It’s another busy weekend at South African cinemas with five new film releases, in addition to Bollywood action epic Devara: Part 1, and all-star 80s period drama Dangerous Liaisons courtesy of Ster Kinekor’s Throwback Cinema offering. As it’s such a packed period at the movies – with three of these screening for free at Comic Con Africa 2024 courtesy of Nu Metro – let’s jump in right now.
For the first time in almost forty years, Transformers is getting an animated feature film treatment. In sc-fi actioner Transformers One, audiences experience the untold origin story of Optimus Prime (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry), whose friendship shattered just as these lowly workers gained shape-shifting powers and changed the planet Cybertron forever. Transformers One also features the voices of Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi and Laurence Fishburne. Watch it on conventional and large format screens; also in 3D.
Lookout for our Transformers One review soon.
Hellboy live-action movie Take 4! From Crank director Brian Taylor, and with greater involvement from comic creator Mike Mignola, Hellboy: The Crooked Man centres on a younger title character (now played by Jack Kesy), who joins a rookie BPRD agent (Adeline Rudolph) to investigate hauntings in rural 1950s Appalachia. This second franchise reboot places the emphasis more on supernatural horror than action.
You guessed it, our Hellboy: The Crooked Man review is coming next week.
If you’re looking for something more serious from your big screen entertainment, check out prestige biopic Lee, based on the life of rule-breaking photographer Lee Miller. Kate Winslet stars as the former model who would chronicle the events of World War II for Vogue magazine. Also with Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg and Alexander Skarsgård.
Providing some creepy Halloween kicks early is horror film Bagman. Sam Claflin’s Patrick McKee returns to his home town, only to find that a threat from his childhood – the folklore-seeped Bagman, a malevolent being that snatches innocent children and stuffs them into a rotting sack – is waiting for him and his family once more.
For parents with littlies, there’s a new animated adventure for the school holidays. International co-production Panda Bear in Africa sees a young Panda travels from China to Africa to rescue his kidnapped best friend, Jielong the Dragon. What’s waiting is an amazing new world of mountains, deserts and jungles, populated by lions, hippos, gorillas and more.