The Sunday Mail
Tinashe Kusema : The Big & Small Screen
WELL, the good news is that summer has finally arrived and by the look of things; it appears as if we are going to have a hot one.And by hot, I mean both in the literal and figurative sense of the word. For the last couple of weeks, I have had in my possession Ster-Kinekor’s line-up for the rest of the year, which I had been saving for a rainy day.
With the 67th Emmy Awards or should I call them by their new colloquial name “The Game of Thrones Television Awards”, slated for later tonight at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles; I figured that now is as good a time as any to unload what the rest of 2016 has to offer in the world of cinema.
Television will have its time in the sun in the next two weeks, as I rundown the highs, lows, good, bad and the ugly from tonight’s star-studded event. “Game of Thrones” will definitely rule tonight, and hopefully get nearer to that 42 award benchmark. That is a given.
Here is a fun fact for you guys; did you know that the cult classic sketch comedy gem “Saturday Night Live”, currently has the most Emmy awards by a single production in the history of the event?
“Game of Thrones” seems destined to break that record, as it currently sits at 35 awards and with roughly two seasons left in the series. Anyway, I digress.
So what does the festive season have in store for the movie loving populous? Well, Kevin Hart and Denzel Washington are coming to Zimbabwe. The hottest news coming out of Ster-Kinekor for all movie aficionados, and lovers of anything big screen, is that Kevin Hart and Denzel Washington will headline what is to be an action packed run-in to the year 2016.
Kevin Hart: What Now? is an upcoming American stand-up comedy film starring comedian Kevin Hart in a 90-minute one-man show.
The film is scheduled for release in North American theatres on October 14, and unlike in previous years Zimbabwe will be right up there with the Americans as the funny man comes to the big screen at both Ster-Kinekor’s Eastgate and Sam Levy Village movie houses.
If by any chance you are asking yourself who Kevin Hart is, then you have no reason reading this, you might as well take a long drive off a short cliff. Pardon my French.
Hart’s special is the brainchild of Ster-Kinekor drive to bring moviegoers back to the cinema.
“After the success of comedy nights at SK cinemas, a month or two ago, we decided to screen a stand-up comedy and who else could do it better than Kevin Hart,” said Eastgate Dexter Nyamayaro.
“There is nothing as good as watching comedy in a room full of people to share the experience with and watching it on the big screen gives you the illusion of watching the actual show live.
“We expect the excitement to be off the charts, jokes are funnier and the experience much bigger and at a grander scale given the latest sound and picture improvements we have made to our cinema houses,” he said.
I have seen all his movies, all his specials and a sneak peak of the “Kevin Hart: What Now?” movie and trailers.
I know the odds of someone actually putting up the big bucks to get an A-lister of Kevin’s calibre right now is next to impossible, especially during my time, so this is the nearest I am ever going to get.
God willing, I intend to savour the experience.
Kevin Hart is not the only Hollywood A-list actor/comedian we can expect for Denzel Washington, Tom Cruise and yes, even Drag King himself Tyler Perry. Washington leads an all-star cast in the remake of the Westerns classic “Magnificent Seven”, which opens locally on September 23.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua; this reboot takes an old story about seven individuals who join forces and try to save a town from a lawless gang of bandits. The film stars some of the hottest and freshest talent in the industry today namely Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Lee Byung-hun, Washington and Matt Bomer.
From what I have gathered, trolling the net, Peter Sarsgaard is starring as the big bad Bartholomew Bogue and I truly have my reservations about ability to bring the role to life and offer deep rooted complexities that will trouble our merry band of outlaws-cum-heroes.
The biggest thing the film has going for it, is the potential pairing of Washington’s Sam Chisholm and Pratt’s Josh Farraday’s characters. Pratt has an undeniable charm about him and does that whole humour thing so effortlessly while Washington comes in as the season vet and should come off as more withdrawn, cool and collected.
There definitely will be clashes, disagreements and plenty of fight scenes from Lee Byung-hun. They say you are only as good as your last movie and these three guys have churned out flicks like 2014’s “The Equalizer” (Washington), “Jurassic World” and “Guardians of the Galaxy’ (Pratt), “RED 2” and “G.I Joe Retaliation” (Lee Byung-Hun). As a note, I think it is imperative that I highlight that the last time Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington shared the screen together was in the 2001 cult classic “Training Day”.
Spare a thought for all Perry fans as he gets back into his female regalia in Tyler Perry’s “BOO! A Madea Halloween”.
Expect a lot of unadulterated violence in Tom Cruise’s “John Reacher — Never Go Back”.
The first one lacked real substance and drama but nailed every box in the action category. While, the dates have not yet be put in stone expect all three movies in the next couple of months.
