The 33
Genre: Drama
Certification: 12A
Duration: 127 minutes
Directed by: Patricia Riggen
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mario Casas, Jacob Vargas, Juan Pablo Raba, Oscar Nuñez
KRS Releasing Ltd
Based on Héctor Tobar’s book Deep Down Dark, The 33 tells the true story of 33 miners who got trapped in the San José Mine in the Atacama desert, Chile, on August 5, 2010.
The world followed the mining disaster closely and gave a sigh of relief when on August 22, a note from the miners saying they were all well was brought to the surface. After 69 days trapped 700 metres underground, all 33 men were rescued. Their survival story is considered nothing short of a miracle.
Mexican director Patricia Riggen (Girl in Progress) brings the heart-tugging story to the big screen with an international cast headed by Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, Lou Diamond Phillips and Gabriel Byrne.
Diamond Phillips stars as Luis ‘Don Lucho’ Urzua, the shift foreman who took a leading role while the miners were trapped and helped make more accurate maps of the cave for the rescue crews. Banderas plays Mario Sepúlveda, the public face for the group of miners, who made daily video logs to assure the public that they were fine, while Bryne is Andre Sougarret, the engineer who masterminded the escape operation. Binoche stars as a hawker of empanadas and sister of a drill operator, played by Juan Pablo Raba, who was among the 33.
Critics have commented that although the film portrays the facts solidly, the screenplay is too heavy and that characters are not left much room to develop.
Sheri Linden of the Hollywood Reporter said: “Director Patricia Riggen finds a rigorous and affecting visual language for The 33,but she and her international cast are hampered by a screenplay that too often gets in the way of a powerful story.”
However, Mark Travers of Rolling Stone magazine, wrote: “You forgive the movie its faults, or most of them, because its heart is firmly in the right place.”
The film music is composed by James Horner, best known for the award-winning soundtrack of Titanic.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 43%
Empire Magazine: 2 stars
Ice Cube (left) and Kevin Hart reunite for some more wacky adventures in Ride Along 2.Ride Along 2
Genre: Action comedy
Certification: 12A
Duration: 102 minutes
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Tika Sumpter, Benjamin Bratt, Olivia Munn
KRS Releasing Ltd
The sequel to the 2014 action comedy blockbuster picks up about a year after Ice Cube’s and Kevin Hart’s last adventure.
As his wedding approaches, James (Ice Cube) reluctantly takes his soon-to-be brother-in-law Ben (Hart) with him to Miami to follow up on a lead connected to a drug-ring case he has been trying to crack. In Miami, they meet Maya (Olivia Munn), a homicide detective who lets them know that Miami is her turf and A.J. (Ken Jeong), a computer hacker who reveals evidence that implicates a well-respected local businessman, the wealthy Antonio Pope (Benjamin Bratt), who harbours a vicious streak and rules South Florida’s drug trade. If Ben and James can convince the authorities that Pope is a brutal crime boss, they would stop his spree but if they fail, there may not be a wedding after all.
Despite low critics ratings, the film knocked Star Wars: The Force Awakens off the top of the North American box office when it was released a few weeks ago.
Critics complained that the sequel is too similar to the original movie. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine commented: “Hart and Cube are too good to settle for hawking leftovers. They deserve better. So do we.”
Justin Chang of Variety wrote: “Another tired, witless and potentially lucrative attempt to spin an exhausted buddy-cop template into action-comedy gold.”
Despite these negative reviews, the Universal film is still doing well in the US and earned nearly $71 million in box office returns so far.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 12%
Empire Magazine: N/A
Jack Black portrays author R.L. Stine in Goosebumps.Goosebumps
Genre: Fantasy
Certification: PG12
Duration: 103 minutes
Directed by: Rob Letterman
Starring: Jack Black, Dylan Minnette, Odeya Rush, Ryan Lee and Amy Ryan
KRS Releasing Ltd
US author R. L. Stine wrote a series of children’s horror fiction stories between 1992 and 1997, in which children face down monsters, ghosts and ghouls. These were followed by various spin-off series and over 350 million books were sold worldwide in 32 languages. The books also spawned a TV series and, now, a film starring Jack Black as the author himself.
The plot follows teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) who is upset that he’s moving town but his new next-door neighbour turns out to be the beautiful Hannah (Odeya Rush) and he soon forgets his woes. The young lad soon learns that Hannah’s mysterious father is none other than R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange... he is a prisoner of his own imagination – the monsters made famous by his books are real and he protects his readers by keeping these creatures locked up in their books.
When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorise the town, it’s up to Stine, Zach, Hannah and Zach’s best friend Champ (Ryan Lee) to get all of them back in the books where they belong.
Director Rob Letterman packed 25 monsters from Stine’s novels into this film which provide a frantic and child-friendly-scary ride with fights, destruction and chaos being the order of the day. Black won plaudits for his crazy portrayal of the author and the film received generally positive reviews from critics. It has grossed over $134 million on a $58 million budget.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.4/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 72%
Empire Magazine: 4 stars