Honestly, when it comes to big screen offerings, the coming few days feel like a stronger extended holiday weekend at South African cinemas than the Easter break. On top of the feature debuts below, you can also check out Bollywood romantic comedy Ginny Wedss Sunny 2, and, depending on where you are, the Throwback Cinema return of Pixar’s Up and holiday season classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Next week also sees special ladies’ night screenings of The Devil Wears Prada 2 before the film’s wide release.
Michael absolutely is one of those movies you need to watch on the biggest screen possible. This blockbuster biopic tackles the rise to solo stardom of “King of Pop” Michael Jackson, when he broke free of the Jackson Five and started making the music he wanted. Jackson’s own nephew Jaafar Jackson plays the singer, while other notables in the cast are Colman Domingo and Nia Long as parents Joe and Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as lawyer and manager John Branca.
Just don’t expect Michael to be critical of the music icon. With all controversy side-stepped, this seems to be pure crowd-pleasing stuff, with Bohemian Rhapsody’s Graham King producing, Gladiator’s John Logan writing and The Equalizer’s Antoine Fuqua directing. For the record, the film was made in cooperation with the Jackson estate but not all members of the family.
Look out for our Michael review soon.
Mother Mary should be your first choice for the weekend if you’re in the mood for a visually striking psychological thriller… also with a concert music theme. Anne Hathaway stars as a pop star who turns to her former best friend (Michaela Coel), a costume designer, in the lead-up to her big comeback tour. But success comes with a disturbing, potentially supernatural price. Also with Hunter Schafer, and the song-writing contributions of FKA Twigs and Charli XCX, while The Green Knight’s David Lowery directs.
Russian animated adventure Cats in the Museum gets a sequel in the form of Cats in the Museum 2: Treasures of Egypt. Set two years after the events of the original, mouse Maurice and cats Vincent and Cleopatra, now with two naughty kittens in tow, make the trek from Europe to Egypt, intent on finding a Genie who grants one wish once every thousand years. Their quest will take them into the depths of the pyramids, and of course there are rivals on their tail.