Though they both feature loads of Hollywood polish, two very different movies, catering to two very different audience types (superhero fans and the feel-good crowd), open in South Africa cinemas this week. Learn more about your two new choices below.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Enter Kang, the Big Bad of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next saga. That’s your primary reason to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third Ant-Man solo outing and first movie in the MCU’s Phase 5. After introducing one version of the character in the Loki TV series, Jonathan Majors is back as the multiverse-spanning Kang here, in a trippy sci-fi adventure where size-changing heroes Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), along with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Scott’s daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), explore the Quantum Realm.
You can expect our full review tomorrow, but in short, Quantumania is, um, fine: a box-ticking MCU outing that doesn’t really distinguish itself in any way.
A Man Called Otto
If you’re going to find silver-haired movie lovers at cinemas this week, and they’re not watching any of the Oscar nominees, they’ll probably be settling in to catch pedigreed comedy drama A Man Called Otto. Directed by Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland’s Marc Forster, and starring Tom Hanks, the film tells the story of Otto, a grumpy old man who’s given up on life following the loss of his wife. In fact, he plans to end it all. When a young family moves in nearby, though, he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol (Mariana Treviño), leading to a friendship that will turn his world around.
This is the second film adaptation of, and first English-language take on, the 2012 novel A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.