PAYING OM-AGE

The hype surrounding Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om places a burden on the movie to deliver the goods. It doesn't. This is not to say that the movie is bad, cos it clearly isn't, but it's not all that good either. It's a bollywood blockbuster in every sense of the word. But like most Bollywood - or Hollywood, for that matter - blockbusters, the hype is bigger than the movie could ever hope to be. With Om Shanti Om, it's not only the media and public's fault. A weak script, weak plot, and all-round weak story conspire to ruin the movie. What saves it are strong performances from the two leads, Shah Rukh Khan and model-turned-actress Deepika Padukone.
In a movie featuring just about every bollywood star from the last 30 years, the newcomer, Deepika Padukone, still grabs the limelight. Those familiar with SRK's work know what to expect - songs, dance, crying every half hour, and the customary cry in the rain. Where SRK surprises is in the effort he's put into perfecting his torso, and in one dance routine alone displays why it's worth watching the movie AND why the oil price is so high.
Where the movie fails dismally is intrying to determine what it is. Is it a story of revenge or eternal love? Or is it a vehicle to pay homage to Bollywood? It fails on both counts, but what it does, intentionally or not, is highlight the superior bollywood era of the late '70's when compared to the current bollywood scene. Compare the opening dance sequences of both halves and the difference in quality is plain to see. While 1977 bollywood is artistic with free use of colour, bollywood 2007 is a more westernized, sexier, yet colder era - and is exposed in these dance sequences as such.
Another important point the movie raises is the nepotism that exists in bollywood, yet the movie itself does nothing to question, condone or condemn this nepotism. The reason for this can probably be summed up by the one dance sequence featuring just about every bollywood star from the last 3 decades. What it comes across as is some self-indulgent bollywood exercise that serves to name-drop rather than add any weight to the story or the movie. It's the kind of scene that has its rightful place at the end of a movie as the credits roll.
I'd still recommend watching the movie for three reasons, though. 3. The seventies bollywood era. 2. Shah Rukh Khan's body and 1. Deepika Padukone

7/10

THE KINGDOM - review by Zane Henry for IOL

The Kingdom opens with a history-in-60-seconds opening scene laying out the more salient bookmarks in America's involvement with the oil-rich Middle East and the current Iraqi war.

Cut to a little-league baseball game populated by smiling families. It's an idyllic scene straight from the heart of Americana. Except, it's actually playing out in a Saudi Arabian compound by employees of an American oil conglomerate.

A ferocious terrorist attack rips the little community to shreds. The FBI is charged with investigating the attack, but Washington heads refuse to authorise any official American action. Driven FBI agent, Ronald Fleury (Foxx) ignores the mandate, assembles his own small team and heads off to the Middle East to investigate.

While the Saudis are initially wary of these American interlopers, the leading Saudi officer (Ashraf Barhom) eventually decides to co-operate with Fleury's team. They comb the crime scene for clues and interview witnesses in the hope of tracking down the culprits.

The Kingdom is a taut action-thriller and problematic political film. It gets the blood pumping with adrenalised set-pieces, particularly the white-knuckled final chase scene.

The problem is the slight square-jawed, gung-ho, Stars-and-Stripes ra-ra overtone. Director Peter Berg takes stabs at objectivity, but these are fumbled in the dark. The drive of the film is one-dimensional and comes off as bullish American patriotism. I hate to pander to this clichéd view of Americans, but Berg's statements are too simplistic.

Jason Bateman's character's kidnapping in particular rankles me. It's a riff on the broadcast beheadings of foreigners by jihadists. But the outcome is so contrived and crowd-pleasing that it's disrespectful to the real-life tragedy of the victims.

A Mighty Heart showed that this topic can be handled with sensitivity and still be compelling.

Admittedly, these are two different kinds of films.

All this pseudo-intellectual musing won't matter to action junkies who will flock to it regardless of sticky politics. Still, The Kingdom strikes me as exploitative, despite its good intentions.

6/10

WOODCOCK WRITER'S BLOCK

There is no question that Billy Bob Thornton is typecast. Bad News Bears, Bad Santa, School for Scoundrels, and now, Mr Woodcock, all have him playing a grumpy old man. It suits him, hence being typecast. But not all these movies are good vehicles for him or the supporting cast. That the superb Susan Sarandon is in this piece of drivel is alarming enough, and once again, if only for the fact that she accepted a script as weak as this. This is a movie devoid of any redeeming qualities. A complete waste of time and barely a chuckle to be had. If you've watched the trailer for this movie, give the rest of the movie a miss.

4/10

SASOL FEVER - review by Emma Nicholson for IOL

When Catalina Theatre owner Themi Venturas introduced Sasol Fever on opening night, he rightly pointed out how so often people think the only real coloured culture is in Cape Town, while Durban bruin ou's have their own vibrant communities. And one of the biggest issues that affected these communities was the migration of most of the men to work at the Sasol Plants in Secunda in the 1970s.

That is the backdrop for Gail Snyman's musical Sasol Fever, which she wrote based on her own experiences as a "Sasol wife". The show introduces us to four young couples living in Wentworth and battling to make ends meet until the Sasol jobs are offered near Joburg. When all the husbands leave to finally make some money, the wives are left behind to spend it and the separation causes significant rifts in the community.

Families were broken, relationships torn apart, but more importantly, lives lost due to this often treacherous work miles away.

While this all sounds very serious, the show is essentially an upbeat musical with a liberal dose of colourful humour. The young cast are impressive with their characterisation and slick dialogue which quickly traverses between playful banter and serious discussion. And the fact that the men and women mostly appear in their separate groups means that there is fertile comic ground for gender politics.

Sasol Fever manages to ride the line between silly and serious and while you'll find you're giggling most of the way through, the poignant ending played out in front of a backdrop of tributes to those who lost their lives, makes you seriously consider the cost of this period.

As Snyman points out in her programme notes: "The Sasol of today is a blue chip, major conglomerate in the global economic market, yet no thought has been given to the men who built it and made it all possible".

10/10

A MIGHTY HEART - review by Zane Henry for IOL

A Mighty Heart is the moving true tale of Mariane Pearl's search for her husband Danny after he is kidnapped by terrorists.

Danny (Daniel Futterman) and 5-month pregnant Mariane Pearl (Angelina Jolie) are staying at Indian journalist Asra Nomani's (Archie Panjabi) house in Pakistan. Danny is an American journalist reporting on fundamentalists in Karachi and plans to interview a notorious jihadist. His associates advise caution and that he meet in a public place. He proceeds to set off for the interview.

Meanwhile, Mariane becomes increasingly worried when Danny is late arriving back from his interview. As the hours stretch into days, it becomes clear that Danny has been kidnapped.

Asra's department becomes the nerve centre of the search for Danny. Aiding Mariane are a driven Pakistani policeman (Irfan Kahn), a gung-ho American agent (Will Patton) and Danny's boss at the Washington Post (Denis O'Hare).

It's telling that despite the inevitable outcome, the investigation is still suspenseful.

The most flattering thing to say about Jolie's performance is that for the most part, you forget that it's her.

She underplays her megawatt charisma and channels it into a measured performance. She's mesmerising as she plays Mariane with a dignified calm, even in the face of potentially overwhelming tragedy. Her accent is excellent, replete with mispronunciations and stumbling.

Kahn is riveting as the police captain. His tenacity and drive is compelling viewing.

A Mighty Heart nimbly avoids political grandstanding. It's structured as a doccie-styled thriller, but never strays too far from its emotional core. It's a morally flexible story that is boiled down to its bare elements and is all the stronger for it.

Hopefully, filmgoers will put aside their expectations of lukewarm, American patriotic pedagogy and go see this truly beautiful film.

8/10

BRITNEY'S FEARS

Ellen de Generes danced to Britney's Toy Soldier on her show last week and then proclaimed "Blackout" to be brilliant. If Ellen was judging "Blackout" by that one track, then I'd have to agree. But "Blackout" is far from brilliant. I'm not gonna join the chorus of disapproval of Britney's lifestyle. To each their own, right? I'm also not gonna kick her while she's down. The truth is, with everything going on in her personal life, she could not honestly be expected to excel creatively. And to be totally fair to her, she's hardly ever excelled creatively - with or without personal problems.
"Blackout" is like every other Britney album - mediocre. And in a way, she should be commended for consistency during this trying time. The decision that we as a public need to take is what exactly we're buying from Britney. If it's her music, you already know what to expect on "Blackout". She doesn't disappoint, but she does nothing to improve existing perceptions either.

5/10

I LOVE DURBAN IN THE SPRINGTIME

So, just for a change, it's raining again. I love Durban's Spring weather. Mild temperatures coupled with the occasional drizzle, the smell of wet soil, it's a wonderful time to be in this city. Even the dark, overcast and rainy days are enjoyable. But I can only take so much of it. Yesterday signalled the return of Sunny Spring, but today heralds more rain to see out the week. Oh well, we'll wait a bit longer....

FREE ENTRY!!! ...WELL, MAYBE NOT.

For those that frequent two of Durban's busier nightclubs, Groove and Cape 2 Cairo, you will no doubt know that Ushaka have increased their night parking tarrifs effective November 11th. What was R5 a few weeks ago will now be R40, which, while it seems a bit steep, is not really. Your receipt for parking at Ushaka, entitles you to free entry to either Groove or Cape 2 Cairo. I just wonder what happens if you want to visit the Moyo restaurant....

MAIDEN INDIA

Recent visitor to our shores, Beyonce is currently touring and playing to her fans in India. These pics were taken on the Mumbai leg of her tour. Speaking of legs, now if she can only get that thighmaster to work.....

SPRING, WINTER, SPRING, WINTER, SPRING AGAIN

Perhaps it's the effects of an ever-worsening state of global warming, but we can't help but wonder where Durban's good weather has gone. granted, this time of year is relatively windy, but I don't recall it being this cold in Springs past. That said, nature's indication that Spring is finally upon us was delivered in the form of those irritatingly messy flying ants last night. They're attracted to light, so the mess around our townhouse this morning took a fair bit of time to clean up. But at least the weather looks to be turning for the better....

WHEN YOU GOTTA GO, YOU GOTTA GO!

We've always known that popular clubs in Durban draw crowds for that very reason - they're popular. Seeing queues go around the block outside Cape 2 Cairo is not exactly an uncommon sight, but the "new" hotspot - Groove - opposite Ushaka, has proven so popular that they even had a queue outside at 2am this morning. It's a nice venue, but they're gonna struggle to keep their clientele hip and happening. It's inevitable that once word of mouth spreads and the club grows in popularity, everyone and their doggs will want to be there. That's the sheep mentality of the world we inhabit... But, when you gotta go, you GOTTA go...

SUPER GOOD!!

This is a movie brought to you by the same team that did "The 40-year old virgin", Talledega Nights", and "knocked Up". Personally, I think this movie is funnier than any of the previos three. Good, immature humour - the way I love it.

8/10

HAT TRICK???

Paul Haggis has only made 3 movies. His first, Million Dollar Baby, won the Oscar for best movie. His second, Crash, won the Oscar for best movie. His third, In the valley of Elah, shows no sign of breaking with tradition. He does what every good director should do; tell a story well, and draw brilliant performances from your cast. While the two backdrops for this movie are a murder mystery and the war in Iraq, the real story is the effect of war on a first world society. This is an american interpretation of war and its effects, but could easily have been seen through Western European eyes, and to a lesser extent, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, or African eyes. To his and the movies credit, Haggis doesn't take a left-wing or right-wing poltical stand on war, but make no mistake, the effects of any war are the end results of much politicking. And this is the point he drives home with this movie. War impacts on those serving, those left behind at home, those young, and those old. In the same way Haggis' social commentary on racism and race relations succeeded in Crash, he exploits a war's effects on society in "In the valley of Elah". Some of Haggis' work here may seem a bit too obvious, but that can be forgiven for the moments of character-revealing genius he draws from the highest quality ensemble. Thus far this year, I have not seen better.

9/10

the good, the bad and the ugly

Is it just me or are Durbanites - like the rest of the world - sensationalists? If our local weather bureau and regional stations like East Coast Radio and Lotus FM are anything to go by, we'd already be examining hail damage to our property that would make the hurricanes in the northern hemisphere pale by comparison. Then again, malls like Gateway and Pavilion would be traps for females since every female using their restrooms will definitely be raped and robbed.
The point I guess I'm trying to make is that we seem to go out of our way to accentuate the negative. I'm not for one moment suggesting that we ignore it, it's just that the way we sensationalize these random negative stories makes them the focal point of our lives and gives our lives the negative spin we don't really need. For all the advances made in technology, email has become one of our arch-enemies in that any sad story gets repeated on local radio by people like Dave Guselli who have become so laid-back that they're still in 1985. You cannot believe EVERY story you read or hear. The media survives on sensationalism - we don't have to. But a culture of "Bold and beautiful" or "days of our lives" would indicate that this is the reality we would prefer to believe, because the alternative is probably too boring.
The fact of the matter is that only 20% of the world's population is dishonest. The rest of us need them to give us something to talk about.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!

Unless you've just crawled out from under a rock, You'll already know that South Africa are the Rugby World Cup Champions. That has to be the dominant sport story from this weekend. On any other weekend, though, the ridiculous finale to the F1 Grand Prix season would have dominated headlines with Kimi Raikkonnen stealing the championship from the 2 favourites, Hamilton and Alonso.

LOHAN BEHOLD

Lindsay Lohan is an underrated actress. Herbie Fully Loaded and the plethora of movies she's done until now have not given her the vehicle to expose her talent/s (too many puns to count). But aided by the brilliant Jane Fonda, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney and Carey Elwes, she shines in this surprisingly good movie. I went into 'Georgia Rule' from a very low base of expectation (which always helps) and was pleasantly surprised. A bit chick-flicky, but good cast, good story, good movie.
(7/10)

THE QUEEN IS HERE. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN...

Mary J.Blige cruises into town for her postponed performance at the ICC on Friday. Tickets are still available for the show which was supposed to take place in March, but was postponed to this Friday. Tickets for that postponed show are still valid and there are still tickets available for Friday. Her new single 'Just Fine' launches soon, and being a fan, I'm already hooked on it. We just gotta go...

INSANE IN THE BRAIN

Has Russell Peters and/or his advisors gone completely insane? A few seats for his upcoming performances at the ICC were available for R160. The rest were available for R240 or more. Needless to say, the 'cheap' seats were sold out in superquick time. But does this Canadian really believe he can command those prices here? More importantly, does he really believe that his show is good enough to warrant such exorbitant rates? I, for one, will be voting with my feet, and my feet will not be walking to the ICC to see him...

Been there, done that...

Stardust, which opened locally on Friday, has enough star power to make this better than just an average movie. Unfortunately, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert de Niro all fail to rescue this movie from being just another bland fantasy movie. There's little or nothing to separate this from 'Narnia' or 'Teribithia', and if you have 2 hours to spare you could do worse. Just average.
(5/10)

MATCH BOKS

Against the odds, 12 years ago, the Springboks won the Rugby World Cup, aided in no small measure by a hungry, loyal and devoted home support. Since then, they've flattered to deceive at every opportunity, and much like the Proteas, seemed to choke or shoot themselves in the foot when put under pressure. Now, with two of the pre-tournament faves out before the semi's, the 'Boks will have the pressure of tags as favourites to lift the Webb Ellis trophy in about a week. Jake White has withstood much pressure due to the internal politics that are an everpresent at SARFU, but if the man continues to do his job in the manner and with the results he has, few can argue that he should remain as the national coach beyond the World Cup. We can only point fingers if someone fails, and White has not done that, yet...
That aside, barring a handful of people that still cling to the past and that have refused to heal their own wounds, all of South Africa is behind the team going into Sunday's semi-final with Argentina. Here's to victory this - and next week...

SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS

Opening today, with Billy Bob and Jon Heder is 'School for Scoundrels'. The trailer makes it very hard to go into this movie from a low base of expectation. I hope my expectations are realised....though the fact that this is already on DVD overseas, gives me little hope. Perhaps 'another gay movie' or the highly anticipated 'Stardust' might resue me from an awful movie week....

Bag 'em, but don't tag 'em

Hands up, all those who think Clive Owen is a remarkable actor with a keen eye for excellent, quality scripts and movies (think closer, inside man, children of men)? Hands up, all those who think Paul Giamatti proved his talent in the excellent 'Sideways'? So it should come as no surprise that the collaboration of these two fine actors on Michael Davis' 'Shoot 'em up' would be a highly anticipated movie event. It was. If the trailer I'd seen in the weeks leading up to this movie were anything to go by, this was going to be a Tarantino-esque classic.
What this movie proved to me was that Davis is a Tarantino wannabe who is low on the elements that make Tarantino great. Talent, creativity, excellent everyday dialogue, a brilliant script and an intelligent plot are what's lacking in Shoot 'em up. I've watched the worst episodes of 'Bold and Beautiful' and still found them more believable than the crap wasted on film here. It's not just bad directing either - for that, the actors could be forgiven. But for the talent on display here to read the script and still decide to do the movie displays a greed on their part that warrants tarring and feathering. It's inexcusable, and in one foul swoop wipes both these actors off my list of admired performers. All creative beings are afforded a certain licence to manipulate their work for their audience, but you always have to play to and for the audience, and all Davis does is insult this audience. By far, one of the worst movies I've seen this year - and I saw 'Rush Hour 3' and 'Are we done yet?'!!

2/10

Will.he.is

The Black-Eyed Peas have always had a raw edge to their music that never quite convinced me that they were the best hip hop act in the world. That said, their earlier stuff - pre-'where is the love' - always showed the potential they eventually realised since 'where is the love'. When 'The Dutchess' was released last year, I was surprised at just how good a job Fergie had done on her own. She'd managed to do what I'd always hoped the Black-Eyed Peas would, and that is make music that sounded good, while still seeming effortless. The problem with any new solo act (see Justin Timberlake or Simon Webbe) is whether their brilliant first solo album outside of the comfort of their group, can be followed with equal brilliance on a second album. Justin's proven he can do it, and to an extent, so has Simon Webbe. We'll get the chance to see whether Fergie can some time next year.
Which brings me to the man most people, myself included, thought was the brains behind Black-Eyed Peas - Will.i.am. He's just released his debut solo album, Songs about Girls, and I have to say, it's nothing short of brilliant. if you've heard the first single, "I got it from my mama", imagine this being the weakest song on the album and you'll have an idea of how good this album is. To my knowledge, the only collaboration on this album is with snoop dogg on 'the donque song' - I say 'to my knowledge' only because rumour has it that Fergie provides vocals for 'I got it from my mama'. These two tracks stand out for me on this album. They stand out like a sore thumb, because Will.i.am has put together a collection of songs that have really surprised me in quality. Yes, you can expect the usual extremely intellectual lyrics you'd expect from a Black-Eyed Pea (whatcha gonna do with all that junk inside that trunk, or, my humps, my humps my humps my humps, my lovely lady lumps), but despite the lyrical content, the music still re-inforces the talent that this man has. By far my choice for album of the year....so far.

HOW TO ESCALATE A PROBLEM

Arguably, the southern hemisphere's most popular shopping mall - Gateway - have finally come to their senses and begun installation of escalators between the two shopping levels outside Woolies. It's been just about 6 or 7 years since the mall came up and shoppers have always had a problem moving between those two floors in an extremely busy part of the mall - which only begs the question, why were the escalators never put in at the outset? I guess better late than never...

shocks and springs

For the last week and a half, I've been wondering where Spring is. Snow on the berg, persistent torrential rains and the middle of October don't usually appear in the same conversation, but here we are - almost in the middle of October - and wondering whether we're even gonna pack those jackets away again. Which brings me to one of my favourite pastimes (is that even 1 word?) - shopping. One of my favourite new labels is 'red bat' and from what I've seen, their stuff is only available at Sportscene. They have a great line of casual summer wear available, and even though I've now made my first clothing purchase of the coming summer season, it's difficult to imagine myself in it in this kind of weather. So while we're experiencing this unseasonal (though my memory suggests it ALWAYS rains around this time of year) weather, I've been searching (in vain) for a good blazer that I can use with jeans. I found one at woolies, but it just wasn't casual enough - and it was R1400. For now, the search goes on.... On the topic of fashion, my recent frequent visits to virginactive, coupled with relatively good discipline where diet is concerned has meant that for the first time in at least 2 decades, I may have to downsize my belts. So when my friends say 'keep it up', what exactly do they mean?