Thursday 22 March
HITTING THE HIGH NOTES IN...
Hustle & Flow [e.tv.20.30]
Friday 23 March
Letters to God [M-Net.09.30]
The New Daughter [M-Net.21.30]
Road to Perdition [M-Net.04.05]
Untraceable [SABC2.23.30]
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade [e.tv.20.30]
Saturday 24 March
Morning Glory [M-Net.20.00]
Taken from Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story [M-Net.01.40]
The Invasion [SABC1.22.00]
DENNIS QUAID IN THE EXPRESS
The Express [SABC3.19.30]
Little Man [e.tv.20.00]
Sunday 25 March
MAYBE, IF WE PAID THEM, THEY WOULD JUST GO AWAY
Just Go With It [M-Net.20.05]
Invictus [M-Net.03.30]
Little Man [e.tv.13.35]
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [e.tv.20.00]
Monday 26 March
A Family Thanksgiving [M-Net.22.30]
Tuesday 27 March
Morning Glory [M-Net.00.00]
Wednesday 28 March
The New Daughter [M-Net.23.00]
***
RINTINTIN COULD HAVE EASILY HAVE BEEN THE FIRST WINNER-UNTIL THE ACADEMY DECIDED 'NO DOGS ALLOWED'
The more things change, the more they stay the same… so the saying goes; who would have thought that the main Oscar winner in 2011, The Artist, would be a silent film, shot in black and white.
WINGS WON THE FIRST BEST PICTURE AWARD-THE LAST SILENT FILM UNTIL NOW. THE TALL AIRMAN IS A YOUTHFUL GARY COOPER
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Award or Oscar as he was later christened was born after a difficult delivery, on May 16 1929. Silence stilled reigned on screen but sound was happily whistling in the wings.
TODAY,DIRECTOR JOSEPH VON STERNBERG AND MARLENE DIETRICH ARE REVERED WHILE EMIL JANNINGS IS ALMOST FORGOTTEN
The first male winner, German speaking Emil Jannings, who spoke with a heavy accent, was destined to have no sound career in America. Jannings returned to Germany, made The Blue Angel/ Der Blaue Engel with a young Marlene Dietrich.
A VERY DIFFERENT TAKE ON COLONIALISM IN SOUTH AFRICA
And later made films for Dr Geobbels, including an anti British propaganda film entitled Ohm Kruger about ons eie Oom Paul. Jannings, who died in 1950, was very much a product of his time.
FRED AND GINGER
By 1934, moving pictures were not only singing but dancing rather enthusiastically too. The Continental from The Gay Divorcée, sung and danced by Fred Astaire, won the first award for Best Song. Many sharps, flats and nuance were to change before It’s Hard Out Here For a Pimp won the same award some 71 years later.
TERRENCE HOWARD
The plot of Hustle & Flow [e.tv.Thursday.20.30] may be strewn with pimps and prostitutes, but the rather quaint story is as old as time, good old dream fulfillment.
ALL IN THE MIX
This genuinely appealing, catchy film set may be set in a raw urban environment, but proceedings are cushioned in a satisfying combination of tapping music and clinking bling. Good performances from a solid cast anchor proceedings in a powerful way.
THE JACKSON LOOK
Terrence Howard, who does all his own musical work, is wonderful; remember, he played Jackie Jackson in The Jacksons: An American Dream , a TV movie about the Brothers made in 1992. Howard also plays Madeba in the elusive Jennifer Hudson movie Winnie.
'MADIBA' IN THE 90S-APPLAUDING THE CUP THAT UNITED A NATION
Another take on Nelson Mandela is, of course, by Morgan Freeman in Invictus [M-Net.Sunday.03.30], a rerun, rather appropriate in this week celebrating Human Rights in this country.
MADIBA IN THE 60S-THE BANNED FACE OF NELSON MANDELA
Growing up white in South Africa, we were carefully taught that Sharpeville was a glimpse of Die Swart Gevaar and Mandela the face of High Treason. So indeed, some things do change.
DAVIS DURING HIS BRIIEF CAREER
Ernie Davis was a Black American athlete, who did not live to see the race changes in his own country, let alone the rest of the world. There is a moving tribute to him in a film called The Express [SABC3.Saturday.19.30], Davis was a talented football star who was the first black recipient of the Heisman Trophy, the night he won the award, President John F Kennedy said,
It is a privilege for me to address you tonight as an outstanding American and a worthy example of our youth, I salute you.
ERNIE DAVIS HOLDS HIS AWARD
Davis predeceased Kennedy, dying of leukemia, in May 1963, aged just 23. The movie is very American, about the very American sport, but is so well made that it is accessible to all.
HENSON IN HUSTLE AND FLOW
There are two Made for TV movies, firstly 'Crime of the Week', Taken From Me: The Tiffany Rubin Story [M-Net.Saturday.01.40], for a change, a positive movie with a upbeat ending, a variation on a familiar theme, the love of a mother for her child; starring Taraji P Henson, who is so pert and perky in Hustle & Flow; her performance as Tiffany Rubin earned her an Emmy Nomination.
JEFFREY JOHNSON AND TANNER MAGUIRE
Letters to God [M-Net.Friday.09.30] is fiction with a factual base, one of those faith based movies that can crawl just a little over the top. There are good performances though from Jeffrey Johnson as an inebriated postman with a sackful of potentially holy mail and Tanner Maguire as a little boy, stricken by a life threatening illness; who puts pen to paper in letters addressed to God. One would have to be a monster not to be a little moved by the story, fanciful as it might be.
BUT, MOST OF ALL DON'T WATCH THE MOVIE!
From somewhere under some slimy rock someone has found the horrid remake of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, both of whom should have known better. For the record, the movie is called The Invasion [SABC1.Saturday.22.00] and I’ve written nasty comments about it before today.
INGRID BERGMAN IN 1969, AGED 54. SHE WON HER THIRD OSCAR FIVE YEARS FOR MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Infinitely worse is that ghastly cluttered remake of Cactus Flower, called Just Go with It [M-Net.Sunday.20.05], with Adam Sandler as Walter Matthau, it gets worse; we have Jennifer Aniston in the role made famous by Ingrid Bergman. Some things just shouldn’t be allowed. Just Go without It or better still find the DVD of Cactus Flower.
MUTTON SERVED WITH A BOTOX DRESSING
In Just Go With It, Nicole Kidman for some odd reason plays a superfluous friend of the Aniston character and the plot; I hope she isn’t coming down with a dose of ‘The Oscar Curse’
DUNAWAY AT THE HEIGHT OF HER SUCCESS-IN NETWORK
Faye Dunaway got the curse bad, got it bad, too. Dunaway was the All American Golden Girl of the late 60s and most of the 70s, winning a well deserved award in 1976, for Network.
SHE'S RIGHT, YOU KNOW-EVER SINCE MOMMIE DEAREST, SHE ALWAYS LOOKS A BIT LIKE JOAN CRAWFORD
She blames the slide in her fortunes on Mommie Dearest; if she and it wasn’t so funny I would blame it too. In A Family Thanksgiving [M-Net.Monday.22.30], Dunaway plays a competent second fiddle to Daphne Zuniga in a thought provoking retake of It’s a Wonderful Life.
A TELLING STILL FROM ROAD TO PERDITION
Curse wise, Tom Hanks should have been playing with loaded dice, after all, he notched up two wins in two years, but like Spencer Tracy before him, talent, timing and material choice served him well. There have been some duds along the way, but Road to Perdition [M-Net.Friday.04.05] is one of the best, the direction, plot and costars are practically perfect in every way.
HANKS AND LANE-SHOOTING AT SHADOWS
Colin Hanks is not as high profile as dad, he is merely a scenery filler in Untraceable [SABC2.Friday.23.30], which is an example of a grimy and potentially lethal sub culture called ‘torture porn’, Diane Lane stumbles about, looking horrified, as well she might.
LIKE ANY TOOL, THE INTERNET HAS TO BE CAREFULLY HANDLED
The World Wide Web like Pandora’s Box, once opened cannot be closed. I use and love the Internet all the time, but, in the wrong hands, this 21st century fox can be dangerous and deadly.
JOHN CONNOLLY IS NEVER KIND TO HIS CHARACTERS-KEVIN COSTNER PLAYS ONE OF THEM
After his double Oscar win in 1990, Kevin Costner’s fortunes have been less fortuitous, A New Daughter [M-Net. Friday 21.30 and Wednesday.23.00] based on a short story by Irish writer John Connolly is a particularly charmless tale woven around that favourite of the moment, the undead.
INDY THEN AND NOW
And now for Indy and his alter ego, Harrison Ford or should that read the other way around. Some 19 years separate the third and fourth Indiana Jones adventures, but Spielberg is still at the helm and the morning matinee format remains intact.
FORD WITH WIFE NUMBER THREE
Some things of course do change; Ford is looking older, but remains a cross between Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart, with traces of Clark Gable thrown in for luck.
HAD HE LIVED, RIVER PHOENIX WOULD BE IN HIS EARLY 40S NOW
During the intervening years, other stars from The Last Crusade [ e.tv.Friday.20.30]... Sean Connery has retired, while River Phoenix has sadly become part of the past forever.Stars from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull [e.tv.Sunday.20.00] were busy doing other things back in 1989,Cate Blanchett was making pin money as an extra and Shia LaBeouf was a troublesome? toddler.
THE START OF AN UPSWING?
Ford remains a constant, although his career has seen a few ups and downs, but don’t write him off, as Morning Glory [M-Net.Saturday.20.00 and Tuesday.00.00] will happily prove. The screenplay is by Aline Brosh Mc Kenna, who also wrote The Devil Wears Prada.
THE CUTTHROAT WORLD OF TELEVISION JOURNALISM
Ford and costars Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton are all on top form, the film is set in the world of television, where ratings are King and egos Enormous. This delightful movie is everything that Just Go with It isn’t. It's witty, lively and believable, with no reliance on the inane flushing of a malfunctioning toilet.
THE JOKE
The Wayans are unrepentant in Little Man [e.tv.Saturday.20.00 and Sunday.13.35] and are now using size and stupidity as the butt of their joke, I would say jokes, but really there is only one.
SOMETHING I'VE WANTED TO SAY FOR AGES- LOL
Morning Glory [M-Net. Saturday.20.00 and Tuesday.00.00] chooses itself.