Cast – Cade Woodward, Doris McCarthy, Emily Blunt, Evangelina Cavoli, Ezekiel Cavoli, John Krasinski, Leon Russom, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe

Director – John Krasinski

Genre – Drama/Thriller film

Running Time – 1h 35m

Anyway, enough of all that. Let’s get to the point. Currently sitting on a very impressive score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes amongst critics, A Quiet Place is described as artfully playing on elemental fears with a ruthlessly intelligent creature feature that’s as original as it is scary — and establishes director John Krasinski as a rising talent. That is just a piece of the high praise the movie has been getting and that’s part of the reason why I decided to check it out. So, is it worth all this hype?

The Plot

A Quiet Place is a 2018 American horror film directed by John Krasinski, who also stars in the film with Emily Blunt, his wife in real life. The screenplay was written by Krasinski, Bryan Woods, and Scott Beck based on a story by Woods and Beck. The plot follows a family of four who must live life in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.

The plot is simple and intriguing which makes it an easier watch from a contextual point of view. This however doesn’t mean that you won’t find yourself on the edge of your seat whilst watching. Despite its lack of spoken word, for most parts of the movie, it does a great job of using other elements designed to play with your emotions and make sure you are not bored whilst watching. I was especially impressed by this, I mean how can a movie that barely has any sort of spoken word and is quiet keep you interested and in suspense? The answer to this is the clever use of musical effects and the narrative all designed to keep you watching.

A good friend of mine explained it as being one of the most creative uses of sound in a horror/thriller in a while…and I couldn’t agree more. In addition, the evident chemistry between Emily Blunt and John Krasinski as they should, considering their real life story, plays a crucial role in the whole movie and what it is. Both, together with their onscreen children (Regan and Marcus played by Millicent Simmonds and Noah Jupe respectively) do a great job of bringing what could have been a very dull movie to life.  

It may not be for everyone, but A Quiet Place is worth a watch. It has some scary, disturbing and gruesome moments but strangely that’s part of its charm. A brilliant concept driven by the clever use of sound and the quality of acting, the movie is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. With barely no spoken word and the use of sign language as a form of communication, you are either not going to like this one or you are (like I did). A Quiet Place gets a solid 7 out of 10 rating from me. Like I said its worth a watch.

Shout out to Ster Kinekor for the screening and doing so in Cine Prestige style, classy as always!

Cast – Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg & Mark Rylance

Director – Steven Spielberg

Genre – Thriller film/Fantasy

Running Time – 2h 20m

The Plot

In the year 2045, people can escape their harsh reality in the OASIS, an immersive virtual world where you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone-the only limits are your own imagination. OASIS creator James Halliday left his immense fortune and control of the Oasis to the winner of a contest designed to find a worthy heir. When unlikely hero Wade Watts conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends-known as the High Five-are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world.

Ready Player One is a brilliant conceptual movie that will no doubt lend itself well to most movie fans especially sci-fi, gaming, comic book and general movie watchers with a keen eye for special effects. Mostly shot in a virtual world setting, this movie is visually spectacular and if given the chance to I would strongly recommend watching it in a 3D setting…trust you won’t regret it.

This is every much “a gamers dream movie” with most of it being carried out in a gamified environment. At times, when watching, you can’t help but feel that you are playing an adventure videogame…at least that’s how I felt. Its full of various ideas and elements that I found quite interesting with some clever connotations sprinkled across and a little bit of humour to boot.    

I have watched quite a few sci-fi and virtually based movies before, but I can’t say I have seen anything quite like Ready Player One, and that’s a good thing. What sets it apart is the level of thinking and effort put into it. But even with that said, I wasn’t particularly blown away by it. I can’t quite say why exactly but the impression I had after watching was it’s a cool and fun movie. One is for sure, it’s one I would strongly recommend to my gaming and sci-fi friends.

Ready Player One presents a fantastic idea complete with amazing visual effects that will endear itself to many especially gaming and sci-fi fans. It’s a great flick to go out and enjoy by yourself, family or with a couple of friends. In a 3D, IMAX or B-Box setting, it would be an experience and a half. Officially releasing this week, this flick gets a solid 7 out of 10 rating from me.

Special thanks to Ster Kinekor for the exclusive pre-screening.

Genre – Action, Thriller

Director – Paul Greengrass

Running Time – 123 mins

[youtube link=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4gJsKZvqE4″ width=”590″ height=”315″]

I was fortunate to be invited to the official movie premiere of Jason Bourne which took place last week Thursday at Ster-Kenikor Cinema in Rosebank courtesy of the latter (Ster Kenikor) and MNet Movies.

By far one of the main movies I’ve been wanting to see this year and man, did it deliver. The Jason Bourne Franchise is probably one of the best things created by the human race, yes it’s true. This year always had the makings of a great year in the movie genre with hard hitting titles announced back in 2014 and 2015. A few captured my imagination and attention from the onset though, these included Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America Civil War, the upcoming Suicide Squad and finally, our focus this time around, Jason Bourne.

Officially in cinemas from today, Jason Bourne is one of the best movies for 2016 I’m convinced and many international movie critics also agree. The franchise has done wonders for lead actor Matt Damon whose tailor made for the role and helped viewers see him in a different light – the actor hinted earlier that he would be open to acting in a superhero movie only if his buddy Ben Affleck (yes the current Batman) directed it. Hearing that at first, I wasn’t quite convinced but after seeing him again reprising his role as Mr Bourne, I’m now convinced he can pull it off.

The premise

It’s been 10 years since Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) walked away from the agency that trained him to become a deadly weapon. Hoping to draw him out of the shadows, CIA director Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) assigns hacker and counterinsurgency expert Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) to find him. Lee suspects that former operative Nicky Parsons (Julia Styles) is also looking for him. As she begins tracking the duo, Bourne finds himself back in action battling a sinister network that utilizes terror and technology to maintain unchecked power.

What we liked

Almost everything really, Jason Bourne is a proper action thriller, with a proper story line that comes packed with some impressive stunts as well as one of the best overall fighting scenes in any movie. I also get a feeling there might be another one on the horizon which if true is great news.

What we didn’t like

One answer – nothing

The movie Jason Bourne gets a proper 4 out of 5 rating from me. Do yourself a favour, go watch it…like NOW.

Thank you to Ster-Kenikor and M-Net Movies for the invite, look forward to more in the near future! Click on this link to view images from the premiere.