THERE ARE NO HEROES (Check it out)

 THERE ARE NO HEROES

Kyle Stevenson

There Are No Heroes is a South African Short film, that certainly looks to be quite the interesting prospect. Kyle Stevenson, who produced the film alongside Maggie Jane Leitch and Brigitte Stanford, and who also wrote the film alongside Donald Leitch, is the man sitting in the directors chair that brings it all together.

(Check out the Trailer at the bottom of this article)

TANH is a film described as follows: Several years after a nuclear power plant in Cape Town had a meltdown; a young single-mother and factory worker must fight to survive in this dystopian future ruled by a sinister pharmaceutical company called DARCORP.

It’s clear to see that this film’s premise is quite intriguing, and has all the potential of being a hit.

What started off, as a student film could become a major hit at the Durban International film festival as well as the Cape Town festival CELLUDROID.

Kyle Stevenson along with his writing partner, and editor, Donald Leitch set of on this journey to bring this sci-fi film to life. Interestingly enough this film was born out of a short story developed by Charlie Human called Land of the Blind, which is based within the Moxyland universe (A Future where Cape town is ruled by corporations) created by Laruen Beukes’.  

“When we started talking about what local stories we’d like to adapt, we looked at Moxyland”, Stevenson said when we asked about the how this story came about. “But the short format would not do the book justice. So we did some research into other South Africa sci-fi short stories,” Stevenson continued.

 “When we stumbled upon an old competition held by Lauren’s publishing company. The competition was to write a short story based on the Moxyland universe and one of the winning short stories was Land Of The Blind by Charlie Human. To us this story outshined the other two winners; it had dark twists and turns with very rich characters. We managed to track (more like stalk) Charlie Human and told him about our crazy idea to adapt his short story into a short film. He was amped and was a great sounding board for our ideas.”

Leitch and Stevenson both sci-fi enthusiasts, now with the blessing of Charlie Human, would then begin their journey to produce a very ambitious South African sci-fi film, to their best of their abilities.

The film had its ups and downs as Principal Photography was scheduled to take 10 days in July 2011, however due to financial restraints, they had to shot for a further 14 days in pick-ups throughout the year.

Chanel Smit and Marty Kintu

When we asked Stevenson what was the process like, he went to say, “Thrillingly traumatic. Its amazing how the South African film industry is always willing to help young filmmakers, if they like your idea. Most of the gear we got at practically illegal prices, because when we pitched the concept to Media management they jumped at the opportunity to help us. This was my first short film where it was reliant on VFX, so having to plan actors actions and camera was a great learning experience. All in all we had our ups and downs, but the cast and crew pushed themselves to make the finished product the best it could be.”

Having the backing of Media Management and the willingness/determination of this cast and crew really does pay off in the end. Visually the film looks stunning, and for a South African Short-film, that is a feat in itself. However the story does not suffer under its own weight and it will be interesting to see how this short-story could be expanded upon for a feature length film.

“First prize would be to turn There Are No Heroes into a feature. Don and I had many ideas that had to be shelved because of time and financial restraints. To make the future world believable and tangible to the audience, on a shoe-string budget, is difficult to say the least. A lot of the time its staying in close and not reveling to much of the world,”Steveneson said when we asked about a possibility of a feature length film. “So if we had the money and run-time, I’d like to expand Cape Town and the characters. On the other hand, I think someone should attempt Moxyland.” 

So it goes without saying that if you find yourself at the Durban International Film Festival or CELLUDROID Cape Town Festival, make sure you check out There Are No Heroes.

Gareth Place

Just a little advice you would want to remember the names Kyle Stevenson and Donald Leitch, as these guys might just prove to be catalyst needed in the SA’s film industry to shake things up and offer us SA films that can compete with the best films around the world.

The cast includes: Chanel Smit playing the part of Drew, Marty Kintu as Matt and Sean Cameron Michael as a DARCORP agent.

The film was directed by Kyle Stevenson, produced by MaggieJane Leitch, Kyle Stevenson and Brigitte Stanford, and written by Donald Leitch and Kyle Stevenson. Cinematography was done by Gareth Place and Nina Slabber, Costume, Make-Up & Styling was by Aimee Vogelsang, Sound Recording, Mixer & Designer was done by John Claassen and the Visual Effects Artist was Royston Michaels.

CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR REVIEW

TOP 10 BOX OFFICE FILMS IN RSA (July 20 - 22)

The Amazing Spider-man is still number one

SOUTH AFRICAN BOX OFFICE (Entire Region)

TOP 10 FILMS IN RSA

POSTION	MOVIE	WEEKEND GROSS (Estimated)	TOTAL GROSS (Estimated)	WEEKS ON CIRCUIT
1	THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN	R 2 928 000	R 12 342 000	2
2	MAGIC MIKE	R 1 606 000	R 1 606 000	1
3	ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT	R 1 582 000	R 24 104 000	4
4	MAD BUDDIES	R 1 027 000	R 21 890 000	5
5	MADAGASCAR 3: EUROPES MOST WANTED	R 765 000	R 28 150 000	6
6	THE DICTATOR	R 612 000	R 4 659 000	3
7	WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU EXPECTING	R 310 000	R 6 856 000	6
8	SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN	R 282 000	R 13 825 000	8
9	THE WOMAN IN BLACK	R 216 000	R 216 000	1
10	THINK LIKE A MAN	R 137 000	R 10 175000	12

This information was provided by BoxOffice Mojo

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - REVIEW

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES - REVIEW

The Cast of The Dark Knight Rises

In 2005 the world was re-introduced to a whole new interpretation of Batman, one that grounded the character in such a reality that it felt as if the hero, could be real. When Batman Begins was released, fans, Warner Bros., the actors involved in the film, and Christopher Nolan himself, couldn’t imagine that in 2008 we would witness one of the most amazing films ever, the Dark Knight a sequel to Batman Begins and a true classic. With the bar raised to a ridiculous level, we would have to wait 4 years, before Batman would make is return.

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Michael Caine as Alfred

And we must say, The Dark Knight Rises was definitely worth the wait, as it gave us a huge epic conclusion to one of the most memorable trilogies ever made.

 The Dark Knight Rises takes place 8 years after the events in the previous film. We find Bruce Wayne a broken man, both physically as well as mentally from his experiences as Bats. Things are clearly not going good for him, as it would seem that Wayne is still looking back at his past instead of focusing on his present, never mind his future.

The film locks in at round about 2 hours 45 minutes, making it the longest film in the franchise, as it covers a wide range of characters. Some of the characters are old, but a lot of the characters are new.

The film reintroduces us to Alfred, played superbly by Michael Caine, as he is still the trusted butler/sidekick/friend/father-figure to a Bruce Wayne that is clearly a shadow of his former self. Alfred does his best to get this former vigilante back into the world but his efforts are worthless.

Out of all the films to date, I think that Michael Caine definitely gave one his best and memorable performances in this franchise. His scenes with Christian Bale who plays Wayne are truly some of the most touching and sincere scenes in this entire franchise.

JGL and Marion Cotillard

We find Jim Gordon, played wonderfully by Gary Oldman, as a man that has now fallen into despair. As the lie that he and Batman conjured up has eaten away at his soul for these part 8 years, breaking him emotionally and probably caused his family to be ripped apart. His ideals, his faith, the very things that probably made him want to become a cop, the same things that kept him as one of the few straight cops at a time where Gotham was overrun by thugs, as now been tainted, poisoned, perverted as Gordon cant find solace in the fact that his little lie, as given Gotham a peace it never knew.

Joseph-Gordon Levitt plays John Blake, a young cop that still plays by those ideals that Jim Gordon kept ever so close to himself. JGL really is one of the best additions to this cast, as always he provides a solid strong performance. It would seem that JGL just has perfect chemistry with every one on screen. As Blake he provides the story with the catalyst needed to get things going, as he holds Batman and Gordon in such high esteem, but as both these characters are stuck in slumps, Blake does what he can to try and figure out what’s going on.

As for Bane, he really is no Joker. And that is not a bad thing! Bane is really a different type of character to Joker, as there only similarity is that they both villains.

Bane

Bane played impressively by Tom Hardy, has a huge onscreen presence. His physically menacing as well as highly intelligent, a deadly combination for our masked hero. Bane really proves to be Batman's worst Nightmare, as Bane is clearly physically superior to Bats!

Bane doesn’t just rob Wall Street or highjack a plane for the fun it, no. Everything that Bane does is part of a plan. A plan so cunning, so gloriously planned out, that only at the end would you come to realize that it was in affect right from the beginning. As for his voice, it wasn’t to distracting as I would have thought, you can understand him 95% of the time but there was that 5%, that you really didn’t know what he was saying.

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman Purrrrrfect!!

Anne Hathaway truly is the scene-stealer of this film, as her performance as Selina Kyle, Catwoman, was certainly one of her best performances to date. She was strong, subtle, sly, devious, sexy, manipulating, sarcastic etc.… I could just go on, but Anne really proved she has what it takes to not only be an action hero, but a brilliant actress (if you didn’t know that by now already).

Catwoman is definitely a memorable addition into this Nolan-verse of Batman, and she will have you smiling and guessing what she will do next, (which you will never guess right) every time she appears on screen.

The film is incredibly drawn out across several characters, which just adds to this grand finale as we get to see the what’s happening through several characters.

John Blake and Bruce Wayne

The film offers some of the coolest and biggest action scenes, that will have you holding the armrest in your seat with a firm grip as your gasp at the awesomeness of the film as it unfolds right in front of you.

However, the film does have a few problems, as do all films. The film has a wide array of characters, some new, some old, but all need enough screen time to make their inclusion in the film warranted and not just senseless. However, the problem is not necessarily the amount of characters or their screen time they receive, instead it’s the impact of certain scenes that seem to be short changed as the film moves along in a frantic pace.

Because there are so many things that have to be covered in the film, certain scenes are not really as fleshed out as they could be. There is quite a bit going on in the film, however as a result you never get to dwell on any specific scene, fleshing out the drama, or the terror, or the seriousness of what’s going on.

These Batman films, have always had certain ideas or elements that has been present in all the films, but one element that I was kind of sad to see that wasn’t capitalized on was the people of Gotham. I really thought we would get to see the people of Gotham do more in the film, as they have been through a lot with Batman, and he has always had them at heart through out this series. For them not to have a real presence in the film was kind of a let down. But it really wasn’t that big of a deal!!

The Dark Knight Rises, the end to a trilogy that can only be described as CLASSIC

The Dark Knight Rises is a highly enjoyable film; it’s a big action epic adventure, unlike anything else. It may have its problems, but the films strengths completely outweigh them, to the point where you couldn’t care less. It’s truly a great film, a memorable ending to one of thee best trilogies ever made.

Our Rating

9/10

Our Prayers and Hearts go out to the families and friends of the victims in the Aurora community.