Movie of the Week

Mary Poppins Returns

Set a few years after the original movie, Jane (Emily Mortimer) and Michael (Ben Whishaw) are all grown up. Michael’s kids are in desperate need of a nanny following a personal loss and, magically, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) arrives to help the children rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives.

Published

4 weeks ago

Dec 21, 2018

Bryan Turner

Filling the shoes of Julie Andrews in the original Mary Poppins could not have been easy for Emily Blunt, due to the adoring audience of the original. Her portrayal is mostly great, but she is held back by the character’s excessive vanity. The special effects are superb and will captivate children and adults. Some scenes include hand drawn animations – the first time a studio has used the technique since Winnie the Pooh in 2011. However, fans of the original will be left wishing for more authenticity. – Bryan Turner

Movie of the Week

Valley of the Boom:
How The Web Was Won

A 6-part series from National Geographic – Valley of the Boom – delivers the drama of Silicon Valley’s Internet pioneers during the dot-com boom and bust.

Silicon Valley spawned some of the world’s most influential people and recognisable brands during the 1990s and attracted geniuses and charlatans alike. It is also where the new phenomenon of the overnight tech millionaire was born. Using a blend of narrative devices and interviews with the real subjects and experts woven into scripted drama, showrunner, creator, director and executive producer Matthew Carnahan (“House of Lies”) charts the meteoric rise and cataclysmic burst of the dot-com bubble.

Click through to watch the trailer and to read more about the series.

Published

2 days ago

Jan 14, 2019

Bryan Turner

From STX Entertainment, Valley of the Boom is also executive produced by Arianna Huffington and is set to premiere on National Geographic on 20 January. The series features an unconventional hybrid of scripted storytelling and documentary interviews with the key players whose stories are dramatised in the show.

The series follows the turbulent ride of three different companies whose founders were trying to change the world using the new technology of the internet. Before Google, Netscape pioneered the first commercial web browser and launched the “browser wars” with Microsoft. Before Facebook, theglobe.com was a rapidly expanding social networking site built by dreamers on a university campus. And before YouTube, a con artist on the run from the FBI reinvented himself in Silicon Valley to start a streaming video company called Pixelon, resulting in an entrepreneurial rise and fall almost too insane to be believed.

Valley of the Boom stars an ensemble cast led by two-time Emmy award-winning actor Bradley Whitford (“Get Out,” “The Post,” “The West Wing”), Steve Zahn (“War of the Planet of the Apes,” “Dallas Buyers Club”) and Lamorne Morris (“Game Night,” “New Girl”).

Details:

National Geographic channel – DSTV Channel 181

Sundays, 20:00 & 20:50. 20, 27 January & 3 February (6 x 60 minutes) – Double bills

Movie of the Week

Bird-Box: Psych horror gets 45m views

Malorie (Sandra Bullock) is a single mom trying to save her children’s lives after a mysterious force invades the Earth, which causes people to kill themselves if they merely look at the phenomenon. As survivors navigating the post-apocalyptic world, everyone must wear blindfolds to stay alive.

Just one week after the release of Bird Box, the psychological horror film has been streamed 45-million times in a single week, according to Netflix. It said in a tweet that this was the “best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film”.

Published

2 weeks ago

Jan 2, 2019

Bryan Turner