Friday October 28
LAYING ON THE HUMOUR WITH A TROWEL
Vampires Suck [M-Net.21.30]
Jarhead [SABC1.22.00]
Inside the Obama White House [SABC2.22.00]
The General’s Daughter [e.tv.22.25]
Melinda and Melinda [e.tv.00.50]
Saturday October 29
The Joneses [M-Net.20.30]
Live and Become [SABC3.19.30]
Red Eye [e.tv.21.55]
Sunday October 30
Goal III [M-Net.10.00]
The Social Network [M-Net.20.05]
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 [SABC1.22.00]
Bad Boys II [e. tv.20.00 and 01.35]
Monday October 31
The Descent [M-Net.22.40]
(500) Days of Summer [M-Net.02.50]
Tuesday November 1
2 Fast 2 Furious [M-Net.09.30]
The Joneses [M-Net.00.30]
Wednesday November 2
Goal III [M-Net.09.30]
HATCHING A PLAN
The Social Network [M-Net.22.30]
Vampires Suck [M-Net.01.30]
***
Human nature may remains constant; or fairly constant, but the world, especially at the moment, is in a state of constant flux.
GIVES FRIENDS A WHOLE NEW MEANING
If anyone had told you twenty years ago that you could have 200 friends, not one willing or able to lift you to the airport at short notice or help you if you have a puncture far from home on a wet night, you would probably have shaken your head in disbelief. But, Be Brave New World—these are 21st century friends; they live on a wall in a world called Facebook.
SEX AND MONEY-SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
This innovation is called Social Networking, a cloud of invisible ‘friends’ who know your breakfast menu in intimate detail. A book about the phenomena soon hit the shelves; called The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich; it tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his nerdy cohorts (who were a might peeved when Zuckerberg took most of the glory for himself when the idea became global.)
DAVID FINCHER
A film was inevitable and is called The Social Network [M-Net.Sunday.20.05 and Wednesday.22.30] which is directed by David Fincher who, over the last decade and a half, has made some pertinent movies including The Fight Club, Gemini, Seven and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Fincher netted an Oscar nomination for his work on The Social Club, as did actor Jesse Eisenberg who plays Zuckerberg. On the night, The Social Network won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Score and Best Film Editing. The movie would have won many more if it didn’t have the misfortune of being in the same year of release as The King’s Speech.
AARON SORKIN-OSCAR WINNER FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
INSTANT HEROES
Strange to compare the two films, one so shiny and modern and somehow disposable and the other so seeped in traditional values, when friends were people who came into your home and shared a meal or a cup of tea. But times change and we now live in an instant society which creates instant history and instant heroes.
MRS KUTCHER-AT LEAST FOR THE MOMENT
As Demi Moore has conducted large chunks of her second marriage on the social network, it is perhaps fitting that she should be cast as the rather brittle female lead in another very ‘now’ story, taking the old cliché ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ to its logical extreme.
HAPPY FAMILIES
The Joneses [M-Net.Saturday.20.30 and Tuesday.00.30] is a fascinating look at how the people are manipulated by the media, marketing and the correct brand name. No one can accuse Madam Moore of actually acting but she and David Duchovny are very believable as the perfect couple who don’t really exist in a film that is a dolefully prudent look at life today.
ANOTHER GENERATION OF MEN WITH GUNS
Sam Mendes has made a handful of excellent movies and has done some brilliant work for the stage. Like Demi Moore, has had a fair share of headlines recently. Jarhead [SABC1.Friday.22.00], made in 2005, boasts an intelligent cast including Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Lucas Black, Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper.
ANTHONY SWAFFORD HAS A MILITARY BACKGROUND
This spare adaptation by William Broyles Jnr of the novel by Anthony Swafford focuses on the human component that make up an army’s fighting machine; the audience lives with a group of raw combatants while they wait for Operation Desert Shield to blossom into Operation Desert Storm.
THEY THINK THAT THEY ARE HILARI0US
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are a directing team that come up with original, innovative titles; Disaster Movie, Epic Movie and Date Movie, to name but a few. Their latest attempt, Vampires Suck [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Wednesday.01.30] is up to their usual standard.
FUNNY FOR ABOUT FIVE MINUTES
The movie attempts to send up the very popular and ‘send upable’ Twilight Series. In skillful hands, ‘blood letting as aphrodisiac’ could have been very funny; but as it is, Vampires Suck merely sucks.
A FIMILIAR SHADOW
On the other hand, Wes Craven has made a name for himself as a horror rather than horrible director. His 1984 movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street became a classic, while Screams 1, 2 and 3 really put the squeam into squeamish.
RACHEL McADAMS AND CILLIAN MURPHY
Craven’s 2005 film, Red Eye [e.tv.Sunday.21.30] is tauntly packed, with very good performances from Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy who is, as always, wonderfully sinister; the plot is complicated but almost believable and the ending is certainly a nail biter.
THE LIGHTS ON... BROADWAY'S DANNY ROSE
Woody Allen has had his share of headlines over the years; he has been married to his son’s stepsister for over a decade. Say that slowly. He would never make a film called Crimes and Misdemeanors II or Annie Hall Sucks. All his titles are lyrical – Radio Days, Broadway Danny Rose, Sweet and Low Down—they all have a ring to them.
WILL FERRELL APPEARS WITH RADHA MITCHELL IN THE COMEDY STORY
He is also very funny indeed, and always full of originals ideas. Maybe not all of them reach full fruition; like the overly ambitious Melinda and Melinda [e.tv.Friday.00.50], which has two interlocking stories with the same beginning, one dramatic, the other comedic.
WOODY WITH MERYL STREEP IN MANHATTAN
Allen always has his pick of actors, there is a certain thrill and prestige of working with Woody; he has a knack of winning awards for himself and for his actors. He has won three Oscars, twice for writing and once for directing; this on top of a staggering 23 nominations.
WOODY NAMED HIMSELF AFTER JAZZ GREAT WOODY HERMAN
Over the years, he was coaxed Oscar winning performances from Mira Sorvino, Diane Keaton, Diane Wiest (twice) and Penelope Cruz. Allen is a neurotic workaholic, who began life as a standup comedian; today he acts, writes, directs and still makes time to play the clarinet in a jazz band. And at 75, there are no signs of him stopping or slowing down.
LOVE IS OFTEN NOT AS IT SEEMS
(500) DAYS of Summer [M-Net.Tuesday.02.50] is a charming movie about the pursuit of love starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel (yes, she is named for the Salinger character, I’ve often wondered.) The story is as old as time; love as a truly elusive butterfly, but, the story is well told and sweetly executed.
JOHN IN UNIFORM...AGAIN
The military, as depicted in print and on screen has always had a sinister underbelly; The General’s Daughter [e.tv.Friday.22.25], based on a novel by heavy handed thriller writer Nelson de Mille is no exception. The plot is intriguing but the action is hampered by too much detail; on the plus side,there are good performances from John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe and Timothy Hutton.
ALL THE BOYS TOGETHER
Bruchheimer and Bay are a serious team of Bang, Boom, Crash. This time, their Bad Boys takes a second bow, eight years after the first and not nearly as entertaining.
SHINY WHEELS AND HOOD
2 Fast 2 Furious [M-Net.Tuesday.09.30] is another sequel; this time about cars going nowhere very fast. Paul Walker stars and John Singleton, strangely enough is behind the camera.
COUNTRY SINGER JERRY REED WAS NO BURT REYNOLDS
Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 [SABC1Sunday.22.00], should have been left as Smokey is the Bandit with Jackie Gleason playing both parts; or better still not made at all.
.jpg)
GOAL III-TAKING ON THE WORLD
Goal III [M-Net.Sunday.10.00 and Wednesday.09.30] is the direct to DVD sequel to Goal and Goal II; again with plenty of booted guest stars but really only for diehard football fans.
A DIFFERENT SET OF HAPPY FAMILIES
Taking about second takes, I don’t think poor Barack Obama will serve a second term; economic woes and oil in the wrong place can do irreparable harm to any President, especially this one. When all is said and done, Americans don’t really like Democrats, occasionally they elect them on a wave of sentiment, and then spend four years regretting it.
WHERE WILL THEY BE 18 MONTHS FROM NOW
So watch Inside the Obama White House [SABC2.Friday.22.00] while Obama still is inside The White House. A thought; the only people who really like The Democratic Party are movie stars and pop singers.
SOON TO BE AN ENTREE
If you will indulge in for extreme sports, you probably deserve to be pursued by flesh eating creatures; this happens to a group of women in the British made The Descent [M-Net.Monday.22.40]
THE MOVIE WON A SMATTERING OF AWARDS
Live and Become [SABC3.Saturday.19.30] is one of those semi Art house movies that slip through the cracks from time to time, I don’t know much about the movie, but it sounds interesting enough.
A VERY SPECIAL TALENT
As a Woodyphile, my pick is Melinda and Melinda [e.tv.Friday.00.50]