Considering there are no holidays or other notable occasions, it’s an unusually busy weekend at South African cinemas, with four new movies releasing. Find your big screen picks, from the unhinged and unusual to utterly conventional, below.
Cocaine Bear
Our top pick for the week is grisly comedy-thriller Cocaine Bear, which is inspired by a bizarre true story about a drug runner’s plane crash in 1985. In actress and filmmaker Elizabeth Banks’s movie, an oddball mix of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens converge in a Georgia forest where a 500-pound black bear goes on a rampage after ingesting large amounts of cocaine. The ensemble cast of Cocaine Bear includes Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson, Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Ray Liotta and more.
Die Hart
Action comedy Die Hart takes a stab at all those overblown action flicks of the 80s and 90s. Reimagining Kevin Hart’s 2020 series of the same name, the Prime Video film centres on a fictionalised version of the comedian as he tries to transition to respected and sought-after action movie star. That means enrolling in a dangerous “action hero school” run by John Travolta’s not-exactly-stable coach. Die Hart also stars Josh Hartnett as himself, and Game of Thrones’ Nathalie Emmanuel.
Missing
Maybe don’t watch the trailer for this one beyond the 30-second mark if you want to experience the thriller’s many twists and turns fresh. A spiritual sequel to similar screenlife tale Searching (and from the same writing team), Missing sees young woman June (Storm Reid) forced to get creative when her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend. Stuck thousands of miles away, June turns to digital sleuthing to find her mom, uncovering shocking secrets in the process.
Maybe I Do
One week after Valentine’s Day, movie fans can catch spiky and star-packed romantic comedy Maybe I Do. Considering marriage, couple Michelle (Emma Roberts) and Allen (Luke Bracey) decide to bring their parents together for a family dinner. Except the older couples, played by Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, and William H. Macy, already know each other very well. Turns out they’ve been cheating on their spouses with each other, leading to one very awkward gathering.