BUCKET LIST
night until Friday, and the number one movie airs next Saturday, December 2 at 8.30pm.
I’ve been going with the flow but now I’m starting to wonder what those 10 movies are, and thinking about ones that haven’t been on yet. Titanic? Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Amelie, Cinema Paradiso, Wizard Of Oz, ah Pulp Fiction. Gone With The Wind? Unlikely, given political correctness. Apocalypse Now, please not Forrest Gump, American Beauty (again, PC issues might creep in despite the movie having merit), Trainspotting, Requiem For A Dream, Chicago, Saturday Night Fever, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Dead Poet’s Society, Schindler’s List, anything by Woody Allen, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Monster (for which Charlize Theron won her Oscar), Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas…
The more top 100 lists I research, along with off the top of my head, the more seminal moments in silver screen history come to mind. So many great films, great directors, and great performances.
I’m just going to leave this here and will be interested to see how my choices compare to those of M-Net’s panel.
Adding to DStv, Showmax, Netflix and all the other streaming and/or download services available to us, comes entertainment platform black, now available via the blackBOX, a plug and play multimedia box that turns any television into a smart TV.
The information I have comes from a press release and the website and tells us it will provide “a diverse suite of content from renting to buying the latest movies, on-demand content viewing plus gaming, live TV channels and so much more for the whole family”.
The release goes on to say “the blackBOX provides customers an interactive entertainment experience that pairs wonderfully with the incredible content available on the black platform and differentiates the black experience from similar services in South Africa and also worldwide”.
I had a look at said content and, at a glance, it’s mostly pretty old stuff in the catalogue. However, there is access to multiple channels, including a bouquet of eight from Fox Networks providing linear (live) and on-demand programming. These include FOX Africa, FOX Life, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, two Fox sports channels, BabyTV, and FOX News.
Academics, media figures, political figures, and watchdog groups have said over the years that FOX News has conservative bias in its news coverage; the channel responded by publicly denying such charges. As always, every viewer has the choice as to what they will watch and believe.
New content on FOX Africa includes The Walking Dead and Empire. It’s the network of The Simpsons, which is always on but several seasons behind.
The sport on black, absent from Netflix and Showmax, is subtly noted as being “near live” so read the Ts&Cs carefully. It does offer Facebook and Twitter which allow customers to view and interact with their favourite TV and movie stars’ social media platforms from within the user interface while watching a movie or series, as well as the ability to place bets, game, play music, shop for merchandise, and book tickets to events.
While browsing the video-ondemand catalogue, customers can access Wikipedia to view details about the content they are about to watch, or are watching – like the leading stars, ratings and more.
Having dealt with the headache of typing in long computer-generated passwords with the Explora remote and direction keys, the good news is the blackBOX remote control has a full qwerty keyboard on the back. Apple TV has the simplest remote, and the ability to search with voice commands, or on your phone’s keypad (if you have a synced iPhone). Now I’ve got used to it, it’s my favourite way of watching TV. Just last night I discovered a feature which adjusts loud noises in the audio. That’s a game-changer right there.
The blackBOX will be available from Cell C stores nationwide for R1 499, and there’s an array of subscription packages. Compare prices and weigh them up against what you’ll be getting. For more information and a seven-day free trial, go to www.black.co.za
Race (Vuzu AMP, 9.30pm): In 1936, African American athlete Jesse Owens won a record-breaking four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics. And this took place amid a climate of intense racism and the rise of Hitler’s Aryan vision in Germany. Directed by Stephen Hopkins and starring Stephan Jones as Owens, the film has a rating of 61% based on 138 reviews and an average 6.1/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.
The site’s critical consensus reads: “Race is nowhere near as thrillingly fleet or agile as its subject, but the story – and a winning central performance from Stephan James – are enough to carry it over the finish line”.
Valor (M-Net 101, 8pm): Soldiers take off on a covert mission to Somalia, but when things go terribly wrong only, two members of the squad make it back to the US alive: Warrant Officer Nora Madani (Christina Ochoa, Animal Kingdom) – one of the unit’s first female helicopter pilots – and her commanding officer, Captain Leland Gallo (Matt Barr, Sleepy Hollow). It’s soon apparent the pair are hiding the truth about what happened from their friends, loved ones and even their superiors.