97:Pre Easter Movie Parade: 14-20 April

TONI COLLETTE IS JUST SO GOOD

About a Boy [SABC. 19.30]
Idlewild [SABC1.22.00]
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells [SABC3.22.00] 

SOME OF THE BOYS FROM SPIDERMAN 3

Spider-Man 3 [e.tv.20.00 and 00.45]
Shanghai Surprise [e.tv.22.50] 

Monday April 18 

COLIN FIRTH STROLLS WITH MATTHEW GOODE

A Single Man [M-Net.22.30] 

Tuesday April 19 

From Paris With Love [M-Net.23.30] 

Wednesday April 20 

Pocahontas 2 : Journey to a New World [M-Net. 03.00]
DayBreakers [M-Net.01.00]

THE M OF THEM ALL

Holidays and Heroes go together like bread and jam; so why not start with the oldest (almost) of them all, James Bond. Moonraker [e.tv.Saturday.13.30] dates from 1979, and marks the last appearance of Bernard Lee as M, the role inherited by Dame Judi Dench. 

SIR ROGER- 4TH TIME AROUND

This was Roger Moore’s fourth appearance as 007 and features the usual quota of gadgets and girls as well as one of the most mundane of all the Bond theme songs; here performed without her normal verve or gusto by Dame Shirley Bassey.

YET ANOTHER LOOK FOR JOHN TRAVOLTA

From Paris with Love [M-Net.Saturday.20.45 and Tuesday.23.30] is from director Pierre Morel with a script by Cinema Au Look writer/ director/ producer/ transporter Luc Besson. John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers star and the film is chockablock with Chinese Drug Lords and Pakistani Terrorists… or is that Pakistani Drug Lords and Chinese Terrorists? 

 LUC BESSON:HE'S EVERYWHERE...HE'S EVERYWHERE

All this is extremely clever-clever; down to the play on words: Russia/ Paris; as in an early and very seminal Bond movie. The action however, and there is much of it, becomes monotonous pretty quickly; I’m afraid.

CLINT WITH DR HUSTON

Clint Eastwood often plays a troubled hero; as he does in Blood Work [SABC1.Friday.22.00], with Jeff Daniels as his rather charming sidekick. In Blood Work, poor old Clint is even more troubled than usual; his character has just undergone major heart surgery. Maybe, the movie would have been better served if the script writers had stuck more closely to the pages of the Michael Connelly novel. 

RATHER PENSIVE IN THIS SHOT

Spidey climbs the wall looking for a plot in Spider-Man 3 [e.tv.Sunday.20.00 and 00.45] ...

O.J. SIMPSON WAS STICKING TO HIS GUNS EVEN THEN, WHILE LESLIE NIESEN AND GEORGE KENNEDY LOOK ON


while The Naked Gun series [e.tv.Friday.20.30] grinds to a halt this week; the Oscar spoof not withstanding. What’s really funny is that, of all the ‘guest stars’ at the ceremony, only Olympia Dukakis came within smelling distance of a real award.

DAME CLEO

Dukakis appears with a who’s who of British talent in a made for TV movie, The Last of The Blonde Bombshells [SABC3.Sunday.22.00]—Judi Dench, Joan Sims, June Whitfield, Cleo Laine and Leslie Caron, to name just a few. 



DAME JUDI BLOWS HER HORN

So forget the flaws, just sit back and soak up the talent. The band swings and the general feeling is nostalgic. A little obvious, to be sure; but lots of fun and all the stars give it their best toot.

THE POISON  PENNS WHEN YOUNG

Another blonde bombshell who rather fancied herself as a movie star for a while is Madonna. She appears with then husband, Sean Penn in Shanghai Surprise [e.tv.Sunday.22.50]. 

BOGIE COULD DO THIS KIND OF FLICK IN HIS SLEEP-HERE WITH IDA LUPINO IN THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT IN 1940

The Penn/ Madonna ego fest dates from 1986, and patterns itself on an old Bogie B- movie quickie—with rather mundane results and forgettable music from ex Beatle, George Harrison who also produced and had a small part as a nightclub singer.

PAUL, JOHN, PETE AND GEORGE?

Talking of the Fab Four; one the most unfortunate of souls was drummer Pete Best who was fired from the band just as fame and fortune beckoned.

JOHN, RINGO, PAUL & GEORGE-THAT SOUNDS MORE THE TICKET 

 Best was replaced by Ringo Starr; but the question remains would the Beatles have been quite the phenomenon they were without Ringo; but that is a debate for another day.

RAINN WILSON IS THE ROCKER

The Rocker [M-Net.05.00] brushes up Pete’s sorry tale, making it modern and Metal; the movie aint half bad—here’s the in-joke; they hired the real Pete Best, almost a star by default these days to play a small part. He’s the bloke at the bus stop.

FULL MARKS FOR ATMOSPHERE

Idlewild [SABC1.Sunday.22.00] is a misfire that could have worked well; the movie has a jazz setting, during the intoxicating days of Prohibition. The ambitious project tries to marry the styles of Club Big Band and hip hop; not as daft as it sounds, to me rap and some forms of hip hop are very close to Talking Blues and its first cousin, the more aggressive Blues Shouting.

TEN OUT OF TEN FOR COSTUME,TOO

Despite some hard input from Andre 3000, Big Boi and Terrence Howard the film doesn’t even begin to gel and finally limps away, after a rather long two hours, leaving the audience somewhat dazed and confused.  On the plus side, watch out for Rhythm and Blues stars, Patti Labelle and Marcy Gray (here in Billie Holiday mode.)

DIRECTOR STILLMAN

As usual, this week, we have our fair share of intertwining relationships and emotions, both off and on the screen. Barcelona [SABC3. Saturday.21.30] is directed by Whit Stillman and stars Chris Eigermann and Taylor Nichols, who play cousins ‘with a history.’ 

A NOT SO SUBTLE PLUG FOR JUSTERINI AND BROOKS

This is the same team that made Metropolitan in 1990; very much like its predecessor, Barcelona is talky and preoccupied, demanding a great deal of concentration, with not that many laughs by way of reward.

SWEET

First love with all its ups and downs, is deftly handled in Little Manhattan [SABC3.Sunday.14.00], the performances from Josh Hutcherson and Charlie Ray are spot on and the dialogue witty and endearing.

SOUNDS LIKE A COUNTRY BAND-THE GIBSON BROTHERS

History takes a back seat in the direct to DVD sequel to Pocahontas, Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World [M-Net.Sunday.10.00 and Wednesday.03.00] but the story is endearing, none the less. Cleverly, Dogal Gibson, Mel Gibson’s younger brother replaces him as the voice of John Smith. 

SOMETHING TO MAKE COLLECTORS DROOL

This time, the music is by sax great, Lennie Niehaus who has often worked with Clint Eastwood, for example, the music from Blood Work, Space Cowboys and Pale Rider is his

A TASTE FOR FORBIDDEN FRUIT

In Havoc [e.tv.Friday.00.05], which was released direct to DVD in the States, Anne Hathaway and Bijou Philips decide to test the other side of the tracks; hoping to catch a thrill train or two. Barbara Koppel, more famous for making serious documentaries, does an steady job behind the camera.

WHICH IS WHICH? HAVEN'T A CLUE

It seems be quite a trend at the moment; brothers sharing a director’s chair, DayBreakers [M-Net. Friday.21.30] comes from Australian twins, Peter and Michael Spierig, all about Vampires and how their constant bloodlust is satisfied; I hope not everybody takes this kind of nonsense too seriously.

ETHAN HAWKE

 I don’t think that even the writers could have been that serious; Willem Defoe plays a ‘cured’ vampire named Elvis.

THE WEITZ BROTHERS- SHARED SUCCESS

Chris and Paul Weitz don’t always work together; Paul directed American Dreamz while Chris made New Moon, the second Twilight movie, something he might live to regret. 

MOM - WITH THE BACK OF LANA TURNER'S HEAD

The brothers have rather an interesting background, their mother, Susan Kohner, a minor star in the 50s, played a black ‘trying for white’ in Douglas Sirk’s classic soap sudder Imitation of Life. In those days, she wasn’t the first (or the last) white actress to play a ‘black’ role.

A BESTSELLER TO BE PROUD OF

Tie off the trivia... on with the show; the Weitzs aren’t twins, but they did join at the hip to make About a Boy [SABC3.Sunday.19.30], based on the novel by Nick Hornby. I’m re reading A Long Way Down at the moment, what a fantastic writer Hornby is. 

HOULT AS A BOY

Hugh Grant stars here as a rather typical Hornby hero; bluster covering his need and insecurity. The movie could so easily have ended up mawkish and sentimental but terrific performances from Grant, Rachel Weicz and especially Toni Collette as the flaky Fiona and young Nicholas Hoult as Marcus keep the emotional equilibrium balanced, until the very last frame. 

OLDER NOW

All grown up now, Nicholas Hoult plays a key role in Tom Ford and David Scearce’s adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’ s A Single Man [M-Net.Monday.22.30], directed by Ford. Colin Firth is outstanding in his reading of a gay man, unable to openly grieve for his lost love. 

THE VERY TALENTED TOM FORD

The action is set in 1962, when ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was very much the order of the day. Julianne Moore is fairly restrained as Firth’s pal, while Mathew Goode, shown in flashback, is well cast as his dead lover. The ending wraps events up too tightly; but apart from that, a wonderful, sadly sweet movie experience.

HUGH GRANT AND HIS BOY

My pick is About a Boy [SABC3.Sunday.19.30]. 

ROBIN

By the way, the first and best Shrek [e.tv. Saturday. 20.00] is doing the rounds again.

1 Comment

wonderlad
15 Apr 2011 15:48

Tom Ford directorial debut was great! A bit over - designed (as one would expect) but Colin Firth was excellent. 

Spiderman 3 was much maligned by the fanboys but I loved it - watch out for some Spider-dancing and great support from Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard and Thomas Haden Church is brilliant as Sandman.  And current reigning hottie James Franco is still in this.