Thursday May 9
Fair Game [M-Net.22.30]
The Eye [e.tv.23.05 and 03.20]
Friday May 10
The Mechanic [M-Net.00.00]
A FEAST OF MORGAN FREEMAN
Feast of Love [SABC3.20.30]
Desperate Measures [e.tv.20.30]
Saturday May 11
Arthur Christmas. [M-Net.06.00]
HOPING FOR HUCKABEES
I Heart Huckabees or The Wedding Date [SABC.19.30]
The Color of Love: Jacey’s Story [e.tv.14.00]
American Psycho [e.tv.21.35]
Sunday May 12
Brave [M-Net.20.05]
Max Payne [e.tv.20.00]
Monday May 13
Fair Game [M-Net.09.30]
Tuesday May 14
VIOLA DAVIS WAS TIPPED TO WIN AN OSCAR LAST YEAR; SHE LOST TO MERYL STREEP
The Help [M-Net.00.30]
Wednesday May 15
Arthur Christmas [M-Net.09.30]
The Mechanic [M-Net.23.00]
***
KATHRYN STOCKETT REALLY BELIEVED IN HER NOVEL
One of the most intriguing facts about The Help [M-Net.Tuesday.00.30] is that writer Kathryn Stockett had something like 60 rejections before she found an agent and finally a publisher ready to take a gamble on her story. The rest as they say is history.
THE FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS
The novel and later the movie is set in the 60s, in Jackson Mississippi and is about the life of a handful of domestic workers and their employers during the years of the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. I guess that many potential publishers saw the events as part of a past, long gone; an echo from 50 years ago.
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...
In reality, the story told in The Help is older than time and younger than tomorrow’s headlines. Prejudice and inequality have many faces and hundreds of voices. Hatred and fear of anything ‘other’ is alive and flourishing. For ‘other’ read women, gays, foreigners…
THE HELP IN THE BACKGROUND
The film is beautifully and simply made, reflecting the nuance and cadence of the novel. It is the acting that really takes the movie up a notch and makes it compulsive, compulsory and compelling viewing. The Help has an extra resonance for those of us of a certain age who grew up in South Africa.
AN EMOTIONAL OCTAVIA SPENCER CLUTCHES HER AWARD
Octavia Spencer won a Best Supporting Oscar for her role as Minny Jackson, but Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek and Cecily Tyson are all outstanding in their given roles, large or small.
DYLAN IN HIS FOLK PROTEST DAYS
The music is by Thomas Newman, son of Alfred and cousin of Randy, but there is also some wonderfully pertinent music from the time, including songs from Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles. The Help is certainly worth waiting up for.
ROBERT BENTON IN ACTION
Feast of Love [SABC3.Friday.20.30] is also based on a novel, this time, one by Charles Baxter, and is directed by Robert Benton, who cut his teeth in the movie industry writing the screenplays for Bonnie and Clyde, What’s Up Doc? and Superman. Benton’s third session behind the camera won him an Oscar; the year was 1979 and the film— Kramer vs. Kramer.
MORGAN FREEMAN WITH CO STAR GREG KINNEAR
Feast of Love, Benton’s most recent movie(I think he has semi retired) is a series of intertwining love stories, told lightly, but in a way that charms the senses, filled as it is with humour and just the right amount of pathos. Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear and Radha Mitchell head up an inspired cast. Feast of Love is perfect viewing for anyone heartily tired of mutilated body parts.
PENNY BAE BRIDGES CAUGHT IN THE CROSS FIRE BETWEEN LOU AND GINA
The Color of Love: Jacey’s Story [e.tv.Saturday.14.00] is a made-for-TV drama, written by Nancey Silvers who plays the race card in rather a predictable way. A child of a mixed race couple is left in the hands of her black (Lou Gossett) and white (Gina Rowlands) grandparents when the parents die in an accident. There is blatant racism from both sides; couched in cliché, hand ringing sentimentality and tiring performances.
NICO EVERS SWINDELL AND CAMILLA LUDDINGTON A WILLIAM AND KATE.
Miss Silvers other claims to fame are a screenplay entitled ‘Why I Wore Lipstick to my Mastectomy’ and more recently, a fictionalized account of the romance of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, called surprise, surprise, William and Kate.
BEN AND SANDY-ABOUT TO SING IN THE RAIN?
I may send Nancey Silvers up, just a little, but even in 2013, female writers… and especially directors are still an endangered species. Canadian born Bronwen Hughes directed Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck in Forces of Nature [e.tv.Sunday.12.35], a romantic comedy with traces of gravel and tar in its veins. Is there a Bullock Festival afoot? I just wondered; last week saw a screening of Love Potion No. 9.
MARY HARRON-TALENT TO SPARE
Much more interesting, by far is a filming of Brett Easton Ellis’ American Psycho [e.tv.Saturday.21.35] made by another Canadian, Mary Harron, an alternative director, if ever there was one; her work includes both I Shot Andy Warhol and The Notorious Bette Page.
A CHILLING PERFORMANCE FROM CHRISTIAN BALE
Christian Bale stars as a successful investment banker with a dark and violent alter ego. A brutal Jekyll and Hyde tale for the modern era, which opened to mixed reviews but has become a minor cult movie, thanks to Bale’s brooding, manipulative presence and Harron’s unflinching approach to her material.
BATMAN-BUT NOT FOREVER
Staying with Batmen for just a moment, Michael Keaton stars as a mass murderer in Desperate Measures [e.tv.Friday.20.30] who just happens to have an IQ of 150+ and bone marrow that is a match for Police Officer Andy Garcia’s dying son.
GARCIA AND KEATON.THE SHADOW MIGHT BE NOIR, BUT THE MOVIE IS PRETTY NUCUOUS
Choppy and vicious, this substandard Hannibal Lecktor yarn is vaguely distracting for about ten minutes. For trivia aficionados, Brian Cox who plays one of Keaton’s victims was the first actor to play Hannibal Lector on screen.
BRENDA CHAPMAN-HAPPY TO BE BACK AT DREAMWORKS ANIMATION AS OF JAN. 2013
Brenda Chapman became the first woman to direct a major animated feature when she made Prince of Egypt in 1998. She almost became Pixar’s first female director for her work on Brave [M-Net.Sunday.20.05].
ARROW TO THE HEART
She did most of the creative writing for the project, but destiny and Head Office decreed otherwise and the directing boots were worn, in the end, by Mark Andrews. This, in the Industry, is called ‘Creative Differences’, translation being a great deal of whining, bitching, moaning and ultimately rank pulling
EMMA THOMPSON IS THE VOICE OF THE QUEEN
The movie, a sumptuous fairytale affair, complete with innovative Dolby Atmos Sound, is set in Scotland and voiced by Kelly McDonald, Billy Connolly, Julie Walters and Emma Thompson.
BEING VERY BRAVE
Brave is more Brigadoon than Braveheart and come to that… more Disney than Pixar. Be that as it may, Brave won an Oscar, earlier this year, for Best Animated Feature.
ARTHUR 'THE SPIRIT OF' CHRISTMAS
Some of my favourite voices can be heard in Arthur Christmas [M-Net.Saturday.06.00 and Wednesday 09.30], with debut director Sarah Smith at the helm. James McAvoy voices the title role with among others, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent.
SPEAKS FOR ITSELF
The story is sweet and tells of Arthur and the rest of the Santa dynasty. M-Net has decided to screen this seasonal lark in May. Not to worry, Arthur Christmas is bursting with British verbal busking ;so fish out some stale mince pies, pour a small eggnog; sit back and enjoy.
WILSON AND PLAME
On a more serious note, in Fair Game [M-Net. Thursday.22.30 and Monday.09.30]] Sean Penn and Naomi Watts appear as Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, the couple, who, in 2003, ran foul of the Bush Administration at a time when the world was eagerly swallowing the Weapons of Mass Destruction Myth.
WATTS AND PENN
She, an undercover CIA agent is suddenly outed and their relationship, marriage and personal lives are gravely threatened. The movie, with spotless performances from Penn and Watts, makes the audience think and question known reality.
THE STORY THAT STARTED THE TROUBLE
Doug Liman directs, from a screenplay based on the autobiographies of both Plame and Wilson. Fair Game is a rare bird, recent history that is also forceful cinema.
WATTS AS ' THE FACE OF HUCKABEES'
Naomi Watts is an actress who is getting better with each performance; see her in I Heart Huckabees [SABC3.Saturday.19.30] an existential comedy drama dating from 2004.
HOFFMAN AND TOMLIN
David O Russell wrote and directed this bravely anarchistic piece, starring Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin as a pair of New Age detectives attempting to tap the essence of life for Jason Schwartzman .
SCHWARTZMAN AND WAHLBERG. JASON'S HAIR COMES COURTESY OF COUSIN NIICK
Jude Law is smooth as Schwartzman’s antitheist, while Mark Wahlberg is perfectly cast as freewheeling fireman. It is almost impossible to pin I Heart Huckabees down, but somehow the film creates energy and speed all of its own.
DAVID RUSSELL
To explain Russell’s modus operandi one could mention his recent work namely The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook, possibly a more succinct analysis is to remember that one of his major influences is Luis Bunuel.
THE MAN
The Fighter is probably Mark Wahlberg’s finest hour to date, Max Payne [e.tv.Sunday.20.00], dating from 2008 and based on a video game of the same name is certainly one of his direst.
THE GAME
He plays a disenfranchised cop bent on revenge. Now, why does that sound so familiar?
THIS POSTER HUNG ON A FRIEND'S TOILET WALL FOR YEARS
In the same vein, but infinitely better is the remake of The Mechanic, with Jason Statham and Ben Foster in the roles created by Charles Bronson and Jan- Michael Vincent.
IF THE EXPLODING HEAD INTRIGUES YOU, LOOK IT UP
The movie centres on Arthur Bishop, a hit man with a strong sociopath streak. The trailer screened by the BBC, was banned for showing a clip of a man with an exploding head. A sequel is on the way; the heady air around the box office air reeks of follow up franchise.
AMY ADAMS PLAYS A VITAL PART IN THE WEDDING DATE- THE BRIIDE
A vindictive little bird has just told me that I Heart Huckabees will/ might be replaced by The Wedding Date [SABC3.Saturday.19.30], that nasty little rom com, starring Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney. If that is true, watch out for Amy Adams as Debra’s half sister.
EYE CANDY
And for oulaas, laugh of the week—The Eye [e.tv.Thursday.23.05 and 03.20], with Jessica Alba as a blind violinist, who has a cornea transplant and starts to have strange images. I wonder why?
THE HELP AT WORK
My pick is The Help [M-Net.Tuesday.00.30], a movie to remember; especially for me, as I grew up knowing all the words of We Shall Overcome.