What's on telly tonight ?

[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/2005/02/charley-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/FilmsC/f_caddyshack.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/spacechat/livechat/michio_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/template/AssetDetail/assetid/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/movies/movie.html?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/jean-de-florette/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/movies/movie.html?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/articles/2005/russmeyer_biography.html .
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19700101/REVIEWS/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/FilmsI/f_indiscreet.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/infocus/johnnyguitar.htm .
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=26443 .
http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/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/movies/movie.html?v_id=136347 .

 

[rolfw]

Another collection of great Sci-Fi films .;)

 

[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/2006/05/illustrated-history-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/review/story/0,,1889949,00.html .

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/politicsobituaries/story/0,1441,563425,00.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 .