MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU | Stream now
Minions assemble!
Minions: The Rise of Gru is the untold story of one kid’s dream to become the world’s greatest supervillain. Gru (Oscar nominee Steve Carell) is just a 12-year-old boy in 1970s suburbia, plotting to take over the world from his basement. It’s a lonely pursuit, until Gru crosses paths with Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto, aka the Minions (voiced, as always, by Pierre Coffin, the Oscar-nominated director of the Despicable Me trilogy and Minions).
Minions: The Rise of Gru was named Favourite Animated Movie at the 2023 Kids’ Choice Awards, where Carell and Taraji P. Henson were both up for voice awards. The film was also nominated for three Annie Awards for its animation, among other accolades this year, and was the fifth biggest blockbuster globally in 2022.
From Illumination (The Secret Life of Pets, Sing), Minions: The Rise of Gru also features the voices of Oscar winners Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) and Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins), among others.
BEAST | Stream now
Sometimes the rustle in the bushes actually is a monster…
Filmed in Limpopo, the Northern Cape, and Cape Town, the pulse-pounding survival thriller Beast stars Emmy nominee Idris Elba (Thor: Love and Thunder, Luther) and South African star Sharlto Copley (District 9’s Wikus and Murdock in The A-Team).
Beast centres on a father and his two teenage daughters whose journey of healing in the African bush becomes a fearsome fight for survival when a lion begins stalking them. The lion, a survivor of bloodthirsty poachers, now sees all humans as the enemy.
The 58th biggest film of 2022 globally, Beast has already been nominated at the Annie and Visual Effects Society Awards this year. It’s currently the most popular film on Showmax.
THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT | Stream now
Oscar winner Nicolas Cage stars as “Nick Cage” in the action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictional Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a superfan (Critics Choice Super Award nominee Pedro Pascal from The Last of Us and The Mandalorian). But things take a wildly unexpected turn when Cage is recruited by a CIA operative (Emmy winner Tiffany Haddish from The Card Counter and Girls Trip) and forced to live up to his own legend, channelling his most iconic and beloved on-screen characters in order to save himself and his loved ones.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent was nominated for the 2023 Critics Choice Award for Best Comedy Movie, as well as two 2023 Critics Choice Super Awards – for Best Action Movie and Best Actor in an Action Movie (Cage).
The film has an 87% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “Smart, funny, and wildly creative, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent presents Nicolas Cage in peak gonzo form – and he’s matched by Pedro Pascal’s scene-stealing performance.”
DOG | Stream now
The 45th biggest box office hit of 2022, Dog sees two former army rangers paired against their will on the road trip of a lifetime. Army ranger Briggs (People’s Choice winner Channing Tatum from Magic Mike) and Lulu (a Belgian Malinois dog) buckle into a 1984 Ford Bronco and race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time. Along the way, they’ll drive each other completely crazy, break a handful of laws, narrowly evade death, and learn to let down their guards in order to have a fighting chance of finding happiness.
Dog is Tatum’s co-directorial debut, alongside Reid Carolin (the writer behind the Magic Mike films). The film has a 77% critics’ rating and an 89% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, who write, “Dog is as heartwarming as you’d hope, but it also tells a sensitive story about the long road to healing after experiencing the horrors of war.”
Look out for Emmy nominee Jane Adams (Hacks), Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Ethan Suplee (The Wolf of Wall Street), Critics Choice Award nominee Q’orianka Kilcher (Yellowstone), Emmy Raver-Lampman (The Umbrella Academy), and WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash (Magic Mike).
FATHER STU | Stream now
The heartwarming biographical drama Father Stu stars Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg (Uncharted) as Stuart Long, a boxer-turned-priest who inspired countless people during his journey from self-destruction to redemption.
Oscar winner Mel Gibson (Braveheart) and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone, Silver Linings Playbook) co-star, with the likes of Hollywood Walk of Famer Malcolm McDowell (Mozart in the Jungle) among the support cast.
At the 2023 Satellite Awards, Father Stu earned Wahlberg a nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama. As AV Club says, it’s “told with sensitivity, earnestness and no small amount of sly, rascally charm… a sure-handed match of material and a movie star’s strengths.”
GOLD | Stream now
Emmy and Critics Choice Award winner Zac Efron (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile) stars in the Australian survival thriller Gold. Set in the not-too-distant future, Gold follows two desert drifters who stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found. They hatch a plan to excavate their bounty, with one man leaving to secure the necessary tools while the other remains. The drifter left behind must endure harsh desert elements, ravenous wild dogs, and mysterious intruders, while battling the sinking suspicion that he has been abandoned to his fate.
Directed by and co-starring multi-award winner Anthony Hayes (War Machine), Gold was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Independent Film by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. It also competed in both the Directors’ Debuts Competition and the Cinematographers’ Debuts Competition at Camerimage.
The critics have praised the film’s cinematography, as well as Efron’s performance, with Observer saying Gold ”stretches [Efron’s] range and physical endurance far beyond anything his fans ever dreamed of.”
MARRY ME | Stream from 20 April
A #1 box office hit when it was released on Valentine’s Day last year, Marry Me stars Jennifer Lopez as musical superstar Kat Valdez and Owen Wilson as Charlie Gilbert, a maths teacher – total strangers who agree to marry and then get to know each other.
JLo was nominated as The Female Movie Star of 2022 at the People’s Choice Awards and won the 2022 MTV Movie Award for Best Song for On My Way (Marry Me).
The film also features original songs from global Latin music star Maluma, who also makes his feature film acting debut. Double Emmy winner Sarah Silverman, Screen Actors Guild Award nominee Chloe Coleman (Big Little Lies) and John Bradley (Samwell Tarley in Game of Thrones) co-star.
AMBULANCE | Stream from 27 April
Ambulance follows decorated veteran Will Sharp (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II from Candyman, Watchmen and The Matrix Resurrections), who is dragged into an audacious bank heist by his adoptive brother Danny (Oscar nominee Jake Gyllenhaal from Zodiac and Spider-Man: Far From Home), a charismatic career criminal with his eye on a $32 million prize.
When their exit plan goes spectacularly wrong, the desperate brothers are forced to hijack an ambulance carrying emergency medical technician Cam Thompson (Eiza González from Baby Driver and Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw) and her patient, a critically wounded cop. Can they pull off the most insane escape L.A. has ever seen?
Nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Thriller by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, Ambulance is directed by the master of bayhem, Michael Bay (The Rock, Bad Boys, Armageddon, Tranformers). As Globe and Mail says, “Ambulance is here to remind you of the head-spinning delights of watching a genuine cinematic madman at work.”
