Friday 15
The Conspirator [M-Net.09.30]
RUN FOR YOUR LIVES
Chicken Run [e.tv.14.30]
Predator [e.tv.20.30]
Saturday 16
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY
Mission:Impossible-Ghost Protocol [M-Net.01.15]
Cry, The Beloved Country [SABC3.19.30]
Chicken Run [e.tv.14.00]
The Last King of Scotland [e.tv.23.55]
Sunday 17
War Horse [M-Net.20.05]
Pirates of the Caribbean:On Stranger Tides [M-Net.23.55]
The Avengers [M-Net.01.55]
TINTIN AND SNOWY-AS MILLIONS LOVE THEM
The Adventures of TinTin [M-Net.04.15]
Once Upon a Time in America [e.tv.22.10]
Monday 18
Zilch
Tuesday 19
JAMIE AND KERRY
Ray [M-Net.23.45]
Going the Distance [M-Net.01.50]
Wednesday 20
Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol [M-Net.00.00]
***
BREAKING NEWS IS STILL BREAKING NEWS
There is a fair amount of historical interpretation on the box this week; trouble with fact; before anyone begins telling a story drawn from the pages of history, everyone knows what happened in the end… or do we?
PUTTING A SPIN ON EVENTS
Long before we had Spin Doctors to direct our thinking, there were those famous Snake Oil Salesmen, doing a similar job. Is history a subtle blend of smoke and mirrors, or does it just seem that way?
HISTORY ABOUT TO HAPPEN
Steven Spielberg took a huge gamble when he threw his directing hat into the ring and decided to turn the last days of the 16th American President of America into a movie. Lincoln, the movie, has turned into a successful talking point, proudly waving the flag and a fist full of Oscar Nominations.
DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
Last year, Robert Redford unpacked a very different brand of snake oil essence, when he made The Conspirator [M-Net.Friday.09.30], a pertinent examination of the conspiracy that surrounded the death of Lincoln, killed while watching the play Our American Cousin at the Ford Theatre.
A CHANGE OF PACE FOR ROBIN WRIGHT
Mary Surratt was the mother of one of the men, lurking in the background, aiding and abetting John Wilkes Booth to pull the shaky trigger. It didn’t help the poor woman’s case that some of the plotters hid in her boarding house.
MCAVOY AND WRIGHT
Anyway, she was hanged after a trial full of innuendo, partial truth and half truth. James McAvoy plays her hopelessly helpless defense attorney while Robin Wright is haunting as the hapless Mary.
REDFORD ON LOCATION
Redford does his usual meticulous directing job, the supporting cast, including Kevin Kline, Evan Rachel Wood, Danny Huston, Justin Long and Tom Wilkinson; the film is certainly well worth watching, if only as a counterpoint to the more high flying Lincoln.
WHITTAKER WON AN OSCAR FOR THIS PERFORMANCE IN 2006
James McAvoy also skirts on the sidelines of history, as the young doctor drawn into the deadly web of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. The movie, The Last King of Scotland [e.tv.Saturday.23.55], is long and tiring, to me, notable only for the performance of a lifetime from Forest Whittaker as the former African King’s Rifle soldier who turned himself into President, Field Marshall and…The Last King of Scotland.
QT UP TO HIS GORY TRICKS AGAIN
Kerry Washington is down the cast list, if you fell in the need for violent blood letting, catch her and Jamie Foxx on circuit at the moment in Tarantino’s Django Unchained. The movie is a ‘Southern’ in the gory tradition of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone. By contrast, Washington and a gentler Foxx are in Ray (Charles) [M-Net.23.45] on Tuesday.
LEONE GAVE EASTWOOD AN EARLY LIGHT
Sergio Leone is probably remembered best today as the man who gave the world both Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name and the genre Spaghetti Western.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA IS A FINE FILM
Leone was a serious filmmaker, who at the end of his career made Once Upon a Time in America [e.tv.Sunday.22.10], which did not set the box office ablaze. This, In spite of a talented cast, headed by De Niro and James Woods, and strong source material, the novel The Hoods by Harry Grey.
LEONE AT WORK
The film was chopped and choked; the version on show this week is 229 minutes long, Once Upon a Time in America has been much longer and much shorter too. Leone was never to film again, he died in 1989, aged just 60. It must be soul destroying and very sad indeed, when you make a really good film, just to have it die at the box office and everywhere else.
TOM HIDDLESTON WITH ONE OF THE 14 HORSES WHO PLAYED JOEY
Spielberg has not always made hit after hit either, but two of his more recent and successful efforts are on show this week. The films are very different, but both compelling in their own way. War Horse [M-Net.Sunday.20.05].
CHILDREN'S WRITER MICHAEL MORPURGO
Spielberg's movie is based on the children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo; set in and around the years of ‘The War to End all Wars’ what a touching, heart warming movie this is. Cry?- in my case, I used most of a tissue box and all of a two ply toilet role.
HERGE.
AFTER THE WAR, LIKE THE SCHWARZENEGGER FAMILY AND POPE BENEDICT, HE WAS RUMOURED TO HAVE NAZI SYMPATHIES-MUD HAS A WAY OF STICKING
Spielberg’s The Adventures of TinTin [M-Net.Sunday.04.15] may not please Herge purists , but Spielberg has done a splendid job, branching into animation, using all of the technology now at the disposal of the filmmaking industry.
THE TECHNIQUE TAKES A LITTLE GETTING USED TO
This motion capture animated epic boasts a screenplay by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, music by John Williams and Andy Serkis (who else) as Capt. Haddock. A bonus is Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as The Thompson Twins
SIMON PEGG
Simon Pegg is also in the 4th Mission: Impossible- Ghost Protocol [M-Net.Saturday.01.15] which is surprisingly good, action all the way, a fast flowing plot and enough twists to keep old fans and newer converts happy; Tom Cruise looks younger than he should be allowed to.
PEN-FOREVER YOUNG?
Maybe, like Jack Sparrow and his crew Tom is searching for the Fountain of Youth—Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [M-Net.Sunday.23.55], if that is the case Jack and his Hearties will be making Pirate Movies until our grandchildren are old and grey. That is a seriously scary thought.
HI HO-THE GANG'S ALL THERE
A sequel waiting to happen is the one that will follow The Avengers [M-Net.Sunday.01.55]; in the meanwhile, have fun watching Robert Downey as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow. The best thing about this action filled, entertaining movie is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
MR JAMES HAS A DEFINITE POINT
A final word on sequels— there are just so many. I see that the original Predator [e.tv.Friday.20.30] has been brought back to thrill you once again; thinking about Arnie, I always remember what Clive James said about his shape,
A Condom filled with Walnuts.
THE ORIGINAL-NEVER RELEASED IN SOUTH AFRICA
For every sequel there is a remake, well almost. Cry the Beloved Country was first filmed in 1952, with Canada Lee, Charles Carson and a very young Sidney Poitier in a minor role. The novel is a South African classic, and with changing times, in the 90s, there came the perfect opportunity to film it again. [SABC3.Saturday.19.30]
FULL BLOWN PERFORMANCES FROM BOTH HARRIS AND JAMES EARL RAY
Both Richard Harris and James Earl Jones are shall we say, full bodied actors, here well controlled by South African director, Darrell James Roodt. The story remains compelling and is a potent reminder of how life was in this country.
DIRECTOR DARRELL ROODT
This movie should be compulsory viewing for all South Africans under the age of (say) thirty. That is the way generations of South Africans lived. There isn’t much more to say, except to quote the old hymn
Deep in my heart, I do believe we can live in peace someday.
DREW BARRYMORE AND HER LONG DISTANCE MAN
On a lighter note, Drew Barrymore proves again that she has a flair for light, spunky comedy, as she tries to conduct a long distance romance with Justin Long, as they try Going the Distance [M-Net.Tuesday.01.50].
INNOVATIVE CREATOR NICK PARK
And finally, a fun and funny animated movie from Nick Park, the brilliant creator of Wallace and Gromit. Chicken Run [e.tv.Friday.14.30 and Saturday.14.00] comes complete with old POW jokes for the adults and plenty of barnyard scratch up for the kids. There is some fine voicing from the likes of Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha, Miranda Richardson and Imelda Staunton.
SPIELBERG DOING HIS THING ON THE SET OF WAR HORSE
My pick is War Horse [M-Net.Sunday.20.05], a story set in the bloody fields of battle, related with Stephen Spielberg’s surefire story telling instinct.