I truly appreciate the work of Clint Eastwood. Always have. Indeed as far as I’m concerned he has created some of my favourite and most watched movies, but sadly, his latest offering, Invictus, falls way short of his usual mark. Basically, it tells of how in 1995 Nelson Mandela’s in his first term of office joined forces with the Captain of the countries rugby squad in order to win the cup and thus unite the countries troubled peoples. Of course, the whole thing is seen through rose tinted glasses the size of Africa itself, totally relies on the final of the cup to give itself any dramatic worth and leaves one wondering why on earth did Eastwood bother. In one scene we actually see a black African street kid sidle up to an Afrikaans’s cop car to listen to the final on the car radio with them. At first the officers are not at all keen but, by the end, they are almost hugging their new friend – SURE THING CLINT – hundreds of years of racial enmity and hatred forgotten because a bloke kicks a ball over a goal post. I wish it were that simple. Would have been better if had they given some of the vast amounts of cash it cost to field the cup to the starving and impoverished indigenous South Africans?
Indeed, it reminds me of our situation now. The government are spending billions of OUR cash on the Olympics when the country is virtually bankrupt, when social services are at an all time low when we are all on our uppers. I don’t know about you but I make sure my family is fed first before I go out and party!!! To add, they are ruining the city of London, making our lives hell by sprucing up the tubes system (£4 for a one way ticket – what a liberty) smashing down clubs (such as The Astoria and 2,Metro, Ghetto etc) to make way for the cross rail and demolishing many beautiful old buildings (such as the Café Royal) just to build hotels – and all for the bleeding Olympics aka – two weeks of people running around for no particular reason. Harrumph!!!.
As for DVD this week the quite cracking, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is the latest in a long line of animated features that are almost as much fun for adults as they are for kids, This one has my particular vote because it questions the very nature of over consumption, corporate and commercial prosperity at the loss of individual well being and greed whilst examining father and son relationships. Another film that looks at the machinations of the family unit, this time a Thames estuary unmarried mum, her older chav daughter and her younger sibling is Fishtank. Directed by Andrea Arnold it stars the quite excellent Kate Jarvis as Mia the older daughter and Michael Fassbender as Connor her ma’s boyfriend who seduces her – genius.
