Tymon Smith
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Articles by Tymon Smith
RESENSIE | Oakley se ‘Sense and Sensibility’ sosiaal bewus en boeiend
Het jy al geld uit jou aftreefonds se tweepotstelsel onttrek? Kies asb. 'n opsie Oeps! 'n Fout het ingesluip. Probeer asb. weer. Ja, ek moes ’n paar dringende gate toestop. Ja, die geld is beskikbaar, hoekom nie daarvan gebruik maak nie? Nee, ek byt vas en spaar elke moontlike sent vir my aftrede. Ek wens ek kon, maar ek het nie ’n aftreefonds nie. Resultate Ja, ek moes ’n paar dringende gate toestop. 7% - 233 stemme Ja, die geld is beskikbaar, hoekom nie daarvan gebruik maak nie?
‘Where’s Wanda’, ‘VisionQuest’ and more: 5 things to stream this week
If you have 1 hour WHERE’S WANDA? SEASON 2 — Apple TV+ The distinctly dry German comedy mystery caper about desperate parents who, after their teenage daughter disappears, begin to take matters into their own hands by snooping on their neighbours and discovering dark secrets continues to twist along in its merry, gently funny and entertainingly manic way.
Five things to watch this week
Last One Laughing: Halloween — Prime Video Out of all the incarnations of this silly reality show in which groups of comedians try to make each other laugh and to remain the last one laughing, the British version offers the best rewards. In celebration of the spooky season Jimmy Carr and his band of fiendishly silly warlocks and witches convene for a special two-episode comedic contest.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 100 minutes THE END OF OAK STREET — Rent/buy Apple TV+ Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor star in this solidly enjoyable old-school creature-feature adventure. When the Platt family are ripped from their suburban neighbourhood in the wake of a global destructive event, they soon realise that, like it or not, they’ll have to stick together if they’re going to survive.
Five things to watch this week
Tenzing — Apple TV Documentary director Jennifer Peedom makes her feature debut with a solidly executed and inspiring biopic that retells the story about the first successful summit of Mount Everest on May 29 1953 through the eyes of Tenzing Norgay. The Tibetan Sherpa became the first man, with Kiwi mountaineer Edmund Hillary, to stand on the top of the world.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
Story audio is generated using AI If you have 100 minutes ANIMALS — Netflix Ben Affleck directs and stars in this thriller opposite Kerry Washington. When their son is kidnapped, his desperate parents — a mayoral candidate and his wife — resort to extreme measures to get him back, even as their darkest secrets begin to emerge and threaten their future. If you have 6 hours BELOW — Netflix Josh Hartnett stars in creator Jesse McKeown’s underwater monster horror series.
Five things to watch this week
East of Eden — Netflix Zoe Kazan — granddaughter of legendary Hollywood director Elia who made the classic 1955 James Dean-starring film adaptation — takes advantage of the TV miniseries format to offer a new, refreshed adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel for a new era. It’s still an epic saga of generational trauma, brothers, fathers and sons, the replaying of the Cane and Abel story against the backdrop of Steinbeck’s beloved Salinas Valley, California.
Five things to watch this week
Amadeus — DStv Stream No, this is not a lavishly produced biopic series about the life and times of musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Rather, it’s a new screen adaptation of the Tony Award-winning 1981 play by Peter Shaffer, which the author also adapted for the Oscar-winning 1984 film classic directed by Milos Forman.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 90 minutes UNABOMBER — Netflix Jacob Tremblay plays the emotionally inexperienced but prodigiously talented, 16-year-old maths genius Ted Kaczynski, who arrives at Harvard in the 1960s and catches the eye of the mysterious Prof Henry Murray (Russell Crowe). In the 1990s, Kaczynski’s troubled past and his relationship with Murray become the focus of FBI agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley) leading the manhunt for the US’s most wanted man, the Unabomber.
Five things to watch this week
By Tymon Smith Unabomber — Netflix Danish director Janus Metz (Borg McEnroe, All the Old Knives) zeroes in on a much-debated chapter from the life of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, in this taut biographical thriller.
Five things to watch this week
Slow Horses Season 6 — Apple TV+ Sir Gary Oldman has made the role of Jackson Lamb, the flatulent, gruff leader of the slow horses, completely and memorably his own. Fans of the Emmy-winning show about the feckless but still somehow effective secret service also-rans of Slough House are more than ready for this sixth season in which Lamb and the slow horses find themselves the target of a sinister, revenge-bent assassin.
Five things to watch at the European film festival
My Father’s Shadow Winner of the Bafta for outstanding debut, British Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jnr’s first feature marks the arrival of a bold new voice in world cinema. Starring Sope Dirisu in a career-best performance, introducing the talented young brothers Godwin and Chibuike Egbo, and co-written with the director’s brother, Wale Davies, this is not only one of the most impressive debuts in decades but also one of the most well-executed childhood perspective films in a generation.
WHAT’S ON | Staying in
If you have 1 hour UNTOLD RAYGUN: BREAKING BADLY — Netflix What do most of us still remember about the 2024 Paris Olympics? That pole-vaulter and, of course, Australian breakdancer Raygun, who performed a routine that went viral, caused outrage, and gave us the kangaroo stance. Here, in all its maddening detail, is the story of academic Rachael Gunn and her devoted husband and fellow breakdancer, Sammy.
Five things to watch this week
Teenage Wasteland — Netflix Boys State and Girls State directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss turn their attention to a new group of young people in this documentary. The young people in question are now all grown up, but in the 1990s they were idealistic, creative teenagers who participated in a school documentary project at Middleton High School. The documentary exposed a network of powerful companies and underworld figures responsible for dumping toxic waste in local landfills.
STAYING IN | What to stream
If you have 1 hour DARK MATTER SEASON 2 — Apple TV+ Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly return for a second season of creator Blake Crouch’s adaptation of his own novel about a man who is abducted into an alternative version of his life. If you have 2 hours BACKROOMS — Rent or buy from Apple TV+ Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass star in this impressively assured, eerie horror debut from director Kane Parsons.
Five things to watch this week
The Whisper Man — Netflix James Ashcroft directs this adaptation of the novel by Alex North starring Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan and Michael Keaton. When his wife dies, grieving father Tom Kennedy (Scott) relocates to the small town of Featherbed with his son, Jake (Acston Luca Porto). Fifteen years ago, Featherbed was terrorised by a serial killer known as the Whisper Man. But after his son disappears, Tom realises the Whisper Man is still at large.
STAYING IN | What to stream
If you have 1 hour THE DEATH OF BUNNY MUNRO — DStv Stream Matt Smith revels in playing the title character of this darkly comic series adaptation of the novel by Nick Cave. Bunny is a Brighton-based beauty products salesman with a sex addiction who long ago broke all his promises to his depression-suffering wife Libby (Sarah Greene).
Five things to watch this week
Ancestral Visions of the Future — Mubi.com Lesotho-born, Berlin-based director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese follows up his acclaimed 2019 feature This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection with this dreamlike film essay.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 100 minutes TUNER — buy from Apple TV+ Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman star in Oscar-winning director Daniel Roher’s feature debut — a well-acted, taut, humorous caper in which Woodall’s talented piano tuner discovers an aptitude for safecracking that will turn his quiet world upside down.
Five things to watch this week
My Brilliant Career — Netflix Written in 1901 under the pen name Miles Franklin, Australian feminist writer Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin’s book was most famously adapted in 1979 as a feature film starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill and directed by Gillian Armstrong. Now showrunner Liz Doran brings a new extended series adaptation.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 1 hour TED LASSO SEASON 4— Apple TV+ America’s favourite soccer export is back in the UK but this time our homely good ol’ coach is working with the Richmond women’s team — a whole new ball game for the gang and one which will make us, and them, smile and sometimes cry.
JCAF’s ‘Reverse Futures’ exhibition imagines new paths for Global South
Story audio is generated using AI As the Joburg cultural and institutional world around it suffers from the blows of recently compounded economic, political and relevance pressures, the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation (JCAF) in Forest Town has, since it opened its doors in 2020, quietly continued to provide the city’s art lovers and art-curious with one of the few places to see and engage with the works of the best and brightest modern and contemporary artists from South Africa and the...
Five things to watch this week
The Shards — Disney Plus Bret Easton Ellis’ 2023 coming of age/horror novel starring a fictional version of Brett East Ellis, finishing his last year of high school in 1981 Los Angeles, gets the full Ryan Murphy treatment. Starring Igby Rigney as Brett and Homer Gere as Robert Mallory, the impossibly cool new student at his school. Robert’s presence seems to coincide with the work of a new serial killer, The Trawler, who is terrifying the city.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 90 minutes WINDOW HORSES — Prime Video Elliot Page and Sandra Oh lead the voice cast of this gentle, fun and bright 2016 animated feature written and directed by Ann Marie Fleming that tells the story of a young Canadian poet of Chinese and Persian ancestry whose life is changed by a trip to a poetry festival in Iran.
Five things to watch this week
Time and Water — Disney Plus Sara Dosa, the Oscar-nominated director of Fire of Love, tackles the climate change crisis by focusing on family, home and love. Following Icelandic poet Andri Snær Magnason, the film reflects on the glaciers of the poet’s homeland and their relationship to his family, past, present and future. Magnason narrates passages from his book, from which the film takes its title.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 80 minutes WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER — Prime Video Canadian actress Katie Boland directs, co-writes and stars in a dual role in this slight but effective indie drama adapted from the novel by Amy Jones. When their dysfunctional mother miraculously survives an ill-advised attempt to ride a waterfall in a barrel, estranged twin sisters Finn and Nicki Parker are brought together.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 1 hour LUCKY — Apple TV+ Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Luciana “Lucky” Armstrong in this action series adaptation of the novel by Marissa Stapley, created by Your Friends & Neighbors’ Jonathan Tropper. When a reformed criminal decides to take on one last job, things inevitably don’t go quite according to plan and our titular heroine finds herself on the run from cops, gangsters and just about everyone else she meets.
Five things to watch this week
Lucky ― Apple TV+ Anya Taylor-Joy is the eponymous antiheroine of this adaptation of the novel by Marissa Stapley created by Your Friends & Neighbors’ Jonathan Tropper. Taylor-Joy is Luciana “Lucky” Armstrong, a one-time professional criminal, who has joined her boyfriend for one final job that will free them forever from the dark shackles of their pasts. Of course, as any woman knows, men just can’t be trusted, and Lucky soon finds herself on the run.
Five things to watch this week
200 Motels — Prime Video You wouldn’t pick Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention as the band to star in a rock documentary, but in 1971 Zappa and British director Tony Palmer wrote and directed this uneven but still uniquely surreal portrait of the band stuck in the hell of the fictional town of Centerville, “a real nice place to raise your kids up”.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 1 hour SILO SEASON 3 —Apple TV+ Apple TV continues to be the home of intelligent, thoughtful sci-fi and creator Graham Yost’s adaptation of the novels by Hugh Howey goes to new and exciting places in its third season with Rebecca Ferguson’s Juliette returning home with few memories of her past.
Five things to watch this week
Voicemails for Isabelle — Netflix Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson star in this romantic comedy in which Deutch’s character, Jill, copes with the death of her sister Isabella by leaving voicemails on her phone telling her about the struggles of daily life in San Francisco. When an enigmatic real estate agent begins to receive Jill’s message, the inevitable love game is afoot.
Five things to watch this week
The American Experiment — Netflix A multi-episode PBS docuseries examination by unofficial documentarian-in-chief Ken Burns beat this Netflix one to the punch earlier this year. But the five-episode deep-dive into all things American ahead of its 250th anniversary has Tom Hanks as executive producer and is directed by Brian Knappenberger, creator of the excellent Turning Point series.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 90 minutes COLOR BOOK — Netflix Written and directed by David Fortune, this assured and touching debut, filmed in gritty black and white, stars William Catlett as a devoted, struggling single father to his son Mason (Jeremiah Daniels) who has Down syndrome. On a bonding trip for father and son to attend their first baseball game together in Atlanta, everything that could go wrong, does.
Five things to watch this week
Abdullah Ibrahim: A Brother with Perfect Timing — YouTube The passing of musical giant Abdullah Ibrahim this week provides an opportune moment to watch this 1987 documentary by Chris Austin.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 50 minutes THE REST IS FOOTBALL— Netflix Gary Lineker’s pro-Palestine comments may have got him fired by the BBC but along with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards, he’s found a new home at Netflix for a special World Cup edition of everything football-related, including plenty of ribbing as the tournament gets underway. They’ll broadcast every day of the tournament and announced guests include Joe Cole, Harry Maguire and Patrick Viera.
Five things to watch this week
Pacifiction — Mubi.com Spanish director Albert Serra takes slow, visually evocative aim at the crumbling ruins of imperialism in this acclaimed drama from 2022.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 80 minutes HOW IT ENDS — Prime Video Olivia Wilde, Cailee Spaeny, Fred Armisen and Zoe Lister-Jones star in this feel-good, uneven, but entertainingly offbeat post-apocalyptic indie comedy from 2021. When a young, happy-go-lucky Los Angeles woman receives an invite to attend one last blowout before the world ends, getting there may be trickier than she imagined.
Five things to watch this week
Cape Fear ― Apple TV + Robert De Niro’s gleefully demonic performance as villain Max Cady in Martin Scorsese’s Hitchcock-influenced 1991 screen adaptation of John D MacDonald’s novel, The Executioners, was terrifying. That version provides the inspiration for creator Nick Antosca’s limited series adaptation, executive produced by Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 2 hours STAR CITY — Apple TV+ Fans of Apple TV’s excellent alternative space-race history drama For All Mankind can breathe easy knowing that the same team who made the American account such absorbing dramatic viewing have now turned their attention to telling the story from the other side of the Iron Curtain, deep in the icy totalitarian bowels of Soviet-era Russia.
Five films to watch at the Encounters festival
The 28th edition of the Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival takes place in Johannesburg and Cape Town on June 4-16. Here are five films from this year’s wide selection to pique a variety of interests. Elon Musk Unveiled: The Tesla Experiment Elon Musk’s insidious and ruthless attempts to silence victims of Tesla autodriving accidents to prevent reputational damage form the subject of director Andreas Pichler’s investigative documentary.
‘The Punisher’, ‘The Bear’ and more: 5 things to stream this week
If you have 1 hour THE PUNISHER: ONE LAST KILL — Disney+ Jon Bernthal returns for a stand-alone, blood-soaked, bullet-spattered, existential-rage-fuelled outing as Marvel’s dark mercenary, Frank Castle. The sequel showcases the actor’s particular talents for brooding action antiheroes. If you have 1 hour GARY— Disney+ Jon Bernthal is again at the centre of this standalone flashback episode of Emmy-winning drama The Bear.
Five things to watch this week
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed — Apple TV + Divorced mom Paula (Tatiana Maslany) is living alone, working as a fact checker (until AI makes the post redundant) and struggling to convince her former husband (Jake Johnson) that she should be given equitable time with their daughter. She finds what solace she can in a transactional online relationship with Caleb (Brandon Flynn) — the only man who listens, understands and knows how to keep her coming back.
Five things to watch this week
The Pope of Greenwich Village — Prime Video Director Stuart Rosenberg’s cult favourite buddy crime caper is more than just a reminder of the gritty anxiety of 1980s’ New York and the boyish charms of Mickey Rourke — two things that sadly no longer exist. Adapted from his own novel by Vincent Patrick, the story follows the misadventures of two cousins — Charlie (Rourke) and Paulie (Eric Roberts) — one trying to get by as best he can, the other always looking for shortcuts.
‘Elvis Presley in Concert’, ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ and more: 5 things to stream this week
If you have 90 minutes EPIC: ELVIS PRESLEY IN CONCERT — Rent or buy from Apple TV+ While researching his 2022 biopic Elvis, director Baz Luhrmann discovered a legendary trove of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage shot during The King’s fabled 1969 comeback special. Now Luhrmann, working with that never-before-seen archive and footage from the concert, brings Elvis’ last great moment energetically back to life ahead of the 50th anniversary of his death next year.
Five things to watch this week
Starman — Netflix Horror legend John Carpenter took a romantic sci-fi detour with this 1984 drama starring Karen Allen as a widow who finds new love in the shape of an alien who has inhabited the body of her dead husband. He is played by Jeff Bridges, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar for his work. What begins as a left-of-field sci-fi soon becomes a surprisingly tender love story that Carpenter deftly directs towards its bittersweet conclusion.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 80 minutes WIDOW’S BAY — Apple TV+ Matthew Rhys stars in creator Katie Dippold’s off-beat, black comedy horror series as the skeptical mayor of an eerie New England town which locals believe to be cursed.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 80 minutes: 4x20: QUICK HITS — Disney+ For those who partake and celebrate, this week saw the annual marking of the global unofficial marijuana day on April 20 — (4/20 to the hep cats) — and 4x20 offers four short films for the stoners: examining such urgent topics as the unlikely cult classic status of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, the mythical stoner cinematic holy grail Ganjasaurus Rex and the origin story of stoner bible, the magazine High Times.
Five things to watch this week
Splitsville — Rent or buy Apple TV + Director Michael Angelo Covino shares the writing credit with actor Kyle Marvin, who stars as Carey, a good-natured bloke whose life is unpleasantly disrupted when his wife (Adria Arjona) asks for a divorce. Shattered, Carey runs to his best friends Julie (Dakota Johnson) and Paul (Covino) and discovers maybe there’s a way to save his relationship after all — agree to an open marriage.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 1 hour TREVOR NOAH: JOY IN THE TRENCHES — Netflix From being targeted by Donald Trump for his hosting of the Grammys to learning hard truths in therapy, South Africa’s biggest entertainment export continues to poke quiet but necessary fun at the absurdities of our present, rollercoaster, bats**t crazy world.
STAYING IN | Things to stream
If you have 80 minutes OUTCOME— Apple TV+ Jonah Hill directs this Hollywood-set dramedy starring Keanu Reeves as a beloved star forced on a journey of self-discovery as he scrambles to stop his reputation been ruined by the threatened release of a damning video.
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