#OnTheBigScreen: Don't Worry Darling, Ticket to Paradise and Avatar

Ticket to Paradise

In this romantic comedy about the sweet surprise of second chances George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite on the big screen as exes David and Georgia who find themselves on a shared mission to stop their lovestruck daughter from making the same mistake they once made.

In recent years, major studio romantic comedies have become increasingly sparse. Dating as far back as the 1930s with the then-called ‘screwball comedy,’ the genre continued to evolve and flourish through the 2000s. Soon thereafter, though, romantic comedies slowly fizzled off the big screen. But director Ol Parker had a feeling that our global collective experience over the last few years had left audiences eager for a romcom rebirth with Ticket To Paradise.

“When the pandemic hit, the things that I’d been writing at the time suddenly seemed completely irrelevant. The world had completely changed. I thought about what I wanted to write and work on next, and I landed on writing something that would make people happy—something joyous and optimistic. Romantic comedies bring a large audience together to collectively laugh with each other, and after a few tough years, that seemed like a beautiful thing to bring to the big screen,” says Parker.

As filming began off the coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Whitsunday Islands, Clooney and Roberts immediately proved why they were the only two people who could play this divorced duo. “The glorious thing about George and Julia, apart from them being geniuses at what they do, is that we’ve seen them onscreen and they’re also such good friends offscreen,” Parker says.

Avatar

Thirteen years ago, Academy Award-winner James Cameron introduced moviegoers to a world unlike any they’d ever seen with his breathtaking epic Avatar. Cameron’s visionary tale delivered a fully immersive cinematic adventure of a new kind, charting one man’s fight to save the alien moon he learns to call home. Now, audiences can experience the majesty and wonder of the film anew as a remastered Avatar arrives in cinemas.

“I wanted to create a familiar type of adventure in an unfamiliar environment,” explains Cameron. “By setting the classic tale of a newcomer to a foreign land and culture on an alien planet. I had dreamed of creating a film like this, set in another world of great danger and beauty since I was a kid - reading pulp science fiction and comic books by the truckload, and sitting in math class drawing creatures and aliens behind my propped-up textbook. With Avatar, I finally got my chance.”

Don’t Worry Darling

Don’t Worry Darling presents a luxurious lifestyle that harkens back to the Rat Pack era, with all the outward glamour (and entrenched gender roles) of the times.

In the audacious, twisted and visually stunning thriller Don’t Worry Darling Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealised community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families in the tight-knit desert utopia. When cracks in her idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

“This psychological thriller is my love letter to the movies that push the boundaries of our imagination,” says director Olivia Wilde. “Imagine a life where you had everything you ever wanted. And not just the material or tangible things, like a beautiful house, gorgeous cars, delicious food, endless parties… but the things that really matter. Like true love with the perfect partner, the best friends, and a purpose that feels meaningful. What would it take for you to give that up? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to do what’s right? Are you willing to dismantle the system that is designed to serve you? What if your only choice is really no choice at all? That’s the world, and the question, of Don’t Worry Darling.”

Prima Facie

The new season of National Theatre Live (NT Live) launches in South Africa on 24 September with Prima Facie. Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) makes a critically acclaimed West End debut in the UK premiere of Suzie Miller’s award-winning one-woman play.

Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game.

Tessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to be at the top of her game; defending; cross-examining and winning. An unexpected event forces her to confront the lines where the patriarchal power of the law, burden of proof and morals diverge.

At select Ster-Kinekor and Cinema Nouveau screens nationwide on 24, 25, 28 and 29 September.

Read more about the latest and upcoming releases here.