Thursday April 26
My Best Friend’s Wedding [e.tv.20.30]
Bless the Child [e.tv.22.40 and 03.00]
Friday April 27
The Rite [M-Net.22.30]
My Best Friend’s Wedding [e.tv.12.30]
Paycheck [e.tv.20.30]
The Covenant [e.tv.01.30]
Saturday April 28
LET'S BEGIN WITH A BANG
Hanna [M-Net.20.30]
The Brave One [SABC1.22.15]
A Memory in my Heart [e.tv.14.00]
Panic Room [e.tv.21.40 and 01.30]
Sunday April 29
Water for Elephants [M-Net.20.05]
HEY HO; THE GANG'S ALL HERE!
Ocean’s Thirteen [SABC1.20.00]
A Memory in my Heart [e.tv.13.35]
Taxi Driver [e.tv.22.25]
Monday April 30
Twelve [M-Net.22.30]
Tuesday May 1
ERIC BANA IN HANNA
Hanna [M-Net.00.00]
Wednesday May 2
The Rite [M-Net.00.00]
The Mermaid Chair [e.tv.22.35]
***
FRIENDS TOGETHER-FOREVER
For a while now, I have been enthusing about the Thursday night 20.30 slot on e; yes, the movies are old, if 15 years old is old. But, I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see an older movie with quality for a second or even third time than a new release that is awful.
THE FRIEND AND THE BRIDE TO BE
My Best Friend’s Wedding [e.tv.Thursday.20.30 and Friday.12.30], dating from 1997 is a bright, lively comedy, with sweetly serious screwball undertones; very much in the grand tradition of Frank Capra and Billy Wilder.
CAMERON DIAZ ABOUT TO SING FOR HER SUPPER
Julia Roberts is at her expansive best; and of course, no one is better than Dermot Mulroney as the slightly ruffled, put upon leading man, while Cameron Diaz, aged just 25, has never been more alluring.
A DIFFICULT ROLE-HERE MADE TO LOOK EASY
But, it is Rupert Everett, as Julia’s gay pal, who effectively steals the show. This kind of part is difficult to play well, as it can so easily degenerate into camp caricature. The script by Ronald Bass is a thoughtful mix of wit and sentiment and is very funny indeed; My Best Friend’s Wedding was a treat on release, and has stood the test of time very well indeed.
DANIEL CRAIG DOING HIS STEVE MCQUEEN IMPERSONATION
Movie talk is all James Bond at the moment; what with the release of Skyfall, his 23rd adventure, and 2012, being the old boy’s 50th celluloid birthday.
URSULA ANDRESS AS HONEY RIDER
Sean Connery was the first and finest stirrer, starting back in 1962, with Dr No, the movie where Ursula Andress made her entrance from the sea, becoming, as she did so, the first ‘Bond Girl’.
EVERYONE HAS A FAVOURITE-MINE IS DAME DIANA RIGG; ALMOST MRS BOND IN ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
Over the years, many actresses, some of them fairly talented, have played Girl to Bond, two of the best known being Jane Seymour and Kim Basinger who both, quite incidentally, grace our screens this week.
THE BOND GIRL LOOK. JANE SEYMOUR AS SOLITAIRE
Jane Seymour Bonded back in 1971, with Roger Moore, when he made his debut as 007 in Live and Let Die, becoming screen Bond #3. Over the years, Jane Seymour has had better luck on the small screen than the large, Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman had a long and healthy run from January 1993 to May 1998.
THE PAST CAN BE A DANGEROUS PLACE
In A Memory in my Heart [e.tv. Saturday.14.00 and Sunday.13.35], Seymour plays a woman with amnesia who lands in all sorts of trouble when she goes in search of her earlier existence. The script might be a trifle predictable plot wise, but as Made-for-Television movies go, not bad at all.
THE LOOK ALMOST A DECADE LATER. KIM BASINGER AS DOMINO
Kim Basinger, mother of Ireland has certainly had career ups and downs since she Bonded with Sean Connery when he made a 007 comeback in the 1983 Never Say Never Again.
SUE MONK KIDD
In the 2006, Made-for-Television movie, The Mermaid Chair [e.tv.Wednesday.22.35], Basinger falls in love with a monk, resulting in much emotional wrangling; the screenplay is based on the award winning, best selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd.
BY THE PRICKING OF MY THUMBS...
In her 2000 big screen movie, Bless the Child [e.tv. Thursday.22.40 and 03.00]; Basinger costars with Jimmy Smits and a sinister Rufus Sewell. Poor old Kim, she looks in turn stricken and confused as she realizes that all around her, there are those who may be shaking hand or hoof with the Devil. This rather grim horror flick is an adaptation of a novel by Cathy Cash Spellman.
...SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES
Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’ Donoghue and Alice Braga spend serious time and energy wrestling with evil spirits in The Rite [M-Net.Friday.22.30 and Wednesday.00.00], a low key, finely acted example of the ‘Religious Horror’ genre. This battle against demonic forces, very popular at the moment, is taken a lot more seriously today than it was when the quintessential example, The Exorcist was released in 1973.
WHAT THE WELL DRESSED WARLOCK IS WEARING THIS WEEK
Unfortunately, this type of movie can become very silly, very quickly; The Covenant [e.tv.Friday.01.30] takes the Cauldron— I Am a 400 Year Old Teenaged Warlock: True Romance in Pictures.
RONAN WITH HER MR WRIGHT
Much more grounded, and of its type a very good movie indeed is Hanna [M-Net.Saturday.20.30 and Tuesday.00.00], which reunites Saoirse Ronan, now aged 18, with her Atonement director, Joe Wright; other than that, there is really no comparison between the two movies.
A CLASSY ACT-CATE BLANCHETT
Hanna is edge of the seat action all the way, with Ronan as the girl heroine, Eric Bana as the father who trains her and Cate Blanchett as the agent who tracks her.
A FACE OF THE FUTURE-SAOIRSE RONAN
An intelligent adventure movie, with good acting all round; especially from Ronan who, after Atonement, City of Ember and The Lovely Bones has an exciting future to anticipate.
FOSTER AS HER 50TH BIRTHDAY APPROACHES
Another actress who started young is Jodie Foster, who has lived in the pubic eye most of her life. Foster has spent many hours both in front and behind the camera; see some of that work on the box this week.
(ALMOST) AT THE BEGNING
She was only 13 when Martin Scorsese cast her as the preteenaged prostitute in Taxi Driver [e.tv.Sunday.22.25], a darkly introspective movie that has developed a cult following of mammoth proportions.
KRISTEN STEWART-ANOTHER YOUNG STAR WHO HAS GROWN UP BEFORE OUR EYES
Foster made Panic Room [e.tv.Saturday.21.40 and 01.30] almost two and a half decades later, a tight thriller, well paced by the very talented David Fincher; Forest Whitaker and Kristin Stewart co star.
FOSTER AS THE BRAVE ONE
Another very gifted director, Neil Jordan was behind the camera for The Brave One [SABC1.Saturday.22.15]; this time Foster plays vengeful vigilante opposite Terrence Howard. These films, which I have reviewed before, give but a glimpse of Foster’s skill and depth. As her 50th birthday approaches, one can but wonder where Jodie Foster, actress and director, is headed.
RILEY, FOSTER, WALTZ AND WINSLET-TALENT ATTRACTS TALENT
Her latest release is tantalizing, a talent fueled version of Yesmina Reza’s Carnage, directed by Roman Polanski, where she teams up with Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John Riley.
LENI RIEFENSTAHL-FILMMAKER OF THE THIRD REICH
Apparently she is working on a possible biopic, based on the life of controversial German director Leni Riefenstahl, Oscar number three in the making, who knows?
KIDMAN AS KELLY.I WONDER?
The word is that Nicole Kidman, who provides the narrating voice in Panic Room, is filming a movie centered on the life of Princess Grace; interesting casting. The Peacemaker [e.tv.Friday.22.55] dates from a time when Kidman was still Mrs. Cruise; before her divorce, her Oscar and superstardom of a kind.
CLOONEY AND KIDMAN IN 1997
The Peacemaker co stars George Clooney, who was also, at that time, cutting his big screen teeth. The handsome couple interact rather well in an old-fashioned, edgy espionage thriller; not a vampire or a demon in sight.
STAR SPOTTING FROM OCEANS 13
George and the gang are back in Oceans 13 [SABC1.Sunday.20.00], no Julia Roberts this time but Brad, Matt, Andy and Elliot Gould are all present and correct; with a dash of Al Pacino added for extra flavour. I don’t care what people say, I’m very fond of Danny Ocean and the gang.
DIRECTOR JOEL SCHUMACHER
In his day, Joel Schumacher Brat Packed in the 80s, Bat Manned with both Kilmer and Clooney and was novelist John Grisham’s director of choice. Judging by the lack of lustre displayed in Twelve [M-Net.Monday.22.30], maybe the poor dear should seriously consider retirement.
ROB AND REESE WITH ROSIE THE ELEPHANT
Like Kristin Stewart, Robert Pattinson made his name fanging. He and Reese Witherspoon play out love and romance against a circus background, in Water for Elephants [M-Net.Sunday.20.05] with Christoph Waltz as a fully frothed villain.
A TELLING SHOT FROM WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
The movie, based on the novel by Sara Gruen, is better than expected, director Francis Lawrence and cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto capture America during doom laden depression very well.
RIDLEY SCOTT'S MOVIE GOT A NOD OF APPROVAL FROM PHILIP DICK
Ever since Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? became Bladerunner in 1982, filmmakers have bravely tried to bring the work of Sci-Fi writer Philip K Dick to the screen; some more successfully than others. One of the major filming problems is that each story is a creation of a mind that is often far removed from reality.
A MIND OF A VERY DIFFERENT KIND
Dick wrote strange eerie things that reflected his own paranoia, his ideas of mind wiping, sinister control, unseen conspiracy, secret police, structured random choosing can come across as… shall we say… bizarre; yet his writing has dated a lot better than many of his contemporaries.
BEN AFFLECK AND UMA THURMAN IN PAYCHECK
Unfortunately, the movie version of Paycheck [e.tv.Friday.20.30] is badly structured and allows itself to become badly cluttered but there are a few moments of pure Dickian. Watch the movie, and then, if you are intrigued, seek out the short story on which it is based.
LET'S END WITH ANOTHER BANG
My pick is Hanna [M-Net.Saturday.20.30 and Tuesday.00.00], a clever plot with a stinging tale.