To get up our movie reviews for Longlegs and Twisters before the end of last week, we had to sacrifice Friday’s Weekly News Recap. We’re making up for it today though with this catch-up post.

As usual, we start each round-up with notable celebrity deaths, and the past week claimed two actresses we haven’t seen in a while. First up, Shelley Duvall, passed age 75 from diabetes complications. The frequent Robert Altman collaborator is probably best remembered for her “nobody could do it better” portrayal of Olive Oyl alongside Robin Williams’s Popeye, as well as her performance of timid wife Wendy in Kubrick’s The Shining (which was a famously tortuous filming experience). More shocking is the death of Beverly Hills 90210 and Charmed star Shannen Doherty at the age of 53, after battling breast cancer for several years, starting with a 2015 diagnosis.

Meanwhile, two TV icons of yesteryear also passed this week, namely fitness guru Richard Simmons (76) and sexual health specialist Doctor Ruth, AKA Dr. Ruth Westheimer (96).

Film

Are you not entertained? As promised last week, the trailer for Ridley Scott’s sword-and-sandals epic sequel Gladiator II dropped on 9 July. Set two decades after the events of Gladiator, young Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), has grown to manhood and is now played by Paul Mescal. When Lucius’s home and family in Numidia is destroyed during Roman invasion, our wrathful hero resolves to turn his slavery into a way to oppose the rule of despotic twin emperors Caracalla and Geta (Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn). Also with Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.

Gladiator II comes to cinemas on 22 November. You can also check out the film’s first poster set here.

Steve Rogers may be gone but that doesn’t mean Captain America is no more. Last week ended with the teaser trailer for Captain America: Brave New World, where, following events in Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie’s non-superpowered Sam Wilson has stepped into the role of Cap. When newly elected president President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford) is the victim of an attack, Sam must defuse an international incident and uncover a dangerous global plot. Expect Red Hulk to feature in the process.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier has always been one of the all-time greats in the MCU, and Brave New World seems to be following in its footsteps, as it combines espionage, action, mystery and superheroics. Look out for Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Giancarlo Esposito, and the returning pair of Liv Tyler (as Betty Ross) and Tim Blake Nelson (as Leader) in the cast.

Captain America: Brave New World releases in cinemas on 14 February 2025.

Finally we’ve got a proper look at body horror tale The Substance, which was one of the standouts at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, going so far as to win Best Screenplay. Coralie Fargeat writes and directs this tale of a 50-year old fitness celebrity (Demi Moore) who takes advantage of a new black market drug, called The Substance, to temporarily create a younger, better version of herself (Margaret Qualley).

The Substance will start screening in limited release from September.

Bring the tissues. We Live in Time is a new romantic comedy drama starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh as a recent divorcée and up-and-coming chef who find their lives forever changed by a chance encounter. Over a decade, their relationship evolves and is tested by mortality challenges that force them to appreciate every moment. Brooklyn’s John Crowley directs a script from acclaimed playwright Nick Payne.

We Live in Time debuts in cinemas during the Northern Hemisphere Fall. A24 is distributing.

Two more movie news tidbits for this week:

  • Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have announced that Shrek 5 is in the works, and will arrive in cinemas on 1 July 2026, 25 years after the original released. Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz will all return to voice the characters of Shrek, Donkey and Fiona.
  • Evil Dead’s Sam Raimi is lining up to direct Send Help, a horror film that is being described as Castaway put through a Stephen King filter.

Series

Severance is back, baby. On 17 January next year, Ben Stiller and Apple TV+’s acclaimed sci-fi mystery returns after a nearly three-year absence. In Season 2, Mark (Adam Scott) and his friends at Lumon Industries – a mysterious company that surgically divides its employees memories between their work and personal lives – learn the dire consequences of trifling with the “work-life” barrier.

Sarah Bock joins a star-heavy cast that already includes John Turturro, Christopher Walken and Patricia Arquette, along with Britt Lower, and Zach Cherry.

It’s gone by multiple names and had its release date shifted around, but WandaVision spin-off and follow-up Agatha All Along finally arrives on Disney+ as the next MCU miniseries on 18 September.

Kathryn Hahn is back as witch Agatha Harkness, who finally escapes the illusion of Westview, New Jersey. However, without her magical powers, she sets out to walk the dangerous Witches’ Road. This requires forming a new coven, consisting of Heartstopper’s Joe Locke, SNL alumnus Sasheer Zamata, The Diplomat’s Ali Ahn, That 70’s Show’s Debra Jo Rupp, Patti LuPone, and Aubrey Plaza.

From What We Do in the Shadows co-creators Taika Waitita, Jemaine Clement, and Iain Morris comes this TV series adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 fantasy adventure film Time Bandits. Eleven-year-old history nerd Kevin (Kal-El Tuck) finds himself part of a ragtag group of thieves who travel through time and stage heists. Waitita and Clement both have roles in the series, while Lisa Kudrow heads up the cast.

The ten-episode Tim Bandits enjoys two-episodes-a-week releases, starting 24 July. Watch it on Apple TV+.

The Decameron first caught our eye in this month’s New on Netflix. Inspired by the 14th Century Italian short-story collection The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, this raunchy black comedy sees a group of nobles and their servants retreat to a Tuscan villa to escape the plague. There things swiftly spiral out of control. Some of the familiar faces in the cast include Zosia Mamet, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Tanya Reynolds and Tony Hale.

Binge all eight episodes of The Decameron from 25 July.

The retooled New Showmax launched in February, and it looks like the prices for streaming subscriptions then were promotional, because as of August, Showmax costs are going up. Well, in part.

The highly enticing Premier League plan (mobile only) will remain at R69 per month for the new football season, while Showmax Entertainment (all devices) is set to revert to its original R99 price point, having dropped to R89 in February.

Meanwhile, Entertainment (mobile only) has experienced a slight R6 increase from R39pm to R45. Bundle offers remain unchanged.

Gaming

Speaking of price increases, as rumoured for quite some time, Xbox’s Game Pass is becoming more expensive across the board, although new plans are being introduced to give players more choice to match their gaming tastes and budget. For new members, the changes kicked in 10 July, while existing subscribers with reoccurring billing will be affected from September.

In terms of the latter, from 12 September, a subscription to top tier Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes multiplayer, EA Play, PC gaming, cloud gaming (where available) and various perks, jumps from $16.99 a month to $19.99. In South Africa, Ultimate is leaping from R129 monthly to R199. Meanwhile, PC Game Pass is going from R79 to R119; internationally that’s a hike from $9.99 to $11.99 per month.

For everyone else, here’s a handy document on all the worldwide price changes.

As for new options, Microsoft is doing away with the relatively new Xbox Game Pass Core and instead introducing an Xbox Game Pass Standard subscription. Regional pricing has yet to be determined, but this other membership – which includes multiplayer but excludes access to day one releases – will be priced at $14.99 per month in the US. The official Xbox FAQ on the matter can be found here.

Lifestyle

What’s a week without a new Comic Con Africa guest announcement for 2024? The latest is an especial surprise as it’s New York Times bestselling fantasy author Samantha Shannon. The writer behind dystopian supernatural tale The Bone Season and feminist high fantasy The Priory of the Orange Tree will be around on all days of the event. You can reserve a book signing slot here in addition to proposing questions for Shannon’s various mainstage interview slots.

One more Comic Con Africa related announcement is that con-within-a-con KidsCon returns to this year’s celebration, now with Toys R Us as the primary sponsor, just like in Cape Town earlier this year. Attendees can expect a dedicated hall space with toys, merch, activities and more family-friendly attractions.