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This week at the South African box-office: a period drama, no less than three comedies and an action film I thought had already been released!

• Brideshead Revisited
• Step Brothers
• Superhero Movie
• The Love Guru
• Bangkok Dangerous

Are any of them worth watching? Let’s have a look shall we…

I have decided to start listing the cinematic releases roughly in order of their IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores. Where two films score very close to one another they are sorted by my preference. However, since Bangkok Dangerous has been covered before I have put it right at the bottom (although, to be honest it seems a lot better than either of The Love Guru or Superhero Movie.)

Brideshead Revisited (2008)

For some reason, watching the trailer for Brideshead Revisited reminded me of Jane Austen, specifically period films based on her books such as Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice. Which is strangely fitting, since director Julian Jarrold’s previous film was Becoming Jane, about a pre-fame Jane Austen.

Brideshead Revisited is based on the Evelyn Waugh novel of the same name.  Incidentally the novel is included in Time magazines all-time best 100 novels. The film is set in pre-Word War II United Kingdom and tells the story Charles Ryder’s (Matthew Goode) dealings with the Flyte family and their beautiful estate Brideshead.

While studying history at Oxford, Ryder befriends Lord Sebastian Flyte (Ben Whishaw) who introduces him to his noble Marchmain family and Brideshead estate. A love triangle forms between Ryder, Sebastian and his sister Julia (Hayley Atwell) which meets with disapproval from devoutly Catholic Lady Marchmain (Emma Thompson.)

Audiences and critics alike agree that Brideshead Revisited is a decent film, so if you like sprawling British period piece dramas you might want to give this one a look.

Step Brothers (2008)

Step Brothers is yet another film brought to us by the Judd Apatow movie machine which has also produced such films as Anchorman, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights, Knocked Up and Superbad. Regular Apatow collaborator Adam McKay directs, having previously directed both Anchorman and Talladega Nights.

Step Brothers stars Will Ferell and John C Reilly as Brennan Huff and Dale Dobak, two middle-aged man children who are both unemployed and living off of thier parents. When Brennan’s mother (Mary Steenburgen) marries Dale’s father (Richard Jenkins) Brennan and Dale become step brothers and are forced to share a room and come to terms with each other (with predictably for an Apatow production, hilarious and low-brow consequences.)

Audiences seemed to enjoy Step Brothers more than the critics did (as evidenced by a high IMDB score but relatively low Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores.) If you enjoyed Anchorman or Superbad, it’s probably worth a look.

As an aside, whatever happened to John C. Reilly’s career? At one point he was turning in solid supporting and character performances in such acclaimed films as Boogie Nights, The Thin Red Line, Magnolia, Gangs of New York and The Aviator. Now he seems to be trying his best to flush all that away by taking roles in any low-brow comedy he can find, including Talladega Nights, Walk Hard and now Step Brothers. Methinks John better have a long chat with his agent…

Superhero Movie (2008)

Superhero Movie is the latest in a a long line of generally worthless films that nobody would ever admit to enjoying, yet somehow still manage to make a lot of money. Suffice it to say that if you liked any of the Scary Movie films, Date Movie, Epic Movie or Meet The Spartans then this one is for you.

But then again so is counseling.

As with most spoofs the plot is not really the main focus but just an excuse to cram in as many movie in-jokes as is possible. Here it revolves around a high-school loser who develops super powers after being bitten by a radioactive dragonfly.

I have to admit that the Superhero Movie trailer does have its moments and that the superhero genre is full of spoof-worthy source material. However, given the very low critical and audience scores, I would suggest waiting for the DVD or even television premiere for this one.

The Love Guru (2008)

Ben Kingsley’s career makes no sense whatsoever. How can a man who played Gandhi and acted in such fine motion pictures as Sexy Beast, The House of Sand and Fog, Schindler’s List, and Death of a Maiden also have acted in A Sound of Thunder, Bloodrayne and now The Love Guru?

The Love Guru seems to me to be a typical Mike Meyers comedy. However, instead of hamming it up as a British secret agent or green ogre, here he plays an American raised in India who studies under Guru Tugginmypudha (no Ben Kingsley no!) to become a love guru so that girls will like him.

To be honest with you, the scores are so low for The Love Guru and the trailer so devoid of any good jokes, that I would say even hardcore Mike Meyers fans are best advised to skip this one.

Bangkok Dangerous (2008)

In the brief couple of week’s since I first looked at Bangkok Dangerous it has managed to lose .1 on it’s IMDB score.

I have nothing more to say about Bangkok Dangerous than I have already in the preview I posted. The only reason one might ever wish to see this film is for the minor chance that it is one of those so-bad-it-is-good films.

Otherwise just wait for the DVD.