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Movie Mania: George of the Jungle (1997)

This week: why a man who professionally wears a bucket on his head deserves your respect…

Disney put its spin on the beloved cartoon series George of the Jungle with this live action film adaptation – starring Brendan Fraser as the titular Tarzan-esque character.

After a plane carrying him crashed into the African jungle when he was a child, George has grown up into a happy but simple man of the wild – hanging out with animals including the talking monkey Ape (Cleese) whilst trying to avoid swinging from vines into trees, as is his tendency.

The hapless hero meets rich holidaymaker Ursula Stanhope (Mann) when she gets lost on safari, and begins to develop feelings for her. But that doesn’t sit well with Ursula’s dastardly fiancé Lyle Van Der Groot (Haden Church), who becomes convinced that George is a savage and a menace to his fellow humans.

Starring: Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, John Cleese, Richard Roundtree

Love Connection

Zach Braff portrayed one of the more memorable sitcom characters from the Noughties, playing goofball medic John ‘JD’ Dorian on Scrubs from 2001 to 2010.

Lupita meanwhile has been wowing Hollywood of late, with the Kenyan actress winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 12 Years a Slave and People Magazine’s Most Beautiful Woman award in the past few months alone.

Now that she’s broken through in the States, the 31-year-old Yale School of Drama graduate is living in New York – which conveniently is right next to Zach’s native New Jersey, which he chronicled in the 2004 movie Garden State.

So will this beloved couple be-loved up before too long…?

Celeb Trivia

Known for both his technical prowess and extreme weirdness, guitarist Buckethead is one of music’s more intriguing figures.

The California native – born with the rather less exciting name of Brian Carroll – played in Guns N’ Roses from 200 to 2004 and had collaborated with a wealth of rock and roll greats including Iggy Pop and Les Claypool.

As a solo act, the 44-year-old has provided music for movies like Last Action Hero, Saw II and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – whilst also releasing an astonishing 88 studio albums of his own.

In 2007 alone, he released 13 albums at once in a set titled In Search of The – hand-burning almost 13,000 CDs on computer and drawing the same number of pictures to accompany each personal disc sold.

You tube

Off deck

A Dutch TV presenter begins her interview wandering down a harboured boat, before leaning against its side to interview her subject.

Unfortunately for her, the chat doesn’t last more than a few seconds – as the unfortunate lady slips and ends up whooping with surprise in the cold sea.

Visit www.youtube.com and type ‘Make a splash they said’ into the search box.

Just for Laughs

Why was the actor detained by airport security?

He said he was in town to shoot a pilot.

Mole of the Emirates

Overheard from conversations around Dubai this week…

• “There might be something wrong with my camera, or my eyes, or our faces”

• “Every day I think it’s the next day”

• “I am not a guppy. This is an outrage!”

• “Let’s recreate the greatest moment of my mini-golf career”