A frequent problem of historical novels is getting the language and the tone right. If they sound too modern it ruins the period feel.
Asking Ray McCauley to convene a morals debate is like asking someone who only knows cuneiform to write a computer program.
Marlene Dumas’s art is often perplexing, but one can pore over the images for hours.
FANTASY MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews Tim Burton’s adaption of the children’s classic, <em>Alice in Wonderland</em>
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>A Single Man</em>, an adaption of Christopher Isherwood’s book.
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/ 18 February 2010
<i>Jozi</i> is a refreshing comedy that explores an off-centre character’s relationship with the city everyone loves to hate.
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>The Wolfman</em>, starring Benicio del Toro as the hapless werewolf.
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/ 5 February 2010
In Proudly South African fashion, we note two Oscar nominations for films related to South Africa, <em>District 9</em> and <em>Invictus</em>.
FUTURISTIC MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews: <em>The Road</em>, an analysis of what makes or keeps us human that cuts to the very bone.
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/ 29 January 2010
<em>Up in the Air</em> is a good follow-up for <em>Juno</em> director Ivan Reitman: it’s like a grown-up version of that teen drama.
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/ 29 January 2010
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>An Education</em>, a beautifully observed story about a schoolgirl who has an affair with an older man.
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/ 22 January 2010
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Amelia</em>, a big-budget hollywood spectacle about female aviator Amelia Earhart.
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/ 15 January 2010
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Brothers</em>, starring Toby Macguire and Jake Gyllenhaal.
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/ 24 December 2009
Movie expert Shaun de Waal gives us a preview of what’s in store on the big screen next year.
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/ 23 December 2009
Shaun de Waal spends a decade at the movies so you don’t have to.
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/ 18 December 2009
Not quite the movie of the Week: Shaun de Waal reviews James Cameron’s latest offering, <em>Avatar</em>.
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/ 4 December 2009
In different ways Jacob Dlamini Rian Malan find comfort in the stories of ordinary lives that go beyond the rhetoric of power in South Africa.
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/ 27 November 2009
Not quite the movie of the week: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Chéri</em>, based on the novellas of French national treasure Madame Colette.
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/ 13 November 2009
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Surrogates</em>, starring Bruce Willis.
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/ 6 November 2009
Robert Harris combines historical fact and the drama of the day in his second novel featuring the peerless speaker and Roman statesman Cicero.
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/ 6 November 2009
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Fireflies in the Garden</em>, and is not impressed.
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/ 30 October 2009
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Whatever Works</em> Woody Allen’s latest offering starring Larry David.
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/ 16 October 2009
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <i>The Informant!</I>, a film starring Matt Damon and directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Not the movie of the week: Shaun de Waal reviews <i>Last Chance Harvey</i>, starring a not-so-charming Dustin Hoffman opposite Emma Thompson.
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/ 25 September 2009
NOT THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <i>The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3</i> starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta.
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/ 18 September 2009
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Adoration</em>, Atom Egoyan’s innovative take on family history.
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/ 17 September 2009
Dan Brown’s latest work, although banal, crammed with clichés and frequently nonsensical, is readable. Shaun de Waal did it in six hours.
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/ 11 September 2009
MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <em>Shank</em>
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/ 4 September 2009
<em>Fig Trees</em>, which shows at the Out in Africa film festival, is an inverted documentary opera that defies the genre’s conventional tragedy
It’s often easy for South Africans to imagine they live in an alternative reality. Maybe that’s why <i>District 9</i> works so well.
The marketing campaign for the sci-fi movie <i>District 9</i>, set in South Africa and opening here, was planned before the movie was even filmed.
NOT QUITE THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK: Shaun de Waal reviews <i>Disgrace</i>