A Superfans Spotlight Feature: Festive Season at the Galileo Open Air Cinema

A Superfans Spotlight Feature: Festive Season at the Galileo Open Air Cinema

Capetonians, tourists and movie lovers are in for a special Dezemba as our fave, The Galileo Open Air Cinema, brings the jolly vibes with their festive season lineup!

As locals know, with the sun setting later and clear skies as far as the eye can see, summer in Cape Town is the gift that keeps on giving and the Galileo is putting the bow on that present with a programme of Hollywood classics and new features guaranteed to give you a good time.

The Galileo Open Air Cinema offers festive season entertainment for the whole family this December! Image credit: Galileo Open Air Cinema

Screenings take place at some of the Mother City’s most drop dead gorgeous venues, including the iconic Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, the picturesque Century City’s Central Park and the urban wonder Battery Park at the V&A Waterfront. For those keen to take a mini-day trip out of the city, there are screenings in the Cape Winelands too.

The Galileo’s full festive season line-up is jampacked with some Christmas favourites so while it was SUPER hard to choose just a few to feature, here are a few of our must-sees:

Fun for the whole family:

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell in tights and a musical? Sign us up! Don’t miss Spirited at the Galileo Open Air Cinema on 26 December 2024. Image credit: The Galileo Open Air Cinema

Whether you’re indulging your inner 90s kid with the classic Home Alone 2 , introducing your little ones to the magic of The Polar Express or letting your long-forgotten musical festive geek freak fly with Spirited, Kirstenbosch Garden is THE place to be from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day.

For the lovers amongst us:

To us, Love Actually will always be perfect. Experience this classic under the stars with the Galileo Open Air Cinema on 19 December 2024. Image credit: Galileo Open Air Cinema

A far cry from the cheesy Hallmark movies making the rounds, Hollywood romcoms The Holiday and Love Actually are back to remind you that love conquers all. Remember to pack those tissues!

For the festive film buff:

We’ll stand by this: Die Hard IS a Christmas movie! Watch it with the Galileo Open Air Cinema crowd on 23 December 2024 and see if you agree. Image credit: Galileo Open Air Cinema

Settle that ongoing argument once and for all: Die Hard IS a Christmas movie! Prefer less explosions but still want that discerning cinematic experience? E.T. is your next best bet or you can go for the ultimate spooky festive experience with The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Your festive movie under the stars await:

Ready to be entertained with your beloved festive season film? The Galileo Open Air Cinema is ready to welcome you with a variety of ticket options to suit your comfort levels and needs. Get your Galileo Open Air Cinema tickets here.

There is nothing like a delicious pizza, hot drink and scrumptious snack to complete the Galileo Open Air Cinema experience this festive season! Image credit: Galileo Open Air Cinema

Wait, there’s more! Your outdoor movie experience is not complete without a scrumptious picnic so visit any of the delicious food, drink and snack vendors at each Galileo Open Air Cinema venue prior to the show and get your festive feast on.

Lights! Camera! Action!

For more information about the movie schedule, ticket options and additional services, including setting up a festive season proposal, visit www.thegalileo.co.za.

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 7

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 7

Oh my Gods! That was an EPISODE, Superfans! Not enough for me to take back everything I said in my last House of the Dragon review but still, a certified banger.

Here’s what you missed:

Impressions:

Traditionally, episode 9 of every season of parent series Game of Thrones was the BIG one and I am so happy to report that HOTD continues that tradition with this outing. For most of the episode, it felt like much of the same but boy, those last 20 minutes? Pure dragon fire, Baby!

The OG Mother of Dragons, Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and Vermithor, the Bronze Beast. Image credit: India Today

D’Arcy steps FULLY into her element as the Gods-chosen, OG Mother of Dragons, complete with making even the most fearsome dragon Vermithor (who barbecued Ser Steffon last episode) bow down to her, accepting Seasmoke’s claiming of Aadam, speaking Valyrian fluently, and not standing for disrespect from her dragon keepers nor her heir.

Watching her give that rousing speech to her motley crew of family (bastards with Targaryen or Velaryon blood, recruited by her handmaid in Flea Bottom), before letting them test their mettle against Vermithor, is a great foreshadowing of what is to come. If Rhaenyra is to win this war, it will come at a great cost, a price she now knows she has to pay.

You just know that Seasmoke was telling Addam to stand up straight and bend the knee so Rhaenyra would let him keep him! Image credit: Instagram

I loved how the show makes each dragon and rider bonding a unique experience and showcases each dragon’s personality. Seasmoke is a stalker who didn’t give Aadam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) or Rhaenyra much choice in the matter of acceptance. Bro was like “he’s cute and he reminds me of Laenor, Mother. May I keep him?”.

Silverwing, former trusted stead of Good Queen Alysanne, Rhaenyra’s great-grandma, toyed with Ulf White (Tom Bennett) like a cat with a mouse when he was trying to run from the barbeque Vermithor was having, and she decided he’ll do. I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t go full Dracarys on him.

My best boy this episode is Vermithor, y’all. The way he purred under Rhaenyra’s touch and threw a full-on tantrum before eating and burning all of the tasty snacks she brought for him? Vermithor is just a big ol’ pussycat, Guys! Rhaenyra was the only great-grandchild of his former rider King JJaehaerysΒ that he and Vermithor ever met and it is said that both rider and dragon were immensely fond of her in the source novel Fire and Blood. That familiarity, along with the recognition of her as a both a Queen and a dragonlord, is powerful. It also gives us the first of the most epic shots in this episode:

Vermithor is just a big ol’ softie when it comes to his one true Queen Rhaenyra!Image credit: Twitter

I loved how the dragon pit shot is filmed. It felt like I was watching the Battle of the Bastards and the Battle of Winterfell all over again. The cinematic value, the emotional beats as Hugh first runs from, screams, and then tames Vermithor, is breathtaking. Now revealed to be the bastard son of the banished Princess Saera Targaryen, who gave old JaehaerysΒ  every single one of his grey hairs with her wild ways, Hugh makes for a fine dragon lord:

Vermithor had a very thorough and fiery interview process for his new rider. Luckily, Saera Targaryen’s bastard son Hugh the Hammer was up to the task! Image credit: HBO

The Greens had some mildly interesting scenes this week. Seeing Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) shit his breeches upon Vhagar’s back when he sees Rhaenyra with three of her mighty dragons (how could he even see that far with just one eye?! My two eyes saw jacks***!) was ridiculously satisfying. The fact that he barely has control over dragon granny Vhagar is also a wonderful thing because the other dragons have yielded to Rhaenyra nearly effortlessly. Who is the true Blood of the Dragon now, huh?

I never thought I’d be the one to say this but I actually felt sorry for poor Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) who is being painfully rushed through his recovery by Grand Maester Orwyle (Kurt Egyiawan) on Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham)’s instructions. Larys wants to be Hand of the King and Aegon is a lot easier to manipulate than Aemond who hates Littletoe (see what I did there? 😏). Will he succeed? With just one episode of this season left, who knows?

Now is not the time to take a leisurely swim, Alicent! Image credit: Screen Rant

Was I the only one who thought Alicent (Olivia Cooke) was going to jump off of a cliff when she started unbuttoning her coat and walking to the ledge? Instead, she was having some kind of empty nester, discarded grandmother experience that felt very much like a shot in a period horror movie.

We already have enough of that with Daemon (Matt Smith) at Harrenhal, thank you very f***ing much. Oh, and it’s not done yet! Between his last (please, Lord of Light, PLEASE!) hallucination where Viserys gives him the crown and being read for filth by Catleyn Stark’s 7 times great-grandfather, the now 12 year old Lord Oscar Tully (Archie Barnes), our Rogue Prince is having a hell of a day.

Team Black watching Vermithor play The Hunger Games with the bastard dragonseeds. Image credit: HBO

The Velaryon-Targaryen youngsters are dealing with some heavy shit this episode and their young actors’ portrayals make for compelling viewing. From Harry Collett really giving us and Rhaenyra all of the feels as Jace finally speaks the unspeakable truth and questions his mother about why she would willingly take Harwin Strong into her bed, knowing that the chances of his genes overpowering hers and causing their children’s legitimacy as heirs to come into question to Rhaena (Phoebe Campbell) abandoning her baby brothers in search of the wild dragon, Sheepstealer, it is heavy!

Baela (Bethany Antonia) seems to have accepted her new found uncle Aadam much faster than her grandsire and his dad Corlys (Steven Toussaint) does. The man can’t even bring himself to say well done without some difficulty to his new dragon rider bastard. Instead, he beams with pride when his other son Alyn (Abubakar Salim) declares that he would never dream of claiming a dragon too for he is “of salt and sea”. Just the words unfaithful Daddio wants to hear from his next heir.

A goosebumps-inducing shot of the OG Mother of Dragons flanked by 3 of the fiercest beasts in the Kingdom! Image credit: HBO

In closing with that epic shot of Rhaenyra flanked by her dragons, we see the first Mother of Dragons stepping into her power and now know that the Dance of the Dragons and subsequently, the true Game of Thrones is HERE. Bring on the finale!

House of the Dragon airs on MAX on Sundays, on Mnet 101 on Mondays at 9pm and is available for streaming on Showmax.

A Superfans’ Opinion: Is House of the Dragon falling into the GOT trap?

A Superfans’ Opinion: Is House of the Dragon falling into the GOT trap?

Alright, House of the Dragon viewers, after a struggle watch of Episodes 5 and 6, I am going to go ahead and address Cersei’s longed-for elephant in the room: Ryan Condal and his writing team are falling into the same trap that the Game of Thrones Season 8 writers did and the show is worse for it.

A reminder of what episodes 5 and 6 entailed:

Look, the past two episodes have not been without their epic dragon appearances and emotional gut-wrenching scenes. The MVP of Episode 5 was Lady Baela Targaryen (Bethany Antonia)! Not only did she seamlessly step up as her grandmother Rhaenys (Eve Best)’s successor in badassery and giving her grandsire Corlys the kick in the butt he needed, but she channelled her 8-x great-niece Daenerys’s firm belief that she is a dragon through and through with that β€œI am Blood and Fire” one liner. I literally got goosebumps!

Baela “I am Blood and Fire” Targaryen, the Queen-to-be that you are! Image credit: Twitter

Olivia Cooke continues to make Alicent Hightower the character I love to hate watch. From Episode 5’s complete dissociative scene at the Small Council meeting to the realisation that her last kid Daeron turned out pretty awesome BECAUSE she did not raise him, Cooke ensures that Alicent’s emotions and motivations are complex but relatable to her audience.

Hell, even Seasmoke has grown as a character this season, blasting a would-be rider (RIP Ser Steffon!) as well as stalking, pursuing and finally conquering the object of his affection, Aadam of Hull (Clinton Liberty). I will laugh at this scene for the rest of my days:

So why do I find myself unsatisfied?

Well, here’s the thing: Condal and his writers are taking shortcuts, overlooking key plots, not spending enough time on character development for soon-to-be key Dance of the Dragon players and spending WAY too much time on Daemon’s hallucinations.

I am a HUGE Daemon fan and don’t get me wrong, any time Matt Smith is on screen, he is utterly compelling, but this isn’t Daemon’s story nor Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell). However, we do not need to see the one f***ing his mother (I am going to need to scrub my brain really hard to get rid of the image of mother and son copulating and forgive myself for being turned on by the scene until I realised that THAT was his mom!) or the other going the overly-done second son wants the Iron Throne so he attempts to kill his brother, the King, route (Aemond, take a leaf out of Prince Harry’s book and go be happy on an island with a beautiful, intelligent, loving woman, PLEASE!).

The younger brother plotting to kill his King and older brother storyline is so overdone. Image credit: NPR

Just like the stupid setting up of woman against woman strife, the pointless romance between Cersei and Euron Greyjoy and the uber quick ocean travelling in GOT Season 8, we’re now being fed an impotent Daemon, far too dumbed down explanations of the dragon seedlings (despite ALL of the heavy foreshadowing in the first four episodes) and murky characters not living to their full potential (Larys Clubfoot’s arc in the source novel Fire and Blood looks more and more unlikely to be full explored).

I understand that with the shortened episode order and so much ground to cover, that details may fall by the wayside. I am not one of those “everything from the book must be in or I will not watch it” fanatics but I DO need the content that is offered to make sense.

GOT‘s first six seasons sizzled because the two people who were actually playing the Game of Thrones were the two obscure and dodgy characters, Littlefinger and Varys. Their scenes were heavy with political intrigue, their minds this sapiosexual’s biggest wet dream. In HOTD, while I find Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) both beautiful in appearance and brilliant of mind (that medieval version of UBER Eats was EVERYTHING!), I long for someone on the Green Council to match her. Larys (Matthew Needham) is grossly underused by Team Green and the show’s writers.

Mother and son incest was NOT on my GOTverse bingo card! Please stop Daemon’s hallucinations… GODS, PLEASE! Image credit: Decider

Daenerys (Emilia Clarke)’s vision of Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) and their son in GOT Season 2 was effective because it was a short take- a mere glimpse into the life she could have had if they’d lived AND it gives her the motivation to continue to fight for what she lost. Daemon’s hallucinations in HOTD are starting to feel like screen time fillers and just an excuse to keep the former cast around. Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop this shit!

Add to that the fact that author and universe creator George RR Martin is off writing blog posts about what a “real” dragon and the Targaryen crest should look like, instead of, oh, I don’t know, actually FINISHING The Winds of Winter novel or f***ing giving the show writers useful notes, and you have the makings of what will soon be yet another Internet war on this show.

Seasmoke isn’t the only one who chose his next rider this past episode πŸ˜‰ Image credit: Nerdist

Old Gods and New, please, PLEASE let the final two episodes of this season be better. May The Stranger come for Criston Cole, may The Mother watch over our Targaryen babies and may the Lord of Light guide Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to victory (after she taps the White Worm’s hot ass!)

House of the Dragon airs on MAX each Sunday, on Mnet 101 on Mondays at 9pm and is available for streaming on Showmax.

Superfans News: The Addams Family The Musical Comes to Cape Town!

Superfans News: The Addams Family The Musical Comes to Cape Town!

Snaps fingers twice

Mother City theatre lovers and longtime fans of the kookiest family of all time, your weirdo faves are coming to our sunny shores in The Addams Family The Musical at The Homecoming Centre in Cape Town from 14 December 2024!

That’s right: for all of our 90s kids who inherited the love for Morticia, Gomez, Lurch, Thing, Cousin Itt, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, Pugsley, and of course, the ever-peculiar Wednesday, from our boomer parents via the comics, the cartoon series and the movies, this is our opportunity to share the best macabre family with our youngsters.

As a Broadway cult classic production, The Addams Family The Musical ran for 722 performances, garnering numerous awards and spawning many international productions:

Based on the beloved characters created by Charles Addams and following the darkly funny events that transpire when Wednesday’s normal boyfriend Lucas and his parents come for dinner, The Addams Family The Musical’s South African production is directed by Garth Tavares, choreographed by Nkosinathi Mazwai and brought to you by MotherCity Theatre Productions.

The show will star Samantha Peo (Chicago, Cabaret) as Morticia Addams, Tiaan Rautenbach (We Will Rock You, Mama Mia) as Gomez Addams, Bethany Dickson (Matilda, The Sound of Music) as Alice Beineke, Brendan van Rhyn (Cathy Specific, The Rocky Horror Show) as Lurch, Chad Baai (Buddy) as Lucas Beineke, and Jordyn Schaefer as Wednesday Addams. These extraordinary performers will be supported by their equally talented co-stars Candice van Litsenborgh, Yahto Kraft, Chris van Rensburg, Lara Visagie, Rebecca Hartle, Jasmine Minter, Jessica de Bod, Braeden Buys, Brandon Jones and Jayden Dickson.

They’re spooky and they’re kooky … it’s The Addams Family The Musical,coming to Cape Town this December!

Fair warning for any teens and Gen Z hoping for IRL enactments of the popular Netflix Wednesday show, this isn’t it. Those of us who enjoy characters randomly bursting into song and dance to convey the oh-so-overwhelming feelings they are experiencing and to overexplain plot points with huge props, exquisite sets (there had better a cool looking limo!) and big showstoppers, this is for us. The fact that our kids may enjoy it too is just a delightful bonus, am I right? πŸ˜‰

Get a little spooky and kooky for your show:

Make your little ones’ first theatre experience unforgettable by dressing up as one of The Addams Family characters! Party City in Gardens, the Crazy Store group, Yaga South Africa and Cosplay Cape Town are always great for your costume needs.

Looking for some horrifically awesome inspiration? I rocked this Wednesday Addams look at the Galileo Open Air Cinema’s Halloween event last year:

Wednesday Addams at your service. Image credit: Tania Knight

Time to graduate to Morticia, I think.

December just got a little bit wacky and a whole lot of weird and I am ready for it!

Tickets for The Addams Family musical are available from R350 per person and can be booked at Webtickets.

The Dance of the Dragons on House of the Dragon Season 2 and what you need to know before Episode 5

The Dance of the Dragons on House of the Dragon Season 2 and what you need to know before Episode 5

Hey, HOTD fans, how are we doing after last week’s deadly episode? Everyone still mourning the Grandmother of Dragons, Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best) and her Red Queen Meleys, who were so stealthily taken out by the seriously hot but crazy Aemond One-Eye (Ewan Mitchell) and his beast Vhagar?

Cry with me again for this:

As much as I enjoyed this view of the sadistic Aemond:

The third dragon I would love to ride after his uncle Daemon and his great x 9 nephew Jon ..Grrrr. Ewan Mitchell is all kinds of goddamn hot! Image credit: Twitter

And wanted to fly away with him when he looked like this:

He may be a sadistic kinslayer but f*** is he gorgeous too! Image credit: HBO

I must keep my eye on the prize- the Iron Throne- and guide you all on what to expect now that we’ve surpassed the half-way mark of this eight-episode season.

My lords and ladies, here is our current list of fighters and their prize dragons:

Team Black (because as Dany’s stan, Jon’s second wife, Daemon’s dream lover AND a loyal Targaryen, I pledge fealty to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), the one true heir of King Viserys I):

Moondancer whose rider is Lady Baela Targaryen.

Team Green:

My predictions for Episode 5 and the countdown to the season finale:

Unforgivable backstabbing, horrifying deaths (the sounds of that decapitation still haunt my dreams!), welcoming of bastards unknown to the Targaryens and Velayrons until now (hey Catelyn Stark, ever read a history book about blended families? Might have helped you with Jon, huh?) and a healthy disregard for being called a Kinslayer (that’s 3, Aemond.THREE!) will ensure that things move at a quick pace from here on out.

Embracing your husband’s bastard and telling him to raise him up and make him his heir? Rhaenys, you are EVERYTHING. Catelyn Stark could never. Image credit: HBO

Episode 4 really gave me Game of Thrones Season 6 Battle of the Bastard vibes with its slow motion warfare capture, the iconic loyalty and weary hero vibes Rhaenys was showing off that echoes in Jon facing Ramsay’s army centuries later.

Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) will feel the loss of Rhaenys, the last living adultier adult and clear-minded relative she had left, keenly. Without Rhaenys to counterbalance Daemon (Matt Smith)’s darker impulses, Rhaenyra is going to give in to the blood and fire lust and this may not leave her Realm in peace as she so badly wants it to.

Aemond, that hot but dangerous moron, has now taken Aegon out (or at least incapacitated him for a while) and cleared his path to becoming heir to the Iron Throne. Unlike the Fire and Ice source novel where Aegon has a second son Maelor to succeed him and Aemond names himself Prince Regent, the Iron Throne is Aemond’s now, in all but name. With more and more lords raising their banners for Team Green, high on the power of his dragon and his prowess on the battlefield, Aemond is going to be cocky AF and not see his potential downfall coming right at him.

Should Daemon call The Ghostbusters to Harrenhal?!

See, Daemon may be starring in his own version ofΒ The Haunted MansionΒ or The Haunting of HarrenhalΒ right now, with visions of his dead wife Laena (Savannah Steyn) , the younger, innocent version of Rhaenerya (Milly Alcock) ) and having to face all of his other demons, but that strategic war brain never quits and he is cooking up something BIG. Big enough that Aemond is going to have to ask the only other brother he has, and potentially doesn’t hate, the unseen Daeron and his dragon Tessarion, for help. Yikes.

Rhaenyra and Daemon’s eventual sacking of King’s Landing takes a very different turn in the source novel so I am very interested to see how George RR Martin and his show writers adapt and deviate Daemon’s master plan onscreen.

From the Episode 5 trailer, we already know there will be some insane developments, in particular the parading of Meleys’ severed head through the Red Keep and Flea Bottom:

Team Black’s dragons may not be strong enough to take on Vhagar by themselves each, but together, they could seriously put a dent in Team Green’s defenses. From the trailer for Episode 5, it looks like Rhaenyra will be taming Vermithor, the former stead of her great-grandfather Jaehaerys I, whom Daemon awakened with a song at the end of last season. Seasmoke, Laenor’s dragon, has been wooing his bastard brother Aadam of Hull (Clinton Liberty) and Jace (Harry Collett)is rounding up the other dragon seedlings to claim the riderless dragons flying around Dragonstone.

Either way, each side is coming with Fire and Blood for what they think is theirs.

We may not all have Rhaenys’ kickass dragon seat belt, but I suggest strapping in, my lords and ladies. The Dance of the Dragons is about to seriously heat up and it is going to be an earth scorcher!

House of the Dragon airs on HBO on Sundays, airs on MNET 101 on Mondays at 9pm and is available to stream on Showmax. 

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 2

Saddle up, dragon riders, we are in for yet another fiery episode of the second season of House of the Dragon and it is a banger!

Here’s what went down:

Recap:

It is the morning and week after the horrific beheading of Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) II’s heir Jaehaerys and there is mayhem throughout the Realm. Most especially in the Red Keep where that terrible dragon temper sees Aegon destroying his dear ol’ dead dad Viserys (Paddy Considine)’s impressive Lego set and raging at Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) about just where the f*** he was when he was meant to be protecting Aegon’s family.

RIP to yet another casualty of the Dance of the Dragons:

Ser Crispy was, of course banging the Dowager Queen and Aegon’s Lady Mother, Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke),at the time of the horrendous murder but he cannot admit that to the raging “king”. With Aegon mad with grief and power, it falls to ol’faithful Hand and grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans) to devise a rather dastardly but brilliant plan ,to even me as an award-winning publicist, to turn little Jaehaerys’s funeral into the perfect PR smear campaign against Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). If the common folk of Flea Bottom can bear witness to their young Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and her mother’s tears and grief and resonate with them, that will do more to draw people to their fight for the Iron Throne than a thousand men in battle.

Goddammit, the man is right. Ugh.

Over on Dragonstone, Rhaenyra is incredulous that anyone would think her capable of murdering a child in his bed, much less that she would do that to her sweet, innocent sister Helaena, especially when she too has recently lost a son so violently.

Rhaenys, a queen supporting her Queen! Image credit: Screenrant

When the Black council itself seems to doubt Rhaenyra’s innocence, it is Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best), Rhaenyra’s aunt, former mother-in-law and Hand in all but name, who silences the doubters with a short one liner to watch themselves and how they speak to their Queen.

Rhaenyra and Rhaenys both realise in quick succession, and with just one look each, that smirking, hot and quiet Daemon (Matt Smith) is responsible for this atrocity and we move swiftly into one of the most heated domestic disputes of the GOT-verse. Rhaeynra reads Daemon for filth, demands that he declare his acceptance of her as his rightful Queen and berates him for weakening her claim. Daemon gets mad, smashes a cup and is banished to Harrenhal with Caraxes.

The White Worm and The Black Queen – a match made in dragon fire. Image credit: HBO

Left to clean up Daemon’s mess, Rhaeynra turns to the impressive Dragonstone library for inspiration on what her ancestor Visenya did in a similar situation when her brother husband Aegon the Conqueror erred. We’ll see how that plays out in later episdoes. She also has a heart to heart with the White Worm, Myseria (Sonoya Mizuno) and finds herself liking the former common-law wife of Daemon. Bonded by the unspoken acknowledgement that Daemon has been physically and emotionally abusive to them both as well as the fact that they are two women who are being denied their rightful inheritance and power simply because they are women, Rhaenyra grants Myseria her freedom. A decision she will soon realise was a great one for it is Myseria who gives up her freedom to warn Rhaenyra of the latest Hightower plot.

Toxic besties Cole and Aegon have come up with what they think is an ingenious plan: send their loyal Kingsguard Ser Arryk Cargyll (Luke Tittensor) to impersonate his twin Ser Erryk (Elliot Tittensor), who is Rhaenyra’s sworn protector, infiltrate Dragonstone and kill her in her bedchamber.

Let’s get ready to rumble! The twins face off in the bloodiest battle since Cleaganebowl. Image credit: HBO

It almost works but , in what is the most anticipated fraternal battle since Cleganebowl in Game of Thrones Season 8, the steadfast Erryk kills his twin and falls on his sword. Rhaenyra is ridden with grief and buries them together, as classy as Aegon and Alicent are not.

Alicent, the cold-hearted mother, cannot offer any of her children any comfort. She leaves Aegon to cry alone in his chambers so that she can shag Ser Crispy. She fails to quell Helaena’s panic attack when the commoners storm the funeral procession and they nearly tear the little prince’s body apart and she is the reason Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) is curled up, naked and alone, in the lap of his old whore.

Alicent wants to tell Daddy Otto that she has been playing with Ser Criston’s “sword” but Papa doesn’t want to know. Image credit: CBR

It comes as no surprise, then that when she tries to confess her sin of sleeping with Criston while her grandchild was being murdered, her father Otto, recently fired by Aegon as Hand, does not wish to hear of it. The dysfunction continues for The Greens, generation after generation and it will be their downfall. With Ser Crispy now being the King’s iron First and leading a vanguard of blood hungry soldiers, there is only violence and the fall of Westeros on the cards.

Impressions:

This was an emotionally gutting episode which simultaneously moves the plot forward quite swiftly.

D’Arcy continues to carry this show on their shoulders. Balancing Rhaeynra’s overprotectiveness of Jaecerys (Harry Collett) and Baela (Bethany Antonia) when she forbids them and their dragonsfrom getting too close to the fight in the Riverlands, with the intricate politics of her marriage to Daemon and commanding the respect of the bunch of old men set in their ways on her council, D’Arcy does an impressive job. If this doesn’t earn them an Emmy, there is no justice in the world.

Oh, Daemon, my bad boy, they could never make me hate you! Image credit: HBO

Smith continues to rock the Rogue Prince persona like a dragon-riding boss! Like any typical husband, Daemon has NO idea why the f** his wife is mad at him. He took care of business, didn’t he? Is it his fault that the idiots he hired didn’t stick to the plan (or did they? Hmmm)? No!

We’re getting plenty of Corlys (Steve Toussaint) and Rhaenys screen time this episode, which is necessary for how their particular story plays out eventually. Between their sex scenes and Alicent and Criston’s, the show’s creators are trying hard (pun intended πŸ˜‰) to live up to the parent show’s penchant for erotic violence.

Ah, young dragon love. Pity it won’t last long. Image credit: HBO

We got a very brief but impressive scene of Jace and Baela discussing their fathers .Jace talking lovingly about both of his fathers, Laenor Velaryon (John MacMillan) and Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr), while Baela confesses that she sometimes hates Daemon. Why the HOTD creators insist on making Daemon out to be a bad father when he is a loving one in the source novel, I will never understand. These teenagers are also proof that not all Westerosi marriages have to be painful partnerships.

Phia Saban shines as Helaena when she suffers a panic attacks during her son’s funeral procession. Image credit: HBO

I’ll say it again: Phia as Helaena is my stand-out performer for the season thus far. From the way she portrays Helaena being forced to sit through the worst funeral procession for her little son and the ensuing panic attack when the cart is stuck is a testament to anyone with sensory issues who has gone through something similar. She shines too, when she meets Aegon, her brother husband as they pass each other in the Red Keep, expecting them to come together in their shared grief, and realising there is no comfort to be found. Emotional f** boys really are the worst, even when they are your brother and husband.

I am loving the contrast of the mad “King” Aegon and the strategically reserved Rhaenyra. The phrase most often used in GOT and George RR Martin’s source novels ,”When a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. One side greatness, the other madness“, speaks to this contrast especially. Otto himself realises this when he discovers Ser Crispy and Aegon’s hare-brained plan of switching the twins to enact revenge and the hanging of all ratcatchers on the wall of the Red Keep.

For viewers worried about the dog from last week’s episode, I am happy to report that the goodest bannerman is alive and well:

My Lords and Ladies, we can all breathe a sigh of relief… the goodest bannerman is alive and well, Image credit: Facebool

With Otto now revealing that Viserys did not, in fact, choose Aegon to be his successor, to Aegon himself, there is no telling what the young Usurper will do next. Ok, book readers know, of course, but we will leave show watchers to discover that themselves.

Of all the unnecessary sex scenes in the GOT universe, this one is the most useless. Image credit: HBO

I don’t think we needed a scene of Alicent and Criston f***ing to end this episode. Not when there were so many more interesting plot points, like Myseria and Rhaenyra forming an alliance (and potentially a sexual relationship? Come on, two of the strongest and hottest women having that much chemistry and the desire to see peace in the Realm and there isn’t even one hint of them wanting to ride each other? Guys!). Or Alyn of Hull having a brother, Aadam (Clinton Liberty) with smoldering good looks who bears an even greater resemblance to Corlys? Wasted potential, people, wasted!

House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Max every Sunday night, on Mnet 101 every Monday night at 9pm and on Showmax.

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1

A Superfans review: House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 1

Silence in the Realm! The premiere of the second season of House of the Dragon has arrived and the world will never be the same again.

Recap:

A short sojourn to Winterfell and The Wall opens this first episode as we see young Prince Jacaerys Velaryon (Harry Collett) visit with Lord Cregan Stark (Tom Taylor) and implore him to raise his banners and send his best men to fight for Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy)’s claim to the Iron Throne.

Winter is coming! We travel back to The Wall and the North when Prince Jacaerys Velaryon visits Lord Cregan Stark. Image credit: Warner Bros

Whilst sharing with the young Prince all of the unspoken horrors he needs The Wall and his best men to fight, a raven arrives for Lord Stark with the horrific news of Jacaerys’ little brother Lucerys’ death at the hands and jaws of their uncle Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and his fearsome dragon Vhagar.

Back on Dragonstone, we are treated to a magnificent entrance by the boys’ putative grandmother, Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) on dragonback. She and her trusty stead Meleys have been scanning the ocean for days, in search of Luke and Arrax, as well as to defend against possible attacks from the Greens. Tired, hungry and grieving for both the loss of her grandson as well as the heir of her house, Rhaenys is in no mood when Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) pulls his King Consort shit and demands she remount and fly with him to kill Vhagar and the Usurper, “King” Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney).

Daemon better put some damn respect on Princess Rhaenys Targaryen’s name! Image credit: Max

As a mother who has lost two children (remember, she doesn’t know her son faked his death so he go could live his best LGBTQIA life in Pentos) and a firm believer that a woman should sit the Iron Throne even if it isn’t her, Rhaenys will not do anything without Rhaenyra’s consent. Rhaenyra and her dragon Syrax have been missing for days, looking for the remains of their children (yes, Arrax was one of Syrax’s hatchlings), and grieving, which Daemon thinks is a waste of time. Mothers can grieve buts queens must rule. The exchange between cousins is hilarious to watch and so fitting, considering the bear vs man discussion gripping the Internet right now.

Joffrey Baratheon would have loved Aegon Targaryen II. Image credit: Warner Bros TV

In King’s Landing, Aegon is doing his best Joffrey Baratheon impersonation, except he is a total idiot. From disrupting the small council’s meeting by letting his heir Jaehaerys annoy Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall) to disregarding his mother, Dowager Queen Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Hand, grandfather Otto (Rhys Ifans) to dismissing his Queen Haelena (Phia Saban)’s warnings about rats – which will prove deadly later- Aegon is not the Prince That Was Promised.

The Red Keep, as it turns out, has more secrets that just Maegor the Cruel’s secret tunnels. Alicent is finally experiencing orgasms, all thanks to … Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel). The same man who has been calling Rhaenyra a whore for more than 20 years because she rejected him, is now in fact being a whore. Aegon is seducing virgins in brothels, Aemond is seeking comfort in the arms of an old prostitute and Lord Larys Strong (Matthew Needham) is whispering all kinds of bullshit into the King’s ears which leads to the dismal of his grandfather as Hand.

Bedding a queen has always been on Ser Criston Cole’s bucket list it would appear. My, how the mighty have fallen. Image credit: Max

Which brings us to the truly shocking part of the episode: the kicking of a dog! Ok, fine, the actual heart-wrenching scene is the highly anticipated Blood&Cheese storyline from the source novel, Fire and Blood, slightly reimagined. After Rhaenyra returns to a highly antsy Daemon, her family and small council, she has but one request: she wants Aemond Targaryen. Daemon, being the ever loving husband with a bloody streak, pops on his infamous crime-doing hoodie and slips into the Red Keep where he convinces a hard-on-his-luck guard and a royal ratcatcher to kill Aemond. An eye for an eye, a son for a son.

We all know that when Daemon breaks out his bad boy hoodie, horrific crimes are about to go down. Image credit: Max

Except, you really can’t get good help these days and besides kicking an innocent dog, these two idiots do the unthinkable: they storm Jaehaerys and his twin Jaehaera’s room, forcing Helaena to tell them which is the heir and … decapitate the young prince in his bed.

Once again, a mother races across the Red Keep with her child. Image credit: Max

Fearing for her daughter’s life, Helaena runs all the way to her mother’s chambers – a path which fans will know from season 1 where Rhaeynra was dripping blood post-childbirth to show young Joffrey to her stepmother – and walks in on Alicent screwing Ser Criston.

With a son now brutually murdered on both sides, the Dance of the Dragons has truly begun!

Impressions:

This first episode is spectacular in world-building, dramatic in scenery and gut wrenching in emotionally engaging with the audience and here’s why: Game of Thrones author George RR Martin is back in the writing seat and it shows!

From the opening scene of a raven flying over the Godswood, which is so reminiscent of GOT season 1 episode 1, to the focus on the smallfolk of Flea Bottom and how they are being affected by the coming war, and the history lesson Cregan Stark gives to Jace about how his great-great grandparents’ dragons would not fly beyond The Wall because of the death that awaits there (we know it’s the Night King and the White Walkers but our sweet Summer Prince does not), the devil is in the details and George knows we are all out here, fangirling for it.

Dragonstone really was the seat and true home of dragons in this era of the Targaryen lineage and is fully equipped for their needs. Image credit: HBO

In fact, that minute detail extends to us seeing the parking bay/landing strip for the dragons back at Dragonstone as well as the entire dragon stable with accessories that the Targaryens had for centuries but which Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon (Kit Harington) would never know of because it, along with the Song of Ice and Fire retelling dies with this generation. Oh, our poor incestuous babies, how you were robbed!

We all know what happens when a Targaryen Queen has this facial expression. The Greens better run for their lives! Image credit: Max

The performances themselves are incredible in this episode. D’Arcy speaks but one sentence in this entire episode and yet, conveys every heartbreaking emotion of a grieving mother to such perfection. The entire scene of her and Syrax finding their children’s remains had me sobbing. That look of pure goddamn grief-fueled rage proves that she is Dany’s eight times great-grandma and no one f***s with a dragon queen or her loved ones.

Prince Lucerys Velayron fought bravely like a Strong, was killed by a dragon and kin like a Targaryen and was buried at sea like a Velaryon and we shall miss him but it is his loved ones who shine in his subdued funeral scene. Phoebe Campbell  as his promised bride Rhaena is a masterclass in how to portray the loss of the boy you love whilst realizing your future is f**ed.

Just as tearjerking is Luke’s brothers and mother feeding items to the funeral pyre that were dear to him in lieu of having a body to burn:

Luke’s brothers and mother experiencing the true meaning of Fire and Blood at his funeral. Image credit: Warner Bros TV

The decapitation scene is made all the worse by the fact that it happens offscreen but we hear ALL of the squelching, gruesome action, much like Sansa’s wedding night rape in GOT Season 6. I’m sure ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) practicing viewers loved it but I could not stomach it.

A special mention has to be made for Phia who so accurately portrays Helaena’s dissociative response to her child’s murder and catching her mother bedding the very man who was meant to be protecting her and her children. As the writers and showrunners tried to repeatedly reiterate in Season 1, Helaena is a prophetic dreamer and possibly on the spectrum so her reaction here, to run with her daughter and hide in a corner of her mother’s chamber whilst almost calmly telling her that her son is dead, is right on point.

Daemon’s management style is problematic and he really shouldn’t leave his murderous employees to their own devices. Image credit: Max

Kudos too to Smith who toes the fine line between vengeance and sociopathic tendencies in the scene where Daemon instructs Blood and Cheese on the kin slaying task he has set for them. He doesn’t tell them who to kill if they don’t find Aemond but he also doesn’t not tell them … nudge nudge, wink wink.

Book readers with a keen eye and ear will have perked up at the introduction of Alyn (Abubakar Salim) who not only saved Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint)’s life but also presents him with the steel sword he had commissioned for his now deceased heir Luke. Alyn has a shaved head for a reason, fellow viewers, for his true hair colour may spell trouble for the succession of House Velaryon and the Driftmark seat. May the Lord of Light save us when Rhaenys finds out!

Trouble is brewing for House Velaryon and newcomer Alyn will be at the centre of it all. Image credit: Max

All in all, this was a strong (πŸ˜‰) first episode for the season and I cannot wait for all of you to see what’s coming. Dracarys!

House of the Dragon season 2 airs on Max every Sunday night, on Mnet 101 every Monday night at 9pm and on Showmax.

A Superfans Review: IF

A Superfans Review: IF

Hold onto your seats, kids and kids-at-heart: the unbelievably fantastic Ryan Reynolds and his talented young co-star Cailey Fleming are stepping into the impossible with director John KrasinskiΒ ‘s Imaginary Friends (IF) movie, now on circuit in South Africa!

Twelve-year-old Bea (Fleming) is a quiet, reserved child who has already lost her mom to cancer and is terrified about losing her dad (KrasinskiΒ ) too, as he faces a cardiac crisis in a New York hospital. With no time to play or dream, Bea is initially hesitant to believe her eyes and mind when she encounters the mysterious, grumpy Cal (Reynolds) and his motley crew of IFs: Blue (Steve Carell), Blossom (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) , Lewis (Louis Gossett Jr.) and more. When she discovers that all IFs are in danger of being forgotten without having a child of their own to inspire and love, Bea sets about trying to match them with worthy kids. Along the way, she rediscovers things she’s forgotten and the power of her own big, beautiful imagination.

My Superfans Thoughts on IF:

KrasinskiΒ and Reynolds have managed to perfect that rare gold standard in Hollywood: they’re the sensitive, hilarious, hardworking actors who successfully straddle the lines between being action heroes (KrasinskiΒ in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan on Prime Video and Reynolds as the Merc with a filthy mouth Deadpool), romantic leads, comedic geniuses and guaranteed box office records. They are also a duo who have crossed the threshold into being superb filmmakers who relate to their audiences and create content they want to see onscreen.

A matchmaking imaginary friend service is ALWAYS a great idea! Image credit: Comicbook.com

For those reasons alone, IF is the kind of family movie I wish I had growing up in the 90s. I too was a young 11/12 year old who lost a parent and had to grow up pretty quickly. To cope, I didn’t just have AN imaginary friend – I made up an entire second family who were crazy about me. I regaled my home room class with the wonderous tales of adventures with my second family, including a too-good-to-be-true twin delivery I assisted with, every morning. It was all going swimmingly, until my teachers mentioned said second family to my mom πŸ˜‰

My point being: childhood post-traumatic stress syndrome is a very real condition that kids of all ages and different generations deal with and IF, with KrasinskiΒ ‘s signature sensitive style of filming and writing and a cast of well-suited actors, makes this one of the most important movies for the youth of today. It’s right up there with Disney’s Encanto and Red Panda in addressing the challenges of growing up and family relations that a TikTok video or Roblox game just cannot deal with in the same way.

A dance number with the craziest imaginary characters? Sign us up! Image credit: Entertainment Weekly

Krasinski and Reynolds are pretty much big kids themselves , and the fact that they are both dads to constantly growing broods of kids (Reynolds is on his fourth daughter!) , helps them to accurately portray the magical, wild imaginations of children. Does an invisible IF make sense? Nope, but hey, Kevin is representing his kind onscreen. Are we reminded that even Grandma was a kid at one point too? Yep, and it is as shocking to Bea as it was to my younger sister when she realized the same thing about our grandmother. There is a a forgotten kid and their IF inside of all of us and this movie allows her to rediscover them once again.

The seamless chemistry and interaction between the actors and live action animated characters brings to mind Jessica Rabbit and the original Space Jam. Blue’s huge personality and lovability is classic Carell which plays off perfectly against Reynolds’ witty sarcasm and dark resignation to his character’s fate.

IF features fantastic chemistry between the live animation and real life actors. Image credit: The Mary Sue

The eventual reveal of who Reynolds’ Cal is in relation to Bea isn’t overly inventive but it does bring the emotional depth of this beautifully written movie to the fore. I sobbed and I don’t mind admitting that. Here’s to all IFs finding their kids and living their best imaginative lives.

Overall, IF is THE best family movie to catch at a cinema near you!

Editor’s Note: Superfans was hosted as a media guest at The Labia in Cape Town by United International Pictures (UIP).

A Superfans Review: The Fall Guy

A Superfans Review: The Fall Guy

There are very few movies that leave me with a HUGE grin on my face and a warm, happy feeling bubbling up inside of me as the credits roll. The Fall Guy IS that movie for me thus far in 2024!

Now playing at a cinema near you, The Fall Guy features the Barbenheimer crossover we have all been dying for since last July when Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day, as Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt finally step into the spotlight:

A love letter to the stunt men and directors who work tirelessly to create the magic that makes Hollywood’s offerings into cinematic blockbusters, The Fall Guy sees Gosling’s stunt man extraordinaire Colt suffer a tragic “accident” on set, whilst doubling for douchebag deluxe star Tom Ryder (an epically awful and hilarious Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the Golden Globe winning actor of Bullet Train and Avengers: The Age of Ultron). Once the ever charming, handsome dude everyone loves on set, including Blunt’s assistant director Jody, Colt’s broken back and long recovery journey leaves him in a deep depression and cuts his brief but powerful fling with Jody short.

The Fall Guy follows Colt’s insane journey of being plucked from his dead-end car valet and horrible mullet-wearing life to Jody’s first feature film set as the stunt double for his old frenemy Ryder and his discovery that everyone wants him dead. Add in impressive visual shots and that inevitable “will they/won’t they” dynamic between the former couple, and you have the love child of a threesome between the Fast and the Furious franchise, every Seth Rogen bro comedy (i.e. the ones that are hilarious AF but deliver that must-have wholesome message about overcoming adversities) and the 2000s rom coms we all cut our teeth on.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is Tom Ryder in The Fall Guy.

The twist of Ryder and his agent Gail (a deliciously wicked Hannah Waddingham of Ted Lasso, Sex Education and Game of Thrones fame) being the ones who set Colt up for a murder that Ryder committed ,and the insane drug dealers on his tail, makes for nail-biting car chases on bridges in rush hour traffic, Evil Knievel style explosions and more.

As multiple Oscar nominees, most recently earlier this year, Gosling and Blunt are known for their top tier work but I’ve always considered them more dramatic performers than comedians and rom com leads. I am delighted that they have blown my mind and warmed my heart with their outstanding chemistry and very realistic portrayal of a former couple trying to work through their issues in the midst of very real danger.

We’ve all been there: the guy we unexpectedly fall in love with suddenly ghosts us and then has the absolute audacity to show up at our place of work or other important event/venue to declare that he has changed, he wants us back and admits he was an absolute goddamn idiot. We’ll eventually forgive him, of course, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make him work for it and damn, does Jody make Colt pay for his f***boyness!

Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

I admittedly took some sadistic pleasure in one of the funniest scenes of the movie, where Blunt’s Jody exercises her creative control as a director and makes Gosling’s Colt do eight takes of being set on fire (while he is safe, it still hurts him).Every woman has a story of how often she imagines setting her ex on fire and this was just perfect. Their mutual declaration of love in the midst of a car chase, whilst filming a stunt and getting the confession they need, is visually, contextually and emotionally fantastic.

This film is, of course, a visual testament to the undoubtedly vital work that stunt men and their teams do behind the scenes of huge movies and it is here, in particular, that director David Leitch’s vision shines. Every method Colt uses to get out of the increasingly dangerous situations he finds himself in, is a play on his stunt men skills – from how he takes down Ryder’s bodyguards without killing them, to maiming them with gasoline sprouted from his mouth and his awesome battle on a truck to save Ryder’s PA. My particular favourite scene is the very meta take of the real life film crew filming Jody’s film crew filming a one take action scene riddled with explosives, a rousing speech and an unbelievable car chase and jump.

L to R: Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in THE FALL GUY, directed by David Leitch

A special shout out, too, to Winston Duke (Black Panther) who, as Colt’s work bestie Dan, and stunt coordinator, puts a fresh spin on the ol’ Danny Glover “I am too old for this s***” type character. His dynamic with Gosling as they riff off of grandiose action movie speeches and lines really appealed to my inner film geek.

The soundtrack alone makes me want to do this:

Headbang GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Those anthems that get you going including KISS’ β€œI Was Made For Lovin’ You”, paired with the more obscure indie songs that make my emo self happy including The Darkness“I Believe In A Thing Called Love“, are a wonderous, head-banging duo that I will be playing on repeat on Spotify.

The Fall Guy is the perfect date night and girls’ night out film – in fact, I may take my grandmother who is an action movie fanatic to see it. Book your tickets TODAY to see it at a cinema near you.

Editor’s Note: Superfans was hosted as a media guest at The Labia in Cape Town by United International Pictures (UIP).

A Superfans Review: Finding the Light – An Evening with Musical Theatre Stars

A Superfans Review: Finding the Light – An Evening with Musical Theatre Stars

I woke my neighbours, belting out The Greatest Showman’s life-affirming tune This is Me and that should give you an indication of the theatrical high I am STILL floating on after last night’s spectacular Gala Show of Finding The Light – An Evening with Musical Theatre Stars at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town, South Africa!

A concert-style celebration of some of musical theatre’s best loved shows, with 100% of net proceeds going towards supporting the work of the Kolisi Foundation, Finding The Light features South African, Broadway and West End legends including Kim Criswell (Olivier-award nominated for Annie Get Your Gun; Lucy opposite Sting in 3 Penny Opera; Cats); Michael D. Xavier (Joe in Sunset Boulevard opposite Hollywood film star Glenn Close; Joe Bradley in Roman Holiday The Musical; ITV’s Grantchester); David Habbin, (West Side Story, Les MisΓ©rables, Amici Forever, and co-founder of the
Finding the Light Foundation) and Broadway Star Nikki RenΓ©e Daniels (Company; The Book of Mormon; Les MisΓ©rables; Hamilton).

They join South Africa’s musical stars Jonathan Roxmouth (Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story,Cats), Lynelle Kenned (West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Orpheus in Africa), Tshepo Ncokoane (Janice Honeyman’s Peter Pan Pantomine, Kinky Boots, We Will Rock You – The Musical World Tour) and Lucy Tops (Kinky Boots, Funny Girl, The Romantix).

The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Brandon
Phillips (CPO Resident Conductor), is the perfect accompaniment to the stars on stage. Image credit: Daniel Rutland Manners

These mega talents are accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Brandon
Phillips (CPO Resident Conductor), and hosted by Marc Lottering. The stunning ensemble features students from the Waterfront Theatre School and LAMTA. This extraordinary show is produced by Daniel Galloway and Jessica Ross.

I will leave the more high-brow, in-depth review to the actual arts critics. For my part as your humble and regular Jane Superfan, last night was the closest I am ever getting to the Tony Awards and it blew me away in several aspects:

People came in their red carpet best:

One of the things I often lament about when I am back home is the utter lack of glamourous theatre-going attire from our local arts lovers. I marvel at how show attendees dress in their best Hogwarts costumes for even a matinee of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. I rocked a totally out there, man, dress for the Back To The Future the Musical on the West End last year and I absolutely die for the incredible looks served at The Royal Variety Performance every year.

Thank you, Fatima Razzak and Letishia Charles, for being fabulously formal with me! Image credit: Ryan Jales

I had every expectation that I would be the only person who adhered to the “Fabulously Formal” dress code for the Finding the Light Gala Show but hey, my fellow South Africans came prepared. Whether that was to impress our Captain Siya Kolisi more than anything else, I don’t care. I am just SO proud of you, SA theatre goers!

Our local theatre stars outshining their international counterparts:

In chatting to my partner and some acquaintances during the interval, we ruminated on the fact that our local stars were outshining the West End and Broadway ones in the first half. We could possibly be biased, of course, and it may just be a case of having not seen the international players onstage before but for me, it certainly rang true. Kenned and Roxmouth are heavy hitting marvels, that is known, but wow, did Tops and Ncokoane really come into their own

Lucy Tops is spectacular in Finding The Light! Here she is, delightfully belting out Suddenly Seymour with the gorgeous Jonathan Roxmouth. Image credit:  Daniel Rutland Manners

Tops is always a delight in the aforementioned shows as well as the Kalk Bay Theatre shows and she is THE diva of Artscape Theatre’s annual disco themed festive season run. I have loved her extensive range since her Fleur du Cap Award nominated role in Bar None back in 2014/2015. In Finding The Light, she effortlessly switches between the naughty Audrey in Suddenly Seymour to a powerhouse artist with the innocent and in love Anna in Frozen’s Love is an Open Door and I am in awe of her. In the second half, Xavier and Criswell really rose to the occasion and I could see what makes them the illustrious international stars they are.

Finding new angles to old classics:

The set list for Finding The Light is designed to highlight some of the best award-winning pivotal musicals of our time and as a musical lover, I enjoyed the familiarity of numbers from Dear Evan Hansen, Sunset Boulevard, The Little Shop of Horrors, Chess, Into the Woods etc. What surprised me is discovering a new understanding of the big hits that I have spent all of my life singing along to.

From Phantom of the Opera to West Side Story’s Somewhere, Jonathan Roxmouth and Lynelle Kenned are chemistry and stage couple goals! Image credit:  Daniel Rutland Manners

Phantom of the Opera‘s titular song is always moving but with the stage stripped bare here (all the better to show off the gorgeous Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra), the mega talents of Roxmouth and Kenned and their intense chemistry, I FINALLY understood that it is a seduction song. One tends to think of the song Beneath a Moonless Sky in the sequel Love Never Dies as visual and aural proof of Erik and Christine’s alleged night of illicit passion that leads to the conception of their quirky son but in fact, Phantom is the red hot seducer. I always get goosebumps and emotional when listening to that song (as I have since watching a much-loved video tape of the original show when I was six years old), but last night, I, uh, had to fan myself and my heaving bosom (and no, that’s not just because Roxmouth looks divine in a tux 😈) .

Truly a stellar, magical show! Go see this incredible international cast dazzle in Finding The Light – An Evening with Musical Theatre Stars at the Artscape Theatre! Tickets available at Webtickets. Image credit:  Daniel Rutland Manners

It was indeed a magical evening. On balance, I do need to mention two things that were mildly irritating to me. One, was the confusion of whisking VIP guests off to our post-show reception, the lack of clear communication and signage to the designated area and the shepherding of guests that felt like we were the third class passengers on the Titanic, begging to be let in and rescued behind a barricaded gate. At nearly midnight, this was NOT amusing!

Two, when inviting VIPS for pre-drinks and a post-show reception, ensure that some non-alcoholic beverages are available, for free, to your teetotalers. I had to pay R40 for two soft drinks and honestly, my fellow sober attendees and I should not be penalized for our choices.

The spread of food was fabulous and really hit those late night cravings, though!

Get your tickets TODAY:

Finding The Light – An Evening with Musical Theatre Stars has just FOUR performances left and ends its super short run on Sunday 21 April 2024 at 2pm, so get your tickets TODAY at Webtickets.

A Superfans SA Insider’s Guide to Comic Con Cape Town 2024

A Superfans SA Insider’s Guide to Comic Con Cape Town 2024

Fandom, ASSEMBLE!

It’s our favourite time of the year again: Comic Con Cape Town returns to the Mother City for its second annual event and we are SUPER excited.

Master the art of the quick change (there are no telephone booths around so you can’t pull a Clark Kent to Superman transformation, though 😊), transform into your best costume and meet us at the Cape Town International Convention (CTICC) 2 from Saturday 27 April to Wednesday 1 May 2024.

We’ve been attending the Comic Cons, hosted by Reed Exhibitions, since 2018, so we know quite a few fantastic tips that you, the most die-hard geek, can use to Hulk Smash your way through your first one.

Here is the Superfans SA Insider’s Guide to Comic Con Cape Town 2024:

Book your tickets:

There will be no joining the Dark Side or gaining access to nerd Valhalla without your must-have tickets. Unlike Charlie, you are not going to find these in special chocolate bars (don’t worry, this event is 100% real, unlike that Glasgow incident, and you will not be left high, dry and without chocolate – in fact there are several options available at the Food Hall so pick up your favourite bar there!).

Here’s a look at what those must-have tickets got Con attendees last year:

You can book your tickets via the Con’s amazing website. Saturday is already sold out so be faster than The Flash and book yours TODAY.

Get your Meet and Greet Packages:

We are fangirling HARD for the top tier guests that the Con organising team have managed to pull out of their magic hats! For literal years, it’s been our dream to have Cape Town’s very own talented performer and star of hit international shows including Lucifer and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, Lesley-Ann Brandt, appear at a Con on home soil and it’s FINALLY happening! We cannot wait to have her speaking Lilim, aka Afrikaans to us.

Amongst the absolute must-haves for your photography and autograph collections are Sean Gunn of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy fame; most of Netflix’s wildly popular show One Piece’s cast (we are personally madly infatuated with Langley Kirkwood, one of South Africa’s choice actors since his days as a charismatic cult leader on now cancelled soapie Isidingo) and the absolute bevvy of artists,including our favourite Bill Masuku.

Make memories with your idols by booking your sessions here.

Plan your Con schedule:

The Con team have conveniently popped their schedule onto their website. We strongly suggest you download the Comic Con app and plan your experience around your meet and greets, any of the guest panels you want to attend, the sideline events (there is a speed dating event too so who knows? You may meet the MJ to your Spiderman!), mealtimes and how far you can walk around in your costume.

Plan your Comic Con schedule via the app so that you don’t miss out on any of the cool things on offer, including Q&As with your favourite guests! Image credit: Superfans SA

Trust us on this: you do NOT want to meet Veronica Taylor of PokΓ©mon fame when you’re sweaty from being in a leather costume all day, dangerously hungry or your feet are aching from walking around in your Harley Quinn heels and carrying around that heavy bat.

Suit up:

Unless you have an Alfred living in your garage, whipping up a bullet-proof costume in record time, you are going to need to either make your own or rent one.

Leonie is our resident wardrobe mistress and there are a few places that she loves sourcing our costume basics and makeup from including Party City, Clicks and Crazy Store in Gardens. For all of our heavy-duty make-up and prosthetic needs, she loves Masque Makeup & FX Warehouse. From bald caps and liquid latex, to fake teeth and special contact lenses- they have it all.

Leonie rocks our Comic Con cosplay creation with a variety of specialized suppliers. Image credit: Superfans SA

If you are not quite ready to take on the mantle of Costumer Designer, we suggest visiting your nearest costume rental store or pop over to the Cosplay Cape Town group on Facebook to see what’s for sale.

Top up your bank cards:

The Exhibitors’ Hall is a treasure trove of geeky goods. Before you go spending like you’re Bruce Wayne, please ensure you’ve topped up your debit or credit cards and don’t forget to bring them along or load them onto your phone so you can shop until you drop.

Most of the vendors will have card machines or Yoco so you are in good, safe hands.

An extra tip: on the final day of the Con, the vendors tend to seriously drop their prices and there are plenty of bargains to be had.

Fuel up at the Food Hall:

In the great words of the late Remus Lupin, Professor of the Dark Arts at Hogwarts:

Listen to Professor Lupin. Image credit: Tenor

The CTICC’s in-house catering team really shines a Bat Signal on all things super food related at the Con and we’ll admit to feasting on ALL of their epic character themed burgers EVERY single day of last year’s event πŸ˜‰

Just look at one of them:

Hulk Smash Burger into our mouths! Yum, those CTICC caterers really got the superhero memo for Comic Con Cape Town. Image credit: Superfans SA

You’ll find the Food Hall on the second floor, right next to the Gaming Arena.

Charge those batteries:

You will be taking hundreds of photos and videos throughout the Con so be sure to charge your devices outside of your loadshedding schedules. Bring along a portable charger too.

There are some fantastic things to see, film and snap a photo of. You do NOT want to miss the Hugo Lambrechts Orchestra’s Disney set at the opening ceremony, the Cosplay Contests, the table top games sessions and more.

Here’s the Orchestra using the Force at last year’s Opening Ceremony:

Bring your manners along:

Aside from just generally being a good Con attendee who doesn’t litter, bully or push into lines, please be respectful of other cosplayers’ personal spaces. Ask their permission to take a photograph or video of or with them and under no circumstances will inappropriate behaviour and touching (both verbal and physical) be tolerated.

Channel your inner Matt Murdock/Daredevil and familiarize yourself with the Con’s policy so you can understand the legalese around it.

That’s it from us! Have a super fun Comic Con Cape Town 2024, Everyone.

If you want to come and say Hi to Leonie and I during the Con, pop us a DM on Instagram or Facebook and let’s set up that pow wow.

Finding the Light to delight Cape Town musical lovers at Artscape Theatre

Finding the Light to delight Cape Town musical lovers at Artscape Theatre

Places, please, everyone! The curtain will rise on FINDING THE LIGHTAN EVENING WITH MUSICAL THEATRE STARS, at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town from 17 to 21 April 2024.

Featuring some of our local titans of theatre including the always gorgeous and talented Jonathan Roxmouth (who will be resuming his titular role in the international tour of The Phantom of the Opera in China shortly), Lynelle Kenned (West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Orpheus in Africa), Lucy Tops (The Romantix, The Great Gatsby, Bar None)and Tshepo Ncokoane (Janice Honeyman’s Peter Pan Pantomine, Kinky Boots, We Will Rock You – The Musical World Tour), this not-to-missed showcase Β offers audiences the chance to experience the exhilarating power of some of musical theatre’s best loved shows.

Book your tickets at Webtickets for this not-to-be-missed musical extravaganza at Artscape Theatre this April! Image supplied.

Audience members will not only have the opportunity to sing along to all of their favourite showtunes, but just by purchasing a FINDING THE LIGHTAN EVENING WITH MUSICAL THEATRE STARS ticket, they will be supporting the impressive Kolisi Foundation. Yes, our World Cup winning captain Siya does so much more than chase a ball across a field – he and his wife Rachel founded the Foundation in 2019 to tackle some of the toughest challenges facing South African communities.Β Β 

Accompanied by the full Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, and hosted by Cape Town’s very own Marc Lottering,  FINDING THE LIGHTAN EVENING WITH MUSICAL THEATRE STARS promises a visual and auditory kaleidoscope in celebration of our humanity and our collective search for the light. 

β€œWe are honoured to have some of South Africa’s finest musical theatre talent joining us on stage for Finding the Light. Inspired by the concept that β€˜singing connects us’, our wonderful guest artists and audiences come together for a fabulous evening of entertainment, whilst investing in the incredible work of the Kolisi Foundation,” says Jessica Ross, the London-based Executive Producer of the show and co-founder of Finding The Light Foundation.Β 

I know I will need to pack extra tissues because those big Phantom of the Opera and West Side Story musical numbers will leave me in absolute tears. Jonathan and Lynelle were breathtaking as Tony and Maria in the 2015 run of West Side Story and I am giddy with anticipation of seeing them perform together again!

Tickets for FINDING THE LIGHTAN EVENING WITH MUSICAL THEATRE STARS are available from R190 via Webtickets.

For more information, please visit https://kolisifoundation.org/ and https://ftl.org.uk/

A Superfans Review: Leave the World Behind

A Superfans Review: Leave the World Behind

As a seasoned horror film fan, there is very little that scares me, except … natural disaster and doomsday movies, like Netflix’s latest hit, Leave the World Behind.

Boasting a superstar cast with Academy Award winners Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali, this chillingly realistic film centers on two families, led by advertising exec Amanda Sanford (Roberts) and secret government analyst G.H.Scott (Ali), who find themselves sharing the latter’s Upstate New York vacation home during what turns out to be a U.S. toppling terrorist attack.

What starts out as a well-deserved family break for the Sandfords (Amanda, her husband Clay, played by Ethan Hawke, son Archie and daughter Rose) , quickly turns into a nightmare when G.H. and his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) return to the beach house, to escape the mass panic a sudden satellite outage has caused in the Big Apple. Cut off from communication with the outside world, suddenly being fed incorrect information with weird pamphlet drops by a mysterious drone and having to face off with a survivalist asshole neighbour (perfectly played by the always creepy Kevin Bacon), our newly blended family will have to rely on each other to make it through.

Throw in a timed siren that releases radiation though the airwaves, hints of racist undertones from neighbours, the local wildlife ready to attack our cast and the discovery of an underground bunker kitted out with every 90s kid’s dream DVD collection and everything else you need to survive the apocalypse, and you have the makings of the ultimate 2023 disaster flick.

A fully off-the-grid bunker with hundreds of DVDs to watch? Count me in for Leave the World Behind’s version of the world ending! Image credit: Digital Spy

Netflix has had some hits and misses with their year-end disaster offerings. In 2020, Death to 2020, by the Black Mirror creators , was a huge success because honestly, after a f***tard of a year, the world needed the relief. The following year’s special didn’t do as well and the Leonardo DiCaprio-led Don’t Look Up was a bit much for all of us living through unprecedented times.

I have a feeling that Leave the World Behind is going to have a split audience opinion. Those of us who are quite familiar with the more cerebral horror films that dominated the genre before all of the reboots this year, including Hereditary and Get Out, will appreciate those one continuous take wonders, the needle drop after a big emotional moment, the barely subtle inference that what takes place onscreen here is currently happening in at least four countries right now. Even more chilling is hearing Ali’s character spell out the exact three stages of an attack that is needed to destabilize a country and realizing how relatively easy it would actually be to implement.

The rest of the population may just enjoy Ali and Roberts rocking out to Next’s 2000 hit Too Close, played on a vinyl record!!! Man, I felt old AF watching this scene but it is also hands down one of my favourites:

Roberts has always been one of my favourite actresses (she ought to be, considering my very liberal 90s parents took me to see Pretty Woman as my first cinema experience when I was 5 years old. Forget Prince Charming – give me Richard Gere in a tuxedo and a limo. Judge my folks all you want, it’s ok. I tease my mom about this constantly πŸ˜‚). Her character Amanda in Leave the World Behind may just be my favourite one of hers yet. Amanda, as an advertising exec, is tired of humanity after seeing the deeply f***ed things they are willing to do to each other for the next big thing. After the pandemic, I feel the same way.

I have never felt as seen as I did , watching this scene:

Leave the World Behind isn’t the Christmas family fare you’re looking for. What it is , is a vehicle for you to start thinking about the state of the world right now and what exactly you want your 2024 and beyond to look like if your country (ahem, loadshedding, election year and rising crime levels, South Africans) goes tits up.

Leave the World Behind is available for streaming on Netflix.

Our top 5 Halloween Horror Must-Watch Movies and Shows

Our top 5 Halloween Horror Must-Watch Movies and Shows

As if 2023 wasn’t enough of a horror show (wars, Jada Pinkett-Smith’s memoir and loadshedding!), along comes Halloween to scare the living daylights out of us!

Now, you know that I am the Supreme Scream Queen so I’ve been watching the scariest entertainment all year long . My hours of spooky viewing is yours to sample too if you’re ready to quiver in fright.

I’ve got your top 5 Halloween Horror Must-Watch Movies and Shows right here:

The Exorcist: Believer

A direct sequel to the 1973 classic (which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, by the way!), Believer was denounced from beyond the grave by the original director William Friedkin, as mentioned in a recent interview by one of the late director’s friends.

Believer is focused on two young girls, Angela and Katherine, who wander off for three days and come back to their families possessed by seemingly the same demon, Pazuzu, who terrorized poor little Regan (Linda Blair) in the 70s. Ol’Zuzu seems to have a bloody score to settle with Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and it will take everyone, from the girls’ quarrellingΒ  parents (including Hamilton‘s Leslie Odom Jr.Β ) to a couple of nosy neighbours (including The Handmaid’s Tale’s Ann Dowd who is, as per usual, fantastic!) to the requisite hot priest, played by E. J. Bonilla , who goes against the Vatican’s wishes to abstain from the exorcism, to save the suffering children and their damned souls.

This latest outing is directed by the “genius” mastermind behind the latest batch of horrible Halloween remakes, David Gordon Green, and completely ignores everything that has happened in the existing Exorcist universe. You know, not-so-small details like OG mom Chris’s death in the 2016 series and how the first movie and its source novel are actually about FatherΒ Karras’s personal battle against the demon.

As a loyal fan of the original movie, I am pissed off at the lack of consistency. As a fan of horror movies, though, this was an enjoyable Halloween month outing to the cinema. It takes ALOT to scare me into screaming at the top of my lungs (the last time was on a theme park ride!) so the fact that Believer had me nearly wetting myself 15 minutes in is proof of horrific, candy-floss style entertainment. Watch The Exorcist: Believer at a SterKinekor near you!

Totally Killer:

Amazon Prime is serving up its take on Back To The Future with a bloody twist in Totally Killer, starring Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Julie Bowen (Modern Family) and others. Jaime goes back in time to 1987 via an old photo booth (her version of the DeLorean) to save her teen mom Pam (played by Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger actress Olivia Holt ) and her friends from the Sweet 16 Killer.

Naturally ,gruesome chaos ensues as Jamie’s presence in the past turns the order of events and the future upside down.

I really enjoyed this one because as long as you don’t think about the mechanics of time travel too hard and you love the liberal pop culture references, it’s easy horror movie night fodder. I particularly loved that Totally Killer simultaneously takes the piss out of Gen Z’s wokeness whilst making this 80s baby realize that the era I was born in was problematic, in a hilarious fashion.

Haunted Mansion:

Disney+ has released its remake of the 2003 film and its iconic Park ride, Haunted Mansion, and it is currently the platform’s number one horror film!

Featuring a star-studded cast including Rosario Dawson (currently blowing Star Wars fans’ minds in Ahsoka ), Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis (the OG Final Girl!), Tiffany Haddish, Jared Leto and LaKeith Stanfield, Haunted Mansion is a fun romp for all Disney kids and adults.

Riders of the famous attraction will enjoy the many Easter eggs included in this version, including the way the ghosts shove the living out of the house, in chairs styled to look and move like the Doombuggies of the real life ride. Keep an eye and ear out for the elongating walls’ scene and quotes that include snippets of the ride’s narration.

The Fall of the House of Usher:

Netflix and Mike Flanagan have gone and done it again by giving us yet another heart-stopping, breathtaking, emotional rollercoaster of a horror show with The Fall of the House of Usher.

This eight episode scare fest sees most of Flagan’s former horror show stars return including The Haunting of Bly Manor‘s Rahul Kohli and T’Nia Miller , The Haunting of Hill House’s Carla Gugino and Katie Siegel, Midnight Mass’s Zach Gilford and The Midnight Club‘s Ruth Codd . Iconic actor Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek and The Resident) and Mary McDonnell  (Dances with the Wolves) are the heads of the Usher family, a clan so depraved and deep into the criminal world while fronting as a pharmaceutical company, that the only way for them to be brought to justice is supernaturally. Star Wars icon Mark Hamill is dreadfully delightful as the Ushers’ dodgy lawyer cum caretaker.

While this one doesn’t quite live up to Hill House (I doubt anything ever will), House of Usher is a mastermind study of human depravity through the lens of horror.

NOS4A2:

This Amazon Prime show is already 4 years old but my Gods, what a scary ride! Quite literally so as the evil soul-sucking, child kidnapping Charlie Manx (played with devilishly bad boy energy by my longtime crush Zachary Quinto) drives a 1930s Rolls Royce called The Wraith to do his dark deeds.

Our villain uses The Wraith to drive the kidnapped children to Christmasland, a fun but deadly theme park that exists within his imagination, his Inscape, all the while stealing their life force to maintain his youth and health.

Manx’s opponent is the sometimes bad but always goodhearted teen, and later mom, Victoria McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), who takes him down with the help of her trusted Shorter Bridge, her own Inscape, and a motley crew of psychics, bumbling FBI agents, drunk dads and curvy boyfriends.

Based on the novel by Joe Hill, son of the true horror monarch himself, Stephen King, NOS4A2 will make all of your Halloween and Christmas crossover nightmares come true.

Got any ghastly recommendations of your own? Share them with us on Facebook, X and Instagram!

A Superfans review: The Flash

A Superfans review: The Flash

Red alert: This review about the Scarlet Speedster’s first solo cinematic vehicle is FILLED with spoilers so if you haven’t seen The Flash yet, run, Superfan, run!

I’ve just returned home from watching The Flash, starring Ezra Miller in the titular role and co-starring Michael Keaton as his iconic 1980s Batman, and I absolutely cannot stop smiling.

Recap:

Barry Allen/The Flash (Miller) is tired of cleaning up all of Batman/Bruce (Ben Affleck)’s rescue messes, being late for work, trying to get his dad Henry (a re-casted role from the Justice League with Ron Livingstone taking over from Billy Crudup)’s conviction overturned and failing to impress Iris West (Kiersey Clemons), his long-time crush. Being the fourth last first person on Alfred (Jeremy Irons)’s superhero call sheet isn’t helping to improve Barry’s mood either.

The Flash is having a tough superhero day. Image credit: IMDB

After a particularly hard day that includes him rescuing a nursery of babies, a service dog and a nurse and watching Batman and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) flirt awkwardly, Barry accidentally reverses time and gets the bright idea to go back to the day his mom Nora (Maribel VerdΓΊ) died to save her.

Bruce, while sympathetic to the absolute trauma losing your parents gives you, gives Barry the “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should” speech and considers that to be the end of the discussion. Oh, Batfleck, when will you learn? Barry will do what Barry does best: mess up the timeline!

Barry messes with the timeline and ends up creating the Flashpoint. Image credit: IMDB

After a super weird non-date with Iris, Barry runs back in time, dodging a Time Wraith (something like a ghost) in the Speed Force, and changes his mom’s fate by correcting what he thinks is the chain of events that led to her death in the original timeline. Welcome to Flashpoint, people! That one change, instead of taking Barry back to his own timeline, sends him back to an alternate version of the past, 2013 specifically, where he is a college student returning home to both of his parents.

Barry relishes living his ultimate dream life for just a second before the 18 year old Barry (played by Miller too, with more innocence and a daredevil attitude) of this new timeline shows up and chaos ensues. With two Barrys in the same timeline, things are bound to get a little crazy. A series of misadventures leads to the original Barry losing his powers and alternate Barry getting them.

Barry meets Barry. Image credit: IMDB

The ripple effect, which Bruce warned Barry about, is felt all over the world since Superman (Henry Cavill) is missing in this timeline and cannot stop General Zod (Michael Shannon) from destroying Earth to build his new evil version of Krypton. In fact, Barry’s time-changing mishap has erased all metahumans and demigods from this timeline so Barry cannot even ring up the Justice League for help. Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) was never born, Wonder Woman is off-world and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) hasn’t been created yet.

Alternate Barry comes up with a possible save, though: Batman DOES exist in this timeline. He just hasn’t been seen for years. Original Barry finds his way back to Wayne Manor, which won’t be familiar to the 2020s movie fans but which we 80s and 90s babies recognise immediately: it’s Michael Keaton’s Wayne Manor!!!! Woohoo!

Michael Keaton is back as Batman/Bruce Wayne! Image credit: IMDB

The two Barrys get a beatdown as a welcome from a sprightly yet grey-haired and sandal-wearing Bruce. Original Barry is shocked that Bruce doesn’t look like or act like his one back home. Alternate Barry is overwhelmed by the fact that Bruce Wayne IS Batman – since he was just a little kid when this version was the Caped Crusader.

It’s there, in the cosy kitchen of Wayne Manor, where Bruce explains rather haphazardly with some pasta and tomato sauce that what Original Barry did wasn’t merely go back in time – he created four different realities or, as we now know it to be, the multiverse. Barry’s time-hopping is the intersection point and because of this, there are multiple versions of the world.

Michael Keaton’s Batman reluctantly comes out of retirement to help the Barrys save the Kryptonian. Image credit: IMDB

Bruce, against his better judgement, decides to help the two Barrys break the Kryptonian he has found out of a Russian stronghold. An awesome battle ensues and they manage to rescue … Kara Zor-El/ Supergirl (Sasha Calle). As with all of the comic book lore that has come before, Kara and Kal-El/Clark’s pods were separated in space and she was captured. Kara has no idea where Kal-El is. After resting at Wayne Manor and being powered back up by the sun, Kara goes to confront Zod who announces that he killed baby Superman when he discovered that it was Kara’s blood that contained the miracle seeds to recreate Krypton.

Kara returns to Wayne Manor to find that Bruce has agreed to a freaky experiment to give Original Barry his powers back, despite Alternate Barry’s protests. Our misfit Justice League engages in an epic battle with General Zod and his alien army that is a visual marvel (LOL!) but ultimately a deadly one: both Kara and Bruce lose their lives.

Original Barry makes the unfortunate mistake of showing Alternate Barry how to reverse time so that Kara and Batman don’t die. Except that is their fate and despite the many times Alternate Barry, who has now decided that Supergirl is the love of his life and mother of his future children, goes back to save her and Batman, the end result is their deaths.

Savitar/Dark Flash is out to kill Original Barry to get what he wants. Image credit: IMDB

In the Speed Force, Original Barry tries to get Alternate Barry to see sense and understand that the only way to save the multiverse is for their mom to die. Just as Alternate Barry is about to make peace with this decision, the Time Wraith shows up. In a twist, however, that the TV series The Flash fans will be familiar with, the Wraith is actually Savitar/ Dark Flash, the older version of Alternate Barry who has gone back so many times to save his mom, Kara and Bruce and never succeeded. He has gone quite mad in his attempts and because of his meddling with the timelines, the multiverses are now destroying each other.

We get a SUPER awesome montage of the alternate universes, including seeing the legendary late Christopher Reeves and Helen Slater as the original Superman and Supergirl; Adam West as the 1960s TV series and movie Batman and … wait for it … Nicolas Cage in the often-talked about but never produced Superman Lives film by Tim Burton!

Nicolas Cage as Superman? Yes, please! Image credit: Wiki of Nerds

Mad Barry tries to kill Original Barry but Alternate Barry swoops into save him and is killed instead, thus also killing Mad Barry. It is a mindf*** of note! With their death, Original Barry decides to run home. Not before stopping off to correct his mistake of saving Nora and sharing an emotional moment with her (bring your tissues along – you’re going to need it), though.

Barry says an emotional goodbye to his mom Nora. Image credit: Warner Bros Pictures

While he is there, Barry can’t resist doing one teeny, tiny thing he thinks will help his dad in the future. Once home, he discovers his little correction worked: his dad’s appeal is granted and he is a free man. Barry even has Iris by his side. It’s coming up roses for our Speedster, right?

Not so fast, Barry… As our Flash gets off a call with Bruce, whom he is eager to see and tell his entire adventure to, the Caped Crusader pulls up in his fancy car. He makes his way through the paparazzi and we, like Barry, are expecting to see Batfleck until the crowd parts and we see … George Clooney’s Bruce! WHAT?!!!

George Clooney, is that you back as Batman?! Image credit: Joshua Sammer/Getty Images

When a confused Barry asks who he is, this version of Bruce asks “What’s wrong with you?!

What’s wrong, indeed! Oh, Barry.

Impressions:

I got to watch The Flash ALL by myself in Ster Kinekor V&A Waterfront’s D-Box cinema (a 4D movie theatre with chairs that are motion-activated to make you swoop, shake, bounce and float when the characters are doing the same onscreen) and it was awesome. In fact, the usher came in as the credits rolled to tell me that he could tell that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie because he could hear me scream and shout with joy outside πŸ˜‰

The Flash is a pure fan service film and that’s ok. Image credit: IMDB

Look, this film is pure fan service and for once, I cannot fault DC Comics and Warner Bros Pictures for giving us exactly what we wanted. Director AndrΓ©s Muschietti clearly had fun shooting this movie because not only does it make all of our comic book and movie lovers’ wet dreams come true, it is a truly funny, moving film with gravitas.

The fact that Muschietti balances the outrageously hilarious Cage’s Superman with flowing locks and all (this is extra funny when you know Cage is going bald at a rapid rate) and the emotional wound of seeing Reeves’s Superman alive and well is what endears him to me.

The Flashpoint plotline has been done onscreen in both the Arrowverse series and animation films. It was a tall ask for Muschietti to put his own live action spin on it but with the help of writer Christina Hodson, he pulls it off admirably.

The Flash movie is a new take on the Flashpoint storyline. Image credit: IMDB

Lead star Miller’s horrendous personal issues and criminal cases have tainted this film’s release, there is no denying that. I, like many people, have questioned CEO James Gunn’s decision to go ahead with The Flash’s release but I am now so happy that he did.

I haven’t smiled this wide since Spiderman: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Into the Multiverse. Giving us THREE Batmen? Are you kidding me? Even if the most lambasted one was added at the last minute, I feel like Clooney was always better at the ridiculously handsome and suave Bruce Wayne playboy part of it all, back in the late 1990s.

Michael Keaton is in top form as the returning OG Batman! Image credit: CNN

Keaton… GODS, Keaton! I finally watched his 1989 Batman debut film as an adult last night (I was a toddler when it was released so I have no recollection of it) and I was blown away. His Bruce/Batman is more off-center, daring and tenacious than Batfleck’s measured, reserved and responsible one (that isn’t a bad thing. Someone has to be a good leader of the Justice League and with all of the craziness we’ve seen them display in previous movies, it is well needed). It makes total sense that Barry would be able to talk Keaton’s Bruce into a suicide mission.

I had absolute shivers hearing Keaton once again say “Yeah. I’m Batman” and oh my god, seeing Wayne Manor, complete with its hall of historical artifacts and the Bat Cave? Heaven on Earth! The Bat Mobile is still sexy as all hell and I was swooning.

That’s some mad sexual tension there, Wonder Woman and Batman! Image credit: Twitter

I am always going to be sad that Gal Gadot’s time as Wonder Woman has ended. I am doubly sad because the chemistry between her Wonder Woman and Batfleck on that bridge is HOT. I know that his Bat Cave is filled with all kinds of toys that would make a love scene between these two there so goddamn erotic. DC and Warner Bros, give me my Batman and Wonder Woman sex scene, you cowards!!!!!

A Supergirl who looks like her audience finally. Image credit: IMDB

Calle’s Supergirl is a departure from what we’ve seen of Kara onscreen in the original Superman movies, her 1984 solo movie, Smallville and the Supergirl series. She is a brunette in The Flash, which makes the family connection to Cavill’s Superman more believable. She’s hardened by her imprisonment and she is reluctant to partner with the Barrys and Batman. I loved how Calle made the role her own. She isn’t a mere stand-in for Cavill in the wake of Warner Bros and DC reneging on their contract with him. Her Kara needs her own film soon, please.

With Clooney now being Bruce in Original Barry’s timeline, what does this mean for the new DC cinematic universe? Only time will tell!

Barry and Iris seconds before a new (old) Bruce Wayne arrives! Image credit: IMDB

All in all, The Flash surpassed my expectations. I cannot recommend watching it enough!

With this being Father’s Day weekend, I’d be remiss in not thanking my late dad Faizel for introducing me to the wonderfully wacky world of comics. He loved Keaton’s Batman and I bet he would have loved this movie. Happy Father’s Day, Dad xx

Go see The Flash at a cinema near you!

Barbie The Movie releases hot new trailer

Barbie The Movie releases hot new trailer

Come on, Barbie, let’s go party!

The latest trailer for the highly-anticipated Barbie The Movie, starring Margot Robbie as the titular toy icon, has dropped and we are absolutely tickled pink by it:

With Ryan Gosling as Ken, Simu Li (Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings) as the other Ken, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey (Sex Education) and Dua Lipa as the other Barbies, this is the most star-studded movies about toys since Toy Story!

With Barbie The Movie just WEEKS away, we are already planning and coordinating our hot pink outfits (yes, Tendai too! πŸ˜‰ )

Barbie The Movie is stepping into cinemas with its high heels on, on 21 July 2023.

A Superfans review: The Little Mermaid

A Superfans review: The Little Mermaid

Reader warning from Sebastian: Aye, Child, we are about to go deep under the sea with this review so listen to this old crab and swim away to avoid any spoilers!

My little Disney Princess heart is singing! The live action version of The Little Mermaid has been released and it is EVERYTHING my toddler self could have ever dreamed of!

Starring Halle Bailey as Ariel, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Melissa McCarthy as Ursula the Sea Witch, the film welcomes Daveed Diggs (of Hamilton! fame), Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Awkwafina (Ocean’s Eight) as the voices of Sebastian the Crab, Flounder the Fish and Scuttle the Seagull respectively. Ariel’s six sisters include Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) and others.

Recap:

All of us 1980s babies and current parents are well versed with the iconic tale of a teenaged mermaid who gives up her voice for the chance to have legs and win the heart of the handsome prince. Her devil’s bargain with the Sea Witch ends in tragedy when her father gives up his throne and magical trident to the Sea Witch to save his youngest daughter’s life. One big storm and tons of magic later, everyone (except Ursula) lives happily ever after and the young royal bridal couple sail off into the sunset.

That was 1989. In 2023, with the rise of wokeness and Gen Z, Disney, writer David Magee, director Rob Marshall and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda have had to update a few key plot points to be more in line with the times.

Whilst much of the storyline remains the same, like Ariel saving Eric’s life and singing to him, the movie has been updated for Gen Z and 2023.Image credit: Glamour

Now, Ariel is a strong-minded black teenager who is a little more daring in defying her beloved Daddy. Ursula the Sea Witch is Triton’s banished sister with an axe to grind. All of King Triton’s daughters are multiracial to reflect the Seven Seas they all inhabit and rule. Scuttle has been gender swapped to become female. The chef trying to chase and kill Sebastian has been eliminated completely to be more PETA friendly. Flounder is a slimmer, most realistic looking version of himself so there is no fat shaming i.e. him struggling to get through the window in the original movie.

Turning societal norms on its head, Eric is a poor orphaned white commoner who has been adopted by the black Queen (Noma Dumezweni, the magical original Hermione in Broadway’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child production) , a new character added to the movie. This Eric and Ariel are Disney’s first interracial onscreen couple and I am here for it!

Disney hasn’t coloured too far outside of the lines with this adaptation and that is going to offend some people but let us remember the point of their movies: to make us believe in magic and on that score, they have achieved the impossible!

Impressions:

I was three, going on four, when The Little Mermaid was released in 1989. My memories of it, are at best, very fuzzy. Despite having 11 godchildren, I had not rewatched the animation as an adult until a few nights ago (my kids are Frozen and Toy Story superfans). Like with The Lion King, Pinocchio and Aladdin, I was shocked at how many risquΓ© adult jokes and themes are hidden in plain sight in these films. My adult self wanted to ground Ariel until she was 30 for being so rebellious and swimming off to get married at 16!

Not only do Eric and Ariel not get married at the end of the live action, they are seen building a real relationship around common interests and supporting each other. Image credit: IMDB

Going into The Little Mermaid live action screening, I was apprehensive about how all of that would play out onscreen (with Aladdin, my feminist views were extremely triggered) but I needn’t have worried. Instead of getting married at the end, Eric and Ariel decide to explore the great uncharted waters, a passion that they share along with collecting baubles from their adventures. King Triton’s rage still frightens me but Bardem’s version is less explosive than the animated one.

Javier Bardem plays the stern but loving King Triton in The Little Mermaid. Image credit: IMDB

The cinematography and visual effects are breathtaking. One feels like you are scuba diving and seeing all of the ocean’s underwater wonders in technicolor. You have to watch this film in 3D to get that surreal effect. It’s like being in the Two Oceans Aquarium’s tunnel – simply incredible!

Hands down, the big musical numbers “Under the Sea” and “Kiss the Girl” are visual feasts for the eyes. Yes, some of the magic is lost in the translation from animation to live action, like Ariel playing charades to tell Eric her name instead of Sebastian singing it to him, but overall, it is wonderful.

Miranda’s influence is keenly felt with the addition of four extra songs and the changing of a few lyrics in the beloved numbers. It wouldn’t be a Miranda production if there wasn’t a rap number and honestly, using that medium for Scuttle and Sebastian to tell Ariel that the Prince is going to propose was a lot of fun.

Prince Eric in the live action version may not have his animated counterpart’s jawline but he does have more respect for women. Image credit: People

I have always been partial to a Prince Eric with a chiseled jawline (and to be fair, since I saw Kevin Richardson with his jet black hair and deep blue eyes at the Backstreet Boys concert last week and discovered he played Prince Eric when he worked at Disneyland many years ago, he is ALL I have pictured Eric as!) but Hauer-King grew on me eventually and I liked him.

Billions of little girls will grow up with a Disney Princess who looks like them. Image credit: IMDB

Bailey was always going to crush the titular role but to actually see her pull it off… wow! An entire generation of Disney kids are going to grow up seeing themselves represented on screen and the importance of that is immeasurable. From all of us brown girls, thank you, Ms. Bailey!

Having the OG Ariel voice actress Jodi Benson pop up in a cameo was a sweet touch.

Melissa McCarthy is deliciously evil as Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid. Image credit: People

I know that McCarthy was a controversial choice for Ursula and that the queer community was campaigning for her to be played by a drag queen because the animation’s version was based on one. I am going to go out on a limb here and say, take a seat, darlings. McCarthy rocked this role. From the bouncing breasts (well done to the writers for keeping that from the original) to her diabolical evil nature and cheeky snide remarks, McCarthy is fun. Her version of the character makes Triton banishing her extremely relatable for any older sibling who has had enough of their annoying little sister πŸ˜‰

Flounder’s more realistic look loses the magic of the original. Image credit: IMDB

I am saddened by Flounder’s reduced role in this adaptation but seeing how unlike himself he looks (ugh, Disney and its insistence on turning its live adaptations into Discovery Channel doccies) to fully embrace the realism nature of the film, makes me believe that it’s for the best.

When there are more adults than children in the Kids Cinema to watch The Little Mermaid and as Disney Princesses, you simply must have a selfie!

Finally, let me tell you that Leonie and I watched The Little Mermaid at Ster Kinekor’s Kids Cinema at the V&A Waterfront. Besides living our best Disney Princesses lives sans children, we had to refrain from using the epic slide in the cinema πŸ˜‰ If that isn’t your speed, you can catch the movie of the day at Nu Metro or The Labia.

Watch The Little Mermaid and become part of her world.

Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and let us know what you enjoyed the most about The Little Mermaid.

A Superfans review: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

A Superfans review: Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

Dearest Gentle Reader,

We find ourselves time travelling back to the past, long before Kathony were the bane of our existence and the object of all of our desires, to the youth of the witty Lady Agatha Danbury (Adjoa Andoh), the ever sweet Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) and of course, the titular character (Golda Rosheuvel) in Netflix’s latest steamy historical romantic series, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.

Charlotte is, of course, the only Queen we actually had eyes for last weekend πŸ˜‰

Recap:

With the ever distinguished Dame Julie Andrews once again narrating as Lady Whistledown, we take in the fresh air along the long-ago Promenade in this six episode show. We are treated to two timelines in which both the desire for a royal heir must come before all of the high stakes drama that usually plagues the Ton.

In the future i.e. the 1800s Charlotte and George have just lost their only heirs, their granddaughter Princess Charlotte and her stillborn babe. With 13 living children, of which their daughters are past childbearing age, and no marriage prospects to speak of, Charlotte does everything in her power to see her offspring wedded and bedded to produce her desired heir. In the past i.e. the 1700s, Charlotte, like many royal ladies before her, is sold in marriage to a stranger to produce the next ruler of the kingdom.

Young Charlotte (played with an uncanny likeness to Rosheuvel by the captivating India Amarteifio) when we meet her, is trying and failing to get out of marrying the new King of England, George ( a rather scrumptious looking Corey Mylchreest). Their comical yet instantly sexually charged meeting sets the tone for this prequel to our beloved Bridgerton series.

Charlotte and George’s first meeting is a comical surprise. Image credit: Netflix

While George doesn’t quite burn for Charlotte just yet, he is as remarkably stunned by Charlotte’s assertiveness as Simon will be by Daphne a few decades later. Their wedding is the stuff of every little girl’s dreams but alas, our young sire leaves his bride to her own devices for most of their honeymoon. As we know from Bridgerton, George suffers from a debilitating mental illness which he chooses to hide from his new bride in the first few episodes of this prequel.

Once reconciled but still not fully revealing the extent of his madness, George becomes the ever doting husband to Charlotte and lavishes his carnal attention on her, in-between bouts of fighting and begging her to accept him as Just George, a man who would rather be farming than rule the kingdom.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. (L to R) India Amarteifio as Young Queen Charlotte, Corey Mylchreest as Young King George in episode 106 of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story. Cr. Nick Wall/Netflix Β© 2023

Charlotte’s only confidante is the young and equally beautiful new Lady Danbury (played by the wonderful Arsema Thomas). Titles were quickly bestowed on the rich people of colour in the kingdom to help the new Queen feel at home in England. Deemed The Great Experiment, not everyone amongst the white titled folk is pleased to suddenly have to consort with their coloured peers. Lady Danbury, realizing the precarious position she, her husband and others are in, does her best to steer Charlotte into 17th century wokeness, civil action and matters of a sexual nature, since the young Queen is quite naΓ―ve.

By the sheer force of her will, Lady Danbury not only survives the untimely (but much longed for) death of her really old husband, secures her son’s status as the new Lord Danbury and secures her financial future by forming a secret alliance with Charlotte’s mother-in-law. She even manages to find love and lustful pleasure, albeit briefly, with a surprising member of the Ton. Go Agatha!

Brains, beauty and determination makes the young Lady Danbury a dynamic force of nature. Image credit: SA Creatives

Young Violet (Connie Jenkins-Greig), in the past, is but a bystander to this new mixed reality and is all for it. Future Violet finds herself longing for male companionship for the first time, many years after losing the father of her large brood, Edmund, to a bee sting. As she so eloquently puts it, her, uh ,”garden is suddenly in bloom”, particularly after attending an erotic art exhibition, Man, those old timers knew how to have a good time!

Violet finds her sexual lust reawakened as she enjoys an erotic art exhibition. Image credit: Cosmopolitan

Our whirlwind trip to the past ties back neatly into the future as Charlotte’s marriage traps, I mean, arrangements pay off: her fourth son Edward and his wife Victoria finally produce an heir. Mazel tov!

Just George and his Venus, Charlotte, together always. Image credit: Facebook

We end as we began: with older Queen Charlotte and King George declaring their love to each other. Love, after all, is a kind of madness, is it not?

Impressions:

This brilliant masterpiece from the minds of the series creator Shonda Rhimes and book author Julia Quinn is a royal match made in steamy reader heaven. Whether they are devouring each other as naked as the days they were born or making love in full royal regalia in in front of their servants, George and Charlotte made this gentle author reach for her fan quite a few times.

Making love in the bathtub? Sure, why not Your Majesties! Image credit: Netflix

Reader, what I am saying is that my garden certainly was in full bloom throughout watching this series 😈 

To build on the success of an existing show with a sequel or prequel doesn’t always work but luckily Rhimes is quite good at this already. Her Grey’s Anatomy spin-offs, The Practice and Station 19 are proof of that. Therefore, it is no surprise that Queen Charlotte is so fantastically good.

While this was announced as a limited series only, Rhimes herself has not ruled out a continuation so let us all pray it comes to fruition.

A dynamic duo across the ages: Lady Agatha Danbury and Queen Charlotte. Image credit: PureWow

Gymnastic sex in every conceivable (pun intended!) place in their various palaces aside, the chemistry between all of the leads is fun to watch on screen. I do so love seeing how Charlotte and Agatha, in particular, developed their electric dynamic in this prequel and how it explains why the latter is the only one the Queen tolerates in Bridgerton.

A scandalous affair with her future friend ‘s father reawakens Lady Danbury’s “garden”! Image credit: The Envoy Web

What a shocking surprise it is that Lady Danbury, Mama Bridgerton’s closest friend and ally in helping Simon and Daphne get together, was actually bedding the latter’s father back in the day! Those birthday hats, whilst such a lovely gesture from father to daughter, caused quite the stir decades later. At least now we know where Anthony gets his suaveness from!

George tries to cure his madness with extreme measures. Image credit: Meaww

While it was painful to watch, seeing the extreme measures George went to, to rid himself of his madness so that he could be with Charlotte, is a stark reminder that mental health issues were not treated correctly or dealt with by society in an appropriate manner back in the 1700s. One could argue it is still not well managed or received in the 21st century either , despite our advancements in medicine and societal acceptance.

I now know that I wasn’t the only one who screamed at the screen and tried to drown out the sounds of The Rains of Castamere playing when Michelle Fairley, formerly Lady Catelyn Stark of Game of Thrones and the infamous Red Wedding scene, appeared as George’s overbearing mother:

Who invited her to a wedding again?!

The Great Experiment explains the mixed Ton in Bridgerton and its origins unfolds much in the way one would think it did. Let us not forget, gentle reader, that Rhimes did not pluck this particular plot device from thin air. Queen Charlotte was a real life consort of the monarch (and the longest reigning one before Prince Philip overtook her) and is believed to have been mixed race.

Golda Rosheuvel as the titular character in Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and the real Queen Charlotte in a historical painting. Image credit: Netflix/Getty

Her mother-in-law, the horrid Dowager Princess Augusta did, in fact, ask for royal artists to paint Charlotte with lighter colours to hide this fact. Long before Meghan Markle joined The Firm, there was Queen Charlotte. God save The Queen!

All in all, this prequel series is certainly worth a royal watch.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is now available to watch on Netflix.

Comic Con Cape Town is here!

Comic Con Cape Town is here!

You can switch off the Bat Signal now, Mother City: Comic Con Cape Town (CCCT) is here and ALL of the superheroes are out to play!

The ultimate team up between Comic Con Africa and Fan Con Cape Town, CCCT is a love letter to the geeks of South Africa’s most beautiful city and honestly, we are here for it.

Are you ready for the ultimate family day out at Comic Con Cape Town?

With day jobs as freelance communications specialists, Leonie and I are going to have one day only, Thursday 27 April 2023, to check out all of the cool festivities at the Cape Town International Convention Centre but you, our dear Superfans, have FOUR days of fun ahead of you.

That is IF you managed to secure tickets – CCCT is now officially SOLD OUT!

Here’s a quick guide of what is on offer at CCCT this long weekend:

The Con:

Four days of epic cosplay competitions, shop-until-you-drop merch sales at the exhibitor stalls, eye-catching artwork at the Artists’ Alley, educational talks by experts in the field AND onstage appearances by the top Hollywood talent await at the CTICC from 27 to 30 April 2023.

At the recent media launch, the team announced that they’ve added David Oakes, who is best known for his roles in the series Vikings: Valhalla and Victoria, to the celeb roster and we are stoked!

David Oakes, best known for Vikings: Valhalla and Victoria is coming to Comic Con Cape Town!

Leonie and I are especially excited about a performance that hails straight from a galaxy far, far away: the live orchestral recital of Star Wars music by Hugo Lambrechts Music Centre at 10am on Thursday 27 April 2023! Enjoy, we will.

Check out the full Comic Con Cape Town programme.

Side Events for the movie buffs and art lovers:

A great addition, and much more coordinated, to the CCCT festivities is the side events, including the Coffee and Comics event at Truth Coffee on Thursday 27 April 2023 and the screening of The Incredibles at the Galileo Open Air Cinema on Sunday 30 April 2023!

Get a personalised drawing from one of your favourite international comic book artists whilst sipping on a flat white:

Grab an original artwork with your coffee!

Or, dress up in your best spandex and fight with your siblings about who gets which of The Incredibles’ powers (to be honest, Jack-Jack is my spirit animal!):

Spandex and family time are on the cards for movie goers!

Tickets for these events are available here.

Cape Town International Animation Festival:

Our African artists are world-class and deserve to be celebrated as such! Running concurrently with the Con, the Animation Festival is not to be missed.

Pitching competitions, screenings, studio focus and industry panels await aspiring animators. Get your tickets here.

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for live updates from Comic Con Cape Town and come and say hi. We’d love to meet you all!

A Superfans review: YOU Season 4

A Superfans review: YOU Season 4

Hello, You … I know you’re dying ( πŸ˜‰ ) to get my hot take on the latest season of Netflix’s epic stalker series but be warned that I am dropping killer spoilers like they’re hot. If you haven’t obsessively watched Joe Goldberg’s every move, now would be the time to let yourself out of his cage. Thanks!

Our favourite bad boy with a voyeuristic nature ,Penn Badgley, is back as the charismatic, murderous and obsessive Joe in a thrilling new season of YOU:

Recap:

Things looked dire for our favourite stalker at the end of Season 3 of YOU and so we pick up where we left off… kind of. Joe is now a professor in London, banished there to create a new identity and establish a life for himself since his fraught reunion with Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) did not quite go as he thought it would (but we all did). She ran for her damn life and didn’t look back.

Can Marienne outrun her stalker Joe? Image credit: Netflix

Joe as his new persona ,Professor Jonathan Moore, is still a Lonely Boy (where are my OG Gossip Girl fans at?!) but eventually falls in with the uber rich, snobbish elite socialite set which includes Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Galvin, a mercurial gallery manager and Joe’s unlikely love interest after she screws him at her boyfriend’s funeral; Tilly Keeper as Lady Phoebe, a sweet socialite who immediately adopts Joe as her new male BFF; Ed Speleers (Outlander and Star Trek: Picard) as Rhys Montrose, an author whose memoir inspires Joe since their stories are so alike; and Lukas Gage as Adam Pratt, Phoebe’s gold-digging and emotionally manipulative boyfriend.

Lady Sophie and her troubled boyfriend are two of the rich snobs Joe finds himself befriending in YOU Season 4. Image credit: Netflix

As Joe struggles to find his footing with these rich kids, they start dropping like flies, one by one, at the hands of an unknown killer dubbed the “Eat The Rich Killer”and in the most gruesome of ways. Pretty soon, Joe finds himself at the centre of a Murder Mystery of note and he leans on his favourite student Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman)’s expertise to help him solve the case.

But… Plot twist incoming!

Joe is receiving mysterious, disappearing texts from his very own stalker. With some great snooping and a grandiose monologue, our anti-hero unmasks the mysterious mayoral candidate Montrose as his tormentor. Montrose promises to pin the Eat The Rich murders on him if Joe doesn’t go through with killing his new girlfriend Kate’s insidious American tycoon dad Tom Lockwood (Greg Kinnear).

Greg Kinnear delivers a killer performance as Kate’s overbearing dad Tom and Joe’s sort of nemesis in YOU Season 4. Image credit: Netflix

Joe, in a rare display of putting the happiness of the one he loves above his own self preservation, hunts down and kills Montrose (with some nudging from a sly Tom) … except Montrose, before he kicks the bucket, insists he does not and has never met Joe. As it turns out, the Montrose that Joe thought was blackmailing him was really a manifestation of Joe’s own inner killer! That’s right, our guy is having a mental breakdown/ split personality episode.

Joe did, in fact, kidnap Marienne, and has held her hostage in his infamous glass cage in an abandoned building in London for months! After violently hitting his head against the cage, Joe’s mind split into two and Rhys emerged. A deadly combination between Joe’s base instincts and Montrose’s suave persona, gleaned from hours and hours of obsessive stalking as only Joe can do it, the imaginary Rhys/Eat the Rich Killer has none of Joe’s softer, slightly more humane traits. He doesn’t care that Marienne has all but abandoned her daughter, that her friends and in-laws think she has relapsed or that she needs medical assistance after he breaks her arm.

Marienne tries to reason with an unstable Joe. Image credit: TV Insider

As we race to an exhilarating finale, Joe kills Tom who wants to pay him off to stay away from Kate while Nadia finds and helps Marianne to escape the cage with a dangerous plan that only ends up getting her framed for all of the Eat the Rich killings by a once again “sound” minded Joe.

Yep, after attempting to commit suicide so that Montrose/Stalker Joe will also cease to exist, the Gods smile upon our bad boy once again and he is saved from the Thames. Reunited with Kate, whom he finally tells the truth to (well, everything except how he killed Daddy Dearest), Joe frames Nadia and moves back home to New York with his new love. Her money and influence means Joe’s sordid history is scrubbed clean and he can return to the US with his own name as well as maintaining an elaborate lie about how he was the victim of spousal abuse at the hands of his deceased wife Love Quinn (so much for “I wolf you”) which lead to him escaping to London to spare his life.

Poor Nadia takes the fall for Joe. Image credit: We Got This Covered

Being bad really does pay, huh, Joe?

Impressions:

I’ll admit that over the past four seasons, Joe has lured me into a false sense of security. BadgleyΒ is so good at playing Joe that I have started to soften towards him, feel sorry for him and at times, I’ve even rooted for him. Blame it on my deep rooted love for misunderstood loners which was fueled by my love for the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera in childhoodbut I get Joe. That beard is also really doing it for me.

Then, the finale happened and well, here’s how I feel:

Joe scares me! Image credit: Twitter

Speleers as Joe’s alternate ego Rhys is fantastic! Having Joe’s subconscious show up as different actor makes for an enjoyable dynamic onscreen and is a great red herring plot device. Even Joe is as revolted by what he is capable of as we are. Welcome to our world, Joe!

The chemistry between Ed Speleers and Penn Badgley as alter egos is phenomenal! Image credit: The Envoy Web

Kate certainly isn’t the usual damsel in distress or crazy hot chick that Joe normally targets and perhaps the lack of intensity is because she isn’t the object of his obsession this season. Having said that, it was quite nice to have Joe fall into an unexpected relationship and have this part of his life be a Four Weddings and a Funeral setup. The fact that she bankrolls his return to glory and the US at the end was unexpected. Is she hiding her own Love Quinn within, perhaps? One never can tell with that stiff upper lip.

Joe finds love and an accomplice in Kate. Image credit: TV Line

Kinnear stole the few scenes he was in as Kate’s overbearing dad. Since he usually plays these sweet yet totally helpless characters, seeing Kinnear here as a dirty, ruthless mob type tree hugger is a good surprise. More of this, please!

Gabrielle continues to delight as Marienne. The way she conveys Marienne’s endless determination to get back to her little girl and imbues her performance with such compassion for Nadia, a stranger she just met and whom she needs to help rescue her, is incredible. Since her character has made it out alive, without Joe’s knowledge, I hope we’ll see more of her soon.

We had a few returning faces this season, during Joe’s reckoning with himself: Victoria PedrettiΒ asΒ Love Quinn and Elizabeth LailΒ asΒ Guinevere Beck. They both nailed their scenes as they reminded us just why they made such compelling objects of obsession for both Joe and us, the audience. Compared to Kate and Marienne, both of these characters edged very close to Joe’s core personality and it is that which got them killed. Joe doesn’t like being confronted with his true nature.

Joe’s dead exes are giving him grief from the beyond. Image credit: Decider.com

Hickman as Nadia was an obvious replacement for Jenna Ortega’s Ellie from the second season. Nonetheless, I enjoyed her dogged determination to get to the bottom of the Jonathan/Joe issue and I am mad about her imprisonment. This isn’t like John Stamos’s Dr Nicky from the first season, dammit! Nadia deserved better.

Speaking of Joe’s old foes … now that our murderous Peeking Tom is back Stateside, does this mean we can expect some awkward reunions in Season 5? With Netflix recently announcing that the fifth season will be the stalker drama’s last one, we can certainly hope so!

YOU Season 4 is streaming on Netflix.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is coming to Netflix

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always is coming to Netflix

90s kids, it’s Morphin’ Time! Streaming giant Netflix released the first trailer for the upcoming 30th anniversary special, titled Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always. The special will debut on 19 April 2023.

The mature heroic team are called back to fight against their iconic villain Rita Repulsa (voiced byΒ Barbara Goodson) and solve the mystery of original Yellow Ranger Trini’s death. It looks to be an emotional adventure of note for our rainbow coloured friends.

While this special is billed as a reunion of the original Power Rangers, there are only two of the OGs returning: Walter Emanuel Jones’ Zack and David Yost’s Billy. The first Pink Ranger actress Amy Jo Johnson will not be returning due to a pay dispute and whether we will see the late Jason David Frank as Green/White Ranger Tommy remains to be seen.

As I mentioned to Tendai, I will be watching this special purely for the nostalgia but I already have some doubts. Yost was already too old to play a teenager in the 90s (he was 26!) and to now make a return as a 54 year old super powered fighter is just pushing it. I also don’t know how I feel about the producers using the very real tragedy of actress Thuy Trang’s death in 2001 as a motivation to explain Trini’s death in-universe.

Still, I am super excited to sing along to the iconic theme song and see Alpha 5 again!

Go! Go! Go! Power Rangers!

Set your reminder for the debut of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always on Netflix on 19 April 2023.

A Superfans review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods

A Superfans review: Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Red alert: While Darla has proven she CAN keep a secret, I cannot – this review is filled with spoilers so please, for the love of Zeus, stop reading right now if you haven’t watched Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

One of the few DC Films to not be shelved post James Gunn taking over, Shazam! Fury of the Gods was released worldwide on Friday 17 March 2023. Leonie and I had the honour of being guests of Comic Con Cape Town and Fan Con Cape Town at the exclusive preview screening at the V&A Waterfront’s new Ster Kinekor on Thursday 16 March 2023.

Recap:

Two years after the events of Shazam! (and four years for the audience), Billy Batson (Asher Angel and Zachary Levi) and his superpowered foster siblings Mary (Grace Caroline CurreyΒ ,who now plays both teen and superhero Mary), Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer and Adam Brody), Pedro (Jovan ArmandΒ and D. J. Cotrona), Eugene (Ian ChenΒ and Ross Butler) and Darla (Faithe HermanΒ and Meagan Good) are drifting apart as everyone tries to find their identity within the team. Juggling fighting crime with learning calculus and lying to their parents is taking a toll on the siblings’ relationships. The negative publicity and anger from the Philadelphia (Philly) residents after every superhero save causes millions of dollars in damage aren’t helping matters much either.

Billy/Shazam is trying his best to keep everyone together but he is being a bit of a control freak and Freddy, in particular, is starting to feel smothered. Cue Freddy meeting a really beautiful, funny and sweet girl Anne (Rachel Zegler) who is like really into him. Blind to all of the red flags, our reluctant sidekick is instantly smitten and willing to ignore his family and superhero responsibilities for his new girlfriend.

Which naturally gets him kidnapped by Anne, who is really the goddess Anthea, and her sisters Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu), the Daughters of Atlas. The trio want their deceased father’s magic back – the same magic that the old wizard (Djimon Hounsou) gave to Billy/Shazam and which he and his siblings are squandering.

Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren and Rachel Zegler are The Daughters of Atlas in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Image credit: comicbasics.com

Chaos reigns in Philly as Kalypso does her best Voldemort impression trying to kill a bunch of teenagers with magic. With the help of the old wizard, who it turns out did not die in the first movie, turning Hespera and Anthea to their side, and finally coming clean to their parents, our superheroes band together to try and save the day.

Billy/Shazam, after finally admitting he loves Rosa and calling her Mom (our boy has serious mommy issues since his bio mom rejected him twice in the previous installment), sacrifices himself to defeat Kaylpso and her dragon. Just when all seems lost, along comes Billy’s not-so-secret crush, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in a freaking awesome cameo, to raise our fallen hero from the dead, using her father Zeus’s power.

Gal Gadot makes a stunning cameo as Wonder Woman in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Image credit: Screenrant

With a few well-placed post-credit scenes, including Billy being recruited to the Justice Society of America (note the crucial difference here between the Society and the League), Shazam looks to be firmly part of the upcoming Gunn DC reset.

Impressions:

As I said to Leonie post screening, it’s rare to find a sequel that is as good or even better than the first film. In the superhero movie business, it’s a freaking unicorn. Which is apt, since there are unicorns in this one πŸ˜‰

Jokes aside, one can tell that director David F. SandbergΒ and writers Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan had fun creating this sequel and so did the cast. When joy lives behind the scenes, it translates to the screen. Shazam! Fury of the Gods doesn’t take itself too seriously but it delivers messages about the strength of non-biological familial bonds; the importance of queer acceptance; the possibility of it never being too late to change the error of your ways and the power of forgiveness with great heart.

The Shazam family. Image credit: Polygon

Levi is starting to look a little too old as the adult Billy/Shazam (it’s particularly noticeable when he is onscreen with the adult superheroes. It doesn’t help that Brody and Good continue to be baby-faced well into their 40s) but he really hits the awkward teen/adult man body swap routine well. Angel as teen Billy has so much more emotional range this time round and it plays off really well when he has the heart to heart with mom Rosa (Marta Milans). At some point, I would LOVE a scene with the two Freddys interacting. The casting of Grazer and Brody as the same character is just pure perfection. Grazer gives off Brody as Seth in The OC vibes all day everyday.

Liu as a villain? Yes, please! Mythical characters, particularly in the DC films, tend to be portrayed as serious, OTT, pompous jerks but I love what both Liu and Mirren did with theirs – irate, gorgeous immortals who find humans tedious and look good in gold armour. While their age differences in relation to Zegler as Anthea are stark, their chemistry and sisterly bond feels natural and relatable.

Let’s get ready to rumble! Shazam and Kaylpso face off in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Image credit: Rolling Stone

The CGI and stunts have been ramped up for this sequel and I am happy that the previous Warner Bros/DC Films execs didn’t skimp on that budget. I suppose they really couldn’t afford not to, what with all of The Flash references and how Shazam is like him but different.

Judging from the excited exclamations in our cinema at the sight of Gadot as Wonder Woman, I know I am not the only one who is doubly sad that her third movie has been scrapped. There was so much potential for a team up between these two characters and then the expansion of the Justice League. Ugh.

Don’t miss Shazam! Fury of the Gods! Image credit: Warner Bros Pictures

Which leads us to the Gunn-sized elephant in the room: Shazam! and Wonder Woman are arguably the two most successful franchises of the current DCEU so why the hell would he and his partner scrap the latter? Does it not make more sense to build with what you have than to burn everything to the ground and start anew? Make it make sense.

All in all, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a fun cinematic romp and worth the splurge seeing it at the movies. Catch it at a Ster Kinekor near you.

Comic Con Cape Town 2023 is coming!

Comic Con Cape Town 2023 is coming!

Holy Batman! It’s FINALLY happening: Comic Cape Town is coming to the CTICC 2 in the Mother City from 27 to 30 April 2023.

This super event sees our faves FanCon Cape Town and Comic Con Africa pool their powers and team up to bring Capetonian geeks the very best artists, cosplayers, vendors and stars from around the world for one spectacular long weekend!

Here’s a sneak peek of what to expect from Comic Con Cape Town:

Comic Con Cape Town’s social media platforms have been absolutely buzzing with all of the latest news and updates and these are a few of our favourites:

Must-see artists:

Bill Masuku:

We cannot wait to see our fave Bill Masuku at Comic Con Cape Town!

Our favorite local artist Bill Masuku, the talent behind Captain South Africa and Razor-Man, makes his long-awaited return to the Mother City as an international artist at Comic Con Cape Town and we are excited πŸ˜‰ Bill will be joined in the Artist Alley by Ian ChurchillΒ (X-Men: Age of Apocolypse, Deadpool, Star Wars: Han Solo, and more) and Mark BrooksΒ (Ultimate Spider-Man Annual, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and more).

Not-be-missed photo opps:

Tati Gabrielle:

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An outstanding actress known for her stellar work in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, YOU, and Uncharted, Tati Gabrielle will be onsite for photo opportunities and panel discussions all weekend long.

We cannot wait to see all of you at Comic Con Cape Town. Get your tickets here.

A Superfans review: Sex/Life Season 2

A Superfans review: Sex/Life Season 2

Editor’s warning: I’m baring it all so if you haven’t watched Sex/Life Season 2 yet, I suggest averting your hot and bothered gaze😈

I, uh, came, I watched and I sort of enjoyed this sophomore season of Netflix’s NSFW adaptation of author BB Easton’s memoir.

Before I tell you if it was good for me or not πŸ˜‰,let’s get into the recap:

When we left our star-crossed lovers Brad (Adam Demos) and Billie (Sarah Shahi) at the end of Season 1, the latter had ditched her blonde, blue eyed, perfectly bland husband Cooper (Mike Vogel) to fully embrace her hot Aussie and his particularly large member in Downtown New York.

Alas, the road to the best sex of her life and her happily ever after does not end well: Brad has knocked up hot model Gigi (Wallis Day, the recasted Kate Kane/Batwoman on the now cancelled Batwoman) and is committing to being a Zaddy (sizzling hot dad).

Billie, bereft, runs home to Cooper, who gives her the boot. Fast forward to three months later and our girl is living her best newly separated mom-of-two life with a cool psychology lecturing gig and an apartment in the Big Apple.

Deserted by both of the men in her life, Billie meets and turns to Majid. Image credit: Daily Express

After a crazy night out on the town, Billie meets Majid, a sexy Persian restaurant owner, who thinks “she is really something else”. No, seriously, who wrote this drivel?! 

As it turns out, Brad is one of Majid’s investors, and so multiple awkward run-ins happen as Billie and Majid become serious. Brad does the typical “I’m a married man with a baby on the way but if you hurt my Billie, I will f*** you up” thing with Majid.  Yes, thank you, uninspired writers, we’ve only read this in every erotic novel ever.

Cooper is having a really hard time on Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: Stylecaster.com

Meanwhile, in between sharing custody and splitting time at the house in Connecticut with his and Billie’s kids, Cooper is losing his damn mind in a hailstorm of drugs, booze and sex.

Many tears, OTT sex scenes, child endangerment, divorce proceedings and occasional work later, everyone gets their happy endings. Seven hours of tension and only some of it was good.

Ugh.

Impressions:

“Now, f*** me…”

When the first episode of Sex/Life Season 2 opens with that stinger, one might be forgiven for thinking you’ve mixed up your streaming sites and accidentally (or not) clicked play on your Pornhub watchlist.

Brad and Billie’s romantic reunion does not go as planned in Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: USA Today

Let’s be honest: Sex/Life is no literary or cinematic masterpiece. If I’m being completely truthful, I’ve never watched this show for the plot. My eyes were burning from all of the gratuitous sex this season.

As Leonie so eloquently put it:

“That thing has more rolling hip thrusts than an actual porno.”

Too many tears, not enough acting – Sarah Shahi is not killing it as Billie in Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: Netflix

Shahi as Billie possesses no actual acting skill. None. Nada. Zilch. Oh, she can fake having a huge orgasm, no doubt, but when it comes to really connecting with the audience on the challenges of being a suddenly single mom who must balance her new found freedom, her insatiable lust, her emotional distress at being rejected by the sex god love of her life and figure out how to co-parent with a hostile ex, she’s completely out of her depth.

A lot of this is down to bad writing, to be fair, but the pretty crying, endless sighing and pointless giggling is just too much.

By stark contrast, all of the supporting female characters have such strong arcs, it makes Billie’s look silly. Sascha (Margaret Odette) finally becomes a bestselling author with multiple books published on being an independent woman, only for the one who got away, Kam (Cleo Anthony), to come back into her life 17 years after nearly destroying it and sweep her off of her feet.

Margaret Odette as Sasha Snow and Cleo Anthony as Kam Evans in Sex/Life Season 2 are giving me all of the happily ever after vibes. Image credit: Sabrina Lantos/Netflix Β© 2023

With a very long and twisting road that sees them break up, make up, go viral on Twitter, and bitterly part a second time because she won’t give up her career for him, they both make career sacrifices to be together. 

Sexy red underwear, a bondage session gone wrong and finally finding her self worth are Trina’s best work in Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: YouTube

Trina (Amber Goldfarb), who introduced Cooper and Billie to those suburban swingers’ parties last season, is fed up with being overlooked at home by her brute of a husband Devon (Jonathan Sadowski) and being deemed a boomer by the Gen Z girl bosses of the world. After a rather regrettable bondage incident with Cooper (which Billie forgives her for way too quickly for my liking), Trina gets divorced and starts a vaginal muscle toning class that involves a coconut Kegel training device I am going to have nightmares about for months.

Sweet prim Caroline (Meghan Heffern) discovers she doesn’t hate sex, she just hates sex with her husband, and has been seeking pleasure from massages with a very happy ending by her hot Swedish male masseur. 

Wallis Day as heavily pregnant and beautifully vulnerable Gigi in Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: Netflix Β© 2023

Gigi is a fascinating character who is sorely underused this season. Positioned entirely as a foil for Billie, she outshines the lead character by being an extremely beautiful yet wonderfully vulnerable pregnant wife who just wants her husband’s ex to back the f*** off. There is something strangely erotic yet ethereally beautiful about the scene where she lifts her heavily expecting, naked gold painted body off of a couch during a modelling gig to lay down the law with Billie. A golden lioness, if you will, protecting what is hers. Day knocks this scene out of the park.

From the elevator to the desk and eventually unemployment, Francesca is getting screwed by Cooper. Image credit: YouTube

Francesca (Li Jun Li), Cooper’s boss and girlfriend ,gets seriously screwed over by that literal f*** boy as he tries to drown his sorrows over Billie by ploughing into every woman he sees. Not even Francesca’s local Chinese food restaurant is sacred. The man has dirty bathroom sex with a fellow patron whilst waiting for their dumpling order … have some damn respect, dude!

After Francesca and Cooper get caught banging on her desk, she gets fired and he gets a slap on the wrist. Naturally. Toxic companies ALWAYS blame the woman because society can’t let go of the Eve led Adam astray narrative. Even after all of that, our girl Franny is willing to become the perfect Stepford wife and stepmom for Cooper and he is like “nah, thanks, I’ll stick to snorting Coke, banging hookers and destroying hotel rooms”. His loss.

Too many of the same climax scenes leaves alot to be desired in Sex/Life Season 2. Image credit: Decider.com

While there are many, many, close-up shots of happily orgasming women this season (yay for the focus on female pleasure), hitting the climax in the same position in every scene is just lazy direction and camera work. 

The toxicity of all of the other men in Billie’s life is heavily played up this season to make her inevitable reunion with a newly reformed, matured, responsible father Brad seem like a nicely tied up sweet ending. Completely predictable, right down to the beach wedding and the whispered “I’m pregnant” reveal right before the credits roll. Sigh.

And baby makes three. Image credit: Netflix

So…was Sex/Life Season 2 good for me? Hmmm… let’s just say it got me going in a few good hot scenes (I would not have objected to a post-Halloween Sascha and Kam making love in their Catwoman and Batman costumes πŸ˜ˆ) but I’d need to be completely turned on mentally for this show and its lazy writers to satisfy me. Sue me, I’m a sapiosexual with a geek fetish and proud of it.

Netflix has not renewed Sex/Life for a third season yet and, knowing how they love to cut their shows off at the balls… I mean knees, that might not be such a bad thing.

Sex/Life Season 2 is available to binge-watch on Netflix.

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer is in Cape Town!

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer is in Cape Town!

Sweet Holy Seven – Margaery Tyrell is in the Mother City! Yes, Game of Thrones Superfans, the Young Rose’s actress Natalie Dormer is in our hometown to film the upcoming local series White Lies and we are beyond thrilled.

Following in the footsteps of her former GOT co-star Iain Glen and his bone chilling turn in the M-Net drama Reyka, Dormer will star alongside renowned South African actor Brendon Daniels (Four Corners and Trackers). The eight episode series, will focuses on Dormer’s character Edie, an investigative journalist who gets caught up in a family murder gone wrong. Daniels will star as veteran detective Forty Bell, Edie’s grumpy rival.

In addition to GOT, Dormer is known for her work in The Hunger Games and her breakout role as the ill-fated Anne Boylen in The Tudors.

Filming on White Lies began on Monday 6 March 2023 so keep an eye out for Dormer in Cape Town!

In the meantime, here are some of our favourite Margaery Tyrell scenes to tide you over:

The Backstreet Boys are coming to Cape Town!

The Backstreet Boys are coming to Cape Town!

Oh, be still my pre-teen boyband-loving heart: BACKSTREET BOYS ARE COMING TO CAPE TOWN!

Mother City, get ready to singing along to every single word of every song as Kevin, Brian, AJ, Nick and Howie bust out those sweet 90s move at the Grand Arena GrandWest on 16 May 2023. You guys know how this one goes:

Darren Simpson and his KFM Breakfast team made the exciting announcement this morning and honestly, I let out a full-on teenage scream πŸ˜‰ When I tell you the chokehold these guys had on me between 1997 and 2010… I had their posters up on my bedroom wall. Their albums were the soundtracks of my first crushes, first kiss and first school trip away from my family. My sister Sameehah and I would fight about who Nick Carter belonged to – I lost and happily settled for the ever suave Kevin Richardson.

For a time there in 1999 when I only dressed in oversized men’s shirts and baggy pants, these five were my stylish role models. Why? Because:

The Backstreet Boys DNA Tour concert will be held at GrandWest Casino’s Grand Arena on 16 May 2023. Tickets, available at TicketMaster, will go on sale this Friday 24 February 2023.

Join me for the rest of the day in singing along to some of the Backstreet Boys’ greatest hits:

Are you excited about the band coming to Cape Town? Let me know on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Superbowl 2023: The best trailers and performances

Superbowl 2023: The best trailers and performances

Those lucky Americans get to celebrate their football championships with the best halftime show AND trailer drops galore every February and honestly, I am JEALOUS! At yesterday’s epic event, Rihanna made her comeback after six years and dropped her big news: she’s pregnant with her second kid. Go RiRi!

Rihanna had a special guest artist at her Superbowl show last night: her second baby bump! Image credit: Pitchfork

In addition to the Queen of the Barbados rocking it out on stage, some of our favourite returning shows, upcoming comic book movie features and delicious drive-thrus dropped some cool ads and trailers.

Check it out below:

Rihanna:

The Flash:

Much like their character Barry Allen, Erza Miller royally screwed up the timeline of the release of The Flash with their much publicized arrests and meltdowns over the past few years. Thank the Speed Force, though, and begrudgingly the new DC CEOs, for reverse flashing the decision to can the movie. Thanks to their timeline fixing, we will now get two Flashes, both played by Miller; the Batfleck; the return of OG Batman Michael Keaton; and a Supergirl of colour, Sasha Calle as Kara.

Enjoy the trailer:

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny:

Is Harrison Ford far too old to play his second most iconic character? Probably but as long as there is an item of Holy Grail stature to save, a pretty girl to impress and bad guys to outsmart, Ford will slip back into Indy’s skin and enthrall a new generation of treasure hunters. With the miracle of de-aging effects and a cast bolstered by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas and fellow Indiana Jones alum John Rhys-Davies , Ford returns for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have stepped back from directing and writing this fifth and final installment and will serve as executive producers instead.

Crack a whip and a look at this:

Scream VI:

Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott may be out but Ghostface is still in and he/she/they (don’t forget the rules: there are ALWAYS two murderers!) and terrorizing several returning franchise final girls in New York City!

Scream VI sees recent stars Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) and Melissa Barrera team up with Courtney Cox and Hayden Panettiere (she was the final girl in Scream 4) to finally (yeah, right!) put an end to their worst nightmare.

Get ready to slash your way to freedom:

Fast X:

My Khal Drogo Jason Momoa being the bad guy and taking on Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and his entire family in the tenth Fast&The Furious movie, Fast X? Hell yes, my man, SIGN ME UP!

After the guys went full throttle in space in the last movie, I was willing for this franchise to go gently into the night. Now Momoa is shifting the acting into high gear, John Cena is back as Dom’s younger brother and we are getting the late Paul Walker making a comeback as Brian (thanks to his brothers and CGI). I am so here for it!

Pump the gas with this epic trailer:

Ben Affleck loves his Dunkin’ Donuts:

Finally, the world can move on from Ben Affleck being every bored husband at his wife’s work event (Google Ben Affleck Grammys) and see that our guy is just like us in this delicious Dunkin’Donuts ad:

What did you think about the Superbowl 2023 show, trailers and ads? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook!

5 movies to get you in the mood for love this Valentine’s Month

5 movies to get you in the mood for love this Valentine’s Month

Whether you have been playing Miley Cyrus’s Flowers on repeat, trying to recapture the spark with your boo or been doom scrolling through dating apps, I’m sure you could do with a little romance this February.

Channing Tatum is giving it a final go in Magic Mike’s Last Dance. Image credit: Out.com

Luckily, our cinemas and streaming sites are serving up all kinds of love-filled gems so grab your FWB, significant other or bestie and enjoy these epic offerings:

Magic Mike’s Last Dance:

Channing Tatum is shaking those buns of steel one last time with the final sequel to his hit Magic Mike movie trilogy, Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

This time, Salma Hayek is, uh, coming along for the ride and things are about to get all kinds of steamy on a London theatre stage.

Leonie and I are going to shed our inhibitions and underwear at Ster Kinekor’s Girlfriends’ Getaway event at the V&A Waterfront on Wednesday 8 February. If you can’t make it for that event, book your tickets to see it here.

The 365 Days films:

Sure, these aren’t the streaming site’s latest releases BUT they are the steamiest so if you are wanting to get off, Netflix and chilling doesn’t get any hotter or better than the 365 Days film trilogy. Let Massimo (Michele Morrone) and Laura (Anna-Maria Sieklucka) indulge your every sexual fantasy as they find their way to each other in very unusual circumstances.

My personal favourite is the extended yacht sex scene in the first film – I have TONS of questions about whether they remembered to put sunscreen on their delicate bits, where the ship’s crew are and who is cleaning up every spot they’re hooking up on? That being said, I love the sheer erotic fantasy of it all and I respect the film making aspect of this complex scene. What, guys? It takes very skilled cameramen and women to capture the true erotic experience on film! Don’t smirk at me through your screens like that! πŸ˜‰

The Lost City:

Last year’s romcom hit starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum (yes, yes, I am obsessed with him, I know!) is now streaming on Showmax. The Lost City follows the pair as they try to escape from a treasure crazy Daniel Radcliffe off of an island and charmingly fall in love in the process.

Its popcorn viewing at its finest and perfect for a couple’s, solo or girls’ night in experience.

Beauty and the Beast:

The only Disney live action movie I don’t completely hate and I can watch multiple times is the 2017 Beauty and the Beast.

Emma Watson is Belle who is forced to live with the cursed Beast (Dan Stevens) in his enchanted castle and befriends his motley crew of formerly human and now animated furniture and crockery, including a clock, a teapot and a candelabra.

This fairytale has always been my favourite because Hi, full stocked, gigantic library! I’ve watched the animated movie, the live-action film, the Once Upon A Time series and the Broadway musical AND I thoroughly enjoyed the Disney on Ice act devoted to Belle and Beast, so I may be a tiny bit obsessed with this cautionary tale about falling in love with your kidnapper. Show me a Disney kid who doesn’t have issues!

Beauty and the Beast is streaming on Disney Plus.

Dirty Dancing:

If it’s a classic romantic night in you’re looking for, you can’t go wrong with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey’s 80’s hit Dirty Dancing!

Streaming on Prime Video this month, this one is perfect to set your heart aflutter and get those hips swaying … nudge nudge, wink wink.

Got any other romantic movie suggestions? Tweet them at me/Superfans at @SuperfansSA on Twitter!

The New DC Slate and our thoughts about it

The New DC Slate and our thoughts about it

Anyone else get severe time sickness when you watched James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios announce the new slate of movies, series and games on Tuesday 31 January 2023?

If you need a reminder, here you go:

Look, I as much as any DC fan, am absolutely in favour of the DCU connecting all over the various mediums so kudos to Gunn and his co-CEO Peter Safran for that. What I cannot wrap my head around is the blatantly stupid decisions and choices being made about which problematic stars get to stay (yes, Ezra Miller, even the Flashpoint cannot save you now!) and which mega stars are being cut loose.

Henry Cavill is not my favourite Superman and honestly, Zack Snyder took himself WAY too seriously with his movies but there was a potential in the Cavil and Batffleck combo that could have been explored more with the right writers and crew. Hell, the man gave up his damn fine lead role on The Witcher for the DC deal he was promised and Gunn and Safran went “nah, thanks but no thanks!”. This has the smell of those dumb asses and Game of Thrones Season 8 all over again.

James Gunn has announced a new DC slate of shows, movies and games and a few of our favourite actors are out! Image credit: Joblo.com

Speaking of which … really, Gunn? Describing a drama series set in Wonder Woman‘s birthplace, Themyscira, as a GOT-style show makes it sounds like you are trying too hard to convince viewers and fans that this is going to work. Instead of just letting Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot finish off their Wonder Woman threequel and then waiting a few years to do a series spin-off, the boys are now bulldozing their way into making their own show. Ugh.

Don’t get me started on the fact that, despite Dumb and Dumber hailing Wonder Woman as one of their “diamond characters”, she is being sidelined into a series while Superman and Batman are being rebooted especially for the new DC slate. As if we don’t already have a plethora of Batman projects and actors out there. Let Matt Reeves do his thing with Robert Pattison and bring Ben Affleck back, you cowards!

Bring Batfleck back, you cowards! Image credit: Digital Spy

I get it – Gunn saw what Marvel and Kevin Feige did with making the MCU, Netflix series, ABC shows and Fox films one big universe and decided to follow the same formula. BUT Feige at least had the common sense to respect the various fandoms and honour their history with the various characters by bringing them together under the convenient multiverse concept. Gunn and Safran are decimating entire characters, universes and plotlines.

This is a shame because Greg Berlanti and his team were really great at bringing back former DC actors as either other characters or crossing the mulitverses in fun crossover episodes. Two of my favourite scenes were these in the Arrowverse:

I won’t deny that Gunn’s Peacemaker is a great series but I hardly think that is going to help him and his partner with this overhaul of the DC content. In the Arrowverse, it has been strongly hinted at that John Diggle (David Ramsey) is the next Green Lantern John Stewart so will he the star of the new Lanterns series? Unlikely, now that Gunn and Safran have parted ways with Berlanti who was heading up the first proposed Lanterns series.

We are all still reeling from the fact that the completed Batgirl movie was scrapped. We’ve lost out on the opportunity to have the first Batgirl of colour played by Leslie Grace and to see Michael Keaton return as his OG Batman character. Melissa Benoist’s Supergirl series has ended (and honestly, not a moment too soon since it was the weakest of the Arrowverse shows) but Gunn and Safran think giving Kara Danvers a traumatic childhood makeover and exploring how it affects her in a miniseries, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, is going to appeal to younger audiences.

Supergirl gets a tragic makeover in the new series on DC’s slate. Image credit: IGN.com

Let us not forget that Gunn is the reason Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy is a disappointment and pales in comparison to the rest of its counterparts. It’s so bad that some of its leads are now speaking out against it.

Gunn’s own history of being being fired by Disney for his past paedophilia and molestation tweets aside, the decision to go ahead with Miller’s Flash movie is a strange one. Like the Royal Family, the DC Studios is happy to keep promoting an alleged child molester but won’t support a black woman in a leading role. Classy, real classy.

The proof of this madcap slate will be in the proof of the pudding … or viewing, as the case may be.

Ok, I’ll get off of my soapbox now. What are your thoughts on the new DC slate? Let me know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

A Superfans review: The Last of Us Episode 1 and 2

A Superfans review: The Last of Us Episode 1 and 2

HBO has released yet another banger of a show and we are here for it!

Two of the most badass actors of Game of Thrones, Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell) and Bella Ramsey (Lyanna Mormont) team up as leads Joel and Ellie in the post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us and they are legendary. Based on the popular 2013 video game of the same name, the series stars Pascal, Ramsey, Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge and Gabriel Luna.

Recap:

The first two episodes set the scene for viewers as we are introduced to a world ravaged by a deadly based virus that has infected billions of people and killed millions of others. Sound familiar? Yes, we’ve just lived through a similar global pandemic. In fact, we are still living through it.

Pascal’s Joel is a smuggler who lost his only daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) 20 years before when she was first attacked by humans turned into cannibalistic creatures by a rapidly spreading spore-based virus, and then shot by a soldier who was meant to help them. The Clickers, as these zombie-like monsters are now known, are vulnerable to light and have keen hearing. Together with his partner Tess (Torv), Joel has to get Ellie (Ramsey), a teenager used by the government as an experiment to produce a cure for the virus, quietly to safety across a decimated United States. Along the way, they encounter various dangers, including a nest of Clickers, rogue military men and more.

Former Game of Thrones co-stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey star in HBO’s latest hit series The Last of Us. Image credit: HBO

Joel, embittered by grief and hatred for the Clickers, initially wants nothing to do with Ellie because she reminds him of his lost daughter, but is forced to protect her when Tess is infected and sacrifices herself so that they can escape.

Two episodes in and the world is already obsessed with this new series. It has bagged HBO its largest jump in viewership between episodes for any of its series thus far!

Impressions:

You guys know how I feel about post-apocalyptic dramas – I barely got through The Stand while watching it in the beginning of the 2021 lockdown. The only thing that got me through it was my husband Alexander Skarsgard.

Sure, Pascal is providing plenty of eye candy in The Last of Us but the premise itself makes for compelling viewing. Now, more than ever, we as a global society can appreciate these types of shows because we have lived through it. We were wholly unprepared to deal with these kinds of situations and the devastating effects they have on, not just our infrastructure and way of living, but our psyche too.

Pascal is more than just a pretty face in The Last of Us. Image credit: HBO

Pascal’s Joel is a man tormented by his grief for his daughter. Ramsay’s Ellie is the purported “saviour” of mankind and it’s a HUGE responsibility to place on the shoulders of a foul-mouthed 14-year-old who has never been let outside. Think for a second about all of the babies born during our own lockdown and how utterly bewildering it must be for them to now be thrust into a world filled with people other than their parents, to have to experience life and to learn to socialize. Ellie has to deal with all of that AND save the world.

As a GOT fan, I am obviously getting a kick out of seeing Oberyn and Lyanna together onscreen for the first time. Kudos to HBO for playing up that connection with promo videos like this one:

Their chemistry in The Last of Us feels natural and while we know this story will inevitably end with Joel regaining his fatherhood as a paternal figure to Ellie, only to possibly lose her in the fight to save humanity, we can’t help rooting for this awesome duo.

The Clickers are damn scary. A little too close in looks to the demogorgons in Stranger Things for my liking but I appreciate a good scare and the prosthetics the makeup department have designed. Having Anna Torv of Fringe fame back in another quirky series warms my sci-fi loving heart.

Fungus for brains – that’s a Clicker! Image credit: HBO

My new favourite series feature is creators using 1980s music to add to the plot. In The Last of Us, Joel and his fellow smugglers use hits like A-HA’s Take On Me to indicate when it is safe to move cargo. Pump that music louder, baby!

Filmmakers usually like to base their end-of-the-world action in bigger cities like New York and Washington. In The Last of Us, the big action scenes take place in Texas and Boston and this is refreshing to see. A killer chase and bombing in the last museum in Boston? Yes, please!

For a show based on a video game, The Last of Us is impressive. Hollywood has been running low on inspiration lately, with its production of remakes, reboots and musicals of movies that do not need to be musicals. If fleshing out the backstory of a video game is a new well of inspiration to tap into, and it produces quality shows like this one, I am all for it.

The Last of Us streams every Sunday on HBO Max and every Monday on Showmax.