Shaun De Waal

<b>NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Roman Polanski’s <i>Oliver Twist</i> falls into the category of movies that seem to have everthing in place, but don’t quite spark to life, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Zhang Yimou’s <i>The House of Flying Daggers</i> is gripping and entertaining, and ravishingly gorgeous to watch, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b>The representation of physicality in movies is most pronounced in slapstick comedy and in hand-to-hand combat. In <i>Kung Fu Hustle</i>, they become one, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Weeks after the release of director Wes Craven’s <i>Cursed</i>, he is back with the highly thrilling <i>Red Eye</i> and it’s hard to believe it’s from the same director, writes Shaun de Waal.

Two exhibitions of South Africa’s greatest documentary photographer, David Goldblatt’s photographs show his different sides, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> At a time when most horror movies seem to be gorefests, clichéfests or send-ups, a movie such as <i>Dark Water</i> shows that they can still be original and fresh, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Gregg Araki’s new film <i>Mysterious Skin</i> may lack the sense of nihilism often present in his earlier films, but it’s about youthful sexuality and abuse and how different people deal with such things, writes Shaun de Waal.

Two new South African novels, one by a veteran and another by a newcomer, find magic in mining the distant past, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> <i>War of the Worlds</i>, is commended for sticking to something like HG Wells’s ending, though that’s about all the movie can be commended for, writes Shaun de Waal.

Local white novelists are shying away from the usual racial encounters, that seem to dominate most South African stories, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b><i> Born into Struggle</i> shows the repercussions of resistance to apartheid on one struggle family, writes Shaun de Waal.

The <i>Star Wars</i> series is now complete but where does that leave us, asks Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK</b>: <i>Red Dust </i>is a watchable, often gripping, sometimes moving story based on some of what happened at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Director Wes Anderson’s main theme and form in <i>The Life Acquatic</i> are the same as those of his previous film, <i>The Royal Tenenbaums</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.

<i>Life Sentence: A Biography of Herman Charles Bosman</i> is a 14-volume set restores to their most complete form the stories, novels, poems and occasional pieces that in Bosman’s lifetime and after his death were often published in less than perfect shape, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>NOT MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> The best joke has already been made about Oliver Stone’s epic <i>Alexander</i>: it has many highlights, said one critic, but unfortunately they are all in Colin Farrell’s hair, reports Shaun de Waal.

<b>NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> What a weird movie. <i>The Forgotten</i> starts out as a heartbreaking melodrama, then morphs into an FBI-conspiracy/cop thriller, becomes an outsiders-on-the-run road movie, before suddenly going all <i>X-Files</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Jason Bourne’s on the run again, this time from both the CIA and the Russian Mafia. The plot is fast; the tonal keynote is grim determination, but it’s well worth a look-see. Shaun de Waal reviews.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> The lastest comic-book adaption for the screen, Hellboy blows its contemporaries Spider-Man and Catwoman right out of the water. It’s a huge orangey-red amount of fun, with a great deal of energy, style, intelligence and wit, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> The poster slogan for <i>King Arthur</i> sells it as "The untold true story that inspired the legend". While there is some intellectual texture and moral fibre, as it were, to the story, much else is botched, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> It seems that documentaries are all the rage at the moment and <i>Touching the Void</i> will do much to continue the upsurge in interest. Compelling from start to finish, this is a true story of British mountain-climbing gone wrong, writes Shaun de Waal.

Punting female power, two action fantasies with girls in the lead grace our screens this week. The graceful Halle Berry is more girlish than all woman, but the titular girl in the fun French computer-animation <i>Kaena</i>, by comparison, really is a girl — there’s no hint of the former’s sexuality here, writes Shaun de Waal.

Suresh Roberts has spent the best part of the last decade on Nadine Gordimer’s authorised biography. Now it is no longer "authorised" and the contract has been cancelled. Gordimer’s disagreement with her biographer is an issue of authority, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK</b>: Michael Caine pulls off his latest role of playing over-the-topness with a certain anchoring matter-of-factness. And he gets the opportunity once again to get into drag. Shaun de Waal reviews <i>The Actors</i>.

<b>NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> <i>The Girl Next Door</i> is your average, run-of-the-mill teen flick about teens and porn flicks. Boy meets girl, loses girl, gets girl back — that is the story, and one that has been told a million times, writes Shaun de Waal.

<b>MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> Overlooking a couple of flaws, <i>The Statement</i> is a good thriller — something of a cross between a police-procedural and a chase movie. Shaun de Waal commends lead actor Michael Caine on a fine performance.

NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: <i>Spider-Man II</i> barely improves upon its disappointing and restrained predecessor. But at least he has an impressive opponent this time round in the form of Dr Octopus, writes Shaun de Waal.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: "The 1955 Ealing Studios classic <i>The Ladykillers</i>, a very British movie in almost every way, does not seem like an appropriate vehicle for a remake by Joel and Ethan Coen, known for their offbeat take on pop-Americana and their love of the South. At least not at first." Shaun de Waal reviews the remade <i>Ladykillers</i>.

<b>NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK:</b> ‘I’m sure she’s an air sign," said my astrological friend, looking at a picture of Australian director Jean Campion. Such judgements are beyond my expertise, but the link of Campion with air made me think that her new film, <i>In the Cut</i>, does have something airy about it, writes Shaun de Waal.

MOVIE OF THE WEEK: As a novelist and as a screenwriter, Hanif Kureishi has always been intensely interested in sexual relationships, particularly unusual ones. And Kureishi delivers just that in this intriguing film, <i>The Mother</i>, writes Shaun de Waal.

One of the Conrad Botes’s works has Jesus, the "Good Shepherd", bringing home the lost sheep of the flock — except the sheep is a giant phallus. Botes’s first solo show in Johannesburg is as provocative as ever. He spoke to Shaun de Waal.

NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: American playwright/writer/ director Neil LaBute’s <i>The Shape of Things</i> reshuffles his familiar themes, except this time he’s out to prove that women can be as manipulative as men. Shaun de Waal reviews.