Film News South Africa

#OnTheBigScreen: Rami Malek's Freddie Mercury will rock you, Adonis Creed returns to the ring

This week, we celebrate Queen's music and lead singer Freddie Mercury's extraordinary life in Bohemian Rhapsody; a young boxer fights to become a true champion in Creed II, a woman tries to put her life together in Puzzle, the big screen video-game bad guy returns in Ralph Breaks The Internet, and a young man stumbles upon a magical app that causes his social media updates to come true in Status Update.

Bohemian Rhapsody

The film traces the meteoric rise of the band through their iconic songs and revolutionary sound. They reach unparalleled success, but in an unexpected turn Freddie, surrounded by darker influences, shuns Queen in pursuit of his solo career. Having suffered greatly without the collaboration of Queen, Freddie manages to reunite with his bandmates just in time for Live Aid. While bravely facing a recent Aids diagnosis, Freddie leads the band in one of the greatest performances in the history of rock music. Queen cements a legacy that continues to inspire outsiders, dreamers and music lovers to this day.

Freddie Mercury is played brilliantly by Rami Malek, and also stars Gwilym Lee who plays Queen’s lead guitarist Brian May, Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor, and Joe Mazzello as bass guitarist John Deacon.

It was directed by Bryan Singer and Dexter Fletcher, written by Anthony McCarten.

Read more here.

Ralph Breaks The Internet

Video-game bad guy Ralph (voice of John C Reilly) and best friend Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) leave the comforts of Litwak’s arcade in an attempt to save her game, Sugar Rush. Their quest takes them to the vast, uncharted world of the internet where they rely on the citizens of the internet—the Netizens—to help navigate their way. Lending a virtual hand are Yesss (voice of Taraji P. Henson), the head algorithm and the heart and soul of the trend-making site “BuzzzTube,” and Shank (voice of Gal Gadot), a tough-as-nails driver from a gritty online auto-racing game called Slaughter Race, a place Vanellope wholeheartedly embraces—so much so that Ralph worries he may lose the only friend he’s ever had.

Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston.

Read more here

Creed II

Creed II is the next chapter of the Adonis Creed story, which follows the young boxer’s life inside and outside of the ring as he deals with newfound fame, family, his father’s legacy, and his continuing quest to become a champion.

It’s a gritty, compelling depiction of a young boxer pursuing his dream, searching for identity, and fighting for an opportunity to prove his self-worth.

A sequel to Creed (2015) and the eighth instalment in the Rocky film series, it stars Michael B Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Dolph Lundgren.

Award-winning filmmaker Steven Caple Jr directs from an original story and screenplay written by Juel Taylor and Sylvester Stallone, story by Sascha Penn and Cheo Hodari Coker, based on characters created by Stallone.

Read more here.

Puzzle

A woman (Kelly Macdonald) who has a talent for assembling jigsaw puzzles sneaks away from her suburban town and goes to New York City, where she partners with a man (Irrfan Khan) for a puzzle tournament in Atlantic City. As she experiences independence for the first time, she begins to view her value and the pieces of her own life in a whole new light.

Directed by Marc Turtletaub and written by Oren Moverman and Polly Mann, based on the 2010 Argentine film of the same name.

Status Update

Ross Lynch stars as Kyle Moore, a teenager who, after being uprooted by his parents’ separation and unable to fit into his new hometown, stumbles upon a magical app that causes his social media updates to come true. Also stars Olivia Holt, Rob Wriggle, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Instagram celebrity ‘The Fat Jew’.

Directed by Scott Speer, from a screenplay by Jason Filardi.

Read more about the latest film releases: www.writingstudio.co.za.

About Daniel Dercksen

Daniel Dercksen has been a contributor for Lifestyle since 2012. As the driving force behind the successful independent training initiative The Writing Studio and a published film and theatre journalist of 40 years, teaching workshops in creative writing, playwriting and screenwriting throughout South Africa and internationally the past 22 years. Visit www.writingstudio.co.za
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