Considering the midyear blockbuster season is past, it’s a very busy weekend at the movies. Along with the four new feature films profiled below, the 13th European Film Festival is under way, running in Johannesburg, Cape Town, PE and Durban until 27 September; 90s favourite Matilda is your latest Throwback rerelease; and two Bollywood actioners arrive in the form of Vibe, and Daayra.
Technically we shouldn’t even be watching Coyote vs. Acme. Despite the movie being complete, Warner Bros. initially shelved the hybrid live-action-and-animation comedy as a tax write-off. Bowing to public pressure, though, the studio eventually put the distribution rights out to sale, with Ketchup Entertainment stepping up. So here we have Wile E. Coyote hiring Will Forte’s underdog lawyer to sue the Acme Corporation for faulty products, opening the door to a much larger cospiracy. Expect all your favourite Looney Tunes characters to appear alongside the likes of Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán and John Cena.
Braveheart fans, take note. Bourne franchise veteran Paul Greengrass, who also helmed Captain Phillips, United 93 and last year’s The Lost Bus, writes and directs The Uprising, hopefully injecting some gritty resonance into this historical drama inspired by real-life events. In 1381, with England coming to terms with the effects of the Black Death, the corrupt council of adolescent Richard II imposes a crippling tax on the commoners, skipping the politically powerful Church and Merchant class. Pushed to breaking point, Andrew Garfield’s Ploughman rebels, triggering the Peasants’ Revolt – an uprising that was to echo though history.
How do you even begin to describe Sacrifice, apart for all-star? Coming from sought-after music video director Romain Gavras, Sacrifice is officially classified as an action adventure comedy. Chris Evans plays a struggling movie star, in the middle of an existential crisis, trying to stage a comeback. That is until he’s taken hostage at a charity event by Anya Taylor-Joy’s radical eco-terrorist, and her followers. Their belief? Our hero needs to be sacrificed to appease a famished volcanic deity, or the world will end. Also with Vincent Cassel, Salma Hayek, Charli XCX, and John Malkovich.
Screening in Afrikaans with English subtitles is South African fantasy adventure Silas en die Ysbeer op Tafelberg (AKA Silas and the Polar Bear on Table Mountain). After the sudden death of his beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Capetonian Silas (Neels Junior Clasen) sets out to find her, adamant that she’s in Dreamland – a magical realm she introduced him to. Silas is joined by on his quest by fearless neighbour Willemien (Luna Coetzer), and a strange creature named Brommel (Beer Adriaanse), while the band soon realises that they’re being hunted by a ferocious polar bear. Directed by Zandré Coetzer.