Friday February 3
The Warrior’s Way [M-Net.21.30]
Drag Me to Hell [M-Net.03.45]
Exiled [SABC1.22.00]
WILL GEORGE CLOONEY BE A WINNER IN 2011?
Syriana [SABC3.00.00]
TENSION IN TEARS OF THE SUN
Tears of the Sun [e.tv.20.30]
Children of Men [e.tv.01.05]
Saturday February 4
Imagine That [M-Net.05.15]
Sunday February 5
The Town [M-Net.20.05]
Jesse Stone: No Remorse [M-Net. 04.25]
The Incredible Hulk [SABC1.20.30]
Marie Antoinette [e.tv. 22.05 and 02.30]
Monday February 6
PLAY ON
Knights of the South Bronx [e.tv.23.30]
Tuesday February 7
Zilch
Wednesday February 8
The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story [e.tv.22.35. and 02.00]
The Warrior’s Way [M-Net.01.00]
***
THE BARRYMORES-LIONEL, ETHEL AND JOHN IN THE ONLY FILM THEY MADE TOGETHER, RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS
When the movie industry first flickered into life over 100 years ago, that generation of stars were trail blazers in every way; the theatre had established acting dynasties, the triumphant, blighted and much maligned ‘Barrymores of Broadway’ being the most famous; the name and good acting genes still endure, Drew is the granddaughter of John and great niece of Lionel and Ethel.
AS SHE GROWS OLDER, DREW IS LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE AUNTIE ETHEL
Nearly five decades later, we have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews and cousins of the original stars, all acting, writing and directing their heads off; some on the box this week.
WALTER HUSTON WITH HIS SON JOHN
Danny Huston is not a huge box office name, but he was been a working actor for more than twenty years. His lineage is impeccable; his father was actor/writer /director John Huston, his grandfather Walter.
ANJELICA WITH HER FATHER JOHN
His half sister is Anjelica Huston, Oscar winner for Prizzi’s Honor and long time companion of Jack Nicholson. Brother Danny appears in no fewer than three films this week.
CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK-DANNY HUSTON
Huston plays Nigel in The Children of Men [e.tv. Friday.01.05.] a movie that I have reviewed before, but such a good one that it is well worth a second mention. P.D. James normally writes Detective Fiction, her hero, Adam Dalgliesh, poet/ policemen has been solving intellectual murder mysteries since 1962. James is a brilliant writer, now in her 90s and still putting pen to paper.
MICHAEL CAINE-MORE LENNON THAN LENNON
Children of Men is her look at Doomsday; in a world both barren and sterile, suddenly a woman is pregnant. Clive Owen and Juliana Moore star, with Michael Caine as an elderly hippie free thinker, a character he based on his friendship with Beatle John Lennon. The film examines the indomitableness of the human spirit; well made and thoughtful, without a hint of self indulgence.
COWBOY FROM THE EAST
Huston is really nasty in The Warriors Way [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Wednesday. 01.00], with Jung Dong Gun cast as an Asian fighting man on the run in The Old West; an innovation of sorts, a Sushi Western. Great idea—Martial Arts in a Cowboy Hat— unfortunately the results are mixed.
GEOFFREY RUSH HAS MANY FACES-ABOVE IN THE KING'S SPEECH AND BELOW IN THE WARRIOR'S WAY
Kate Bosworth stars opposite Huston, an archetypal villain with a vengeance. Geoffrey Rush steals the show as the village drunk, the kind of part once played with great aplomb by Walter Huston! Just to add a really international flavour, the film was made in New Zealand.
TEEN QUEEN-KIRSTEN DUNST
Marie Antoinette is the kind of character much loved by film makers;torn from the pagesof history, a young queen who paid with her life for her royal arrogance.
THE GREAT PROFILE:JOHN BARRYMORE NEAR THE END OF HIS FILM CAREER
Norma Shearer, once the Queen of Hollywood played her in 1938, with John Barrymore as a debouched Louis XV. Michelle Morgan gave Marie a French touch in a 1955 interpretation,a film made by Jean Delannoy.
FATHER AND DAUGHTER DIRECTING TEAM-SOFIA AND FRANCIS FORD
In Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette [e.tv.Friday.22.05 and 02.30], based on Antonia Fraser’s rather light weight novel, Marie Antoinette: A Journey. Kirsten Dunst plays Marie as she probably was; a spoiled, willful teenager ,egged on by her mother Maria Theresa, played by Marianne Faithful.
MARIANNE AND MICK IN THE 60S
Faithful is another of those 60s rock pop stars, now among that new breed, the aging pop star, as is her long ago boyfriend Mick Jagger. The trick was to die before they got old; too late now!
ROYAL PARENTS
Marie Antoinette is history in easily digestible bite sized chunks. The Coppola Family are as near to Royalty as is possible in latter day Hollywood and they always seem to surround themselves with siblings, parents, cousins and other assorted family members.
TALIA SHIRE WITH SON JASON
Jason Schwartzman, son of Frances Ford’s sister Talia Shire, plays Marie's husband Louis XVI, Frances Ford has a hand in production, while this time Danny Huston is effective asJoseph II, one of those Holy Roman Emperors .A slice of history with a modern touch, opulent and historically pleasing, the movie won an Oscar for Costume Designer, Milena Canonera in 2006.
REBECCA HALL WITH HER FATHER
Rebecca Hall, who plays the female lead in The Town [M-Net.Sunday.20.05], really has a perfect pedigree; she is the daughter of the Royal Shakespeare Company's founder and doyen of British Theatre, Sir Peter Hall.
HALL AND BEN AFFLECK
Hall is totally believable in a superb film directed by and starring Ben Affleck. The Town, co starring Jeremy Renner, Chris Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite in his second last movie appearance is an adaptation of Chuck Hogan’s Prince of Thieves, a story of living beyond and above the law.
BEN AFFLECK PEERS INTO HIS FUTURE
The movie is slick, fast and brimming with action. Ben Affleck is certainly turning into a canny director with a calm sense of style and flair.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
Everybody knows who Martin Sheen is related to; he is down the cast list in the Eddie Murphy Fantasy romp, Imagine That [M-Net.Saturday.05.15], starring a rather circumspect Murphy, who is sweetly vulnerable as a man who enters his daughter’s (Yara Shahidi) fantasy world, first for material gain and later for spiritual wellbeing. Some perky Beatle songs keep the action flowing quite nicely.
LIV WITH HER DAD, STEVEN TYLER
Steve Tyler is 63 now, being a 70s rather than 60s Superstar, his band Aerosmith first charted in 1973 with Dream On. His daughter Liv plays Betty Ross to Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner in another version of The Incredible Hulk [SABC1.Friday.20.30], a slightly different take to the Ang Lee version, made in 2003.
EDWARD NORTON GOES GREEN
Edward Norton is a smoother Banner than Eric Bana; Tyler is a trifle more one dimensional than Jennifer Connelly, while William Hurt makes a curt and exact General Ross. On the whole, the films are cut from the same cloth; but stick around; all Superheroes are born to be rebooted.
TOM IN CHARACTER AS JESSE STONE
Ted Danson, like Tom Selleck is a TV star that almost became a star on the big screen. Selleck is in a 2010 Jesse Stone offering this week. Jesse Stone: No Remorse [M-Net.Friday.04.25]
TED AND MARY
While Danson, always remembered for playing Sam Malone in Cheers, won TV awards for his performance in Knights of the South Bronx [e.tv. Monday.23.30], which is a good reworking of an old theme; give the urban throwaway kids a goal and they will flourish, usually, the goal is wrapped in dance, baseball etc;. This time, the motivation is, of all things, chess.
CHARLIE MCDOWELL IS FAMOUS FOR HAVING FAMOUS PARENTS-NOW HE HAS A FAMOUS GIRLFRIEND TOO.
But, the story works and it works well too; Danson is good in his limited way. He is the off screen the husband of Mary Steenbergen, who was once married to British actor Malcolm McDowell, their son Charlie McDowell, has been seen on the arm of Oscar nominee Rooney Mara; the kids from fame strike again.
SAOIRE AND PAUL RONAN
Exiled [SABC1.Friday.22.00] is a well worn tale of the strife in Ireland spilling into the U.S and vice versa, Paul Ronan plays a man who runs away from trouble into even more trouble. Ronan is the father of award winning teenager, Saoirse Ronan.
BRUCE WILLIS WITH SOME OF HIS ODDLY NAMED OFFSPRING
War is watchable and films about war have kept the turnstiles turning for years. Bruce Willis, father of a whole family of strangely named children and ex of Demi, stars in Tears of the Sun [e.tv.Friday.20.30], which is fair to middling fodder co starring Monica Bellucci, who can’t act at all.
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER
Two men who can act very well are George Clooney and Christopher Plummer, to prove it; they are both favourites in the Oscar Race this year. In 2005, they both appeared together with Matt Damon and William Hurt in Syriana [SABC3.Friday.00.00], which I have reviewed before. This is my official plug for Plummer.
ONE TAP FOR YES...TWO TAPS FOR NO
Sam Raimi revisits his Horror roots in Drag Me to Hell [M-Net.Friday.03.45], a scary movie with an untidy ending; Alison Lohman is above par in the leading role.
THE MAN WHO ALMOST GOT AWAY WITH MURDER-SCOTT PETERSON
Even more frightening, because it is based on a true story, is The Perfect Husband: The Laci Peterson Story [e.tv. Wednesday.22.35 and 02.00], starring Dean Cain as a man who almost gets away with murder.
THE TOWN PROVIDES QUALITY TIME ON THE COUCH
My rather hurried pick is The Town [M-Net.Sunday.20.05]. I am writing this at a cottage by the sea, will post from an Internet Café later, pictures only on Sunday, I’m afraid.