beatrice Mack – elke week ’n ander verskynsel ondersoek en misdaad se spoor tot in ander wêrelde volg.
Still Breathing
“A deeply moving drama series about a group of old friends who have drifted apart as they have grown older. They are brought together when tragedy strikes.”
2019: Réney Warrington’s TV series highlights
Who raised the bar on television shows to the crazy, brilliant level it is today? Was it Netflix with House of cards? Or HBO with True blood or Game of thrones? Hulu with The handmaid’s tale? I cannot definitively say. I do know this: there were so many brilliant series in 2019, that I could only watch half of them …
The OA Part II – hold onto your faculties
The “mind-bending” story returns with The OA Part II, which follows OA as she navigates a new dimension, one in which she had a completely different life as a Russian heiress, and one in which she once again finds herself as Hap’s captive. Part II introduces Karim Washington, a private detective tasked with finding a …
Shadow – macho lite
Haunted by a tragic loss, an ex-cop with a rare inability to feel pain strikes out on his own to catch offenders who’ve eluded Johannesburg police.
Zog: simply magical
A keen but accident-prone dragon learns how to become a dragon at Dragon School.
Dwaalster: vermaaklik, maar te veilig
Dwaalster voel bekend; soos jou gunstelingkoffiewinkel of -trui. Dit is Afrikaans, dit speel af in die Karoo en bevat van ons gunstelingakteurs. Dit is hoekom ek dit begin kyk het, maar ook hoekom ek na episode sewe belangstelling verloor het.
The Umbrella Academy – what fun!
Rotten Tomatoes gives this series only 73% and summarises it as follows: The Umbrella Academy unfurls an imaginative yarn with furtive emotion and an exceptionally compelling ensemble, but the series’ dour sensibility often clashes with its splashy genre trappings. Clashes with its splashy genre trappings? Give me a fucking break.
The girl from St Agnes – a soap-style murder without any mystery
Full disclosure: this review is based on two episodes and not the whole series. For a whodunnit to be spellbinding, you need to deeply care about the characters – the deceased and the living. Their lives and heartache must to be real. That means a) your actors must deliver and b) the script must be …
2018: Top shows on Netflix and Showmax
With Tali’s wedding diary, Showmax beat Netflix in commissioning the first original South African series. In fact, Showmax’s second original South African series, The girl from Saint Agnes, will air end of January.