Over time, the South African dramas I’ve seen are well-crafted stories that are thought-provoking and have compelling characters. With series like Queen Sono, Blood and Water, Jiva and many others, I’d always go into any of their dramas with high hopes. The latest South African Netflix series, Savage Beauty, is no different. The six-episode drama is a story of revenge, betrayal, and power. It revolves around Zinhle (Rosemary Zimu), a young woman with a troubled past, a burden that she and her siblings share. Her arduous past tracks back to the CEO of a worldwide beauty brand, Don Bhengu (Dumisani…
Author: Fridous Adetutu
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In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the 2021 series Loki shed little light on the multiverse. At the same time, Spider-Man: No Way Home depicted the unknown catastrophe that could descend with the multiverse. In No Way Home, we saw how three iterations of Spider-Man and its villains from another dimension came crashing into Peter’s (Tom Holland) life because Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) cast a wrong spell. After the mayhem the multiverse caused in No Way Home, Strange once again gets dragged into the realm of the complex multiverse in The Multiverse of Madness. Strange encounters a mysterious girl, America Chavez…
Omar Sy moves from a jeweller thief in Lupin to a law-and-order figure in The Takedown, a buddy cop movie about two officers on a flight to take down a criminal group. The Netflix comedy is directed by Louis Letterier (Now You See Me) and is a sequel to 2012’s On the Other Side of the Tracks, which also starred Omar Sy. The Takedown ties two mismatched cops in a gruesome murder that starts with the search for a missing torso. The two cops, Ousmane Diakhite (Omar Sy) and Francois Monge (Laurent Lafitte), who were already acquainted with each other…
On January 25, 1980, three apartheid freedom fighters, Stephen Lakoko, Humphrey Makhubo and Wilfred Madela, were on their way to carry out a planned sabotage mission when they realised their cover had been blown. In an attempt to flee from the police officers, they sought refuge in a bank and held 25 civilians hostage. During this precarious situation, they made three demands: “a meeting with State President Vorster, the release of Nelson Mandela and a man called Mange, as well as R100 000 in cash and an aircraft to fly them to Maputo.” Eventually, the police stormed the bank and…
Director Biodun Stephen (Aki and Pawpaw) is not a new name in the industry and it is candid to say she is gradually making her mark. One of our best Nollywood movies in 2021 was Breaded Life, starring Timni Egbuson and Bimbo Ademoye in a convincing story that showed she’s someone that has interesting humans stories to tell. Her 2022 film, A Simple Lie, is simply a reminder of how a facetious remark and desperate act can lead to a number of unforeseen catastrophes with a profound aftermath. A Simple Lie stars Bisola Aiyeola (This Lady Called Life) who plays…
Netflix’s regency romance series, Bridgerton, based on the novels by Julia Quinn return on screen with new faces and more drama. With the exit of Regé-Jean Page, who played the Duke of Hastings in the first season, and the brief appearance of Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor) in the second season, the sophomore season doesn’t present anything striking. Since each season is set to focus on one of the eight Bridgertons, the newly released season mainly focuses on Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and sheds little light on his feisty younger sister, Eloise (Claudia Jessie). In this new season of the Shondaland series;…
This year’s Academy Awards ceremony was presented by Wanda Sykes, Regina Hall and Amy Schumer in a night one would describe as that of “fire and ice”. Last year’s Oscars was dominated by Nomadland which won Best Picture, Best Actress (Frances McDormand) and Best Director (Chloe Zhao) but this year’s biggest winner is Dune which bagged six awards. The Power of the Dog won only from the Directing category even though it dominated multiple categories. However, the 94th Academy Awards ceremony was overshadowed by an altercation between this year’s Oscar Best Actor, Will Smith and Chris Rock, which ensued because…
Time travel movies have been around for ages and it is not just about traveling back in time to portray just the science aspect of that world, but mostly to right wrongs in the past or future. It is that fantasy that is used in sci-fi movies to bend reality and create interesting insights that drive humans to believe the impossible. Even with the unrealistic theme, there have been great time travel movies like Back to the Future, Terminator, Planet of the Apes, Edge of Tomorrow and many others which have made time travel an astonishing aspect of sci-fi. ‘The…
People love cute love stories and even if you are not a fan of rom-coms, a good love story could just strike the right chord. After the recent release of Dinner at My Place, Nollywood brings yet another rom-com, Cake; a title that calls for curiosity or better yet awakens one’s craving for cake. Directed by Prosper Edesiri, Cake follows the story of a young baker, Tomiwa (Tope Tedela) who hopes to find a wife so that he can fulfil the wish of his deceased mother. Apparently, his mother told him his bakery will bring him love and it does.…
Cinephiles have to put up with endless remakes, reboots, sequels and prequels and yet another remake, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, has joined the long list. After nine movies about the murderous Leatherface who kills his victims in the most gruesome way, David Blue Garcia deemed it fit to add his own Leatherface story to the Chainsaw franchise. The story begins when Melody (Sarah Yarkin); her sister, Lila (Elsie Fisher) and their friends; Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson) buy a small town in the middle of nowhere in Harlow, Texas with the plan to auction it off and turn it…