New in South African cinemas this weekend: four new feature releases, plus three-hour concert recording Stray Kids World Tour Live Viewing on Saturday, 7 November only.
Our pick of the week is Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to 2023’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One. In this Japanese kaiju epic, it’s 1949 and two years have passed since humanity managed to neutralise the post-WWII threat of Godzilla. However, just as former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and his family feel like they’ve recovered from the disaster, a monstrous new threat strikes, threatening to push Japan into minus territory once more. Takashi Yamazaki is back writing and directing what is being heralded, like its predecessor, as one of the best blockbusters of the year.
Along with the release of Tamil movie Scene, also out for the Diwali holiday is mythological epic Ramayana: Rise of a Legend, screening in Tamil and Hindi with English subtitles, and specially shot for IMAX. No doubt hungry for similar success to The Odyssey, Ramayana: Rise of a Legend (or Ramayana: Part 1) is based on the poem by Valmiki, which dates back to 8th Century BCE. In it, Prince Rama (Ranbir Kapoor), an avatar of Vishnu, turns his exile into a quest to defeat all-powerful demon king Ravana (Yash). Lined up as a two-parter, Ramayana is the most expensive Indian film ever made.
Acclaimed writer-director Martin McDonagh is adding another movie to a prestigious filmography that already includes In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and The Banshees of Inisherin. In comedy thriller Wild Horse Nine, John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play CIA agents dispatched by their boss (Steve Buscemi) to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup. Far away from capital Santiago, these longtime partners nonetheless find themselves embroiled in conspiracies and student rebellions.
If you’re in the market for a more conventional movie experience, actioner Ghost Soldier ticks that box. In Punisher/Rambo mode, Jim Caviezel plays Henry “Fitz” Fitzgerald, a former Green Beret and advanced weapons developer who lives off the grid in Wyoming. His quiet existence is upended, though, when an asset management company starts violently forcing Fitz’s neighbours off their land to claim it and the water resources it contains. Fitz must step up as a one-man army against corporate tyranny. Also with familiar faces Olivia Thirlby, Shea Whigham and Jaina Lee Ortiz.