In the aftermath of Barbenheimer, it’s been a case of throwing multiple movies at cinemagoers every week. This Friday, South African movie fans have four new releases to choose from, in addition to multiple big screen music events (like André Rieu’s 2023 Maastricht Concert: Love is All Around, and a Ladysmith Black Mambazo documentary), and official screenings of the wild (and wildly creative) Johannesburg 48 Hour Film Project. Take your pick from them, and the new films below.
For your action thrills, there’s the latest collaboration between Liam Neeson and the producers of Non-Stop and The Commuter. This time around, Neeson is a Berlin-based financier forced into a race against time when, during the usual school run, he receives a phone call: there’s a bomb under his seat that will detonate unless he completes a specific series of tasks. Also with Noma Dumezweni, Embeth Davidtz and Matthew Modine.
The new movie that has snared our attention this week is horror film Cobweb, which has serious Coraline vibes. Starring Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, and Antony Starr, Cobweb sees eight-year-old Peter plagued by a mysterious, constant tap from inside his bedroom wall – which his parents dismiss as his overactive imagination. But what if Peter’s parents are hiding a terrible secret?
Think of comedy Back on the Strip as an African American The Full Monty. A broken-hearted Merlin (Spence Moore II) wants to be a Las Vegas magician, but finds himself hired as the front man of recently revived black male stripper crew, The Chocolate Chips, led by a similarly broken and broke Luther (Wesley Snipes). Also with Tiffany Haddish, JB Smoove, Faizon Love, and Kevin Hart.
For prestige biopic fans there’s Golda, which sees Helen Mirren gunning for yet another Oscar. Set during the surprise Yom Kippur War in 1973, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Mirren), faced with Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical all-male cabinet, and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber). All this with millions of lives in the balance on both sides of the conflict.