danger zone

ra, this ones for you

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....