Friday December 7
JAMIE FOXX IS MORE THAN A MATCH FOR THE HORRIBLE BOSSES
Horrible Bosses [M-Net.22.30]
Saturday December 8
The Beaver [M-Net.06.00]
Home Alone [e.tv.20.00]
Runaway Jury [e.tv.22.05]
Sunday December 9
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 [M-Net.03.30]
EMILY BLUNT-TAKING STRAIN IN WIND CHILL
Wind Chill [e.tv.01.55]
Monday December 10
Last Chance Harvey [M-Net.09.30]
BRAD-FOR THE FANS
Inglorious Basterds [SABC2.22.00]
Paper Man [M-Net.01.15]
Horrible Bosses [M-Net.03.05]
Tuesday December11
Zilch
Wednesday December12
The Twilight Saga : Breaking Dawn—Part 1
Thanks so much for the welcome home messages, it is great to be back; hope the TCM reviews are okay, I am just cherry picking ones that seem to be appropriate.
KIERAN AND MICHELE MULRONEY-HERE WITH KIERAN'S BROTHER DERMOT
In the rather muddled Paper Man [M-Net. Monday, written and directed by first time collaborating team, Kieran and Michele Mulroney, who have a background in television; and it shows, I'm afraid. The duo bite off far more than they can chew or we can swallow in a tale of a writer, gamely played by Jeff Daniels, desperately trying to unblock his creative juices.
JEFF DANIELS BATTLES HIS DEMON
The film never really solidifies, as Daniels finds solace of a kind with a troubled soul played by Emma Stone and grapples with his alter ego, Captain Excellent, played by Ryan Reynolds. There is potential here, but the finished product, in spite of brave performances, remains extremely bitsy and piecey.
TENNESSE WILLIAMS-BRIILLIANT AND TORMENTED
Writers in general have so much whirling around in their subconscious minds that their very creativity can drive them a little crazy, one of the finest and craziest writers of the last century was playwright Tennessee Williams.
A SUPERB SHOT FROM SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH- PAUL NEWMAN AND GERALDINE PAGE
Many of his fine plays havebeen filmed over the years, including two good examples on TCM this week. In, Sweet Bird of Youth [TCM.Saturday.8], Geraldine Page, Paul Newman and Ed Begley bring their grandiose performances from Broadway.
ED BEGLEY HOLDS HIS OSCAR FOR SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH- WITH HIM IS FELLOW WINNER PATTY DUKE. BEGLEY'S SON, ED JNR IS STILL ACTING TODAY
Of course, much of the emotional torment is toned down, to accommodate the censorship laws of the day, but the film remains absorbing, compelling and just a little exhausting.
PAUL NEWMAN IGNORES HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof [TCM.Sunday.9. 18.15], with Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie the Cat and Paul Newman as her sodden uneasyly gay husband Brick—All the sexual angst is implied through innuendo; Newman manages to covey’s Brick’s pain without being able to say anything right out loud.
JOE ORTON WAS ONLY 34 WHEN HE WAS MURDERED IN 1967.
Williams was difficult to film within the moral codes prevailing in the 50s and early 60s, his work like that of Joe Orton, was way ahead of it’s time.
SNOGGING-ON SCREEN AND OFF
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 1 [M-Net.Sunday.03.30 and Wednesday.00.00] grinds on, starring the usual suspects and a few new recruits. More and more these movies seem to be geared to the needs of their huge and loyal fanbase; while the two major stars, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart glumly continue to indulge in a scratchy on off on affair.
AS I SAID-ON SCREEN AND OFF
Like Brad and Angie, they seem to generated almost as many tabloid inches as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton did back in the 60s.What would the tabloids do without these onscreen couplings that smolder into off screen sexual hijicks? What Indeed!
JON AND FAYE
No sign of Angie this week, but Brad battles Nazis in Tarantino’s stingingly satisfying Inglorious Basterds [SABC2.Monday.22.00] and on TCM, his ‘dad in law’ Jon Voight stars in the old Wallace Beery role along side Faye Dunaway in the remake of The Champ [TCM.Tuesday 11. 11.50], neither Jon or Faye’s career really fully recovered from the sugar overdose of this 1979 epic, directed surprisingly enough by Franco Zeffirelli.
ONCE MORE FOR LUCK!]
Back to Liz and Dick – The Burtons, too, made some really atrocious films together; to pay for the diamonds and the vodka no doubt, but early on there were quite a few very likeable outings,
DAME MARGARET
The VIPs [around on TCM this month], a superior soapy, packed with an all star cast including Oscar winner Margaret Rutherford, a young Maggie Smith and a fairly svelte Orson Welles. The VIPs is a slick black and white effort, neatly scripted by Sir Terrence Rattigan.
THE BURTONS IN THEIR EARLY DAYS
Released some two years later, The Sandpiper [TCM.Tuesday.11.], was filmed at a time when the couple are clearly mesmerized with each other, they bill and coo while the with Oscar winning song, The Shadow of Your Smile shimmers over the soundtrack; surprisingly, the screen play was written by Dalton Trumbo, during the McCarthy era, he was one of the blighted Hollywood Ten
TRACY AND HEPBURN SHARE A CLOSE MOMENT
Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were another veteran Hollywood teaming, both onscreen and off. They appear this week they star in Adam's Rib [TCM.Tuesday.11], their 6th movie together.
TRACY AND HEPBURN FLANK JUDY HOLIDAY
This sparkling dramatic comedy costars one of the best comediennes ever, Judy Holiday, as a woman who attempts to blow her erring spouse away. This classic courtroom scenes are sassy, with an edge that often draws blood.
THE TALENTED CAST OF THE RUNAWAY JURY
Staying in the courtroom, there is a first class adaptation of John Grisham’s 1996 bestseller The Runaway Jury [e.tv.Saturday.22.05]. Grisham is very able to plunge his pen straight into the heart of the matter; this legal drama is smart, fast and very very clever. The casting could not be better, and includes Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz and the ever competent Dustin Hoffman, who has turned his talented hand to directing, aged 75.
HOFFMAN AND EMMA THOMPSON DO GREAT THINGS TOGETHER
Hoffman can also be seen in Last Chance Harvey [M-Net.09.30], a delightful middle aged romance, with Emma Thompson. Whenever I see Dustin, I always think that he has aged so gracefully, like really full bodied red wine.
THE YOUNG GENE HACKMAN
A very young Gene Hackman can also be spied on TCM [Sunday.9.21.55] in The Split, a high speed, well made caper, so popular at the time. If you manage too catch this 1968 movie, look out for another young man with a dazzling future, Donald Sutherland.
MEL GIBSON
Jodie Foster dons her directing cap and does a sensitive job on and in The Beaver [M-Net.Saturday.06.00 and Wednesday.4.00], where Mel Gibson turns in a surprisingly sensitive performance as withdrawn, anguished man who needs a glove puppet to help express himself, an original and demanding idea that almost lasts the pace.
IS AIDED AND ABETTED IN THE BEAVER BY JODIE FOSTER
Child stars, of whom Foster is probably the most talented and successful, are for the most part, an endangered species. Macaulay Culkin was at his most wide eyed adorable, almost ten year old self in Home Alone [e.tv.Saturday.20.00], a film that really has stood the test of time.
MACAULAY-CAP 'N' TEETH
Young Macaulay, the late John Candy, Catherine O’Hara and Joe Pesci as the deftly named Harry Lime are all spot on; forget the franchise follow-ups, this one is really funny and almost a laugh a minute.
GROWING UP IS HARD TO DO
Like many cute little people, Culkin’s luck hasn’t followed him into adulthood, growing up gracefully in the movies is a very hard thing to do.
JUDY SANG THE OSCAR WINNING ON THE ATCHISON TOPEKA AND SANTE FE IN THE HARVEY GIRLS
One of the most formidable young talents and in many ways, the saddest, was Judy Garland. This week on TCM; she features in Easter Parade [TCM. Monday.10,] The Harvey Girls [TCM.Saturday.8 and Sunday 9. 8.20].
GARLAND'S WEIGHT YO YOED THROUGHOUT THE FILMING OF SUMMER STOCK. SHE WENT ON A CRASH DIET BEFORE FILMING THE GET HAPPY FINALE
As well as Summer Stock, [TCM.Sunday.9.14.45] a movie made just before MGM fired her in 1950. Garland was just 28 years old. Try and catch some Garland on TCM, even the bad ones are good.
EVEN AS A ROMANTIC LEAD, RICHARD WIDMARK LOOKS THUGGY, EVEN THOUGH HE GOT TO SING RUNAWAY SKIDDADLE SKIDOO WITH COSTAR DORIS DAY
Gene Kelly is a perennial on TCM, this week he steps behind the camera for Tunnel of Love [TCM.Tuesday11.05.00], an odd kettle of fish all round. Classic heavy Richard Widmark tries his hand at comedy, holding tight to fluffy Doris Day’s hand, as they try to adopt a child. This movie contains all the hearts and artificial flowers, so dear to the sentimental movie makers of the late 1950s.
GIG YOUNG- THIRD FROM LEFT
Poor co star Gig Young, who sadly is remembered now not as a versatile second lead, but for winning an Oscar in 1969, and then really living the Oscar Curse. In 1978, he murdered his wife of one week, before turning the gun on himself.
ANNETTE BENING
Adoption, with all its emotive ramifications is sensitively handled in Mother and Child [M-Net. Thursday.01.30];a finely drawn film dating from 2011 that sees fine performances from Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Kelly Washington. I have reviewed this movie before and now like then, it comes highly recommended.
A HAUNTING STILL FROM THE HAUNTING
The Haunting [TCM.Saturday.8] is a horror film, in similar mode to Wind Chill [e.tv.Sunday.01.55], except that The Haunting, made in 1963 by Robert Wise, about 50 times more terrifying and never lets up for an instant. A must see for Horror buffs. Julie Harris and Claire Bloom star.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE THIS ONE?
Horrible Bosses [ M-Net.Friday.22.30] is not that horrible at all and is a gift for anyone who longs to revenge themselves on the ghastly people that they are forced to work for.Like any dark comedy this movie could and should offend, that is what black humour does.
OR THIS ONE?
All the stars (Justin Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) are snappy but the bosses (Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey) really put the Capital H into Horrible. Needless to say, Jamie Foxx as Dean 'Motherfucker' Jones neatly steals the show.
LEGAL EAGLE JOHN GRISHAM WROTE THE RUNAWAY JURY
My pick is The Runaway Jury [e.tv. Saturday.22.05]; which is fine all round entertainment, strewn with extremely clever red herrings.