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Spud 3: Learning to Fly [ Hits:6583 ]
Review: Spud 3: Learning to Fly is the third part of the popular series of boarding school misadventures by John Van De Ruit. The film sees many actors reprise their roles, including stars Troye Sivan as John "Spud" Milton and John Cleese as "The Guv". As if having three Johns wasn't enough, they've gone and added another with director John Barker picking up the series after Donovan Marsh directed Spud and Spud 2: The Madness Continues. It's 1992 and our reluctant hero, Spud Milton, returns to school a...

Spud [ 2010 ] [ Hits:20067 ]
Review: John Van De Ruit's character, John Spud Milton has become the South African equivalent of Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole. Both characters are at that age when puberty is starting to kick in, physical changes are bound to create some form of clumsy embarrassment and life is only really beginning. These are the formative years and yet we somehow get a burst of nostalgia by suffering their crisis of identity, their painful pubescent years and seem to "get" where they're coming from... no wonder their e...

The Switch [ 2010 ] [ Hits:21610 ]
Review: The Switch is not what you're expecting. Whenever someone starts sloshing a cup of sperm around, everyone immediately flashes back to There's Something About Mary with Ben Stiller's vanishing sperm act and Cameron Diaz's extra hold "hair gel". Yes, there is a masturbation scene... and no, you don't get to see Jason Bateman yanking the proverbial plank. They pan past an opaque glass window as he grabs a magazine with attractive, blonde morning show host, Diane Sawyer on the cover. Subtle is the ...

Toni Erdmann [ Hits:4272 ]
Review: Toni Erdmann is an unconventional comedy drama written and directed by Maren Ade, portraying a father desperately trying to patch things up with his estranged daughter. A practical joker with a fake teeth and wig disguise that recalls early Leon Schuster pranks, Winfried tries to reconnect with his hard-working daughter, Ines, by resorting to his outrageous alter ego, Toni Erdmann. From retired "slacker" to business coach, Winfried's attempts to win his daughter over go from nuisance to social t...

Van Der Merwe [ Hits:12842 ]
Review: Van der Merwe is a common Afrikaans surname that has become synonymous with a stereotypical Afrikaans character, usually a farmer named Koos, who has become the butt of a lineage of South African jokes dating back over 50 years. Decidedly "doff" and larger-than-life, van der Merwe jokes essentially took a similar stance to dumb blonde jokes, targetting a stereotype to berate and poke fun. Typically juvenile, ranging from one-liners to tall stories and dished out in English with a thick Afrikaans...

Maggie's Plan [ Hits:4391 ]
Review: Maggie's Plan is directed by Rebecca Miller, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was Woody Allen's latest romance comedy drama. The New York setting, the quirky dialogue, the excitable performances and the many shades of love make it comparable with this filmmaker. Even the calibre of the cast makes you think that this could only be Woody Allen, but it's not. Maggie's Plan is like a blend of Before Sunrise, What Maisie Knew and Mistress America. While Miller may be tipping the hat to the veter...

Mr. Right [ Hits:4482 ]
Review: "The perfect guy is out there waiting for me." While this dreamy sentiment tends to evaporate the closer some woman and men get to their 40s, it still seems to be one of the most popular romantic comedy building blocks in Hollywood. Wishing and waiting for that special somebody to fall into your lap or sweep you up off your feet has continued to be a great source of entertainment for the lovers and haters of this cliche-riddled notion of love. Perhaps the airy-fairy idea, which generally involve...

Everybody Wants Some [ Hits:4320 ]
Review: Slacker was one of Richard Linklater's first feature films, which roamed Austin, Texas as a day in the life of social misfits, outcasts and oddballs played out. With no discernible plot, this set in motion self-taught writer-director Richard Linklater's appetite for rambling films with colourful characters. In 1993, he did it again with Dazed and Confused, which followed the adventures of high school and junior high students on the last day of school in May 1976. The nostalgic music, meandering ...

Hail, Caesar! [ Hits:4515 ]
Review: Hail, Caesar! is an oxymoronic post card from the Coen brothers. On the one hand, it's a light-hearted, madcap, send-up of the Golden era Hollywood of the '50s. Then on the other hand... or wing, it's also a comic behind-the-curtain examination of studio politics as Capitalist America tried to subvert any hint of Communist ideology in mainstream media. While the Coen brothers have had their share of serious films, Hail, Caesar! is a return to unapologetic silliness. Although, you get the impres...

Daddy's Home [ Hits:4427 ]
Review: Daddy's Home is a versus comedy that pits Will Ferrell against Mark Wahlberg, who previously co-starred in the hilarious The Other Guys. While the first half of The Other Guys was comedy gold, the second half was a bit of a letdown, which is probably how you'd describe Daddy's Home. This is a domestic yarn about a stepdad, who gets sideswiped by his wife's first husband, who swoops in to take a shot at winning his family back. As you'd expect there's a lot of headbutting as the flashy biologica...

The Jakes Are Missing [ Hits:4466 ]
Review: The Jakes Are Missing isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, it's trying to be a crime comedy caper with a South African flavour and Hollywood values. We're introduced to the Jakes, a South African family with more than one parallel to the Banks family of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Their son is neither Carlton nor Will, but manages to stumble his way into a crime scene, before necessitating their enrolment in a witness protection programme. The pictureque town of Clarens becomes the backdrop...

Schuks! Pay Back the Money! [ Hits:4130 ]
Review: South Africa's most famous prankster is at it again in Schuks! Pay Back the Money! While the cheap movie trailer lowers expectations, the actual film isn't quite as bad... making a reasonable flipside to Schuks! Your Country Needs You. While we thought comedian, Rob Van Vuuren, was being groomed to become "son of Schuster", giving longtime companion Alfred "Shorty" Ntombela, a run for his money - neither return for Schuks! Pay Back the Money! Instead Schuster is essentially flying solo, play...

Hit Team [ Hits:4547 ]
Review: Hit Team is a dark comedy caper from director Mark Newton. The film follows the misadventures of an odd couple hit team, who are sent to Los Angeles to kill six people in one day. They find themselves being hunted by their Las Vegas mob boss and his goons after they miss a hit. Nothing is serious or revered in the world of the ridiculous and somewhat distasteful Hit Team. This low budget hit man flick hurtles along at a quick pace with high-energy performances. It's like one of those short...

While We're Young [ Hits:4136 ]
Review: While We're Young is a film by Noah Baumbach, the writer-director who brought us The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding, Frances Ha and Greenberg, which also starred Ben Stiller. Baumbach's got an unconventional approach, tending towards comedy dramas and the uncomfortable "dramedy" genre, delivering honest, humorous, heartfelt and meaningful films about complex people and the human condition. His latest film, While We're Young, encounters concerns faced by modern society about the over...

Hollywood in my Huis [ Hits:4237 ]
Review: Hollywood in my Huis is a South African romantic comedy about a wallflower, living in an impoverished railway neighbourhood, who tries to devise the perfect matric prom. It's part She's All That, part Bakgat! and part Juno with a strong Cinderella undercurrent. The She's All That element is from our central character's aspiration to look like Charlize Theron at the 2004 Oscars. She's trying to sew an Oscar-worthy dress together in an attempt to dazzle her peers, going from wallflower to Prom Qu...

Get Hard [ Hits:4019 ]
Review: Will Ferrell is a comedy kingpin. His over-the-top, loud, brash, incredibly manly, irreverently funny trademark comedy has become his empire, racking up a series of memorable performances and characters in the process. Does he have a comedy equal? Just like Ron Burgundy, he'd probably tell you "no", but that hasn't stopped him from forming successful "laughnerships" with a range of actors including: Jon Heder, Mark Wahlberg, Zach Galifianakis and reliable sidekick Jon C. Reilly. His latest film...

Strikdas [ Hits:4510 ]
Review: Strikdas is a quirky South African romantic comedy, which has been punted as a family film. The story follows Willemien, a college student, whose life is turned upside down when she brings, Vossie, an eccentric bow tie wearing friend, home to meet her parents. It's a lot of silly fun with Kaz McFadden undertaking a similar offbeat character to Johnny Depp in Benny and Joon, opposite Leandie du Randt as an elegant "boeremeisie". Their chemistry is opposites attract, which works in a buddy comedy...

Danny Collins [ Hits:4087 ]
Review: Danny Collins stars Al Pacino in the titular role as an aging rock star, who decides to change his life when he discovers a 40-year old letter written to him by John Lennon. The film is written and directed by Dan Fogelman, best known as the screenwriter behind Last Vegas, The Guilt Trip and Crazy, Stupid, Love. Fogelman knows how to get a laugh, pull a heart string and entertain an audience. His latest film proves he can do that from the director's chair, creating a number of parallels for Al ...

The Longest Week [ Hits:3757 ]
Review: The Longest Week is one of those movies that is so caught up in trying to be something it's not, that it loses its audience in the process. This is the work of Peter Glanz, whose admiration for Woody Allen and Wes Anderson have turned into the unwanted love child that is The Longest Week. The story follows the affluent and aimless Conrad Valmont (Bateman), whose wealthy estranged parents left his upbringing to the hotel staff. In the space of a week, he's disinherited, evicted from his life of ...

Horrible Bosses 2 [ Hits:3976 ]
Review: Horrible Bosses was dark, reasonably funny and featured a stellar cast. It was a vent for frustrated employees who wanted to see the little guy take revenge and served its purpose as a comedic stab at interoffice politics. The Office Space style scenario had its quirks and picked up some fans along the way, but no one was really lobbying for a sequel. While uncalled for, the sequel reinvigorates the concept by giving the liberated employees a chance to be their own horrible bosses. Nick, Kurt a...

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