Friday April 13
Splice [M-Net.23.30]
The Grace Card [M-Net.02.45]
Saturday April 14
GEORGE CLOONEY PUTS IT TOGETHER IN THE AMERICAN
The American [M-Net.20.30]
The Best of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog [SABC1.22.00]
License to Wed [SABC2.16.00]
The Bang-Bang Club [SABC3.21.35]
Surf’s Up [e.tv.20.00]
Sunday April 15
NEESON AND CROWE
The Next Three Days [M-Net.20.05]
When Love is not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story [M-Net.02.30]
Surf’s Up [e.tv.13.35]
Monday April 16
JAKE, A CHIP OFF THE SCOTT BLOCK
Welcome to the Rileys [M-Net.22.30]
The Assassination of Jesse James by that coward Robert Ford [SABC2.22.00]
Tuesday April 17
The American [M-Net.00.00]
The Grace Card [M-Net.01.45]
Wednesday April 18
Splice [M-Net.00.00]
***
ROBIN WILLIAMS IN GOOD WILL HUNTING
Talent comes in all shapes and sizes; comedy is a difficult art to perfect; more difficult because comedy and drama often exist side by side. In 1997, Robin Williams balanced the two emotions in just the right way and won an Oscar for his sensitive performance in Good Will Hunting.
AT THE BEGINNING-JUST AFTER GARP;WILLIAMS IN MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON
During a long career, Williams has often mined a rich vein of dramatic comedy; The World According to Garp is a classic, as is Good Morning Vietnam and the much underrated Moscow on the Hudson. Many people rank Dead Poet’s Society as a life changing experience.
MRS DOUBTFIRE WAS A BOX OFFICE SMASH
Since the early 90s, Williams has relied more and more on the obvious, he has done almost everything; from female impersonation to making fun of the handicapped, a lot of it laboured and extremely heavy going, a little like those Clowns who constantly use plastic flowers to squirt water in your unsuspecting face.
DOG COLLARED IN DOG OF A MOVIE
Williams reaches a new low in Licence To Wed [SABC2.Saturday.16.00], a really unfunny film. I suppose Williams shouldn’t have to shoulder all the blame; the direction from Ken Kwapis and acting from costar Mandy Moore are pretty dreadful too.
BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN
Another thing about successful acting, funny or serious, it has to look easy, George Clooney has been perfecting that art for a while now, as I’ve often said, he really is a true successor to Cary Grant.
CLOONEY TAKING AIM
Clooney really is an excellent natural actor; he is wonderful in an adaptation of Martin Booth’s A Very Private Gentleman, retitled The American [M-Net.Saturday.20.30 and Tuesday.00.00]. This is a fine adult thriller, where the most American part of the movie is the title and Clooney himself.
HENRY FONDA AS THE GUNMAN IN ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
Most of the cast is Italian, while the director Anton Corbijn is Dutch. Sometimes these cross cultural/ language mixtures don’t quite gel, this one does and superbly too. Interestingly, although horses, boots and hats are out of fashion, the overriding feeling of The American is one of sage bush and the lone gunslinger.
PAUL HAGGIS-TALENT TO SPARE
Another no frills performer is Russell Crowe, who appears in The Next Three Days [M-Net.Sunday. 20.05], a Paul Haggis nail biter, where Crowe teams with Elizabeth Banks. This tight little drama, adapted from the French movie, Pour Elle, stimulates and entertains without stretching the imagination to snapping point.
EVERYMAN RUSSELL CROWE-HERE WITH ELIZABETH BANKS
Paul Haggis who adapted both Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima for the screen, is a very gifted man, he also wrote and directed the award winning movie, Crash. He has done a brilliant job on The Next Three Days, using all his actors well, especially Russell Crowe’s remarkable ability to portray an unshaven, slightly disheveled Everyman.
IRISH ACTOR LIAM NEESON
Also, look out for Liam Neeson in a small but telling cameo. This is edge of the seat stuff, strong on story and atmosphere.
ANOTHER MOVIE-ANOTHER CAMEO
Adrien Brody, so wonderful as Salvador Dali in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, stars in the horror/ Sci-Fi movie Splice [M-Net. Friday.23.30 and Wednesday.00.00] a, which is admittedly far fetched, at least one fervently hopes so!
RULE NUMBER ONE-DON'T PLAY GOD-SARAH POLLEY AND ADRIEN BRODY
But… with DNA so malleable and scientifically available these days, this kind of scenario could so easily happen in the near future. Let’s face it, the tools have been liberated long ago, that is what makes this movie, especially the ending, so truly frightening.
HEY, DUDE
The animated film Surf’s Up [e.tv.Saturday.20.00 and Sunday 13.35], starring another Oscar winner, Jeff Bridges, is laidback and coolly filmed in a pseudo doccie style. More and more Animated Features are made with an eye to the adult market. This one is a very watchable example.
LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM
Another Adult movie masquerading in kiddie clothing is the puppet/ dog from SNL. The Best of Triumph The Insult Comic Dog bares his teeth on [Friday.SABC1 at 22.00]
BRAD PITT
A Western insert, just to please… me. Brad Pitt, like Richard Burton is so busy providing fodder for the tabloids that it is easy to forget just what a fine actor he is. He is another film actor who doesn’t appear to act. Yet, his characterizations, a process of creating from deep inside, are spot on every time.
THIS IS TYRONE POWER AS JESSE JAMES. THE YEAR WAS 1939; HENRY FONDA PLAYED HIS BROTHER FRANK
He plays Jesse James in The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford [SABC2.Monday.22.00]. Almost every actor who has ever donned a cowboy hat has played Jesse James, an outlaw of the American West, revered as a train hopping Robin Hood.
DEAKINS HAS YET TO WIN AN OSCAR; DESPITE NINE NOMINATIONS. THIS IS A TELLING STILL FROM SAM MENDES' JARHEAD
Jesse James is a long, thoughtful movie, in the great Western Tradition, with cinematography by the great Roger Deakins.
NAKED GRIEF FROM MELISSA LEO
A chance to see last year’s winner, Melissa Leo in Welcome to the Rileys [M-Net.Monday.22.30] , a story about ordinary people unsuccessfully struggling to come to terms with the death of a child, surely the hardest thing in the world to do.
GANDOLFINI AND STEWART
James Gandolfini plays her husband, while Kristin Stewart, who can be very compelling when separated from her fanged friends, is finely drawn as a troubled young woman who provides the family with a kind of solution. A sad and truly touching movie directed by Jake Scott and produced by Dad Ridley and Uncle Tony.
AN UNEASY PARTNERSHIP
The Grace Card [M-Net.Friday.02.45 and Tuesday.01.45] also has, at its core, the death of a child. Michael Higgenbottom plays an angry bereaved parent who uses his Christian police partner as a verbal and emotional whipping post.
LOU GOSSETT PLAYING THE PART AND WINNING THE AWARD
Lou Gossett who was the first black actor ever to win an Oscar, ‘for a performance in a supporting role’ in An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982, gives this made for television movie a touch of class. Unfortunately, like so many of these faith based stories, the answers are made very simple, too simple perhaps.
WINONA RYDER AS LOIS WILSON-BARRY PEPPER PLAYS HUSBAND BILL
Winona Ryder, who is hopefully on the comeback trail, plays Lois Wilson, long suffering wife of Bill W, co founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. In AA, the recovering alcoholic follows a 12 point plan and attends meetings with fellow sufferers almost every night; in many cases, the meetings replace the malt whisky.
AN AL-ANON BUMPER STICKER
Lois formed Al-Anon, to help the families of recovering alcoholics; the problems seldom cease just because the cork goes back into the bottle and of course, there is the ever present fear of relapse.
LOIS WILSON LIVED TO A GREAT AGE
When Love is not Enough: The Lois Wilson Story [M-Net.Sunday.02.30] is an honest reflection on the disease and the impact addiction has on people close to the addict. Lois Wilson was a brave, loyal, deep thinking woman who did not have an easy life. Ryder gives an honest, intelligent performance in an often difficult role.
PHOTOS LIKE THESE WERE BAD FOR MORALE-CAMERAS WERE SOON BANNED
Photojournalism had its origin during The Boer War, when soldiers took their primitive cameras into action. These early photos show in graphic detail that War is indeed hell on earth.
MAGAZINES BEGAN TO PAY BIG MONEY FOR COMBAT PHOTOS
Robert Capa in his short brilliant career, during and just after the Second World War was the first real combat lensman, the founding father of a band of men and women who risk their lives and their sanity every day, to bring glimpses of bloody battle to film, newsprint and television.
A MOMENT IN TIME-MEMBERS OF THE BANG-BANG CLUB
The Bang-Bang Club [SABC3.Saturday.21.35], based on a chillingly true story, set in the dying days of Apartheid, proves that the heady mix of action, lens and adrenalin can be a dangerous addiction.
THE MOVIE:FRANS RAUTENBACH AS KEN OOSTERBROEK, NEELS VAN JAARSVELD AS JOAO SILVA, TAYLOR KITSCH AS KEVIN CARTER AND RYAN PHILLIPPE AS GREG MARINOVICH
Although the film may not a great one, it is a South African story tells us about our present and future through the lens of our past; and if for no other reason than that , the movie should be seen.
GEORGE CLOONEY AS THE AMERICAN
After a lot of thought… hell, it took me well over five minutes to choose The Next Three Days [M-Net.Sunday.20.05] over Splice [M-Net.Friday.23.30 and Wednesday.00.00] and The American [M-Net.20.30 and Tuesday.00.00].