Half a zebra, a whole lot of adventure!

A zebra is born with only half his stripes into an insular, superstitious herd. Khumba (Jake T. Austin) is immediately ostracized by all the zebras except for his parents and, Tombi (AnnaSophia Robb) a feisty tomboy. In the midst of a drought, a mystical mantis appears to him and draws a map to the legendary waterhole in which the first zebras bathed in and came out striped. When Khumba is blamed for the lack of rain and the subsequent death of his mother, the outcast zebra leaves the confines of his home in search of the waterhole.

Khumba ventures beyond the fence - vulnerable to the tyrannical leopard, Phango (Liam Neeson) who terrorizes all the animals in the Great Karoo. Born blind in one eye and rejected by his family when he was just a cub has made Phango obsessed with being whole. Phango is highly superstitious and, unbeknown to Khumba, has been waiting for the half-striped zebra, which, according to an ancient myth will make him the most powerful hunter that ever lived.

After a close shave with an opportunistic Wild Dog (Steve Buscemi), Khumba teams up with a quirky duo: a hefty, overprotective wildebeest called Mama V (Loretta Devine) and Bradley (Richard E. Grant), a flamboyant but insecure ostrich. The duo join Khumba on his quest in the hope that their own search for a safe waterhole is over, unaware that Phango is on their trail.

On their journey, Khumba encounters a wacky array of characters including a migrating herd of Springbok in search of greener (and safer) pastures; a bohemian community living safely within the confines of a luxurious national park; an endangered Riverine Rabbit who's determination to survive has clearly gone to his head; a Dooms Day cult of Dassies (i.e. rock-rabbits) who fanatically worship the Mighty Black Eagle and a loony, solitary Sheep (Catherine Tate) living on an abandoned farm.

Tensions between the trio escalate as the stakes are raised with each step of the journey and after discovering that the map leads straight to Phango's lair - the trio fall-out and Khumba continues on his quest alone. Lost and delirious in a saltpan, Khumba is rescued by the wise, Gemsbok Healer.

Having intercepted Mama V and Bradley, Phango discovers that Khumba is fortuitously heading straight to him and returns to his cave. Concerned for Khumba's safety, Mama V and Bradley decide to turn back and warn him. Back at the herd, Khumba’s father, Seko (Laurence Fishburne) who has become withdrawn after believing his son to be dead, is remorseful that he has let his herd down. With Tombi’s help, he realises that if he does not lead his herd in search of another waterhole, they will all die.

Outside of the fence, Tombi and Seko are amazed to discover that Khumba is alive but heading to Phango! Meanwhile, determined to find the waterhole and get his stripes, Khumba ventures into the leopard's lair. In a hair-raising, epic battle Khumba succeeds in defeating Phango and uncovers a hidden spring.

“KHUMBA” is released and distributed by CAPTIVE CINEMA. SHOWING ON FEBRUARY 12. NATIONWIDE

Kevin Costner takes the ‘Taken’ route for Career Rejuvenation in 3 Days to Kill

THREE DAYS TO KILL is captivating story of a highly skilled assassin facing a deadly illness while trying to reconcile a floundering relationship with the family that he has all but abandoned.

ETHAN RENNER (Kevin Costner), a veteran Secret Service agent, is sent to Paris on a critical mission to put a halt to the sale of nuclear triggers that have fallen into the arms of a dangerous group of criminals. After learning that he has less than a year to live, Ethan is determined to not only fulfil his operation, but to reacquaint himself with his ex-wife and his teenage daughter, Zooey (Hailee Steinfeld) , whom he has neglected for years. After being offered an experiment drug that could prolong his life in exchange for his involvement in one last mission, Ethan must make a choice between serving his country and finally being the father that he never was.

Furiously fast-paced, THREE DAYS TO KILL is a is a refreshingly candid look at dying man accustomed to a world a brutal violence who is forced to question his priorities for the first time in his life while battling the patent side effects of an unknown drug.

‘THREE DAYS TO KILL’ is released and distributed by Captive Cinema.

'Zambezia': 3D animation puts South Africa film in the picture

He's got blue wings, an adventurous spirit and is poised to be the latest film star to come out of South Africa. A high-spirited young falcon, Kai is the main character in "Zambezia," a new South African 3D animation film featuring an all-star voice cast, including Hollywood A-listers Samuel L. Jackson, Abigail Breslin, Jeff Goldblum, Leonard Nimoy and Jeremy Suarez.

Set in the majestic Victoria Falls and inspired by southern Africa's startling artwork, "Zambezia" is hoping to put South African animation on the map while enthralling children around the world with its uplifting message of togetherness. The movie, produced by Cape Town-based Triggerfish Animation Studios, has been selected as the closing film of the 33rd edition of the Durban International Film Festival..

"The film is a wonderful ambassador, in a way, of South Africa and I think as it travels the world it's going to spread the word about an industry that is young and vibrant and extremely talented," says "Zambezia" director and co-writer Wayne Thornley."In and of itself, I think it's just an enjoyable ride for children and they're going to come away wishing they could fly."

The movie, which is targeted toward children aged five to 11, tells the story of Kai, an intrepid young falcon that's brought up by his strict father in an isolated outpost. His lonely life is turned upside down when a kooky bird crashes into his world and tells him of Zambezia -- a bustling bird city where "there's amazing food, music, sights and sounds."

A talented flier, Kai decides to leave his isolated upbringing behind him and explore life in Zambezia. He quickly realizes, however, that getting by in a city can be more difficult and demanding than living alone. Yet, after joining Zambezia's air force and defending it from a band of marauding lizards, he also discovers the true values of teamwork and community sharing. Thornley says the movie was guided by the traditional African principle of ubuntu, which he describes roughly as "a person is a person only because of other people" -- he says that the movie's heartwarming theme will resonate with both African and international audiences.

"Everyone can relate to that idea that it's better, it's easier to do things together, that teams are just more vibrant and get more things done," he says. "They are difficult and messy and it's not always easy but it is worth it -- I think that's a universal theme and I hope that audiences around the world come away with that kind of message going: it's safer to stay alone but it's not better."

The concept for the movie originated about seven years ago but production took just over two years to be completed. The third computer generated 3D film to be made in South Africa, "Zambezia" is "probably the biggest budget animated film ever to come out of anywhere in Africa," says Thornley -- Triggerfish was unable to disclose how much the film cost, but said its budget was under $20 million.

The movie's international appeal is expected to be raised by the high-profile roster of actors lending their voices to the characters. Thornley says it all became possible after well-known U.S. producer Mace Neufeld saw the film by chance. "He liked what he saw and he finally got involved and started opening doors for us."
Working with top Hollywood stars such as Jackson and Goldblum was "an honor" and "really fun", says Thornley.

"It was gratifying that they treated it seriously like any project," he says. "We tend to think of ourselves that we're this little studio but they were fantastic and it was really a great experience," he adds.

"Zambezia" had its world premiere at France's Annecy Animation Festival last month. It will hit the big screen in South Africa release is scheduled for December 26 and in the Philippines will release on December 11.
It has already been sold in more than 30 territories for screening in over 50 countries, including a distribution deal in English-speaking territories with Sony, according to Triggerfish Animation.

Thornley says South Africa's animation industry is still young and small but it is "definitely punching above its weight."

"I want people to sit back and have a fantastic time with the characters and have a fantastic insight into some of the amazing African landscapes that we've put into this film," says Thornley.

"But also I want them to come away really surprised that something like that could come out of Africa and South Africa in particular”

‘’ZAMBEZIA’’ is released and distributed by Captive Cinema.

Showing on December 11, 2013

Director Neil Jordan on Byzantium and Vampire Movies

Neil Jordan’s body of work is an odd, fascinating beast. On one level, the Irish director’s fablelike films — with their often mystical elements, their vivid photography, and their tormented, passionate characters — are remarkably consistent in tone, style, and themes. On another level, though, the films are a diverse lot, ranging from moody dramas like Mona Lisa and The End of the Affair, to thrillers like The Crying Game and The Good Thief, to big-budget, star-studded epics like Interview With a Vampire and Michael Collins, to fairy tales like The Company of Wolves. He’s even made a couple of exuberant comedies along the way (including High Spirits, which is better than you remember). Now, with his latest, Byzantium, a tale of mother-and-daughter vampires (played by Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan) hiding out in a British seaside town, Jordan has returned to the vampire genre, and the result is one of his strongest, most ambitious and romantic works in years. Jordan talked to us about his new movie, fairy tales, and vampires.

Were you wary of returning to a story of vampires so many years after Interview With a Vampire?

It was really the script that Moira Buffini had written. I hadn’t seen the play, and I was not involved in the development of the script, or the writing of it. But it was strange, because when it was sent to me, I saw that there were so many elements in it that felt familiar to me from other movies that I’d made: It was set in an abandoned seaside town, it was about a mother and daughter, it was about storytelling, and, yes, it was about vampires. Actually, the least attractive thing was that it was about vampires. It’s quite difficult to put a vampire movie out there nowadays.

But they seem like very different vampires this time around.

I did try to reinvent the rules a little bit. I got rid of the teeth, so now they use their nails. Ultimately, I think vampires — we call them “sucreants” in the film — are really like people who have entered a spell: They endure eternity in some way because of a choice, or something that’s happened to them. That’s why they’re so popular; they come out of the repository of fairy tales. I really did think of these creatures in Byzantium as dark shadows out of some fairy tale.

If I hadn’t seen the writing credit, I could have sworn that you’d written this film as well.

That’s interesting. I felt the dialogue was very specific. Some of it could even be called “clunky,” but I deliberately didn’t want to put my fingers on it. I felt it was important to preserve Moira’s voice, as a woman and as a writer: She had ways of approaching things that I wouldn’t have taken. What I liked about the script was its multifaceted quality — it turns into different things. It’s like a lantern that lets you see different aspects of the story.

There have been so many films in recent years that have attempted to “update” fairy tales: the Snow White films, the Hansel & Gretel film. But in a way, you were already doing that sort of thing 30 years ago, and doing it a lot more artfully, long before it became a fad among filmmakers.

Yeah. I guess I’ve always been obsessed with fairy tales. But it’s easy to see their appeal: They’re so simple and so efficient. As a storyteller and writer, that just appeals to me. There are a lot of archetypes and symbols there, and these are stories that have very deep roots. I think that’s something I always find myself drawn to.
There’s something else I’ve noticed about your films: They’re all about devotion, on some level. That’s very much true of Byzantium as well. And it’s a kind of devotion that can be romantic, or maternal, or spiritual. End of the Affair, it seems to me, matches one character’s romantic devotion with another’s devotion to God. And Byzantium, too, twins one character’s maternal devotion with another’s romantic devotion.

It’s all because I grew up as an Irish Catholic. [Laughs.] It’s a very specific kind of mind-set. It’s like you’re in this strange movie theater showing the same thing all the time. That was the reason I wanted to do Interview With a Vampire: It seemed to me to be about guilt. It was the most wonderful parable about wallowing in guilt that I’d ever come across. But these things are unconscious: I don’t have an agenda. I’m neither a bad Irish Catholic nor a good one. What is weird, though, is to watch a movie I made years ago and see how revealing it is about me. Films are essentially attempts to disguise one’s intentions, or state of mind. It’s amazing, because there have been films I made that felt like they were opportunities to not be personal. But then, years later, it shocks me how revealing it is.

Can you give me an example of such a film?

Mona Lisa. It turned out to be a film about how men are misunderstood. It shocked me how emotionally revealing it was. Of course, that is what they should be. They should just be full of emotion. Stanley Kubrick once said, “The problem isn’t having a message. The problem is disguising the message.”

Over and over, your films are replete with career-high performances from actors — be they accomplished, established ones like Bob Hoskins in Mona Lisa or Julianne Moore in End of the Affair, or people we don’t ordinarily expect to give standout performances, like Gemma Arterton in Byzantium. Do you work closely with actors? Are you hands-on?

I just like actors. It’s really as simple as that. I like the fact that they don’t have to be themselves. They can live in a world of fantasy. I don’t know how it works. As for how I work with them, I try to make sure the actors understand what the part is. I look for people who have emotional reality to them. Beyond that, I don’t know what I do. To be fair, if you cast a film correctly, you’ve almost nothing to do. If you cast the film slightly off kilter, then you have to work your butt off.

‘BYZANTIUM’ is released and distributed by Captive Cinema.Showing on November 22, 2013. Nationwide!

The Adventurer : The Curse of the Midas Box Posters

Ancient mysteries. Powerful evil. And a fearless hero's quest through a fantastical realm of steam-powered wonders and sinister magic. In The Adventurer : The Curse of the Midas Box, seventeen-year-old Mariah Mundi's life is turned upside down when his parents vanish and his younger brother is kidnapped. Following a trail of clues to the darkly majestic Prince Regent Hotel, Mariah discovers a hidden realm of child-stealing monsters, deadly secrets and a long-lost artifact that grants limitless wealth - but also devastating supernatural power. With the fate of his world, and his family at stake, Mariah will risk everything to unravel the Curse of the Midas Box!

‘The Adventurer: The Curse of Midas Box’ released and distributed by Captive Cinema showing soon!

Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan as Blood Sucking Mother and Daughter Duo in Byzantium

Here's a synopsis for the Neil Jordan (Interview with a Vampire) helmed vampire film "Byzantium" starring Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel) and Saoirse Ronan.

Gemma Arterton and Saoirse Ronan star in Interview With the Vampire director Neil Jordan's lavish yet decadent tale of a blood-sucking mother/daughter duo whose dark 200-year history threatens to catch up with them at a run-down hotel on the English coast. Their story begins during the Napoleonic Wars, when young Eleanor (Ronan) is abandoned as Clara (Arterton) falls into a passionate love affair. Two centuries later, demure Eleanor and extroverted Clara are on the run when they seek sanctuary in a dilapidated coastal resort. There, Clara sets her sights on a lonely soul named Noel (Daniel Mays), who has just inherited the Byzantium hotel, a once-thriving inn that has fallen into a sad state of disrepair. Before long, the elder vampire has transformed the Byzantium into a makeshift brothel where she and her young companion can quench their thirst for human blood while maintaining a low profile. Meanwhile, Eleanor falls for Frank (Caleb Landry Jones), a charming young waiter who unwittingly draws out the natural storyteller in her. Amidst a string of mysterious disappearances in the sleepy coastal town, Frank realizes that Eleanor's extraordinary tales are much more than simple fantasy. As Clara and Eleanor's sanguinary past slowly comes into focus, it's only a matter of time before the pair will be forced to either flee once again or face their fates with a sense of dark courage.

“Byzantium” is released and distributed by Captive Cinema.

THE FAMILY Synopsis Starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer

Check out the synopsis for the upcoming release from Captive Cinema entitled "THE FAMILY" starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer. It's pretty hilarious.

Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer return to their Mafia roots in the dark comedy, The Family, When a notorious mafia family crosses the mob by committing the ultimate crime of snitching, they are put into the Government Witness Protection Program and shipped off to Normandy, France. Although they pretend to want to change their lives, old habits die hard, and they soon resort back to their old criminal ways of doing business and settling scores.

Academy Award winner Robert De Niro (The Godfather Part II, Raging Bull) is the dad. Michelle Pfeiffer (Married to the Mob, Scarface) is the Mom. Dianna Argon (Glee) is their daughter and John D’Leo (The Wrestler) their son. Tommy Lee Jones plays a CIA agent that does his best to keep the family from tipping off their whereabouts with their bad behavior. Directed Luc Besson (Taken, Transporter).

“The Family ” released and distributed by Captive Cinema.

KILLING SEASON Review

Here's my take on the film KILLING SEASON starring Robert De Niro and John Travolta distributed locally by Captive Cinema.

If you're cup of tea in terms of movie involves seeing iconic Hollywood stars beat the hell out of each other in a deadly cat-and-mouse game then "Killing Season" will definitely be your movie for the weekend.

To sum it all up John Travolta wants to kill Robert De Niro and it just so happens that De Niro's a recluse living in the mountains trying to forget all the atrocities he's done in the past including what he did to Travolta. What happens in between, well that's something you have to see for yourself.

GOOD

- De Niro doesn't have to act to make you pay attention. I was really hoping that he'd go "are you talking to me?" while brandishing his carbon-fiber bow. Too bad that didn't happen. Still it's nice to see De Niro taking on a more physical role despite his age. Massive props.

- The plot is likeable for the Pinoy moviegoing crowd. It's something that you'd really enjoy if you're sick and tired of huge explosions and giant robots and superheroes.

- Personally, I like the whole flawed/ damaged goods protagonist regardless of how cheesy it's been handled. It might not be Metal Gear Solid/ Hideo Kojima level in terms of depth and inner turmoil but it definitely brings the emotions. Give the material to a good actor and let the script come to life. Plus again, I can't stress enough that these are the sort of heroes you get to cheer on when you play games like the MGS series.

- Bows and Arrows are fucking cool. I love that arrows are making a comeback in movies, TV and even video games. It's quickly removing the stigma that arrows are only used by bishounen type guys like Legolas.

- Milo Ventimiglia's appearance here sends you back to the time when HEROES was still cool and not a complete headache to watch.

- That ending. Sends me back to the ending of Alan Moore's classic BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE between a severely beaten Joker and a very angry Batman.

- John Travolta and the injuries his character sustains throughout the movie. Not that I hate... OK I hate Travolta.

BAD

- Man those torture scenes. Not for the squeamish. 

- De Niro's take/homage to Rambo was kinda off.

- John Travolta. John Travolta. John Travolta.

- John Travolta and his accent.

- John Travolta and his faux Abraham Lincoln look. The dead POTUS must be turning over his grave.

- John Travolta cosplaying as Arrow. (just kidding)

VERDICT

Overall, there's a distinct campiness in the film mixed with grit, blood and gore for better effect. From my POV, it felt like the movie's director Mark Steven Johnson wanted to do something but failed to reach all the high notes which backfired. Still as it is, the finished product is to say the least, interesting.

Special thanks to Captive Cinema for the invitation. KILLING SEASON NOW SHOWING!