Thursday July 21
For Richer or Poorer [SABC1.22.30]
The Perfect Catch [e.tv.20.30]
The Myth of the Fingerprints [e.tv.00.20]
Friday July 22
The Race-ist [M-Net.21.30]
HENRY AND JUNE
Henry & June [SABC2.22.30]
The Punisher [e.tv.20.30]
Saturday July 23
The Rescuers [M-Net.18.00]
FAIRY TALES CAN COME TRUE...
She’s Out of My League [M-Net.20.00]
Something New [SABC1.20.00]
The Match [SABC3.19.30]
Murder In the First [e.tv.21.50]
Sunday July 24
Salt [M-Net.20.05]
The Hunted [SABC1.20.00]
RALPH FIENNES WITH NATASHA RICHARDSON
The White Countess [e.tv.22.40]
Monday July 25
Extract [M-Net.22.30]
Tuesday July 26
State of Play [M-Net.09.00]
She’s Out Of My League [M-Net.23.00]
Wednesday July 27
KURT
The Race-ist [M-Net.00.40]
Salt [M-Net.22.30]
Glancing through the movie lineup for this week, I became surer than ever before that there is nothing new under the sun; all three universal themes sex, life, death remain constant…
Oh, and I nearly forgot… Remakes.
COLIN FIRTH A FEW YEARS AGO
So you can’t really forget anything, ever, can you? Fever Pitch was a pleasant British movie, made in 1997, which starred Colin Firth as the football mad teacher in an adaptation of the Nick Hornby novel. Before you could mumble,
‘When You Walk through a Storm,
Hold your Head up High,’ ...
THE PERFECT CATCH OR FEVER PITCH- TAKE YOUR PICK
...the action flew across the Atlantic and became The Perfect Catch [e.tv.Thursday.20.30], with Jimmy Fallon in the Firth role; this time our hero was addicted to the doings of the Red Sox.
FAN FARE
The Farrelly Brothers are once again (joined at the hip) behind the camera and frankly, the movie isn’t terrible; there is a gentle repartee between Fallon and co star Drew Barrymore that makes for a sweet and worthwhile watch.
THE TEAM
At least there was some sort of point in making the movie again, in changing countries, the sport changes from British football to the more accessible (for Americans) baseball.
A DISH EATEN COLD
Remaking The Punisher [e.tv.Friday.20.30] serves no purpose at all. The gory original was a revenge fest with little to recommend it. Stick around, this one is worse.
CHARLES STARTED SOMETHING
Ever since Charles Bronson’s family was wiped out by the bad guys and he turned into a bloodthirsty vigilante in Death Watch-whoops-Wish numbers 1 to 5, this plot seems to have become the theme of every second action thriller. In case anyone cares, Thomas Jane and John Travolta play the hunter and the hunted in this boring bloodbath.
HENRY MILLER
When I was young, everybody knew that Henry Miller wrote dirty books; just how they knew remains a mystery, because the books were banned. When, as an adult I read them, I found them cold and horribly chauvinistic. Anais Nin who was very famous for being famous, hung around Miller and his then wife June in the early 30s and chronicled their erotic adventures in her diary.
AN UNEASY TRIO
Philip and Rose Kaufmann did a fine job of adapting the relevant parts of Nin’s diary into a screenplay. In Henry and June [SABC2.Friday.22.30] Una Thurman and Fred Ward play the Millers while Maria de Medeiros plays the pointedly mysterious Anias Nin.
MARIA MEDEIROS AND UNA THURMAN
The acting, writing and movie making are excellent, but the film to me remains chilly and rather bloodless; all the characters come across as calculating, cruel and rather self indulgent.
CROWE WITH BEN AFFLECK
The power of the pen is to the fore in State of Play [M-Net.Tuesday.09.00], with Russell Crowe as a crusading journalist, Ben Affleck as a politician with a secret, and Rachel McAdams as a blogger/ journalist and in a story as old as the talkies, and as new as today’s headlines.
HELEN MIRREN CO STARS WITH MCADAMS AND CROWE
How far an investigating team be allowed to go in search of a fresh story and just when should private life should remain just that, private. State of Play doesn’t answer all the questions, but the acting is riveting, the pace tight and the smell of newsprint intoxicating.
PUERTO RICAN BORN BENICIO DEL TORO
Many moral issues come down to accountability. Take this one—the army trains soldiers to kill; then often expects them to return to civilization life and carry on as before; this is often impossible.
KNIFE EDGED PERFORMANCES
In The Hunted [SABC1.Sunday.20.00], Benicio Del Toro plays an out of control killer and Tommy Lee Jones the man who turned him into a killing machine. This excellent little movie functions on more than one level, there is plenty of violence for the action junkies but the film also poses some difficult moral questions; is Dr Frankenstein responsible for the actions of his creation?
BACON'S CHARACTER, ALTHOUGH BASED ON FACT, WAS TONED DOWN FOR PLOT PURPOSES
Kevin Bacon and Christian Slater star in another film about killing, Murder in The First [e.tv.Saturday.21.50] tackles the very raw topic of prison brutality. The film—based on a true story— is set in the early 40s; once again, the topic is very prevalent in the news at the moment. Bacon and Slater are backed by a strong supporting cast including Gary Oldman and Embeth Davidtz
GET IT?
I really don’t want to trash South African made movies, but The Race-ist [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Wednesday.00.4] with its ‘clever clever’ play on words and the participation our own plum pudding, Kurt Darren begs to be dumped on.
SAANA LATHAM AND SIMON BAKER
By comparison, I must refer you to a movie called Something New [SABC1.Saturday.20.00], where real issues of race are delicately handled. Simon Baker and Saana Latham star as ordinary people with an extraordinary problem.
PROBABLY THE BEST GAG IN THE WHOLE MOVIE
Neither For Richer or Poorer [SABC1.Thursday.22.30] or stars Tim Allen and Kirstie Alley have dated very well. So much has changed since the late 90s; apart from the fact that hardly anybody smokes onscreen anymore and almost everybody uses a cell phone.
THE LATE ROY SCHEIDER SITS AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE
The Myth of the Finger Prints [e.tv.Thursday.00.20], despite good input from Blyth Danner, Roy Scheider and a young Julianne Moore tells a familiar tale of unhappy families which and has been played and replayed many times before.
JUSTIN BATEMAN AND MILA KUNIS
Extract [M-Net.Monday.22.30], comedy from Mike (Beavis and Butthead) Judge has Justin Bateman, Mila Kunis, Kristen Weeg and Ben Affleck playing a strenuous game of ‘Sue Your Socks Off’—the movie has some funny moments, but keeps feeling like a long TV pilot!
ANGELINA JOLIE-ALWAYS GOOD TO WATCH
Salt [M-Net. Sunday.20.05 and Wednesday.22.30] reminds me of the good old days of sleepers, double agents and other antics from the Cold War; Angelina Jolie is such a good actress that she can almost carry the flag all by herself and with a little bit of help from Australian director Philip Noyce makes this entertaining bit of nonsense believable and quite exciting.
MAX BEESLEY IS ONE OF THE LADS INVOLVED IN THE MATCH
If you always root for the underdog and are of a romantic disposition, She’s Out of My League [M-Net.Saturday.20.00 and Tuesday.23.00] is the one for you. If you enjoy your underdog with a sweaty, boozy locker-room edge, watch The Match [SABC3.Saturday.19.30] after the rugby on Saturday.
MERCHANT AND IVORY
The White Countess [e.tv.Sunday.22.40] may not to everyone’s taste but, to me it is rather wonderful and sad at the same time. This was the last collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, their long time professional and private partnership came to an end when Merchant died on the 25th of May 2005.
LYNN AND VANESSA REDGRAVE
The Redgrave/ Richardson family loved working together, in The White Countess sisters Lynn and Vanessa teamed up with Vanessa’s daughter Natasha Richardson, all playing Russian émigrés, living in Shangri just before World War 2. Add Ralph Fiennes as a blind man falling in love with the Richardson character and the finished product is a movie to savour and enjoy.
EVA- ONE OF THE THREE MUCH MARRIED GABOR SISTERS.BETWEEN THEM THEY HAD 20 HUSBANDS
There seems to be a newish Disney slot early on a M-Net Saturday evening. This week, old timers Eva Gabor, Bob Newhart and Geraldine Page voice the characters in the very likable animation classic The Rescuers [M-Net.Saturday.18.00].
NATASHA RICARDSON'S MOVIE CAREER WAS SHORT
I’m going to choose The White Countess [e.tv.Sunday.22.40] for several reasons, the poignant story, the plush perfection of Merchant/ Ivory, and the acting skills of Ralph Fiennes and all the Redgraves. Sadly, both Lynn Redgrave and Natasha Richardson are no longer with us. Their deaths were a devastating loss to both their families and the acting profession.