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Today, 09 February 2010

› Strike three, Mr President

› Cooked head discovered

› Zuma apology 'unwelcome'

› 'Illegal' traps blasted

› 'No jail for Barbie'

Yesterday, 08 February 2010

› No credit to FW - Zuma

› Zapiro revives showerhead

› 'Our president has failed'

› Praise for Amla

› 'Zuma should be forgiven'

Out of 5:

There's been an awful lot of hype in the run-up to the much-anticipated release of "Ali" in South Africa. It was, after all, released in the United States in December last year, and is just about to be released on video there.

Recently, Will Smith, who plays controversial boxing legend Muhammad Ali (the boxer formerly known as Cassius Clay), as well as the movie's director, Micheal Mann, jetted in to Johannesburg to hang out with our own boxing legend, Baby Jake, and to, well, further promote the movie that is — no surprises here — based on Ali's short but illustrious boxing career and his colourful life.

An epic drama, the movie aspires to show the "real" man who — loved by some and hated by others — was the subject of much media and public attention as both a sports hero, and a political figure who defied the US government and fought for the rights of others.

The film starts with the brash young Cassius Clay's surprising victory over Sonny Liston, and goes on to document his partnership with "Bundini" Brown (Jamie Foxx), his friendship with Howard Cosell (Jon Voight), his principled refusal to serve in the military during Vietnam, and his subsequent problems with the law and the boxing commission. It also depicts his conversion to Islam and the assumption of his new name, for which he was much vilified.

The boxing action has been widely praised by critics, as has Smith's ability to capture the unique grace and quickness for which Ali was renowned. Smith also underwent a significant transformation for his role, furiously working out to hone his body to that of a champion boxer.

The supporting cast includes Smith's real-life wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Marvin Gaye's daughter, Nona Gaye, as the women in Ali's life. Both Smith and Voight have been nominated for Oscars for their roles: Performance By An actor In A Leading Role and Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role respectively. If Smith wins the Academy Award, he will be the first black actor to receive such an accolade since Sidney Poitier.

Ali himself is reported to have been delighted with the movie, and has already seen it several times. Now you go judge for yourself!

For more info, see the official movie website: http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/ali/

What the international critics are saying

"Smith makes contact with enough of Ali's swagger, sweetness, wit, and pride to convince us that justice is being done to the boxing champion."
- Jay Carr, BOSTON GLOBE

"Dazzling, flawed, achingly ambitious."
- Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

"If Michael Mann's new biopic of Muhammad Ali is not right up there with the gold standard of boxing biographies, Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro's Raging Bull, it misses by only a whisker."
- Bob Graham, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Even though the movie is too long and suffers from an inconsistent tone, the narrative is compelling, as are the performances."
- James Berardinelli, JAMES BERARDINELLI'S REELVIEWS

"Mann ... makes a valiant attempt. And with the loose-limbed Will Smith in the title role, he gets surprisingly far."
- Jay Boyar, ORLANDO SENTINEL

"ALI is an impressive documentation of a man and an era."
- Matt Easterbrook, MATT'S MOVIE REVIEWS

"It's a slick, powerful, visually arresting movie, but ultimately Mann's Ali is a movie about boxing rather than about the boxer."
- Louis B. Hobson, JAM! MOVIES