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Your only magazine for South African film and theatre reviews and interviews.
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December 2012
The Twilight Saga! Our bumper Twilight issue with reviews on all five of the
films as well as a one on one interview with Alice Cullen,
actress Ashley Greene
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Contents
Cover Story: 14 Looking Back at a Saga
Features: ACT Awards 2012 5 Lollie Pop 9 Visions of the End 36The Electric Man 42South African Mzansi Ballet Prof iles: Carlos Santos 49 Linde Wessels 53
Reviews: Feature Reviews When the Sky Falls 58
Film Peace, Love and Misunderstand ingThe Cold Light of Day 64Pitch Perfect Freelancers 65Pretville Rise of the Guardians 66Finding Nemo 3D 67
Contents
Reviews: (cont’d)
Theatre
Dancing Dirty 69In the Giant’s Shadow 74A Homegrown Experience 80
DVD The Cabin in the Woods Dawn Rider Hellraiser: Revelations A Very Harold and Kuma r 3D Christmas 84The Amazing Spiderman Foodfight What Love is First Night 85The Woman in Black True Justice: Vengeance i s MineThe Dark Knight Rises Charlie Zone 86
Editors Letter Hi everyone, and thank you for picking up this issue of Off The Screen Magazine. This month is all about Twilight. We have a breakdown and reviews of all five of the films, as well as a one-on-one interview with one of the stars of the films, the actress that plays one of the Cullen vampires, Alice, Ashley Greene.
We also have a lot of interviews about the latest South African Afrikaans musical Pretville, sitting down with Afrikaans cinema royalty Lizz Meiring and Steve Hofmeyr.
We also have a breakdown of the new James Bond film, Skyfall, and have two more profiles in out Meet-Your-Company campaign for SAMB. So once again we have a full magazine for you. We hope you enjoy it and pick up our first issue of the New Year, coming your way the first Monday of January 2013.
Merry Christmas to all our readers who celebrate Christmas, and, to all, a happy new year.
Best Wishes
Jon Broeke Editor
ACT Awards 2012
The Lifetime Achievement and ImpACT award winners of the 15th Annual ACT Awards were
announced this month at an elegant luncheon at The Fairway Hotel & Golf Resort, Johannesburg. We went along to see who the recipients of these
awards were.
he prestigious Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Lifetime Achievement awards honour
arts professionals whose extraordinary careers have had a profound and lasting impact on arts, culture and heritage. There were four categories acknowledged at this year’s event. The first of these was the ACT lifetime achievement award for Visual Arts which was awarded to Andrew Verster.
“I thought these wonderful things only happened when you were dead,” Verster started off his acceptance speech with a joke. “I’m so pleased that I’m receiving this award while I’m still alive and able to enjoy it. I can’t thank all the people who’ve helped me through my life, in one way or another, who’ve supported me, encouraged me, and at times criticised me, correctly.”
Andrew Verster boasts an artistic career that spans many decades. His imagination has touched people through his short stories, articles and radio plays, but his most significant contribution is to South African visual arts through his body of work spread over more than fifty innovative top quality solo exhibitions.
“Many, many years ago I was at school at Jeppes Boy High,” he said. “We didn’t have art. Jeppes Girls High, just down
the road, did have art, and that tells you a lot about the value of art in those days. It was regarded alongside things like needle work and knitting and handy crafts. Nowadays boys’ schools also have art. Thank you Arts and Culture Trust for giving me this wonderful
award, and I’ll cherish it forever.” Awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for Music was South African struggle and trombone legend, Jonas Gwangwa. Soweto-born Gwangwa is a product of the turbulent, but musically significant 1950's, electrifying the famous Sophiatown music
scene. Gwangwa, with his contemporaries; Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and Caiphus Semenya, is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s living legends of music.
“I proudly, but humbly stand here before you,” Gwangwa said in his acceptance speech. “It’s much appreciated the
award you’ve chosen to convey on me today. It’s also a privilege to receive this honour from an organization that works for your musicians both at home and abroad, collecting every little penny that our music makes for us.”
The organization in
question is the South African Music Rights Organization, or SAMRO, who presented the award to Gwangwa.
The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Theatre was Welcome Msomi. Msomi is perhaps best known as the founder and director of the Izulu Dance Theatre and Music Company
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Jonas Gwangwa
Andrew Verster
established in 1965 in Durban. He has won international acclaim as a playwright, choreographer and director.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for this honour,” Msomi began his acceptance speech. “It’s amazing that one has been accorded accolades away from ones country, but it’s not the same when you receive it from home, and this means a lot for me because the journey started here, started on this soil of South Africa.”
The final Lifetime achievement Award, for Literature, was awarded to one of the most well-respected and most read authors South Africa has ever made, Nadine Gordimer.
“I’d like to thank the Arts and Culture Trust very warmly for this honour,” Gordimer said in her acceptance speech. “And it has special significance, because now I’m getting it in my own country, an award like this, and this from someone that has, during other times, in my own country, had three of her novels banned, and a book of stories by young black writers, that was banned immediately too. So I call it four books that were banned.” Other awards conveyed on the day were the ImpACT Awards for Young Professionals. These awards, inaugurated in 2010 and sponsored by the Distell Foundation, honour young professional artists whose work has made an impact within the first three years of their professional careers. The 2012 ImpACT Awards went to: Phillip Dikotla, a 22 year old performance artist, poet, comedian and writer, who is credited with appearances in “Gare Dumeli” (SABC 2) and more recently “Tshisa III” (SABC 1), in the Theatre category; The Muffinz, an eclectic musical group made up of Mthabisi Sibanda, Simphiwe Kulla and
Sifiso Buthelezi, who have successfully launched their first CD this year, in the Music & Singing category; Bambo Sibiya, a visual
artist, who was a finalist in the Absa L’Atelier competition, received a Merit Award at the Ekurhuleni Art Awards (2010) and recently made his international exhibition debut in a
show in Abu-Dhabi, in the Visual Arts category and Ozlo, South Africa, a proudly South African clothing store who specialises in local brands, and designers with vintage collections and interesting furniture, in the Design category. The event was a wonderful success and Off The Screen Magazine would like to extend our congratulations to all the recipients.
Welcome Msomi
Nadine Gordimer
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Lollie Pop
In the new film Pretville, Lizz Meiring is stretching, not only her acting muscles, but her singing and dancing muscles too. Jon Broeke sat
down with her at the official Pretville press junket to discuss her role in the film and cinema
in our country.
The new Afrikaans musical, from the
creators of Liefling: The Muscal, Pretville has a
varied bunch of colourful characters. There’s
the stuttering postman, the mayor, who also
happens to run the local hair salon, and the
bad boy, greaser, who’s in love with the good
girl. These characters are all played by well-
known South African talent, such as Terence
Bridget and Steve Hofmeyr. Another well-
known face from South African film and
television to be seen in the film is Lizz Meiring.
She is best known to us for her roles in
Manakwanlanders and
Lipstiek Dipstiek, but
has over 250 TV series
under her belt as well
as thirteen films. In
this film she plays
Lollie Le Roux.
“Lollie runs
the sweetie shop,” she
told me when I sat
down with her at the
Pretville press junket
at the Constantia
Hotel and Conference
centre. “Lollie reminds
me of a character in
Fellini’s movie
Amarcord, which is a
movie about his
childhood, very much
a nostalgia, a joyful
piece, in the sense
that correlates with
Pretville. Lollie is the
tart, she’s the town
tart, there’s no subtle
way to put this.
There’s a character in
Amarcord called
Volpina, sort of the
voluptuous one that
chases all the men,
Lollie is that character and she likes the young
boys, or the younger men, and the famous
ones. I think she’s a small town girl who is
making the best of her situation, who lives for
the social scene. Has no subtlety. Quite
frankly I think she’s a bit bi-polar, but that
might be too deep an analysis of the
character, but [she’s] very happy, very jolly,
very keen to be seen. Loud, outrageous,
totally different to how I am.”
“She’s the cause of my misery in the
movie,” Steve Hofmeyr says, referring to the
interaction between his character and Lollie.
He was sitting with us at the press junket and
discussing his character, Eddie Electrik. Eddie
gets a hand full in Lollie when he walks into
her sweet shop and has to, almost literally pry
her off to escape the shop. Steve and Lizz are
only two of the talented people with us on the
day, and a lot of them don’t have the
experience that they have either. Lizz loved
this fact.
“To me it is incredible,” she tells me.
“That, with this movie, that they are
promoting the young trained talent in this
country, the triples threats, those who can
sing, dance and act.”
The young talent she is referring to is
Marlee van der Merwe, who played the
glittering Serah Somers, the focus of the story,
a young girl that falls for a young farm boy.
Eugene Jensen, who plays Dawid de Wet, the
young farm boy that catches Serah’s eye, and
Lizelle de Klerk, who plays Grieta Geeverniet,
a young pregnant woman with a scandal over
her head, because no one is sure of the
father. There are
many more involved
in the production, but
these three make up
the leads, and really
carry the film. They
are young as well.
This is Eugene’s first
film.
Lizz clears her
throat when Linda
Korsten, the director,
tells us about the
difficulty in having to
find people who can
sing.
“You did a
good job, Lizz. She
can keep notes,”
Linda tells us as Lizz
laughs. “And
sometimes you have
to do character
singing, and that’s
what Lizz did.”
“It’s called
pushing personality,”
Lizz interjects, she
then laughs more.
The entire
project was a labour
of love for everyone
involved.
“There’s something that translates in
the making of a movie,” Lizz says. “To the
actual final product which can’t be brought,
which can’t be edited, which can’t be taught,
and that is the joy the people, every single
person who worked on the movie, had in
doing it. It sounds corny, but it is the truth.
That is the bubbles in the champagne. And if
that is there the audience senses it, they smell
it, and this movie had that. Every single
person that worked on it, from production to
technical, to the towns folk donating cars.”
There is a problem in South Africa
with money creating small crews. Only a
fraction of the size of American or British film
crews. Lizz, however, doesn’t see this as a
negative at all.
There’s a magic in this land,” she says.
“Working with small crews, because
everybody pitches in. Everybody will help to
shift a cable, the actors, everybody would. I
love the fact that we are not so heavily
unionised, I really love that. Because that’s
when people get so multi-skilled.”
But the fact remains that making films
in South Africa is a difficult task, and only
those that are ion this industry know how
difficult it really is.
“I don’t think people in South Africa
realise what a gargantuan task it is to make a
movie in this country,” Lizz comments. “Our
countries cinematic system, although
ironically we have the oldest film industry in
the world. We started six months before the
Lumiere Brothers. Despite that it is still a bit of
an off, in terms of the arts, so to do this, to do
what Linda and Paul [Kruger, the producer]
did, and dedicate to years in total to create a
movie of this massive scale, it borders on
madness. Nobody else would, I’m not saying
no one else is doing movies, I’m so happy
there are so many movies in South Africa, and
I celebrate every one of them, but two
years…”
That kind of commitment is difficult to
come by. There are other difficulties in
making films too, though not only in South
Africa.
“Often you’re working on something
and you think, ‘We mustn’t upset the locals.
This is an intrusion in their world.’ Here it was
one of the first times that I felt that we were
completely welcomed into their world,
because they also benefitted from this, in
every single sense.”
The benefit for the locals in this case
was a town being built for the shoot of the
film. Yes, Pretville actually exists. Paul Kruger
built it near Hartebeespoort Dam, and it’s
open right now if you want to go and see it, if
you can’t, however, you can go and see Lizz in
the town and on the silver screen, as Lollie,
this colourful, tart of a character, now.
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Looking Back at a
Saga
With the release of the last film in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2, we look back at the entire franchise, all five films that have made up
one of the most successful film, and book, franchises in history.
Twilight
The first film in the franchise introduces us to the heroes of the story
and begins our love story.
ella Swan, played by Kristen
Stewart, moves to live with her estranged father, Charlie, played by Billy Burke, in the little town of Forks, Washington. She struggles to fit in at school, even though everyone is very nice, and she’s an outsider. She makes some friends, Jessica, the cool girl, played by Anna Kendrick, Mike, the jock type, played by Michael Welch, Angela, the smart photographer, played by Christian Serratos, and Eric, the newspaper man, played by Justin Chon, but it’s the mysterious Edward Cullen, played by Robert Pattinson, who catches Bella’s eye. The problem is that Edward wants nothing to do with her. After a first meeting that doesn’t go very well, Bella decides to confront the boy, but he’s nowhere to be found. After a few weeks he appears again and wants to be her friend. She’s a little confused, but goes with it. Things get far more confusing though when Edward stops a speeding car from mowing down Bella, with his bare hands. Edward begs her to forget about the incident, and not ask him how it happened, but she won’t, and the result of her probing is her finding out the truth about Edward. That he’s a vampire, but a vampire that doesn’t feed off people. The two start a relationship, even though Edward is scared what he might do to her. He introduces her to his family. His father, Carlisle, played by Peter Facinelli, the man that turned him into a
vampire, Esme, his mother, played by Elizabeth Reaser, Carlisle’s wife who he turned as well, Emmett, played by Kellan Lutz, a brother of sorts, Rosalie, played by Nikki Reed, a bad tempered vampire who takes a disliking to Bella straight off, Alice, played by Ashley Greene, a nymph like vampire who gets visions of the future, and Jasper, played by Jackson Rathbone, the newest member of the family, who finds it hard not to bite Bella. All’s well until Bella goes to play
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baseball with the family. They attract the attention of James, played by Cam Gigandet, a vampire tracker, his mate, Victoria, played by Rachelle Lefevre, and Laurent, played by Ed Gathegi. The three new vampires feed on
humans and as soon as they realise that’s what Bella is, James wants her blood. It makes it more exciting for him that Edward is willing to die to protect her. The Cullen’s set out to try and protect the girl, and her human family, but can they stop this monster before he gets what he wants? The first film in the franchise was the beginning of it all, setting in motion the events that shape the rest of the films in the franchise. The music is haunting, setting the mood for the film, and the cinematography is fantastic, with long sweeping vistas of the forests and wooded areas, and eerie shadows used to the best of their advantage. Catherine Hardwicke, the films’ director, does a god job in capturing the teen angst and lingering feelings between Bella and
Edward, the aspects that made the book so popular and translated to the film. The acting from everyone involved is good, creating the characters that they will inhabit for the next four films.
New Moon
Easily the most dramatic of the films, New Moon shows us the depth Bella sinks when she loses
the thing she needs most… Edward.
fter
surviving James and Victoria’s attack, and having killed James, things get back to normal for Bella, Edward and the rest of the Cullen’s, until one night, on Bella’s birthday, Edward invites her over for a party. At the party Bella cuts her finger, resulting in Jasper attacking her, not able to control his thirst. Edward stops him and Bella tries to convince him that she’s fine, but he isn’t convinced. Coming to the conclusion that Bella would be safer if he wasn’t with her, Edward decides it’s time to leave. He, and the rest of the Cullen’s, do, leaving Bella shattered. She turns to Jacob, played by a very well-built Taylor Lautner. He helps he the best he can to get over her grief, but she has an ulterior motive. After a run in with a group of dangerous people Bella saw Edward in her head. Convinced this is the only way she can see him now she tries to do more and more dangerous things to get Edward to appear to
her. Meanwhile, Jacob is going through some changes of his own and starts pulling away from Bella, sending her back into her depression. She gets desperate and cliff dives to see Edward, leading to him thinking she’s died and sending him to Italy to ask the Volturi, the strongest of the vampires, to kill him. This film, in our opinion, is the best out
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of the franchise. It shows the emotional attachment of the characters as well as the fact the actors, especially Kristen Stewart, can actually act. The scene in the woods where Edward leaves breaks your heart. This was also the film to establish Taylor Lautner as a
sex symbol, even though he was only sixteen at the time. This film also introduces the wolves, the best CGI’d creatures in the films. This is the standout of the franchise and leads directly into the drama that’s to follow in the next three films.
Eclipse
The sins of the past come back to haunt our heroes as the mate of James’, the vampire tracker that was killed by Edward in the first film, comes looking for vengeance.
dward and Bella are back together and things are sweet. Edward is trying to convince
Bella to marry him, which he asked her at the end of the last film, while she’s trying to convince him to turn her into a vampire. Things between Bella and Jacob are strained, especially since Edward’s return. They’re trying to be friends, but Bella’s insistence of becoming a vampire is hurting him badly. Things get complicated when a series of killings in Seattle sets off the Cullen’s. The killings are being done by vampires, but they can’t understand what the significance is, until Jasper, who is very familiar with new born vampires, tells them all about the armies
that were created in the South of America during Civil War times. They realise that someone is creating an army of new born vampires to destroy the Cullen’s. And there’s only one person who they believe could be behind the attack, Victoria, played in the film by Bryce Dallas Howard after a controversial casting change. This is the film that cements the triangle between Edward, Bella and Jacob once and for all. Bella finally admits to her feelings for Jacob when she kisses him. In the book she sees a life she could have with him, with children, but the choice isn’t a choice at all for her. Edward owns her heart, even if she
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knows Jacob would be a better fit for her. We also introduce some new characters in this film, namely the Clearwater’s Seth and Leah. Both new members of the wolves they are close to Jacob and Seth forms a close bond
with Edward, especially after
he saves the young wolves
life. The casting change was a
bit of a mystery to everyone.
Officially the reason was
scheduling conflicts, but the
fans weren’t so sure about
that, and we stand behind
Rachelle and wish she could
have finished out the role,
instead of being replaced
after two films. The film
doesn’t suffer for it though,
so it’s forgiven. This film also
introduces Bree Tanner, part
of Victoria’s army. She has a
very small role, played by
Jodelle Ferland, well-known
to all horror fans, but she did
spur her own book with The
Short Second Life of Bree
Tanner, which opens up the
responsibility of the Volturi in
all of this and adds to the next
two films.
Breaking Dawn Part 1
The first film in the closing chapter sees Bella and Edward tie the knot, head off on their
honeymoon, and come back with something neither of them could have possibly imagined.
ella has said yes, and preparations for the wedding are moving along swiftly. The
day comes and it’s beautiful, even Jacob arrives, though that doesn’t end especially well, and afterwards Bella and Edward head off for their honeymoon, on a private island off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Once there Bella begins her plan, to get Edward to keep his promise, to try and be intimate with Bella. They do, and while she’s happy about it, ecstatic in fact, Edward sees the bruises on her body and scolds himself for not being able to keep control. He spend the rest of the time keeping her so busy that she can’t even think about sex, but then something strange happens. She misses her period, and it’s at that moment she knows. She’s pregnant. They rush home to Carlisle, who may be able to help, but he has no idea
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what is going on, what the baby is, and
whether or not Bella will survive the
pregnancy, but even if it kills her Bella is
adamant that the child will come to term and
will be healthy, and Rosalie agrees.
Meanwhile the wolves have heard
about the pregnancy and, fearing the child,
they decide to destroy it, and Bella along with
it, something Jacob can’t let happen.
The penultimate film in the saga is the
sexiest of the films so far. The new director
Bill Condon does a great job of intensifying on
the tension between Edward and Bella,
especially after the wedding, at the
honeymoon, where the two partake in naked
moonlight swimming. Add to that the guilt
that Edward feels afterwards, and the
conflicting emotions Bella feels and it’s a
recipe for angst. We also love the
cinematography in this film, the wider shots,
especially of the locations on the island, are
beautiful. The effects in this film are
wonderful, especially Bella while she is
pregnant. The way they make her look waif-
like and fragile as the baby is killing her from
the inside is amazing and creepy at the same
time. We also love the way the filmmakers
include the music from the first film in this
one, tying the franchise together in a way that
hadn’t been done before.
Breaking Dawn Part 2
It all ends here. And for a moment we thought it really did end.
ella is a
vampire. She’s had the baby and all is well. She goes on her first hunt and demonstrates amazing control when she can stop hunting a human before getting to him. Then she finds out that Jacob has imprinted, a wolf thing where a person becomes the wolf’s entire life, on her baby, Rennesmee, played by child model Mackenzie Foy. She’s not happy about this, but soon accepts it and everything settles for the happy family. Even Charlie accepts her new life, after Jacob transforms in front of him and almost scares him to death, but things can’t stay good forever and after Irina, played by Maggie Grace, another vampire from the Cullen’s cousin clan, the Denali’s, sees Rennesmee and reports her to the Volturi. The vampire group decides to use the information as an excuse to wipe out the Cullen’s once
and for all, hoping to get Alice and Edward to join their ranks if their family is gone. The
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Cullen’s go on the offensive straight away, gathering witnesses, other vampires that can testify that Rennesmee isn’t what the Volturi think she is, a vampire child, but is instead a half vampire, half human, but things get far worse when Alice and Jasper leave, without any explanation, leaving Bella thinking that they can’t win this fight.
The last film in the franchise finishes it off in a beautiful way. It is compelling and beautiful and completely what the fans have been hoping for. The acting is great, especially from Michael Sheen, who plays Aro, the leader of the Volturi, who has come to destroy the Cullen’s so he can have Alice and Edward’s gifts for his own. Bella looks great as a vampire, and the special effects, especially the movements of the vampires and their speed, are awesome. We did have a few issues with the film though. We didn’t love the baby. The idea of taking the facial features of Mackenzie Foy, the little girl who plays Rennesmee as 11, was a good idea, but the execution of it doesn’t quite work. The baby
looks too fake, and doesn’t look good next to the actors. They should have just used a regular baby for the role, after all, who looks the same at 11 as they did when they were a baby? It was totally unnecessary. Also the big fight scene, which we’re not giving away too much of, took us totally by surprise. There
have been rumours of there being a big fight, and good guys as well as bad, dying in this fight, but the way it is done shocked us to the core, but then it all makes sense once you watch the rest of it. We loved the way the filmmakers did it. We also loved the, Edward looking into Bella’s mind part, it was very
cleverly done, and the end credits where a joy, seeing the other characters from all five of the films was wonderful, and gave it all a tying together finality. This is one of the best films in the franchise, second only to New Moon and a great way to end it all off.
Well, that’s it. It was one of the best love stories and most successful franchises of all time. We hope you enjoyed the films as much as we did, and don’t despair, you can always buy them on
DVD or Blu-ray to enjoy forever.
Visions of the End Photos by Jon Broeke
Ashley Greene, star of the Twilight franchise, was recently in South Africa promoting the last film
in the franchise, Breaking Dawn Part 2, which hit our screens this month. Jon Broeke got the
chance to sit down with her and discuss the film, the franchise and where she’s going now that she
can see an end to it all.
wilight is one of the most successful film franchises in history, both monetarily and for
its huge fan base. This year marks the end of the franchise with the release of the final film in the saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2. With the films’ release imminent the studio, Summit Entertainment, sent the cast to several places in the world to do publicity. Ashley Greene, who plays Alice Cullen in the film, Edward’s sister, came to see us in South Africa. Ashley knows the character she portrays so well, since she’s been doing it for the better part of five years since shooting the first film. I met with her at the African Pride Hotel in Melrose Arch and asked her what Alice gets up to in the final instalment.
“Alice, in this film,” she tells me. She’s wearing a white blouse and black pants. Her hair wacing and a fiery red. She looks the
part of a film star. “She kind of leaves, in the first half of the film, to basically protect her family. The Volturi has heard that we have an immortal child, which is forbidden, and because of that they’ve decided to come and wipe the whole Cullen clan out. Of course Alice is trying to find a way around that and figure out how to formulate a plan to prevent it. So, she figures one out and has to leave without telling anyone anything, she leaves her family in the dark, which to her I think is a very difficult decision, especially in this dark tie. She sets up s clues for Bella to let her
know that she’s working out a plan and how to keep Renesmee safe should things go awry. So throughout the film she’s gathering different witnesses and vampires to convince the Volturi, one, that this isn’t an immortal child, and that it’s possible for a half human child to exist in the world without causing havoc, and then she comes back towards the end and she steps in to help save the day.”
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Every fan of the book, and there are many, knows the story the final film follows. I asked Ashley if she was a fan of the books before shooting the films, like the others out there.
“Before I started the films, yes,” she says. “I originally got an audition for Twilight before I read the books. It was top secret and breakdowns for the character were: eighteen, vampire, that’s it. So I asked my team, how I was supposed to do go on and do something where they won’t give us a script, I don’t know what it’s about, and so they said, alright, it’s a book. So I went out and got the book, read it, literally, from front to back, and just fell in love with it. I said, ‘I need another day. I need to work on this, this is really important.’ So I worked on it all night and went in and the rest is history.”
Of course while shooting the film she had no idea of the craze that would be created by the series. I asked if she had any idea.
“No,” she tells me. “I realised the popularity of the book, and I fell in love with the characters and the story so I understood that there would be a little bit of hype around it, but not to the extent of which it became. I think I started realising when we’d just started filming it, the amount of press that it was getting, and the fact that I all of a sudden had fan sites when the movie hadn’t even come out, so at that point I started thinking this isn’t quite normal, but I think until the box office numbers came, after the Thursday opening night, no, I had no idea it was going to go global and be this phenomenon. I think to have thought that, you can’t really fathom, that you’re going to be part of all this.”
This kind of exposure comes with pros and cons. The pros are that you are famous and rich and everyone loves you. The cons are a loss of privacy and an intrusion into your private life. I asked Ashley how much her life had changed since becoming part of the franchise.
“I feel in more ways than not,” she jokes. “I was working in a restaurant, booked Twilight and all of a sudden was part of a five film franchise where we have this extraordinary fan base that is so supportive
and incredible. You go from no one knowing who you are to being known around the world, it’s a really crazy thing to be a part of. So that’s insane, and just to have a career and to know that I’ll continue to work in this industry is all you can really as for as an actor, so to have that and to actually have the choice to say no to a film and be able to shape your career a little bit, at this stage of the game for me is something I really don’t take for granted. A lot of people don’t get that option because; you’re struggling to keep your head above water and to pay your rent, so you don’t really have the option to say no, so… That’s been good.”
With four, soon to be five, films in the franchise I asked her if any moments in the franchise stand out to her.
I think the most memorable scene I filmed,” she tells me after thinking about it for a moment. “Was the baseball scene in Twilight. It was the first scene that all the Cullen’s where together. We were kind of all out of our element. It’s interesting to think back to the first movie and the first scenes that we filmed because we’ve just… We had no idea. One, we didn’t know what we were doing, two, we just wanted to make the fans happy, and live up to what Stephanie Meyer created in the books. It was just a whole different world to what it is now and how we are now. I think the first Twilight premiere is something will go down in history in my book. You hear about the fans, so you’re there and you experience the screaming and the love and energy surrounding you, it’s a really incredible thing.”
With the end of the franchise looming a lot of thought is being put into what kind of films Ashley will be doing after it’s all over. A fear for any actor is being type cast as a certain character. I asked her if she’s worried about being type cast as the vampire she’s so well known as.
“I think I was lucky,” she says. “In the sense that Alice is so different from what I look like, aesthetically, her hair is different, her voice is different, her skin is different, her eyes are different, everything is a little different so, it’s easier to separate myself from that character than for some of the
“I realised the popularity of
the book, and I fell in love with the characters and the story
so I understood that there would be a little bit of
hype around it, but not to the
extent of which it became.”
Ashley as Alice Cullen with Jackson Rathbone as Jasper
Courtesy of Nu Metro
other cast members. And I think, for your first role, that you’re really known for, to be, take away the fact that she’s a vampire, she’s the sweetest best friend, sister character, girl next door, and you don’t really get typecast for stuff like that as easily as for other parts, so I think I got really lucky in that sense, I think I got the best of both worlds. Now it’s about doing different roles, separating myself a bit from that and showing different sides of what I can do as far as acting and longevity.”
I asked her if she would do another vampire film.
“I think at this stage, no, but down the road, probably. You know, listen, if Quentin Tarantino came up to me and said, ‘Listen, I want you to do this,’ I’d probably do it, so it all depends, but if I can help it, and he doesn’t come up to me any time soon, I think it’s been really fun playing a vampire, of course it would be fun to play a different type, but I think because I was so lucky not to be type casted to dive right into another vampire film would be irresponsible.”
I’m sure every fan would like the vampire franchise to continue forever, so I asked Ashley if she would reprise her role if Stephanie Meyer wrote another book in the franchise.
“I almost help she doesn’t,” Ashley says. “Because I think it would hard not to. I am really happy that we’re ending out this franchise on such a high note, which is kind of the balance. Of course it would be fun to do another film, playing Alice has become part of my life, and it’s fun to be on set with people you know and love, but I don’t ever want to stop doing the films because there’s interest that’s lost, I wouldn’t want to tarnish it in that way, so I’m hoping that it does end here just because we’re in such a good place.”
Ashley is busy working on other projects at the moment. She’s also just finished shooting another film in New York called CBGB. A role very different from Alice Cullen.
“It’s about a club in New York,” she tells me about the film. “That’s the place where underground punk rock was formed. I’m playing a real person who still exists and
is one of the producers on the film. She’s kind of this tough no-nonsense New York chick and it’s very different from anything else I’ve done.”
Another star from another successful film franchise, Rupert Grint who played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, also stars in the film. I asked what it was like to work with him, another well-known actor from another franchise.
“We didn’t talk much about it much,” she tells me. “I didn’t get to really work with him much, I saw him on set, and he’s so nice. He makes you want smile that one, his smile is contagious, but we really didn’t talk much about the franchise. I think there was more talk around us about the fact that we were both in the films, but not so much between us, and Alan Rickman was also, he played my father, and we chatted a bit about being in something like [Twilight or Harry Potter] and being in something like CBGB. Talking to him in general is interesting, he’s so phenomenal.”
I’m sure we’re all looking to seeing Ashley in CBGB’s, but we all love her as Alice Cullen. Watch her now on the big screen and see how one of the most successful film franchises ever ends.
The Electric Man
In the new Afrikaans musical
Pretville, Steve Hofmeyr plays a
role that we’re not used to seeing him
in, that of a nice guy. Jon Broeke sat down with him at the Pretville press junket and chatted about the film, and being a nice guy for
a change.
teve Hofmeyr is one of South Africa’s best known and beloved actors and musicians. From his
times on Agter Elke Man to his long stint on the popular M-Net soap, Egoli, to more recent projects including Bakgat II and Platteland, Steve has done it all. Now in Pretville he’s doing something a little different, playing a character without a dark secret, or an evil scheme. In the movie Steve plays Eddie Electrik, a has-been pop star who is going back to his home town Pretville, to perform.
“Marne [van der Merwe, who plays Frank in the film] plays a character that was the same age that my dad was at that stage, if you take the late fifties,” I talked to Steve at the official Pretville press junket at the Constantia Hotel and Conference Centre. “So I play a bit of a Bill Haley, kind of a has-been pop star, who returns, a la Mama Mia, to his hometown, and meets up with his ex-girlfriend, who happens to have an eighteen year old daughter that looks blonde and very much like me.” “Let’s make her twenty five,” Linda Korsten, the director corrects him. She’s sitting with us during the press junket. “Okay,” he replies. “Twenty five year old daughter. Subtle, subtle, subtle, but nothing is… It doesn’t go that way. So that’s the kind of character I play.” Steve went through a transformation to play the character, shedding his bad boy image to play the straight laced Eddie.
“You won’t recognise me at all in the photographs,” he jokes. “I love it. The beard went, I don’t have enough hair for much of the brill cream formed hairstyles of the time, but I enjoyed it. Kind of a bit of a strange comb
over, Buddy Holly glasses, so the moment you dress me up into another character I transform into it. Much lighter, smiling, no malevolence, in fact it’s awkward for me to play in a movie were there’s someone more bad than I am.”
Steve is best known for playing characters that are up to no good. Even his character in Platteland, the last Afrikaans musical film that he did. Is not a very nice person. That is very different from Eddie. He’s sweet and kind and even a little naïve.
“All this innocence killed me,” Steve joked about the character, but he also said that it was nice to play a character that wasn’t trying to destroy the world, per se, but that wasn’t the only thing that drew Steve to the project.
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The music played a big part in that too. “When I heard the music,” Steve says
about his getting involved in the project. “It’s the authentic Grease… Grease was the authentic copy of the fifties. I remember coming home from school and going to my first Grease party, and my mom and dad would be so excited, and we’d roll up our sleeves and brill cream the hair and stove pipes, polka dots, brill cream, pelvic thrusts, boogie woogie, all the stuff you’ll find in this movie, by in Afrikaans. We’ve never had that.”
A big difference in this project was that the town of Pretville was actually built, and not in a sound stage either, but as an
actual town with bricks and cement. I asked Steve what he thought about the set, this town that was built, when he first saw it.
“Paul [Kruger, the producer] invited me,” he tells me. “To sell the idea to me, which I thought was wonderful and fool proof, and made me look out the widow, when there was actually just nothing, just a hectare of property, with guys digging along these lines, and he said he not going to just build a film set, he’s going to basically build a town, with a diner and a square and an old garage, and he’s going to have these shops and he’s going to sell them to modern companies, but, of course, dress them up as fifties. And I
thought, wonderful fantasy, great imagination you have and good luck with all that, but I want to do the movie it sounds like fun, and he actually did it. Every month I went back there was more to the town, and he proudly takes you through it, and he had people from Hartebeespoort Dam actually come in and do things, just to be part of the movie, so that excitement was created long before we even had a final script. I was astounded. I’ve seen movie sets, but I’ve never seen a town built. You can’t move it, you can’t deconstruct it. So he’s actually going to use it, post movie release, you can actually drive in there and order your own milkshake in fifties style. I think we’ve even going to have the premiere there. You can watch the movie there.”
And Steve feels that it’s a great, feel good movie too.
“There’s not a moment of depression,” he tells me about the film.
I play a bit of a Bill
Haley, kind of a has-
been pop star, who returns, a la Mama
Mia, to his hometown, and meets up with his
ex-girlfriend,
who happens to
have an eighteen year old
daughter that looks
blonde and very much like me.”
“There’s not a sad moment, it’s just joyous. It’s just joy.”
One of the best things about the film is the costumes and the cars that the characters work with. Steve himself drives a beautiful car in the film.
“It was a ’48 Ford Fairlane. I was out of my tree, man,” he says about it.
With cars like that, actors like Steve,
and an incredible set, there’s no doubt that the film will be a resounding success. And, according to the producer, Paul Kruger, they want to shoot a Pretville 2 and possibly even Pretville 3. Let’s hope Steve comes back to town for the sequels, but in the meantime he can be seen in the original, boogie woogying and jiving the town to a stand-still.
From left: Marlee van der Merwe as Serah Somers, Steve as Eddie Electrik and Sanet Ackermann as Emily Somers
Dancer’s Profile:
Carlos Santos
Carlos Santos. Photo by Justin Dingwall
orn in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Carlos started dancing at a young age, though it wasn’t his idea.
“When I was a young boy,” he says. “My cousin was in a ballet school and she told my mother that the school needed boys. Seeing that I was a very naughty boy, my mother did not think twice about enrolling me into the school and so I started to train in ballet.”
His teachers were Rosana Presente and Ruben Terranova, and though he wasn’t the one to get started in dancing he learned to love it. “My mother forced me into ballet,” he says. He never planned to be dancer when he grew up. He had other plans. “My dream was to be a professional soccer player. As the years went on I started to enjoy my ballet training and my feelings changed towards my choice of career. I fell in love with ballet and decided the life of a professional dancer is for me.” In 2006 he participated in a series of workshops presented by the Arnie Zane / Bill T. Jones Company in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 2010 he placed third in the 7th Festival of Dance at Academy Studio 3. In 2011 he joined South African Ballet Theatre as a member of the corp de ballet, and moved to South African Mzansi Ballet when it was formed. He has danced roles such as Carmina Burana, The Nutcracker, Black Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake, A Fantastica Fabrica de Natal, Don Quixote, Le Corsaire, Blue Bird Pas de Deux in The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals. “My favourite role to dance is Espada in Don Quixote,”
B
he says. “Because he has an excitement about his character. I enjoy the way Espada flirts with the ladies in the ballet as I share similar
personality traits! Rats in The Nutcracker is certainly my worst role to dance. The Rat's costumes are very difficult and uncomfortable to dance in plus I can hardly see where I’m going through the Rat head.”
Even with that trouble he dances the role very well. We asked him for some advice for the younger generation who want to be professional dancers.
“Work hard and take care of your body,” he says. “Always respect your teachers and be disciplined. Have a sense of responsibility for everything concerning your dance practice: your attire, behaviour etc. Lastly, be very patient! Ballet takes time. In order to do all the elaborate movements you need to perfect the basics.”
Lauryn Summerley & Carlos Santos in The Sleeping Beauty
“Work hard and take care of your body,” he says. “Always respect your teachers and be
disciplined. Have a sense of responsibility
for everything concerning your
dance practice: your attire, behaviour etc.
Lastly, be very patient! Ballet takes
time. In order to do all the elaborate
movements you need to perfect the basics.”
Carlos in Romeo and Juliet, along with Burnise Silvius. Photo by John Hogg
Dancer’s Profile:
Linde Wessels
Linde Wessels. Photo by Justin Dingwall
My gran worked at the State Theatre,” Linde Wessels says. “As the Ballet department’s head
costumier/seamstress and as a little girl I used to go to work with her and saw all the ballerinas in their Tutu´s and just knew that is what I want to do one day when I grew older.” For Linde becoming a ballerina was in her blood, from seeing the other dancers on stage in the costumes her grandmother made, to being on the stage herself. She continued her connection to the State Theatre, studying there at the State Theatre Ballet School, before continuing in Stuttgart at the John Cranko School. She always knew she wanted to be on stage in the big shows. “Yes,” is her answer about always wanting to become a professional dancer. “I have always known that this is what I would like to do and I am blessed to able to do what I do.” After completing her training at the school Linde joined the Stuttgart Ballet as an apprentice in 2007 and in 2008 was taken into the corps de ballet. She then joined Mzansi
Production in 2010 after returning to South Africa. While she was with the Stuttgart Ballet she danced an extensive repertoire that included ballets by John Cranko, Frederick Ashton, John Neumeier, Peter Schaufuss, Maurice Béjart and Hans van Manen. With Mzansi Productions she danced in Carmen,
“
Divas of Music and Dance, Carmina Burana and Somebody To Love: A Dance Celebration to the Music of Queen. We asked her about her favourite, and worst role, to dance. “Kitri in Don Quixote has a very special place in my heart,” she told us. “As it was the first principle role I was cast for. I just
love the storyline of the ballet. My dream would be to someday dance the lead role in the ballet Othello. I get very scared when it comes to the friends scene in the ballet Don Quixote as I had injured my knee during the rehearsal of the scene. Although I can’t really say it is my worst. Rose Ladies in Le Corsaire was my worst as I just came back from my knee injury and I can’t remember anything being as difficult as that little bit of choreography.”
We asked Linde to give the younger generation some advice to follow in her footsteps.
“Success is not a destination,” she told us. “But it is a lifelong journey. That has been my motto since a very young child. Be wise and work your hardest at a young age. Have determination and a strong will, if you don´t have that then Ballet is not for you.”
Linde in Carmina Burana. Photo by John Hogg
“Success is not a destination,” she
told us. “But it is a lifelong journey. That
has been my motto since a very young child. Be wise and
work your hardest at a young age. Have
determination and a strong will, if you
don´t have that then Ballet is not for you.”
Lindé Wessels and Craig Arnolds in Sproetjies. Photo by Susanne Holbaek
When the Sky Falls
Bond, James Bond, is back. We went to see the latest film in a franchise that spreads over fifty
years to see if the real Bond has returned.
have been a fan of James Bond since I was a child, watching Dr No and seeing Sean Connery as the
famed MI6 agent. Through the funny, camped up, era of Rodger Moore, seeing him battle Jaws with laser guns while floating in outer space. Into the more serious side of Bond as Timothy Dalton took the reins, turning Bond into a man on the run, a loose cannon with a License to Kill. Back to the one liners, womanising and action as Pierce Brosnan took over and took Bond to a whole new generation. And, finally, into the reboot of sorts as Daniel Craig too the role and turned Bond into more of a real person, increasing the fights, the woman and the action. Now Daniel Craig is back for the third time in Skyfall. During a mission in Istanbul Bond is shot, by accident, by another agent, played by Naomie Harris. With the agency thinking he’s dead he begins an easy life somewhere away from the violence he’s always involved in, but when MI6 headquarters is bombed, and it looks like M, played again by Dame Judy Dench, was the target Bond comes out of his
I
retirement to return to work. He’s not exactly welcomed back, but is put back to work and goes about tracking down the person targeting the very agency itself, a man that knows the agency very well, a man who has a personal vendetta against M, a man named Mr Silva, played wonderfully by Javier
Bardem. While I
enjoyed the other Daniel Craig Bond Films, namely Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace, this is the best Bond film he’s done, and maybe the best since Dr No itself. It really does bring to mind the original Bond and the impact the very first film had on its audience. Craig is wonderful as Bond. He’s an aging character, trying to hold on to his life, as well as do the right thing. He’s running from the past, but looking to it for help at the same time. It is an intricate complicated Bond that we’ve never seen before, and it’s absolutely wonderful. Dench is great as M, the matriarch of the agency, but also a mother figure for Bond, even if he doesn’t want her. There’s a great chemistry between the two actors in their roles and it lends to the magic of the film. The stand out performance comes from Javier Bardem.
The stand out performance comes from Javier Bardem.
He is creepy, and brilliant and
incredibly gay and something Bond has never faced before.
He is creepy, and brilliant and incredibly gay and something Bond has never faced before. Bardem walks the fine line between camp comedy and complete psychosis and does it with ease, creating one of the most memorable Bond villains of all time. The action is hard and fast, which you’d expect from a Bond film, there’s even the re-introduction of Q, played in the film by youngster Ben Whishaw, who gets heavily involved in the computer side of the story, but keeps things real giving Bond a gun and a radio, referencing to exploding pens not being
there thing anymore. It’s fantastic. I also loved the Aston Martin making a cameo, even if it did get blown up in the end. This is by far the best Bond in recent memory. If you’re a fan of the franchise then you need to see this film, if not, this may be the film to convert you. We, at Off The Screen, would like to give a big ups to the creators of the films to a glorious fifty years, and we all look forward to another fifty, and twenty-odd more films. We give this film 9 out of 10 and may Bond, James Bond, live forever.
Peace, Love and Misunderstanding Starring Jane Fonda, Elizabeth Olsen and Catherine Keener Directed by Bruce Beresford
hen Diane (Catherine Keener) and her husband decide to get a divorce she takes her kids, Zoe
(Elizabeth Olsen) and Jake (Nat Wolff) to their grandmother (Jane Fonda) to break the news to them. The news is nothing to either of them, expecting it, but the fact that their grandmother is a real life hippie is a shock. She is still living in the 60’s organising and taking part in anti-war marches, growing pot in her basement, and conducting strange midnight fertility rituals with the other woman in town. It in this strange little town that Zoe meets Cole (Chase Crawford), a butcher, who she develops feelings for, while her brother meets Tara (Marissa O’Donnell), a girl following in his grandmother’s footsteps.
Diane also meets someone, Jude (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), and all their lives begin changing. This is a sweet film with good performances by all. Fonda is wonderful as the woman still living in the 60’s and refusing to see that the world has changed. Keener is great as the daughter who wishes her mother was more normal, and has arranged her entire life to pretend she doesn’t exist. The problem with the film is that it’s completely forgettable. It’s sweet and all, but five minutes after leaving the theatre you’ve completely forgotten about it. If you have two hours to waste and nothing else to watch then this is good fun, but if there’s something else, watch that instead.
The Cold Light of Day Starring Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver
Directed by Mabrouk El Mechri
hen Will (Henry Cavill) is forced to go on a family vacation in Spain he is not happy about it, especially
since his career is falling apart, but when his family is suddenly kidnapped his world really begins to unravel. Faced with a truth that he can’t deal with, and a father (Bruce Willis) who he doesn’t really know, when he finds out the man has been a CIA operative for years, Will now has to try and figure out what the kidnappers want and save his family, all
the while trying to avoid being killed by the people who are supposed to help him. And then his father gets shot… This is a great two hour action fest. The car chases, gun play, fighting comes thick and fast as soon as the family is taken, and the plot is intricate enough to keep the average action fan interested. The performances are good as well, especially Sigourney Weaver as the father’s boss at the agency who may or may not be the bad guy. She is great as a bad a*s lady who would kill you as soon as look at you. If you enjoy action films, then this one is for you. It’s not as exciting as GI Joe, or as compelling as the Bourne films, but it is a good watch for a Friday night.
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Pitch Perfect Starring Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson
Directed by Jason Moore .
eca (Anna Kendrick) has been forced by her dad, a professor at the college, to attend, but
she wants to move to Los Angeles to become a DJ. When things start going wrong and she wants to leave he makes her a deal, join a group and give the college thing a try, and if she still wants to leave at the end of the year he will pay for it. She agrees to his conditions, and the team she decides to join is the all-girl a capella singing group, the Barden Bella’s. Shadowed by controversy since an unfortunate event at the previous year’s competition, the Bella’s are trying to make a comeback, but with their leader, Aubrey (Anna Camp) clinging to the past with a death grip, is there any chance for them to make it?
This type of singing film is very popular nowadays, ever since Glee, and this film is among the best of them. It’s funny and enjoyable, and the singing is sensational, by the guys, the biggest competition for the Bella’s, and the girls themselves. Every one of them can sing, and sing very well. Camp is great as the control freak, who uses the prefix “Aca” on most of the words she uses, reminding me at the Bring It On films, which is great. Kendrick is cute and sassy as the musical minded Beca, and she plays well off Skylar Astin, who plays the film obsessed love interest. They both look great together. If you like musical films, you’ll enjoy this, but be warned, a lot of the jokes are below the belt and not for a younger audience, and the vomiting thing is a little much.
Freelancers Starring 50 Cent, Robert De Niro and Forest Whitaker
Directed by Jessy Terrero
ight after graduation from the police academy three friends who joined the police force
after being busted for various crimes, Malo (50 cent), A.D. (Malcolm Goodwin) and Lucas (Ryan O’Nan) find themselves in very different positions. Malo is taken in by his deceased father’s, who was also a cop, best friend, Captain Sarcone (Robert De Niro) and taught to basically be an enforcer for a drug dealer the old cop works for. A.D. is taken under the wing of a black training officer (Robert Wisdom) who tries to teach him another way of dealing with the gang busters they face. Lucas ends up with a racist T.O, Jude (Michael
McGrady) who tries to push his beliefs on the boy, but when the call of the money Malo has reaches the others they all fall for the corruption that is high up in the NYPD. This kind of film has been done before, from Dark Blue to Street Kings, which also starred Forest Whitaker who stars in this film, to Training Day, there’s nothing original here. What helped the other films stand out were the good performances in them, but there aren’t any here. De Niro and Whitaker try their best to work with what they have, but it’s not enough for them to do anything, while 50 cent tries very hard, but doesn’t have the acting chops to pull it off either. This film is tired and weak and really needed something else to make it worth a watch. Don’t’ bother, instead rent one of the other three I’ve mentioned, you’ll get more out of them.
B
R
Pretville Starring Marlee van der Merwe, Eugene Jensen and Terence Bridgett
Directed by Linda Korsten
retville is a small town in 1950’s South Africa. In the town live a cast of colourful characters, including Serah
Somers (Marlee van der Merwe), the small town girl with a lovely smile who falls for the farm boy, Dawid (Eugene Jensen), the blue eyed boy from the farm who is a little naïve about the city life. He falls for her too, but there’s a complication, the bad boy from the city, Frank (Marno van der Merwe) is in love with Serah as well and doesn’t want Dawid anywhere near here. Rounding off the characters is Serah’s mom (Sanet Ackermann), the flamboyant owner of the hair salon, as well as the mayor, Pierre Lukuveer (Terence Bridgett), the man crazy candy store owner, Lollie Le Roux (Lizz Meiring), and pregnant
Grieta Geeverniet (Lizelle de Klerk). Things get further complicated when rock legend Eddie Eletrik (Steve Hofmeyr) comes to town and everyone starts going crazy with excitement. This is the second Afrikaans musical t come from this production company, the first being Liefling: The Musical. That one did very well, and this one should do the same, but it is a bit much. It starts off great. The set is wonderful, the colours are beautiful, the cinematography is lovely to see, the choreography is stunning and the singing is great, but after the tenth song, it all gets a little tedious. I think if there had been a little less music and bit more of a story, which is sorely lacking as well, the film could have been a lot better, but alas, there isn’t. If you loved Liefling, you’ll probably enjoy this film, if not then it’s not for you.
Rise of the Guardians Starring Hugh Jackman, Alec Baldwin and Isla Fisher Directed by Peter Ramsey
hen the children of Earth are threatened by the boogieman, Pitch Black (Jude Law), the
Guardians are called to defend them. They are Santa (Alec Baldwin), the Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman), The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher) and the Sandman, but things are bad this time and the Man in the Moon, who controls all things, decides that there must be a fifth guardian if they hope to stop Pitch, so he tells the others
to call on Jack Frost (Chris Pine) to become the new guardian and help them stop this evil. The problem is that Jack isn’t a guardian, he’s hardly even a spirit, traveling around causing trouble, and Pitch has a plan that perhaps none of the guardians will be able to stop this time. This is a fantastic film. The concept of putting together the holiday figures in one film isn’t a new one, but it’s done so well in this film, and making them bad a**es, is awesome. I loved Santa as a Kosak warrior, and the Easter bunny as an outback, boomerang throwing fighter. Sandy, the Sandman, is also very cool, and the way he controls the dreams is awesome. Pitch is really frightening and adds to the story, and Jack is compelling, especially his story angle which is unravelled through the film. This is one the kids, and adults, need to see this holiday season, so, do yourself a favour and go check it out.
P
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Finding Nemo 3D Starring Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres and Alexander Gould
Directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
arlin, Dory and Nemo are back on the big screen, and this time they’re in 3D. When the son, Nemo
(voiced by Alexander Gould), of overprotective father, Marlin (Albert Brooks), is captured by a diver Marlin takes off in pursuit. He runs, literally, into Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a fish that tries to help him, but loses her memory every five minutes, so doesn’t help much, and the two of them go on a crazy adventure to find his son. Meanwhile, Nemo finds himself in a fish tank in a dentist’s office, and meets the fish there, Bloat (Brad Garrett), Peach (Allison Janney), Gurgle (Austin Pendleton), Deb (Vicki Lewis), and her twin Flo, who is actually just her reflection, Bubbles (Stephen Root) and Gil (Willem Dafoe), the leader of the tank. They welcome Nemo into the tank, but when they realise that he’s a gift for Darla, the dentist’s niece, and a fish killer, they initiate a plan to save the young fish and get him back to his dad. This film is just as good the fifth time as it was the first time I saw it. The characters are great and the comedy is very funny, especially the interactions between Dory and Marlin. The 3D works beautifully giving the film new life. If you liked this film the first time on the big screen go watch it again in 3D, it’s still awesome.
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Dancing Dirty Photos by Pat Bromilow Downing
The Teatro at Montecasino plays host to the stage version of a much loved film this month
with the presentation of Dirty Dancing. Jon Broeke went along to see if it matches up to the
screen, or if the dancing is not as dirty as it should be.
was very excited when I
discovered that Dirty Dancing, the
stage production, was coming to
South Africa. Having been a fan of the film
since I saw it as a boy I was thrilled that we
would get to see the magic and spectacular
that made the film so popular live and in
person. I was even more excited when I went
to the media call for the show. They showed
us two excerpts from the show, Love Man,
when Baby first sees Dirty Dancing, and the
scene when Baby and Johnny first sleep
together, and I’ve got to say I was blown
away. The singing in the first scene by Zane
Gillion, who plays Tito Suarez the band leader,
was wonderful, and the dancing by the cast
was also fantastic. Then the scene with Baby
and Johnny showed the acting abilities of the
two actors and also blew me away, so it was
with great anticipation that I went to see the
show.
The show is structured almost
identically as the film. Baby, played with
Jenner Grey aplomb by South Africa’s own
Bryony Whitfield, travels to Kellermans, a
holiday resort, with her family, her dad, Dr
Jake Houseman, played by Mark Rayment, her
mom, Marjorie Houseman, played by Kate
Normington, and her sister, Lisa, played by
Nadia Beukes, for the summer. Once there
she gets involved with the entertainment
staff, especially the dancers when she
discovers that Penny, the lead dancer played
by Milo Di Biaggi, is pregnant. She wants to
have an abortion, but being the 1950’s,
abortions are illegal, and the only night she
can have the procedure done is a night she
needs to perform with Johnny, the male lead
dancer played by Gareth Bailey. Of course
Baby jumps in and volunteers to dance on
Penny’s behalf so she can have the
procedure done, but she doesn’t
know how to dance, so Johnny agrees,
begrudgingly, to teach her. As he does
something begins happening between the
two, and by the time they dance they have
fallen madly in love with each other, but then
something goes wrong with Penny and Baby’s
dad needs to step in and save the day,
learning about Baby and Johnny in the
process. He forbids her to see him, but she
can’t and so they start on a clandestine
relationship, but things don’t stay hidden for
very long.
I
If you’re a fan of the film then go and see the show, you’ll love
the music and the dancing and the
famous lines like, “Nobody puts Baby in
a corner”
The show follows the same plot as the
film, which I loved, so automatically I enjoyed
the story, but there are some major issue with
the show.
The first half is really boring. Because
the show follows the same places and scenes
as the film they jump around from location to
location a lot, which works well on screen, but
not so well on stage. It makes the scenes
disjointed and makes it difficult for the show
the flow well. There is also very little audience
connection with the show. When you act on
stage you need the audience to feel part of
the story, part of the show, whereas when
you’re on screen there can’t be any audience
contact, so you don’t need it. The show
follows the film too much at times so cuts off
the audience contact, making it boring yet
again. I was also not blown away with Bailey’s
performance. He just doesn’t have the
charisma that Patrick Swayze had when he
played the character on screen, and because
he’s the focal point of the film, as far as the
mostly woman audience is concerned, it falls
a little flat because of it.
These are the bad things about the show, but there are highlights too.
The music is wonderful, especially In the Still of the Night, performed by Kyle Grant who also performs The Time of My Life. He is a fantastic singer. All the music in the play is great, the same music used in the film which was great too.
Whitfield is wonderful. She has the same wide-eyed naivety that made Jennifer Grey so good in the film. She also has the hair and the clothes that make it look like Jennifer Grey is actually on the stage in front of you. She’s also wonderful in the funny moments, especially when she pretends to not know how to dance, she pulls it off so well.
Nadia Beukes needs a special mention for the song she sings in the end of summer concert. She is wonderful, funny and off-key
and just absolutely fabulous. The dancing is great. All the people on
stage who dance do it really well. The performances by De Biaggi,
Rayment and Normington are also fabulous. They embody the characters from the film so well and bring them to life on the stage. They are a joy to watch.
The set was also wonderfully clever. I loved the use of the doors to show coming and going from rooms, and the kitchen especially impressed me.
If you’re a fan of the film then go and see the show, you’ll love the music and the dancing and the famous lines like, “Nobody puts Baby in a corner”, but if you didn’t love the film then don’t see this. You’ll only walk away wishing you hadn’t spent the money.
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In the Giant’s Shadow Photos by Mariola Biela
This month sees the pantomime coming back to the Mandela at Joburg Theatre. This year Janice
Honeyman brings us Jack and the Beanstalk, complete with climbable beanstalk, a forty foot
Giant and a cast of colourful characters. Jon Broeke went along to the theatre to check out
the action.
Thombi Mthombeni as Jack along with the cast of Jack and the Beanstalk
t’s pantomime time again and this year Janice Honeyman is bringing us a familiar take about a boy and
a cow and a large vegetable that grows in his backyard. Yes, it’s Jack and the beanstalk. Of course it doesn’t follow the story exactly, given a few plot changes by Honeyman to make it truly panto, and truly South African.
Jack, played in this production by Idols and panto alum Bongi Mthombeni, is a streetwise skelm. A bit of a bad boy who doesn’t play by all the rules, especially when it comes to road rules, and has a list of speeding fines, and parking tickets. He is in love with the mayor’s, Mrs Skwashie Mangowashie, played by Nandi Nyembe, daughter, the rock chick Raspberry Rose, played by Carly Graeme. She’s hot and fiery and everything Jack could want, but… There is a major problem. Every year the Giant that torments the town where they live kidnaps and eats a teenage girl, and
this year he has his taste buds set on Raspberry Rose. So it falls on Jack to try and save her, but with the Giant’s henchman, the evil Henry Hideosa, played with evil delight by
I
Tobie Cronje as Henry Hideosa
Carly Graeme as Raspberry Rose alongside Bongi Mthombeni as Jack
Tobie Cronje, on his trail, will Jack be able to save the damsel, slay the giant, and save the town?
I thoroughly enjoyed Cinderella last year, but, to be completely honest, this year’s show didn’t blow me away. That doesn’t mean, however, that there were no highlights in the show.
Firstly, the sets are wonderful. I loved Jack’s mother’s, Dame Dudu Dludlu, played by Desmond Dube, house. It was clever and pretty, and I especially loved how we were inside the house and then the scenery changed and we were outside, and it worked so beautifully. The other sets, the Giant’s castle and the town square were also wonderful, and the beanstalk was fantastic. The way it rose up from the stage floor was great. I also loved the butterflies that came out onto the stage while Jack was going up the beanstalk. They were dancers dressed in psychedelic costumes that glowed in the UV lights that were turned on. The awe it created in
the children watching the show reminded me of why these kinds of shows are staged in the first place.
The performances were also good, especially from Tobie Cronje. He was mean and wicked and simply swam in the boos’ emanating from the audience. He got better
and better as the show went on, feeding off the audience to enhance his performance. It was wonderful to watch.
The giant itself was also great, for the first five minutes, but then it simply became a little boring, and that brings me to main problem with the entire show. It was boring.
Last year’s Cinderella kept me fixated in the stage from beginning to end, but this year’s performance found me hoping it would end soon after the interval. It just didn’t have the magic I was hoping for. I get the feeling that Honeyman, who is usually completely wonderful in everything she does, was paying
more attention to Starlight Express, which opens next year, and kind of phoned in her directing of this show. It just didn’t have the pop that the other panto’s have had. I also did not enjoy the references to other stage shows playing at other theatres. I felt these were a little out of order and unnecessary.
I feel that it’s a bit of pity that the show didn’t go as planned, because I am a fan, but I’m sure Aladdin, which is next year’s panto, will be better. We’ll just wait and see.
NOTE: I need to apologise about a few errors in the Bongi Mthombeni interview that was featured in our November issue. Desond Dube’s character is Dame Dudu Dludlu, not Dame Dora Dimpledumpling as mentioned in the caption. I apologise for this error, but we were going on information provided at the time.
A Homegrown Experience
The Done Theatre at Gold Reef City plays host to a singing spectacular this month with
Homegrown. Jon Broeke went along to the opening to night to see if something Homegrown is all it’s made out to be, or if we should import
in.
From left to right: Winray Fortuin, Suzzi Swanepoel, Izak Davel and Tshepi Mashego
’ve never been to the Dome Theatre at Gold Reef City before, and I’ve got to say I’m not a huge
fan. I don’t really like the round table seating situation, where you have four chairs to a table. The reason being that if you arrive as a party of four, it’s fine, but if you arrive alone, as I did, you end up sitting with a bunch of strangers, which I don’t really appreciate. At other theatre’s you can ignore the person sitting next to you because you’re watching the show, but when you start off the evening looking at each other you have no choice but to do the polite chat. It was lucky then that the show was good, otherwise this would have been a terrible evening. The show in question was Homegrown, a mixture of old and new South African songs performed very well by a very talented cast. There is a semblance of a storyline, the four character, made up of Afrikaans singing star, and heart throb, Izak Davel, Idols SA alum Suzzi Swanepoel, Pedi princess Tshepi Mashego and up and coming pop superstar
Winray Fortuin, want to win R100 000, and to do so they need to some up with a slogan of some kind, “South Africa is…”. They try their hardest, but all they can come up with is the bad things that are all over our newspapers. They spend the rest of the show singing songs that remind them of the good in the country, and trying to come up with a winning slogan. The story is nothing more than a vehicle to sing songs, but it’s okay, since the songs are done so well.
The show starts off with an electric guitar version of our national anthem, which is fantastic and brings to mind the American way of starting their shows the same way. The show is made up of several medleys, which include some South African classics as well as new South African hits. Even the singles from the Idols SA winners has a place in this show. One of the highlight medleys for me was the kid show medleys, which consisted of the theme songs from TV shows such as Mina Moo, Pumpkin Patch, the Afrikaans version of Pinocchio and Raboobi, better known as the Zulu version of Spiderman. It was clever and
I
brought back many memories for the audience.
Other highlight songs were the harmoniously sung Homeless, which was incredible, Tshepi’s rendition of Paradise Road, which had the audience breathless, Izak’s Afrkaans song Aleen, which was absolutely wonderful, All four of the singers doing the medley of Moment’s Away and Weeping, which had the audience in the palm of their hands, and Ag Pleez Daddy, which had the audience rolling on the floor in hysterics, especially Suzzi, wearing swimming flippers and singing in a five year olds voice.
The voice that needs mention is Tshepi. She has the most natural, strong and incredibly beautiful voice I’ve heard in a long time. Each time she was one the stage she blew me away. The other thing worth mentioning is Izak Davel. I now understand why he’s as popular as he is. His voice is nice, though it didn’t blow me away, and his interaction with Tshepi throughout the show, she’s in love with him and he’s not too sure about it, is very funny, but what puts him apart from the others on stage is his performance. The moment he steps on the stage you can’t take your eyes off him. He move bigger, tries harder and is more captivating than the others. A true performer.
This is a wonderful, captivating show from start to finish and had the
audience singing along from the very first verse. As the flag, which was painted on the stage, says this show is proudly South African, and about South Africa, and maybe if we all could think of the good things, instead of focusing on the bad, perhaps we could have a better place. I’ll consider that next time I have to go to a theatre and make small talk. It’ll be hard, but I’ll just think of this show, and I know I’ll smile.
The Cabin in the Woods Starring Chris Hemsworth, Kristin Connolly and Anna Hutchison Directed by Drew Goddard
Five friends go to a cabin in the woods for a weekend away, but no sooner have they arrived that they find a creepy cellar filled with more creepy things. They investigate and unwillingly unleash a family of zombies that then come and try to kill them, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. Unknown to the friends, elsewhere is a control room and two men that are watching their every move, aiding the zombies who are trying to kill them. Who are they? What are they doing? And what is the connection to the strange Director? This is a fantastic horror flick, the kind of thing you expect to come from Joss Whedon. It’s smart and funny and full of gore, but more than that it has an amazing story that you don’t see coming until the final credits run. If you like the horror genre this is a film you need to see.
Dawn Rider Starring Christian Slater, Jill Hennessy and Donald Sutherland Directed by Terry Miles John Mason (Christian Slater) travels to the town of Promise to meet up with his estranged father, but no sooner has he arrived in the town than his father is shot and killed. John gets shot as well and spends his time at a local ranch owned by his friend, Red (Lochlyn Munroe), and his sister, Alice (Jill Hennessy). She and John are in love and start having a relationship while he recovers and sets about trying to discover the identities of the men who killed his father. Little does he know that the man he’s looking for is the man whose house he’s living in. I’m not a fan of westerns, but I quite enjoyed this one. I like Slater, Munroe and Hennessy in everything they’ve done. I’ve seen them all in films and TV series and have enjoyed their work. They all give good performances in this film too. Donald Sutherland, as a bounty hunter after Mason, is good too. If you enjoy westerns then rent this.
Hellraiser: Revelations Starring Steven Brand, Nick Everson and
Tracey Fairaway Directed by Victor Garcia
Pinhead is back! When two friends disappear during a trip to Mexico their families wonder what happened to them, with nothing but strange footage on a handycam, but with no news for ages they try to move on with their lives. Then one night, one of the boys reappears at home when the families are having dinner, but he’s not the same, he’s confused and acting strangely. He tells them a tale of pain and pleasure and the Sinobytes, led by Pinhead, who are desperate to find him, and what he’s willing to do to avoid that. I don’t get these films. When I first saw them I thought the puzzle box, and Pinhead himself, were very cool, but I obviously didn’t understand it fully, because now I don’t see the appeal. If you like the Hellraiser franchise, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this film. If not avoid it.
A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas
Starring John Cho, Kal Penn and Neil Patrick Harris
Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson Harold and Kumar are back for more weed induced hilarity. It’s been years since White Castle and Guantanamo Bay, and Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) have grown apart. Harold is a successful Wall Street broker and married to Maria (Paula Garcés) while Kumar is still the same stoner, slacker he’s ever been, but when a Christmas gift is left on Kumar’s doorstep for Harold, Kumar takes it to his friends’ house. Where he destroys the Christmas tree, a cherished prize in the eyes of Harold’s father-in-law. This sets them on an insane adventure which includes getting tied up, turning into Claymation and almost being raped by a Russian mafia princess. This film is classic Harold and Kumar. All the old jokes are here, full of weed and drink and other drugs. Neil Patrick Harris is back as well, playing himself, but as a psychopath. If you are a fan of the franchise you’ll love this film.
The Amazing Spiderman Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans Directed by Marc Webb
When Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) I bitten by a spider at Oscorp, his life changes dramatically. When he develops powers he doesn’t know what to do about it, except get even with the school bully. It’s only when his uncle (Martin Sheen), who raised him since the death of his parents, is killed that he fashions himself into a superhero, the amazing Spiderman, to find the man responsible, but when a ten foot tall lizard (Rhys Ifans) starts attacking the city Peter has to decide whether he’s only out for vengeance, or if there’s more to what he’s doing, and what his true destiny is. This is the reboot of the Spiderman franchise, and while the first three films, starring Tobey Macguire, were good, this film is by far the best so far. The acting is wonderful from Garfield, and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacey. The story is tight and compelling and the action is breath taking. If you loved the first Spiderman, you’ll love this one, if not, this one may change your mind.
Foodfight Starring the voices of Charlie Sheen, Eva Longoria Parker and Hilary Duff Directed by Lawrence Kasanoff During the night the icons of products on the shelves of a department store come to life. Among them Dex Dogtective (Voiced by Charlie Sheen), the great detective and protector of the Ikes, as they are called, but when his girlfriend, Sunshine (Voiced by Hilary Duff) disappears one day he loses the will to protect the Ikes. It’s only when the mysterious Lady X (Voiced by Eva Longoria Parker) arrives in the store does Dex learn that there is far more at stake than his heart. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The story is clever and well thought out, and the characters are compelling. It would have been nice to recognise more of them, though, I did enjoy the Raisins. The animation is not so great either, us being spoilt by Disney, but it’s worth the watch anyway.
What Love is Starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Sean Astin and
Matthew Lillard Directed by Mars Callahan
It’s Valentine’s Day and Tom (Cuba Gooding Jr) arrives home to find a Dear John letter from his girlfriend telling him she’s leaving. He also finds two of her bags by the door and discovers that she is coming back for them. His friends arrive for an impromptu party, where Sal (Matthew Lillard) tells Tom he’s invited a group of girls he met at the bar to the house, so while Tom waits for his girlfriend to come back the guys talk about girls and love, and then the girls arrive and they all try and figure out what Tom is going to do about his situation, and what the right thing is.
This was a funnier film than I thought it would be. IT is very clever and well-written, reminding me more of a stage play than a film. It is very wordy though, with all the jokes coming from the dialogue, so if you prefer slapstick comedy then skip this film.
First Night Starring Richard E. Grant, Sarah
Brightman ad Mia Maestro Directed by Christopher Menaul
Sir Adam (Richard E. Grant) decides to put on an opera so he can sing the lead. He hires some of the best singers in the country, including newcomer Tom (Julian Ovenden), Italian up and comer Nicoletta (Mia Maestro), conductor Cecilia (Sarah Brightman), whom Adam has feelings for, and director Philip (Oliver Dimsdale) along with his girlfriend, Tamsin (Emma Williams), but as rehearsals begin at Adam’s country estate the relationships between these artists begin to influence the production, threatening to derail the show before it even hits the stage. If you’re a fan of opera this is a good movie. The singing and the songs are absolutely beautiful, however, it kind of falls flat as far as an actual film goes. It’s rather boring, to be honest. There are too many characters, and it all gets a bit confusing. It’s also not as funny as it should be. Only for opera fans, but even they will probably not love it.
The Woman in Black Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds and Janet McTeer Directed by James Watkins
Arther Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is a lawyer in London grieving over the death of his wife. He’s ordered to go into the country to close up the estate of an elderly woman who lived at Eel Marsh House, a manor in the country, but when he gets there he’s treated less than kindly by the locals. He’s unsure what to make of this, but goes about his business, until he sees a mysterious woman dressed all in black in the grounds of the, supposedly empty, manor. Soon he discovers the mysterious woman is being held responsible for the deaths of dozens of children in the village, and unless he can stop her his own 4 year old son may be next. This is a clever, tight horror film. The scares come thick and fast, and the performance by Radcliffe, best known to us as Harry Potter, is good, though I did half expect him to pull out his wand at any moment. If you’re a horror fan check this one out.
True Justice: Vengeance is mine Starring Steven Seagal, Sarah Lind and Lochlyn Munroe Directed by Keoni Waxman Following on from the attack on the precinct in the first film in the series, two of Kane’s (Steve Seagal) team are dead. A third leaves, and the last, Sarah (Sarah Lind) isn’t sure she can be part of the team anymore, especially when Kane leaves the Sheriff’s department to chase after those that led the attack himself. With the aid of his old CIA buddies, Kane forms a new team and goes after the men, leading him to Seattle to Vancouver and ever closer to the mysterious Darko, the man responsible for everything. This is the second part of a series, and if you haven’t watched the first film you’re going to be missing something. However, if you’re a Seagal fan, and you’ve seen the first film, you’ll enjoy this film, and watch out for the third film, coming later this month.
The Dark Knight Rises Starring Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway
and Tom Hardy Directed by Christopher Nolan
It’s been eight years since the events of The Dark Knight and the Batman (Christian Bale) has effectively retired. Organized crime has been all but eradicated, thanks to a law passed in Harvey Dent’s name, but when Bruce Wayne, who has become a shut in, begins to notice that his company is not doing as well as it could, and has his finger prints stolen by a beautiful thief (Anne Hathaway) he comes back into the lime light, just as a maniacal terrorist, Bane (Tom Hardy), comes to Gotham with a plan crazier than even the Bat can imagine, and becomes his biggest challenge. The last film in the Batman reboot trilogy is a fantastic climax to a series of wonderful films. The action is tight and breath taking, as we’ve come to expect, and Nolan does a good job of keeping with the gritty realism that he’s created for the series. I did feel a little uneasy seeing Batman in such a frail state, since he’s supposed to be invulnerable, but I suppose everyone gets old at some point. This is great film and if you’re a fan of the franchise you need to own it today.
Charlie Zone Starring Amanda Crews, Glen Gould and
Mpho Koaho Directed by Michael Melski
Avery Paul (Glen Gould) is a former boxer turned street fighter. When he’s hired to get a girl (Amanda Crews) away from the drugs and drug pusher friends that she has, he considers it relatively easy money and takes the job. Things get complicated though when he takes her and realises that her friends aren’t the only ones looking for her, and some of the people looking for her don’t want to help her. This was much better than I expected. The story though very dark, is compelling and good. Crews is a wonderful actress and I’ve been a fan for a while. If you want something a little different, then watch this, but be warned, this is not fun fare.
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