Zimpapers Logo

Happy weekend!!!
Exams have begun with Grade Sevens almost about to complete primary schools. Advanced Levels have also started while for Ordinary Levels the war begins next week. This means that those not writing final exams should honour and respect our brothers and sisters who are now in the zone when they must fight the battles that will probably define the course of the rest of their lives.

For those writing, this is not the end of the world so there is no need to panic and be nervous, it is just testing the waters on your level of knowledge.

Relax and enjoy the exams.
CLS wishes you the best of luck and as the norm, please be the first to bring the results when they are out so we publish our A+ stars.
Congratulations to our girl, Tinashe, for partnering with Chris Brown in her new single, “Player”.
As always CLS is the first to publish the lyrics and you can streamline the video online.
Tinashe is firing up her engines for a wild joyride.

Produced by LULOU and Alex Purple, the cool swag duet blurs the lines between house and R&B, with slinky rhythm.

Big Screen
Much awaited movie “Straight Outta” is now showing at Eastgate Ster Kinekor theatres. The good thing about this movie is that it was well marketed with its design logo — “Straight Outta . . .” being edited with many fans on social media as each person was placing in their place of residence eg “Straight Outta Mbare”.

I am happy that I watched the movie and “Straight Outta Compton” covers a lot of ground in recounting NWA’s story.
It begins and ends on high notes, though it loses its way a bit in the middle.
O’Shea Jackson Jnr already had a greater responsibility than his co-stars in “Straight Outta Compton”.

While Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jnr and Aldis Hodge played Dr Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and MC Ren, respectively, Jackson was tasked with portraying his father, legendary rapper Ice Cube.

This opportunity, which doesn’t come along all that often for an actor, is both exciting and daunting.
But for 24-year-old Jackson, making his acting debut in the film about the iconic rap group NWA, does not only rise to the challenge, he far exceeds expectations.

His co-stars, especially Hawkins as Dre and Mitchell as Eazy-E, are not to be overshadowed, either. Though these guys have been building up their resumes for some time, they’ve been waiting for their scene-stealing roles.

As a colleague remarked while exiting the screening, you could make an entire trilogy of films out of this back-story alone — one focusing on how the group formed during the violent climate of Compton, California; one about splitting off to pursue solo ventures; and perhaps a third about Eazy-E’s struggle with and eventual death from AIDS. For better or worse, director F Gary Gray (the man behind Ice Cube’s Friday) and his team of writers chose to address all of this in one film.

The film opens with Eazy-E, aka Eric Lynn Wright.
He pounds on his cousin’s door to settle a dispute about drug money, and it’s clear that things are about to get heated. However, it quickly turns into a frantic, acrobatic escape as armed police tear a hole through the home with an armoured car and battering ram.

The film is at its best with moments like this one, moments that encapsulate what life was like for these kids trying to survive not only the police but also gang violence and the harsh realities that come with wanting more than what life thrust upon them.
This struggle draws a direct line to the present day.

As NWA watches footage of a black man brutally beaten by a gang of police officers in the streets, we (in 2015) are dealing with the aftermath of events surrounding people like them.
Enough of that but it’s a good movie.

Another gem at the theatres (Westgate and Eastgate) is “Hotel Transylvania”. When did we ever have enough of animated movies, especially the ones that are so obviously made for adults?
Happy weekend