Friday April 20
I COULDN'T RESIST THIS PHOTO
You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger [M-Net.21.30]
The Getaway [e.tv.22.30]
Saturday April 21
African Cats: Kingdom of Courage [M-Net.06.00]
The Roommate [M-Net.20.30]
Cars 2 [ M-Net.00.05]
DREW BARRYMORE LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE HER AUNTIE ETHEL
Lucky You [SABC3.19.30]
The Morning After 2: The Awakening [e.tv.21.50 and 01.15]
Sunday April 22
No Strings Attached [M-Net.20.05]
8TH CENTURY SUPERMAN
Beowulf [SABC1.20.00]
Monday April 23
Never Let Me Go [M-Net.22.30]
The Reaping [SABC2.22.00]
Tuesday April 24
The Roommate [M-Net.00.00]
Inventing the Abbotts [e.tv.23.00]
Wednesday April 24
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger [M-Net.00.00]
***
WHAT THEY WANTED:BOGIE AND BERGMAN
In one of the Weekend Papers, someone was writing about famous movie catchphrases and of course Casablanca came up—‘Here’s looking at you, kid’ says Bogie to Ingrid Bergman, so far, so good.
WHAT WE GOT: HENREID AND DAVIS
On page 17 of the Sunday Edition this phrase was illustrated by a photo, which wittily said, ‘Play It Again, Bogart.’ Now, I know everybody makes mistakes but the photo was not from Casablanca at all, it was from another Warner’s movie from the same era, Now, Voyager. In the photo on page 17, Paul Henreid is seen lighting a cigarette for Bette Davis. No sign of either Bogart or Ingrid Bergman. Whoops!
NEVER AS BIG AS M.G.M. OR WARNER BROS, PARAMOUNT IS STILL AROUND. IT WAS ONE OF THE RELEASE COMPANIES OF NO STRINGS ATTACHED
Back to the week that is. If you look hard and long enough, there really is something for everyone; comedy, drama, biography, wild life documentary, the past and a frightening glimpse at a very possible parallel near future.
WRITER ELIZABETH MERIWETHER
Something bright and light to start; Natalie Portman very cleverly sidestepped being typecast as ‘a troubled woman’ after her brilliant but disturbing portrayal in Black Swan, when she chose a screenplay written by Elizabeth Meriwether, one of the Fempire group of writers; another member is Diablo Cody.
PORTMAN AND ASHTON KUTCHER
These women write straight from the hip, and often hit both a nerve and the funny bone. Friends With Benefits or No Strings Attached [M-Net.Sunday.20.05] takes a rueful look at modern love and loving; Portman and Ashton Kutcher try to have the fun without the frustrations that come with real commitment.
KEVIN KLINE
The dialogue crackles along happily; there is chemistry aplenty; and an extra treat is Kevin Kline who has slipped gleefully from leading to scene enhancing supporting roles. If nothing else, the sequence in the lift is well worth waiting for.
AUGUSTEN XON BURROUGHS
Running With Scissors [e.tv.Friday.00.50] is a skittish biograph, based on the early life of Augusten Burroughs, with a cast as long as an average arm. Ryan Murphy, creator of television hits, Nip/Tuck and latterly Glee blurs small and big screen technique as he directs the stop/start traffic.
ALEC BALDWIN AND ANNETTE BENING
Annette Bening, Gwynth Paltrow, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin and Joseph Cross as the camply self named Augusten Xon Burroughs ( born Christopher Robison) battle gamely with a top heavy script; a little too outlandish for most tastes.
SHE, JANE WYMAN, WAS ONCE MRS RONALD REAGAN, HE WAS ALWAYS ROCK HUDSON
Stepping back a little, in 1996, Patrick O’Connor used a story by Sue Miller to pay tribute to Douglas Sirk, the man who, when he made Magnificent Obsession, Written on the Wind and Imitation of Life, single handedly invented the glossy, lip stick smeared modern soap opera.
LIV TYLER HAS HER FATHER'S...EYES
Joaquin Phoenix, Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly and Liv Tyler form a beautiful quartet as they make, break and make up. The movie, called Inventing the Abbotts [e.tv.Tuesday.23.00], is set in the 50s, but, saying that, many of the situations smack very much of the 90s.
SIR ANTHONY AND MS WATTS
People love the vicarious delight of peeping into the future; every magazine worth its salt has a stars foretell page, where next week may bring money from an unexpected source or the attentions of a dark stranger; in Woody Allen’s 2010 movie, the latter is true.
JOSH BROLIN IS CAST AS A WRITER
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger [M-Net.Friday.21.30 and Wednesday.00.00] is vintage Woody; he cajoles a top class cast, mainly British, providing them with a script that is Allenesque all the way, including a writer at the crossroads, infidelity and marital mayhem, all related by an self-deprecating narrating voice.
GEMMA JONES IN CONSULTATION WITH PAULINE COLLINS
Allen’s actors are, as usual, handpicked and twice refined, including Gemma Jones ( best known for her work on stage and British Television) as well as Sir Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Josh Brolin and Antonio Bandaras.
I HAVE LOVED WOODY ALLEN SINCE THE 60S
One thing that staunch Woodyphiles don’t have to worry about, our hero seems incapable of writer’s block, he has had a major acting, directing and writing role in over 50 films; spanning a forty five year career.
LIKE THIS...
What indeed does the future hold? The Moment After 2: The Awakening [e.tv.Saturday.21.50 and 01.15] is the direct to DVD sequel to the 1999 faith based story, which tells of events following the Rapture. The movie, like its predecessor, is much easier to relate to if your belief system is based on the New Testament.
...OR THIS
The Reaping [SABC2.Monday.22.00] is another think and it’s coming. We have, in no special order, Water Running Blood, Devil Seed and Hillary Swank; thank heaven that the end is only 99 minutes from the beginning.
THE BEST THING ABOUT THE MOVIE IS THIS POSTER
Another tired, well worn plot. The Roommate [M-Net.Saturday.20.30 and Tuesday.00.00] is Single White Female without a shred of talent or Bridget Fonda.
STEVE AND ALI-BRIEFLY A COUPLE, BACK IN THE 70S
Stamping familiar ground is the remaking of
The Getaway.e.tv.Friday.22.30] The first version dates from 1972 when violence was breaking out all over our screens, Sam (The Wild Bunch) Peckinpah, who was in the forefront of this bloody assault, cast, as his leading players, tough guy Steve McQueen and moist heroine Ali McGraw.
HOW MUCH MONEY?LOTS OF MONEY!
Later, McQueen and MacGraw, much to the delight of the tabloids, turned that casting into a brief marriage, Quincy Jones composed the music and the film made lots of money.
KIM AND ALEC-A COUPLE FOR MOST OF THE 90S
Some 20 odd years later, during their stormy union, the Battling Baldwins remade the violent potboiler, but the moment, such as it was, had passed. The film contains a great deal of sex and sneering, mirroring some of Baldwin and Basinger’s off screen antics.
COUPLE OF THE WEEK-FOR A WHILE
For those interested, yes, the tabloids had great fun when that marriage too, ended in tears and, for the buffs, in the remake; Richard Farnsworth played the part created by Western stalwart Slim Pickens.
MANUSCRIPT IN OLD ENGLISH
When the future becomes too much to bare, filmmakers turn to antiquity. Beowulf [SABC1.Sunday.20.00] is one of the oldest existing Anglo Saxon poems; not much has changed, good and evil battle ever onwards and ever upwards.
ENOUGH TO FRIGHTEN THE LITTLE ONES TO DEATH
Robert Zemeckis known for his work in the field of Motion Capture does a fine job directing, as do Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary with their finely toned script. Ray Winstone, John Malkovich and Sir Anthony Hopkins star, while Angelina Jolie is enough to give Oedipus and everyone else quite a complex complex… and then some.
CARS THE SECOND
I wish that Pixar had left their rather sleek Cars in the garage. Cars 2 [M-Net.Saturday.00.05] is really a bit of an old banger. But what a voice cast, Michael Caine, Vanessa Redgrave, and her long time love Franco Nero, to name but a few.
BRUNCH
For wild life enthusiasts, Disney has photographed members of the animal kingdom taking care of their young while providing a tasty tidbit or two for lunch in the quaintly titled African Cats: Kingdom of Courage [M-Net.Saturday.06.00]. Sam Jackson provides the narration.
ROBERT DUVALL AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE DURING THE FILMING OF LUCKY YOU
Eric Bana is poker faced, amid a deck of poker faces in Lucky You [SABC3.Saturday.19.30], which dates from 2007. This effort is for five card stud fans only, although both Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall are always worth a small flutter.
NEVER LET ME GO-KATUO ISHIGURO'S VISION OF DYSTOPIA
Katuo Ishiguro, one of the finest writers working in English today was only six when his family moved from Nagasaki in Japan to England, where he grew up and was educated.
EMMA THOMPSON AND ANTHONY HOPKINS MADE THE FILM VERSION OF REMAINS OF THE DAY VERY SPECIAL
His novel, Remains of the Day was one of the hugely successful movies made by the team of Ismael Merchant and James Ivory. Incidentally, Ishiguro also scripted the much underrated Merchant/Ivory collaboration The White Countess in 2005.
YOUTHFUL INNOCENCE-KNIGHTLEY, MULLIGAN AND GARFIELD
Ishiguro’s novel, Never Let Me Go [M-Net.Monday.22.30], set in a parallel universe, makes for terrifying viewing. Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield are characters trapped in a seemingly benign environment; they eat, drink, love and think, yet they have been brought into existence for only one reason.
WAITING FOR LIFE TO START...
Ishiguro’s narrative comes to chilling fulfillment, with direction by Mark Romeneck, script by Alec Garland and haunting music by Rachel Portman. To say more about the plot would be unfair.
RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES
I must choose Never Let Me Go [M-Net.Monday.22.30]