Birds Of Prey
DC fans are in for a treat this month with the arrival of Birds Of Prey, which sees the return of the most popular character from 2016’s Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn. After being tossed onto the streets by The Joker, Harley teams up with Huntress, Black Canary and a cynical cop Renee Montoya.
The four of them then find themselves at odds with the evil villain Black Mask and his psychotic henchman, Zsasz. Shot through with great action and dialogue punchy enough to rival Joss Whedon, Birds of Prey is a must-watch for comic book fans.
The Matrix Trilogy
When it comes to movies that are both incredibly action-packed and jaw-droppingly stylish, there are few movies more ground-breaking than The Matrix Trilogy. The first instalment re-established Keanu Reeves as one of the film’s most bankable stars brought bullet-time to the masses and set the standard for action films to follow. The second two instalments pumped up the action to mind-boggling levels.
On top of that, all three films are shot through with great sci-fi stories that mix cyberpunk with anime with pseudo-religion and philosophy. If you’ve never seen these films, you’re in for one hell of a ride.
The Harry Potter Box Set
The story of a young wizard attending a magical academy has been pretty much ingrained in modern pop culture and the Harry Potter Box-Set now brings all of them to Showmax.
A classic tale of good vs evil while mixing the camaraderie of school, the Harry Potter films appeal to all age groups. They’re great family viewing and thanks to Showmax, this month they’re now all in one place.
It: Chapter II
One of the most terrifying stories that Stephen King ever penned, It told the tale of a group of children who came across a terrifying discovery in their small town. The events were laid out in It: Chapter I and now It: Chapter II arrives on Showmax to tell the second half of the story of those children – now all adults – who are drawn back to their home town to combat the evil they thought was long dead.
If you’re a horror fan and you’ve never seen It, this is essential viewing. If you have a phobia of clowns, the film’s villain, Pennywise, will live long in your nightmares.
The King Of Staten Island
This new comedy-drama from Judd Apatow – the director of films like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Trainwreck – tells the story of Scott, a high-school dropout who, at the age of 24, is still living at home and leeching off his mother. This starts to change when his mom starts dating an old-school guy who happens to be a fireman – the job Scott’s father had when he was killed in a blaze.
A coming-of-age film for the stoner set, The King OF Staten Island is by turns funny, sad and touching. It hits all the right beats for fans of zany humour and anyone who has wanted their kids to finally move out.
The Good Liar
Sir Ian McKellen plays Ray, an elderly man whose surface charm and unassuming demeanour hide a deadly secret. He is, in fact, a conman who romances women and eventually makes off with their money. His latest target is Betty (played by Oscar-winner Helen Mirren), but as he wheedles his way into her affections, her son begins to become suspicious of Ray’s motives.
The Good Liar is a bit of a slow-burning character study, to begin with, but as Ray’s malevolence is revealed and Betty’s son starts on his trail, the tension mounts to nail-shredding levels. The final few scenes will leave jaws on the floor.
Dark Waters
Based on a true story, Dark Waters stars Mark Ruffalo as corporate defence lawyer Robert Bilott who takes on a corporation for poisoning farmlands by dumping toxic chemicals into their water supplies. Aside from killing off hundreds of cattle on these lands, the chemicals also give some of the residents nearby cancer.
In the great tradition of Hollywood ‘David Vs Goliath’ stories, Dark Waters sees Bilott go up against near-impossible odds while trying to keep his job and his family together. The ending is a matter of public record, but the journey in Dark Waters is a heart-rending story that’s sure to please fans of legal dramas.
The Goldfinch
When his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, Theodore Decker (Ansel Elgort) is entrusted with a valuable painting by a dying man. This traumatic event begins to derail his life’s trajectory as Theo battles with grief and guilt as it was his actions that saw his mother take in the museum on that fateful day.
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch stars Elgort (Baby Driver) Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and helmed by Bafta-winning director John Crowley. It’s a story of growth and redemption and how traumatic events can shape lives… sometimes for the better.
Inception
Christopher Nolan’s science-fiction blockbuster is as mind-bending as it is action-packed. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb, a thief who specialises in stealing the memories from the rich and powerful while they’re in a dream state, he and his team find themselves in deep trouble when an attempted heist goes horribly wrong.
Leading an all-star cast including Tom Hardy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Cillian Murphy, Inception mixes insane action set-pieces with a winding story in which Cobb is prepared to risk everything to return home to his children. A visual feast and a highly intelligent thriller.
Interstellar
Speaking of Christopher Nolan, his next sci-fi epic starring Matthew McConaughey, was equally cerebral. Set on earth in the future where climate change has begun to destroy humankind’s food supply, McConaughey plays a retired NASA pilot who is pressed back into service to help with a last-ditch plan to save humanity.
Boasting some of the most eye-popping visuals ever committed to film, Interstellar is as much of a head trip as it is an epic space opera. Fans of hard sci-fi will be enthralled.
Jackie Chan Classics
Jackie Chan is one of the greatest Kung-Fu film stars ever to appear in films. This is an undisputed fact. This month on Showmax, fans and newbies can check out two of his all-time classics.
First up, you have Rumble In The Bronx in which Chan plays a Hong-Kong cop who comes to the US to attend a wedding and quickly finds himself taking on some local gangsters. Second, you have First Strike, in which Chan plays a CIA agent who becomes embroiled with Ukrainian smugglers. Okay, so they’re not terribly original plots, but no one watches a Jackie Chan movie for that. You watch it for the stunts and fight scenes, which are some of the most creative and brilliant ever made.
The Wedding Singer
One of Adam Sandler’s less silly films, The Wedding Singer is about a… well, wedding singer who gets dumped and then in short order starts to fall in love with a woman who is already engaged… to a massive jerk.
This romantic comedy is one of Sandler’s best. Not only is he rarely as charming or funny as this the chemistry he has with the film’s leading lady Drew Barrymore is one of the film’s best assets. There’s a reason the pair won the best kiss at the MTV movie awards.