Festive mood grips city

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. It’s Christmas time and the town has already been painted green and red.  What are your plans tomorrow? Christmas time is family time and it will be important to spend as much time as possible with grandparents, guardians or parents around you.

I couldn’t help it but laugh out loud last week when my friend told me that it’s only in Zimbabwe when Christmas day should be regarded as “Rice and Chicken Day” because that is the most day when such food is consumed.

Don’t forget we might be happy about the holidays but soon enough it would be back to school. The rains are continuing but that does not stop the fun. I have seen most teenagers are spotting the ginger tint look which is somehow trendy in the ghetto with even girls following suit.

Kudos to US hip-hop rapper Kanye West for inventing the teared up dubbed torn jeans but alas some of you are now looking like madmen in them. Make sure you rock them in some nice clean top with matching shoes.

On to couch potato, our movie of the week is “Assassin’s Creed” which was released last Thursday worldwide. For the toddlers it is all about “Sing for Kids” at the Ster Kinekor theatres.

By the way, next week I will give you a round down for the movies that were a hit or miss during the past year. Back to the silver screen, “Assassin’s Creed” is a movie based on a game franchise where you jump around in a dress as the setting depends on which game you are playing.

Unlike the actual video game, the movie isn’t ridiculous and fun but rather ridiculous and turgid.

This is a fundamental disconnect that most video games (except maybe “Mortal Kombat” and “Super Mario Brothers: The Movie”) run into – there’s no way to translate the hands on action of a video game to screen, so many video game adaptations either have no plot, or get bogged down in blasé set-up.

Still, when director Justin Kurzel re-teamed with cinematographer Adam Arkapaw and Oscar I knew some action would be guaranteed. It starts promisingly with some highly historical back-story outlining the strange Templars ongoing efforts to retrieve The Apple of Eden and the Assassins’ ongoing efforts to stop them.

So far so good and considering their thinly sketched characters, however, their efforts are near herculean.

Here is a quick plot:

Through a revolutionary technology that unlocks his genetic memories, Callum Lynch (Micheal Fassbender) experiences the adventures of his ancestors, Aguilar in 15th century Spain.

Callum discovers he is descended from a mysterious secret society, the Assassin and amasses incredible knowledge and skills to take on the oppressive and powerful Templar organisation in the present day.

The cast includes the two leads Oscar nominated Micheal Fassbender and Oscar winning Marion Cotillard. Make sure you make a date this Christmas and try to assassinate yourself with the movie.

I hope you already opened your gifts and Happy Christmas once again. PS: Don’t forget to post your picture and hashtag Urban Reloaded on social media and you can win free movie tickets this holiday courtesy of Ster Kinekor