What's on telly tonight ?

Channel Hopper

And todays show was the first of the two parter, very good, showing younger and older Spock spouting Vulcan logic in his court martial.


One of my favourite films and it really takes a second viewing to being out the complete storyline (and its reversal). Spawned countless speculative websites.

As I have it on DVD however my evening viewing for tonight is the vampire/succubus Canadian horror - White Skin - on 30W, Canal 18. starts around 9pm.

Followed by an Austrian serial Killer flick called Angst from 1983, makes Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer look like Pokemon, and would eat Silence of the Lambs for breakfast (with or without the bottle of Chainti, fsss, fsss, fssss)

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

spiney

"seen on the radio".

"Tomorrow, Today", Fridays, 11.30am, BBC R4.

Some radio programme makers, back in 1961, have to come up with a series of sci fi shows, "imagining" how the future will be in 2006 ......

By accident, I "just caught" last Friday's episode. The beginning sounded really stupid - like the dire Tomorrow's World "spoof" Look Around You, but worse - however, then it suddenly became extremely funny! There was a jolly good spoof of 60's cigarette advertising - loadsa stuff about "cool refreshing mountain streams", etc - which the actors had to somehow get into their "spaceship serial" (very loosly parodying Charles Chiltern's much-loved "Journey into Space") ......

(You can still hear this, at "listen again" on BBC radio website!).

The next episode guest stars Leslie Phillips, as a Shakespearian actor trying very hard to be an android .......

BBC - Radio 4 - Tomorrow, Today! .

spiney

Tuesday, 17th Oct.

Children of the Corn 1,2,3 ! , 9pm, Zone Horror.

All 3 dire movies together, "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye"!

Children of the Corn (1984) .

The Firm, film4, 9pm.

Tense thriller. A "promising" - but naive - young Harvard law graduate, Tom Cruise, joins one of the top Boston "law firms", but the "fringe benefits" are just too good to be true, and he finds it's really a "legal whitewashing laundry" for The Mafia ..... after which, the FBI makes him "an offer he can't refuse" (so, just like The Godfather, but in reverse!).

Escape from New York, ITV4, 10pm.

John Carpenter's actionflick, as usual he did the music!

Manhattan Island has become a large open air prison (how the heck could they afford the rent?).......

Escape from New York (1981) .

Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Ch4, 00.10am (Wed Morn).

2 More episodes of the spoof "badly made horror series".

The Money Pit, Ch4, 01.10am.

Sorta remake of "Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House", about buying an expensive property with huge mortgage, then finding it needs endless repairs ...
Starring Shelly Long, then hot property due to "Cheers".

spiney

OOPS, SORRY, Missed Out Some Quite Interesting Stuff .....

BACK TO: Tues 17th Oct.

Earth vs The Flying Saucers, 6pm, Open Access 2.

Rather poor sci fi film, however the famous ending is good, showing the destruction of Washingon DC, with (uncredited) special effects from Ray Harryhausen. The "realistic" (!) script came from sci fi writer Curt Siodmak, with input from Donald Keyhoe (who wrote a lot of 50s saucer books).

Flying Saucers Are Real - Book .
Biography - Donald Keyhoe .

Dead On Arrival, 7.30pm (check time!), Open Access 2.

A man walks into a police station ........ and says he's been murdered! Famous, excellent film noir thriller, worth watching (also downloadable from Internet!).
BBC - Films - review - D.O.A. .

UFOs, the best ever taped evidence, M+M, 10pm.

A collection of videos, puporting to be UFOs, with some for and against comments on each one. Interesting.
The world's chief UFO debunker was - recently deceased - Philip Klass, he'd probably have come up with "convincing" explanations for all of them!

(Klass also wrote some sci fi, under the name William Tenn).

The Klass Files .

Wed, 18th Oct.

Hellraiser 1,2,3; 9pm onwards, Zonehorror.

No comment.

The Sweeney Movie, M+M, 9pm.

Although made for cinemas, this film is like a double length Sweeney tv episode, hence a bit flat, but worth watching.

Donnie Darko, BBC3, 10pm.

Repeat showing for this excellent - but highly enigmatic - cult horror film.

Carnival of Souls, film4, 2.15am (Thur morn).

Highly influential cult horror movie, which film4 are cleverly showing when no one will watch it (also downloadable from Internet).

Return To The "Carnival Of Souls" .

Thur 19th Oct.

The Way to The Stars, 1.30pm, ch4.

Good film about life at a WW2 RAF base, from director Anthony Asquith (who he?). Nicely captures the "cameraderie, we're-all-in-this-together" spirit, which people felt at the time (and were very nostalgic for later!).

very good review: screenonline: Way to the Stars, The (1945) .

The Mummy, 3pm, film4.

The original one, with Boris Karloff under the bandages!

Green for Danger, 4.20pm, film4. ((( DON'T MISS !!!! ))).

"Everyone loves Alistair Sim"! Yes, and after seeing this film, you'll understand why! A minor masterpiece, an eccentric British classic.

Green for Danger .
Green For Danger - Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Alastair Sim, Rosamund John - 1946 .

A Star is Born, Open Access2, 6pm

The original - non musical - and best version, despite several later remakes.

A Star is Born - Trailer - Showtimes - Cast - Movies - New York Times .

spiney

Fri, 20 Oct.

Brief Encounter, 4.45pm, film4.

Train whistle, the opening chords of Rachmaninov's piano concerto, and the we're straight into the most famous Britfilm love story ever. Which might, now, seem a storm in a teacup, but - despite later suggestions of wartime sexual freedom - in fact an extramarital affair back in WW2 was cause for huge scandal. So, the lovers must be extremely discreet ...... anyway, Howard and Johnson are brilliant, it's riveting.

This stiff upper lip attitude was much parodied later on. The excellent Round The Horne - repeated each Wed 7 pm on BBC7 - does so in every episode!

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/relea...&section=essay .
http://www.wymondham-station.com/ind...restaurant&a=0 .

From Russia with Love, 10pm, ITV4.

Very good - some would say best ever - James Bond film, with Connery really getting going, but before the gadgets took over. With Lotte Lenya as a really nasty lesbian spymaster (great acting!), and Robert Shaw as the "heavy".

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/from_russia_with_love/ .

Short Cuts, 11.35pm, film4.

Usually, I'm a huge fan of Altman's "ensemble acting" films, but couldn't get into this one, although it was widely praised.

http://www.criterionco.com/asp/relea...&section=essay .

Sat Oct 21.

Star Trek, the menagerie, part2, 1.20pm, BBC2.

2nd part of the adapted Trek "pilot" show.

The Spanish Gardner, 3pm, film4.

Somewhat bizarre film, where garder Dirk Bogarde "takes in hand" a nervous young boy, with some suggestions and undercurrents of pedophilia, at a time when this was very taboo!

http://www.britmovie.co.uk/studios/p.../1956/001.html .

The Robe, 3.40pm, BBC2.

1st film ever made (2nd released?) in Cinemascope. Otherwise, one of a number of dire and boring Hollywood Biblical epics, made during 50s and early 60s, although Jean Simmons is nice to watch.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...tml?v_id=41635 .

Heaven Can Wait, 6.55pm, film4.

"Reasonable" supernatural comedy. A man dies too early by mistake, and has to return to earth .....

http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/heavencanwait78.htm .

Minority Report, 9pm, BBC3

Haven't seen this, but it's well regarded, and will watch with interest.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/minority_report/ .

spiney

Sunday, 22nd Oct.

That Touch of Mink, more4, 12.40am.

"Frothy" comedy, OK, with Carry Grant, and Doris Day doing her usual "professional virgin" stuff (which would be impossible these days!).

http://www.dorisday.net/that_touch_of_mink.html .

Green for Danger, 3pm, film4.

If you missed this Thursday, don't now!

The Addams Family, 6.10pm, Ch5.

Hugely successful film version of the popular tv series - itself derived from Charles Addams' cartoon strip - largely due to inspired casting, especially Chris Lloyd as Fester, the role he was "born to play".

http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/addamsfamily.htm .

Deep Impact, 7.10pm, BBC3.

Rather dire and longwinded "comet is going to hit the earth movie", with all sorts of boring stuff before the real "action" starts. The similar themed Armageddon was much more fun, if scientifically "iffy".

http://www.timeout.com/film/65208.html .

League of Extraordinay Gentlemen, CH4, 8pm.

Generally poorly regarded film version of the complex DC Comics seies, about a "superhero league" comprising famous fictional characters, in some ways similar to Michael Moorcock's "multiverse".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311429/

The Island of Dr Moreau, 9pm, ITV3.

Poor film version of the classic HG Wells novel (available free online!).

http://www.moria.co.nz/sf/drmoreau77.htm .

Torchwood, 9pm, BBC3.

The X-files like gothic fantasy series that, apparently, Russel T Davies wanted to write. Highly derivative - all been done before, many times - so I won't be bothering to watch it.
If only he'd done this to start with, instead of being allowed to completely destroy Dr Who!

The Duellists, ITV4, 9pm.

I'm not a ridley Scott fan, but this is good, probably his best (not most famous, of course!) film. Because, it's based on an excellent Jospeh Conrad short story, and was made on a shoestring budget. Looks nice too.

http://www.dvdjournal.com/reviews/d/duellists.shtml .

Charley Varrick, 11pm, ITV4 (FILM OF THE DAY).

Excellent, huge fun. Walter Mattau is a crook, robs a bank, and finds that - by pure bad luck - it's a Mafia "safe bank", so he has to pay the money back, before they assassinate him! Just right casting, superb performances, all of director Don Siegel's film making experience, and an absolute humdinger climax.

http://crushedbyinertia.blogspot.com...y-varrick.html .

JTA

one day too late, but to whom it might concern :

new series of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis,
wednesday evening on SKY ONE at 9pm.

quite liked the SG-1 episode, looks promising, even if it's ridiculous all the main characters were saved from certain death (again). Beam them away, scotty !
didn't like Atlantis - never have - never will.

spiney

SORRY, I FORGOT ..........

back to TONIGHT Friday Oct 20th.

Caddyshack, BBC1, 11.35pm.

Great fun knockabout comedy film, set on a golf course (watch out for the gophers!). Not as good as "Animal House" - how could it be? - but coming somewhere close.

I'm not a Chevy Case fan, but this is the one exception!

http://www.crazy4cinema.com/Review/F...addyshack.html .
http://www.garnersclassics.com/qcaddy.htm .

(Caddyshack 2 usually appears in lists of "worst ever" films!).

JTA

and don't forget tonight at 7pm on BBC FOUR : part 2 of the 4-part series describing time :

2/4-Lifetime
Series in which Michio Kaku goes on an extraordinary exploration of the world in search of time. This edition looks at the human life span and scientific research into extending it.

spiney

Replying to JTA, yes Time is on, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.

To me, Kaku seems to go in for the worst sort of "pop science", ie, very free use of simplified jargon - these days always accompanied by spectacular on-screen computer graphics - but, without contributing anything much to understanding! A good example of which, is found here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/s...hio_kaku.shtml .

It's pretty much gibberish, particularly as I pointed out - in another thread - that time doesn't have independent existence, one of the outcomes of special relativity.

The extra "dimensions" of M theory are pure abstractions - the outcome of group theory and topology - having little to do with the 3 dimensions we know about!

The point about a scientific theory is, it's useless unless it can make falsifiable predictions - eg, the existence of quarks - no matter how "beautiful" it might be!

http://www.americanscientist.org/tem...d/18638/page/1 .

spiney

Mon 23rd Oct.

The Dark Corner, Ch4, 1.35pm.
Yet another film noir, not famous, but quite good, interesting for Lucille Ball in a film role prior to her famous tv comedy series.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...tml?v_id=12242 .

Jean de Florette, film4, 6.40pm (French, subtitled).

Very famous film, French mega-hit, which also made Gerald Depadieu an international star. About a smallholder farmer's fight to get a water supply. You very much empathise with him, and there's also much comedy along the way, although in the end he dies.

http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/dvd-title-j/...rette/1005954/ .

The Naked Gun 2, 9pm, film4.

Probably the least funny of the 3 Naked Gun comedies, starring Leslie Nielsen, neverthless there's still lots of sight gags, quick one liner jokes, and the usual movie parodies (of casablanca, ghost, etc).

http://www.garnersclassics.com/qnaked2.htm .

Ghostbusters2, E4, 10.30pm.

Not as good as original, but same cast and still fun.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...tml?v_id=19672 .

The Accidental Tourist, ITV3, 00.15pm (Tue Morn).

So and so comedy, saved by good script and acting.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/accidental_tourist/ .

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, 3.15am (Tues), Ch4

What can I say, except ......."Big bosoms"! (Saturlight should like this!). Another Russ Meyer cult classic!

http://www.lilithgallery.com/article...biography.html .
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/...708110301/1023 .

(I met Russ meyer once, and he was wearing a dirty raincoat, although I think that was deliberate, part of keeping up his image!).

Tuesday 24th Oct.

Indiscreet, More4, 4.15pm.

Famous and generally highly regarded love story, Grant and Bergman are both good, although I found it a bit tedious.

http://www.crazy4cinema.com/Review/F...ndiscreet.html .

Johnny Guitar, film4, 5pm.

Excellent! One of the weirdest westerns ever made, starring iconic "man-ish" movie star Joan Crawford, who's in love with Sterling Heyden (or is it Mercedes McCambridge?) Phew! Deliberately photographed in vivid colours, to emphasise the sexual symbolism.
Also a criticism of the McCarthy witchhunt era, supposedly!

http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue10...hnnyguitar.htm .
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...tml?v_id=26443 .
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/conten...2/raynick.html .

Naked Gun 3, film4, 9pm.

Good, better than no 2 yesterday.Frank Dreben (Nielsen) "retires", but actually goes undercover - fine parody of "the great escape" - and the film ends with an hilarous spoof of The Oscars awards; everyone involved in this knew they weren't going to get a real Oscar, so they really let rip! We see how bubble wrap drives people psychotic, and Pia Zadora comes to a very strange end.

http://www.apolloguide.com/mov_fullrev.asp?CID=2407 .

Passenger 57, ITV2, 9pm.

By-the-numbers - but still entertaining - thriller set on board an aircraft, Wesley Snipes foils a gang of hi jackers.

Breaking The Waves, 2.40am (wed), Ch4. (FILM OF THE DAY).

Another strange film from Lars Von Trier, who makes strange - but critically and commercially successful! - films.
A young woman - from a small and religiously minded fishing community - marries a "glamorous" oil worker, who gets paralysed in an industrial accident, but then encourages his young wife to find sexual satisfaction outside her marriage, much to the disapproval of the community.

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/breaking_the_waves/ .
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movie...ml?v_id=136347 .

rolfw

Another collection of great Sci-Fi films .

Rolf If you enjoy our site, you can help support it by wearing our unique branded merchandise, you can do this by clicking on my baseball cap, making a direct donation with Paypal by clicking on the Donation button below, or using our site supporting advertisers, to do this, click on the central image below. Follow us on Twitter, click on the twitter image.

spiney

Thanks Rolf. In fact, most of them have fantastic or fantasy elements, or are cult films, etc. I only mentioned Discreet because it's famous, though I don't like it, as I said.

For example Jean de Florette is fantasy, as is Johnny Guitar (more a Freudian parable), if you don't agree then try watching them, and Breaking the Waves is amazing and I strongly recommend it.

If sci fi just means spaceships, etc, then that's rarther limiting, generally to very poor quality films not worth watching.

Russ Meyer is most certainly "culturally important", and widely recognised as such, some of his films were recently shown on Arte.

spiney

Wed 25th Oct.

Hulk, 9pm, ITV2.

This updated version of the Superhero (I remember the tv series!) got mixed reviews, I haven't seen it!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286716/ .

Misery, 11.10pm, Ch4.

Excellent psychological thriller - from the Steven King novel - about a novelist who has an accident, gets "rescued" by a fan, then finds she's mad and he's trapped! The initial attempts to escape - and subsequent increasing sense of claustrophobia and hysteria - are nicely done, and Kathy Bates deserved her Oscar!
The plot is an "update" of ancient Islamic classic Arabian Nights (which gave us Sinbad, Aladin, etc), where a person has to continaully tell interesting stories, or will be killed!
Probably the best ever Steven King story adaptation (although The Shining was a better film).

http://www.best-horror-movies.com/misery.html .

http://www.candlelightstories.com/arabianpage.asp .

Greystoke, the legend of Tarzan, BBC1, 11.25pm.

Not a brilliant movie, but nevertheless interesting, being a "very different verison" of Tarzan from that famously portrayed by Johnny Weissmuller, and thereafter endlessly repeated in movies, tv, etc. More true to the Edgar Rice Burroughs' original!

http://www.moria.co.nz/fantasy/greystoke.htm .

http://filmexperience.blogspot.com/2...of-tarzan.html .

The Fog, Ch4, 1.10am (Tues Morn).

On not long ago, a quick repeat for John Carpenter's nicely atmospheric horror movie, very well done, but a shame about the dire ending ( that said, it's much better than the utterly crap 2005 remake! ).

http://www.celebritywonder.com/movie/1979_The_Fog.html .

Thur, 26th Oct.

Longford, Ch4, 9pm.

I don't know if this is worth watching, but the subject matter is certainly interesting. Myra Hindley was - of course - a notorious person, and Lord Longford was very eccentric (he famously wrote a book called "humilty", which was widely lampooned!).

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/revie...889949,00.html .

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/polit...563425,00.html .

The Gift, film4, 9pm.

Watchable, but not brilliant, I would have expected much better from Evil Dead director Sam Rami!

http://www.thezreview.co.uk/reviews/g/giftthe.htm .

The Mummy Returns, ITV2, 11.05pm.

Perhaps it should have retired, instead? Not my sort of horror film - all action stunts and jokes, with no heart - but widely regarded as "ok", so probably watchable.

http://www.flipsidemovies.com/mummyreturns.html .
http://www.moria.co.nz/horror/mummyreturns.htm .