In this one we fast forward to the 1980s as Wonder Woman’s next big screen adventure finds her facing two all-new foes: Max Lord and The Cheetah. With director Patty Jenkins back at the helm and Gal Gadot returning in the title role, “Wonder Woman 1984” is Warner Bros. Pictures’ follow up to the DC Super Hero’s first outing, 2017’s record-breaking “Wonder Woman,” which took in $822 million at the worldwide box office.  The film also stars Chris Pine as Steve Trevor, Kristen Wiig as The Cheetah, Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, Robin Wright as Antiope, and Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta.

Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder, Patty Jenkins, Gal Gadot and Stephen Jones are producing the film. Rebecca Steel Roven Oakley, Richard Suckle, Marianne Jenkins, Geoff Johns, Walter Hamada, Chantal Nong Vo and Wesley Coller are the executive producers. 

Patty Jenkins directed from a screenplay she wrote with Geoff Johns & David Callaham, story by Jenkins & Johns, based on characters from DC.  Joining the director behind the scenes are several members of her “Wonder Woman” team, including director of photography Matthew Jensen, Oscar-nominated production designer Aline Bonetto (“Amélie”), and Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (“Topsy-Turvy”).  Oscar-nominated editor Richard Pearson (“United 93”) is cutting the film.  The music is by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer (“Dunkirk,” “The Lion King”).

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents an Atlas Entertainment/Stone Quarry Production, a Patty Jenkins Film, “Wonder Woman 1984.” It’s set to open in cinemas beginning 16 December 2020, and will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. We’re amped, let’s go!

• The film is inspired by the comic series Birds of Prey which was originally published by DC Comics in 1996.
• Black Canary and Huntress have been core members of the team throughout the series.
• Renee Montoya is a more recent addition to Birds of Prey comics; the character originated in the TV realm.
• While Harley Quinn has appeared in the comics from time to time, to date she has never been a part of the team. That will change this year as DC Comics writes her into the series in issues releasing later this year.
• All of the characters featured in the film (i.e., Harley, Canary, Huntress, Renee, Cassandra Cain, as well as the film’s villains Roman Sionis/aka Black Mask and Zsasz) are part of the Batman comic universe.
• According to comic lore, Cassandra Cain becomes Batgirl, but this is never alluded to in the film.

You ever hear the one about the cop, the songbird, the psycho and the mafia princess? “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” is a twisted tale told by Harley herself, as only Harley can tell it. When Gotham’s most nefariously narcissistic villain, Roman Sionis, and his zealous right-hand, Zsasz, put a target on a young girl named Cass, the city is turned upside down looking for her. Harley, Huntress, Black Canary and Renee Montoya’s paths collide, and the unlikely foursome have no choice but to team up to take Roman down.

Loaded with fun, dark and twisted humour that cheekily skewers pop culture archetypes and an action-packed roller coaster ride – Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the origin story of the most unlikely girl gang. Infused throughout with a bold, subversive, sometimes surreal tone and over-the-top outrageousness – Birds of Prey turns the superhero genre inside out – delivering a strong message of empowerment via Harley’s particular brand of anarchic joie de vivre.

It is yet another shining light in DC Comics’ continued rise with this easily and possibly being their best movie yet, at least we think so. There’s literally nothing like the Harley Quinn character out there (except for maybe a certain Deadpool) and the uniqueness of it is what sets not only the character but also this movie apart from the rest of what we’ve seen in a live action comic book based movie. Birds of Prey is a thrilling ride full of fun, quirkiness, fantastic action and fighting scenes with a ridiculousness that is quite engaging and charming.

Built for the character perfectly, Margot Robbie was born to play this character and she brings one of the greatest and unassuming comic book villains to life in the most effective way possible. The supporting cast also does a fantastic job in making the whole package what it is with Ewan McGregor delivering an expertly done and humorous rendition of the Black Mask character, the villain of the movie. As you can tell we don’t have anything bad to say about this one because there really isn’t anything bad to mention.

The above should be enough to convince you to make a date to go see this one and if it wasn’t clear then, well, DO IT. In cinemas officially from today, Birds of Prey is a great way to kickstart the year, we reckon it will take some beating and is easily our fave and leading movie in 2020. DC has the best comic book characters and not only are they starting to get it right but they’re doing so by telling their villains stories (this being another great example) which is by far their greatest asset. Well played DC folk, Birds of Prey gets a fantabulous 8.5 out of 10 rating from us.  

Our thanks to Empire Entertainment for the great screening. 

Cast – Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz & Frances Conroy

Director – Todd Phillips

Genre – Drama/Thriller

Running Time – 2h 2m

We had mentioned earlier on in our preview that it had all the right ingredients to be a memorable classic, now having seen it, we were right on the money with that assumption. Beautifully crafted with an intense underlining throughout, Joker is unique and will live long in the memory mainly because of the fact that it’s one of the few origin story based on a villain instead of the usual superhero premise. It is excellently executed and Todd Phillips (the director) should be applauded for this majestic piece of movie making.

Attempting something that has never been done before (creating an origin story) and using one of the greatest villains in comic book history was always going to be risky but if ever it was going to be done then this is how. The movie dives into the haunting downfall of Joaquin Phoenix’s character, Arthur Fleck aka Joker. An origin story (entirely separate from any previous cinematic iteration of Batman’s most enduring foe), the movie follows Fleck as the world around him begins to crumble, pushing stresses on the man that apparently lead to his complete undoing—and his rebirth as the cackling, calculated crown prince of crime.

A front runner for Academy Awards (we have no doubt about this), the larger than life Joaquin Phoenix comes through with an absolutely incredible performance. Fully immersive in the character’s portrayal, the movie revolves around Phoenix and his ups and downs as a man beaten down by the harsh world around him to the seeming catalyst for a clown-mask-clad revolution. It really is a shame when you consider that this is set as a once off with no chance of us seeing Phoenix assuming the role again. He is firmly the best Joker since the late Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the character in the classic Dark Knight movie.

One for the ages and a classic already, Joker is what really good movie making is all about. The real life setting of it is what makes it believable and a really good watch, if you ask us this is the route DC should continue on and with the Batman movie (with a similar real life feel) also in the works the studio is doing all the right things. Beautiful cinematography and excellently executed, Joker, together with this one, is by far one of the movies of the year and a hot favorite for all kinds of major awards. Also, the last 30 mins of the movie is one of the best we have ever seen, it won’t be hard for anyone to stick around till then we reckon. We really really enjoyed it and that’s why it gets a blockbuster 9 out 10 rating from us.   

A very welcome change is being seen when it comes to DC, after a rough start with most of its earlier movies, the studio is seemingly turning the corner with fantastic approaches to Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Shazam, the highly anticipated Joker movie and now this one which also looks the part. In this one we find Harley Quinn, after splitting with the Joker (who again bears no relation to Joaquin Phoenix’s upcoming portrayal of the character), joining superheroes Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya to save a young girl from an evil crime lord, Black Mask in Gotham City.

This one looks colorful, silly, loud and violent which are the classic hallmarks of the character Harley Quinn. We could be set for another special one here from the studio that is clearly on the up, Birds of Prey is scheduled for release on 7 February 2020, mark the date.

We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word–SHAZAM!–this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart–inside a ripped, godlike body–Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).

In Zachary Levi the movie has an unassuming choice for the lead but the more you think about it and start to unravel the story the more it makes perfect sense. It’s also key to note that this won’t form part of any other DC Comics movies and will be a standalone movie with a different universe altogether so don’t hold out hope of potentially seeing this character in say a Justice League or Batman, Superman etc movie. If anything this looks like a lot of fun and we are more than up for that. Shazam! is in cinemas officially from this coming Saturday.

By now it’s no secret that DC is in a huge battle with Marvel who, it’s safe to say, have more than won the battle however that doesn’t mean there’s no space for DC despite all of that. We especially still enjoy what the studio comes up with and when you consider the rich characters it has under its stable (including Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, The Green Arrow, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Deathstroke etc.) you can’t argue with this.

Cast – Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II & Nicole Kidman

Director – James Wan

Genre – Fantasy/Science Fiction

Running Time – 2h 22m

The Plot & Trailer

Prior to officially watching the movie, a lot of what we saw from some reputable international sites was promising with the words visually stunning being thrown around regularly. After officially seeing it for ourselves we couldn’t dispute that even if we tried. This is one of the best visually appealing movies we have seen to date and the fact that most of the elements were done in an underwater setting makes it even more spectacular. Like Wonder Woman, DC opted for a slightly different approach with this one and no doubt in both movies the studio has a winning formula.

You might be wondering what we mean by slightly different approach, well generally DC has been known to produce movies that are very dark and moody in nature with the not so successful Dawn of Justice being a perfect example of that. In this instance though, Aquaman is lighter and fun in its approach perfectly led by the swag and charm of Momoa throughout. Everything in the movie is set up perfectly with it being very much an origins story. The only small criticism we have is the beginning felt very rushed with not much great effort being put into clearly defining the origins of our hero. With it being an origins story this goes without saying but that’s a small issue that hasn’t affected our overall views about the movie.

Aquaman is the perfect blockbuster to help wrap up the year, a year which has included some fantastic movies with this one being one of our firm faves. It’s a fun filled movie complete with moments of laughter and action, the perfect blend to any comic book based movie.  No doubt DC did very well with this one and we are hoping that their momentum continues in their other upcoming offerings that include Shazam!,  Birds of Prey, Joker and more. Well played DC and more of the same please going forward…Aquaman opens in cinemas on 21 December, seeing it is a no brainer. A very cool 8 out of 10 rating is what it gets from us.

Thank you to MNet Movies (in partnership with Ster Kinekor) for the screening.

The story is centered around Aquaman finding himself caught between a surface world that ravages the sea and the underwater Atlanteans who are ready to revolt. We hope the full package is as good if not better than the trailer. We’ll have to wait to find out for sure when the movie releases on 21 December 2018.