I'm rushing this up today, Wednesday.I'm off unexpectedly to the Eastern Cape for 5 days, pics only up early next week.Cheers, K
Thursday June 9
In Country [SABC3.22.30]
THE BANGER SISTERS CO STAR GOLDIE HAWN PICTURED HER WITH DAUGHTER KATE HUDSON
The Banger Sisters [e.tv.20.30]
The Death of the Incredible Hulk [e.tv.00.20]
Friday June 10
The Losers [M-Net.21.30]
True Stories [SABC3.22.30]
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RUSSELL CROWE MAKES A FINE COWBOY
3.10 to Yuma [e.tv.20.30 and 00.45]
Saturday June 11
Planet 51 [M-Net.18.00]
Darkman [SABC3.21.30]
Eight Legged Freaks [SABC3.02.00]
Sunday June 12
GERARD BUTLER
Gamer [M-Net.20.05]
Observe and Report [M-Net.03.00]
X-Men: The Last Stand [e.tv.20.00]
All the Pretty Horses [e.tv.22.10 and 02.20]
Monday June 13
Zip
Tuesday June 14
A Life Less Ordinary [e.tv.22.30 and 02.15]
Wednesday June 15
Planet 51 [M-Net.09.00]
The Losers [M-Net.00.40]
Focus [e.tv.Wednesday.22.35]
IN THE FOREGROUND, A GRUMPY GRACE KELLY, IN THE BACKGROUND THE CLOCK TICKS TOWARDS HIGH NOON;BETWEEN THEM, GARY COOPER AS HERO
Whatever happened to the good old days when the line was firmly drawn between good guys and bad guys? Then, from the opening credits, the audience knew exactly who were the heroes and who were villains.
GRACE KELLY AS HEROINE; HERE SHE CLINGS TO CLARK GABLE IN MOGAMBO
Female characters, too, were sharply defined, the heroine; who name glowed above the credits and the other woman/best pal who was listed below the credits; the one who often sneered or wisecracked her way into movie history.
CELESTE HOLM TAKING THE CAKE FROM BING, GRACE KELLY AND FRANKIE IN HIGH SOCIETY
Most of these were really great actresses, Mary Astor, Eve Arden and Celeste Holm to name but a few.
AVA GARDINER AS THE OTHER WOMAN IN MOGAMBO
The hero might have toyed with the other woman, but inevitably, he returned to the heroine in the last reel. For the purposes of plot, the best pal didn’t really approve of the hero, unlike the maid, who usually did.
NOTHING IS SIMPLE ANYMORE
Those days are long gone, heroes and heroines are troubled; everybody seems to have hidden agendas and histories; since the emergence of The Dark Knight, even the emotions of comic book cutouts have become driven and highly complicated.
SIR PATRICK AND SIR IAN
Take for example, the X-Men, they are deeply layered, highly complex characters; X-Men: The Last Stand [e.tv.Sunday.20.00], is the weakest of the franchise that began in 2000, but still it is good to see Dr X and Magneto, who through the miracle of the prequel have just transmuted from Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen into James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
LOU GOES GREEN
The otherness of the Superhero is also explored in The Death of the Incredible Hulk [e.tv.Thursday.00.20]; a TV spinoff from the cult series, with Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk and the late Bill Bixby as David Banner. The movie was made on a TV budget and it shows, but it’s interesting to watch Ferrigno’s interpretation of Bruce Banner, surely the most complex of all the Superheroes.
LIAM NEESON-SAD AND SCARRED
Sam Raimi is not known to be the most delicate of directors; he’s big on style and sweep, with liberal doses of melodrama often added to the mix. Darkman [SABC3.Saturday.21.30] is typical Raimi, but beneath the posturing lurks a strangely poignant movie, starring a sad, deeply scarred Liam Neeson, who plays to perfection the lonely outsider, shunned by society because he is different.
W.C.FIELDS SET THE BAR VERY HIGH
No one stands further apart from normal society than the comedian, whose role is to hold up a mirror to the world. For that mirror to show an apt, original reflection, the self appointed analyst must keep him/herself firmly in check, otherwise pithy commentary can too easily slip into mindless parody.
SETH ROGEN HAS MUCH TO LEARN
Seth Rogen must be very careful; in Observe and Report [M-Net. Sunday.03.00], he seems to be drifting in an odd direction; fly in the face of convention by all means, but navigate very carefully.
...SO GUNG HO TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES...
War always shift the way the world views itself and others; never more so than in the aftermath of the War in Vietnam, which sent a whole generation of American youth to the outer edges of society.
WILLIS AS THE SHATTERED VET; HERE WITH EMILY LLOYD
Bruce Willis actually works quite well as the distressed vet in the 1989 adaptation of Bobbie Ann Mason’s novel, In Country [SABC3.Thursday.22.30]. Fans may have problems with Willis out of McClain mode, but his acting holds up pretty well as director Norman Jewison builds to a moving and heart wrenching climax.
GRINGOS STRAY SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Cormac McCarthy, like many writers of his generation, is difficult to film, much of the prose is too dense. Scriptwriter Ted Tally, however, does a reasonable job on All the Pretty Horses [e.tv.22.10 and 02.20], with Billy Bob Thornton behind the camera and good performances from both Henry Thomas, all grown up now, and Matt Damon. Penelope Cruz in crucial role shows yet again what a consummate actress she is.
LAURA DERN HERE WITH WILLIAM MACY
Bruce Dern appears down the cast list; he is a reliable actor and has been working in movies since the early 60s; once married to Diane Ladd, he is the father of the talented, often underrated Laura Dern, who appears with William Macy in Focus [e.tv.Wednesday.22.35].
ARTHUR MILLER PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE 40S
The movie was adapted from a novel by playwright Arthur Miller, written in 1945, two years before The Gentleman’s Agreement exposed anti-Semitism in America. This harrowing little movie examines the plight of the ultimate pariah; members of a religious minority. The movie was never meant to be main stream, but is certainly worth waiting up for.
CHRISTIAN BALE IS SUPERB
Getting back to heroes, the archetypal lone gunman, often an outlaw blurred the line between hero and villain in many a Western; never more so than in the rather terrific remake of 3.10 to Yuma [e.tv.20.30 and 00.45], just which protagonist is the hero, if there is a hero at all. Superb performances from all concerned make this a fine, fine Western.
WITH ONLY YOUR LIFE TO LOOSE
A resurgence of interest in Sci-Fi and ‘things alien’ movies are now what Cowboy and Indian horse operas were forty years ago. Think about it, Sci-Fi and 21st century technological innovation were made for each other. The plot of Gamer [M-Net. Sunday.20.05] is as old as time, using your own life as the ultimate gambling chip, but, needless to say, the special effects are breathtaking.
BIG AND HAIRY!
I can remember as a small child, sitting on my granny’s lap, in a car at the Skyview Drive-In, gleefully quivering my way through the 1955 Sci-Fi epic Tarantula. 8 Legged Freaks [SABC3.02.00] is firmly in the 50s ‘Sci-Fi at the drive-in’ tradition; great big scary mutant spiders on the rampage; my granny would have loved it.
A ONE JOKE WONDER
Planet 51 [M-Net. Saturday.18.00 and Wednesday.09.00] is a good idea, animated action set on a planet where the inhabitants sound and act like Mr and Mrs Middle America circa 1953. Trouble is, it’s only fun for 20 minutes or so and then suddenly runs out of steam and fresh gags.
FOR BYRNE FANS ONLY
True Stories [SABC3.22.30] is a very bizarre little movie that dates from 1985, but may appeal to fans of Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne.
THE GRAPHIC NOVEL HAS CHANGED QUITE A BIT
Changing tack, The Losers [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Wednesday.00.40] is set in Bolivia, stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoë Saldana and Chris Evans and peddles the well worn ‘revenge at any cost’ theme, a must for those inclined towards mindless action and things that go boom bang crash.
ROMANCE OF A VERY DIFFERENT HUE
Danny Boyle’s moviemaking is never dull; Life Less Ordinary [e.tv.Tuesday.22.30 and 02.15] is quirky and full of off beat humour, Ewan McGregor and Cameron Diaz play an odd couple, with Holly Hunter as you’ve never seen her before, hamming it up as one of a pair of angels, meddling in Mc Gregor/ Diaz relationship.
KYRA GETS BOBBY'S ATTENTION
That’s been a popular theme for a while now,hasn't it? Interaction between the living and the not quite dead. On that note, wasn’t Heart and Souls great? I worked my way through the better part of a box of tissues. Look out for Kyra Sedgwick, who played Julia in Heart and Souls; she’s in In Country on Thursday.
NO PRIZES FOR GUESSING WHICH ONE 'GREW UP'
The Banger Sisters [e.tv.Thursday.20.30] is a story about the great divide between those folk who grow up and those who stay forever young. The story is slight, made infinitely better than it actually is by the participation of Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon; two very different talents, but with quite a deal in common. Both have won Oscars, Goldie early in her career, for Cactus Flower in 1969, Sarandon much later in Dead Man Walking, made in 1995.
EVE AMURRI WITH HER MOTHER
Both have talented acting offspring, Eve Amurri, Sarandon’s daughter, is, in fact in Banger Girls, while Kate Hudson has a highly successful career of her own. Both have had long term relationships, with fellow professionals.
THE HAWN RUSSELLS A WHILE AGO
Goldie and Kurt Russell are still together, sadly Susan and Tim Robbins parted about a year ago. But, in the end, what the ladies share that indefinable ingredient, star quality.
INGREDIENTS FOR A PERFECT WESTERN- HORSE,MAN AND MOUNTAIN
As regular readers know, I’m a great Western fan, come to think of it, I’m pretty keen on Russell Crowe and Christian Bale too; so my semiautomatic pick is The 3.10 to Yuma [e.tv.Friday.20.30 and 00.45].