“I’m really humbled having the opportunity to present something this timely and timeless. Between Rihanna and the people of Cuba, this is one of my favorite projects I’ve ever worked on,” said Glover.

“Guava Island is the end result of four incredible weeks spent in Cuba with some of the most inspiring creative talents I’ve ever met,” said director Hiro Murai. “Designers, performers, musicians, and filmmakers came together from all over the world to create this crazy fever dream of a production.”

“We are so proud to be able to amplify Donald & Hiro’s vision and share this compelling story with our Prime subscribers across the globe,” said Jennifer Salke, Head of Amazon Studios. “Carmen Cuba, Wolf & Rothstein and New Regency have been incredible partners throughout this exciting journey and we can’t wait to invite all our prime customers to Guava Island on Saturday!”

“Donald Glover is precisely the kind of talented multihyphenate artist that New Regency backs. Guava Island hits all the marks for us – socially relevant, artistically powerful and a film that will move audiences. We are grateful to Jen and Amazon for seeing the potential,” said Yariv Milchan, Chairman of New Regency.

Guava Island is an expansion of Glover’s idea of freedom. In creative and business terms.  It was directed by Hiro Murai, written by Stephen Glover and based on a story by Royalty. Here’s a special feature on it from the guys at Entertainment Tonight:

The film was produced by Fam Udeorji, Carmen Cuba, Donald Glover & New Regency, who also financed the project, with executive producers Stephen Glover, Hiro Murai, and Ibra Ake.  Amazon Studios acquired the exclusive distribution rights to the film for Amazon Prime Video in a competitive bidding situation while it was still in post-production.

Guava Island will premiere at the Coachella Music Festival on Thursday, the day before Childish Gambino headlines the festival, in a specially constructed theater built for the event and will continue to screen on the Coachella grounds until the end of the festival.

]]> 12138 https://twfld.com/movie-review-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/ https://twfld.com/movie-review-valerian-and-the-city-of-a-thousand-planets/#respond Tue, 01 Aug 2017 11:24:25 +0000 http://savibeza.co.za/?p=8307 This may come as a surprise but I’m not too sold on sci-fi movies. Yes, you could argue that most of the movies I review have some sort of sci-fi element to them but even with that those aren’t sold as pure science fiction. So, when Ster-Kinekor approached me with the prospect of potentially reviewing the intriguing Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets movie I was a bit torn. What this movie did present initially is a similar (mixed) concept to Star Wars and Avatar [two of the few sci-fi movies I mostly enjoy(ed)], I couldn’t flat out say no. Plus it being in 3D sounded like a great idea, so why not?

Cast – Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu & Rutger Hauer

Director – Luc Besson

Genre – Science fiction film/Action

Running Time – 2h 17m

The Plot

In the 28th century, special operatives Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline work together to maintain order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the minister of defense, the duo embarks on a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where diverse species gather to share knowledge and culture. When a dark force threatens the peaceful city, Valerian and Laureline must race against time to identify the menace that also jeopardizes the future of the universe.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is a good watchable movie to a point. To a point in the sense that whilst watching I at times found myself asking “what am I watching exactly?” Yes, in those exact words. The movie is quite weird with the level of fiction being on another level, something I found both a bit too much at times but also quite cool in other instances.

You could say that the movie is an acquired taste that will attract some but sadly won’t do a lot for some. Which side of the fence am I sitting on exactly when it comes to it? To be honest, I’m not too sure as I briefly mentioned before, there are some parts I liked and others didn’t quite do it for me. The visuals are great especially when watching in 3D however the plot itself leaves a lot to be desired, there just isn’t enough meat on it.

For what it promised to be and what it could have been, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets falls a bit short and will pass up as just another decent sci-fi movie that didn’t present anything special. Despite all that said, as briefly mentioned again, the movie is watchable and most will probably be able to sit through it despite its faults.

Valerian and the City isn’t the best movie around but makes for a decent watch, this is thanks to its weird but great visual effects. The plot line isn’t the best and could have been fleshed out more to produce a great movie, sadly that’s not the case here. This movie is perfect for sci-fi crazy individuals and can do the job for general movie watchers. It gets a decent 2.9 out of 5 rating from me.