| 04:00 |
04:45
Simon Birch
Film This sentimental drama, "suggested by" John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, is set in a Norman Rockwell-esque small town in the 1950s and 60s, and tells of the friendship between the illegitimate, pre-adolescent Joe (Joseph Mazzello) and Simon (Ian Michael Smith), a dwarf with an answer for everything and a question for everyone. The story, narrated by Jim Carrey (its one concession to popularity at the box office), describes how the boys cope with their disadvantages and what they hope for in the future. The action is predictable enough, but the acting makes it worthwhile.
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| 06:00 |
06:45
Between Love and Honor
Film Set in the 1970s, this true story stars Melrose Place hunk Grant Show as Brooklyn photographer Steve Collura, recruited by the police to go undercover and infiltrate the Gambino crime family. He wins the Don over but, to his dismay, falls in love with Maria Caprefoli (Maria Pitillo), Gambino's goddaughter. Robert Loggia and Pitillo offer astute performances, but Show is rather dull as the besotted informer. Ably directed by Sam Pillsbury from a script by Arnold Margolin, this TV movie is at times absorbing, though it's not a patch on Donnie Brasco or The Sopranos.
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| 08:00 |
08:30
Cleopatra
Part 1
Drama Two-part drama telling the story of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, as she sets out to claim the throne of Egypt. Cleopatra bears Roman Emperor Julius Caesar an illegitimate son, but when Caesar claims him as his rightful heir, members of the Senate conspire to assassinate their Emperor.
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| 10:00 |
10:15
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People Special
Interests A behind-the-scenes look at Simon Pegg's latest comedy about a British writer struggling to fit in at an American magazine.
10:45
The Starter Wife
Part 3
Drama Emmy award-winning comedy drama series, based on the novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer. A 41-year-old mother is forced to rebuild her life when she is ditched by her Hollywood movie mogul husband after many years of marriage.
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| 12:00 |
12:15
Columbo
Columbo Cries Wolf
Film The dishevelled detective tries to prove that the flamboyant owner of a men's magazine murdered his business partner - a woman who had once been his lover.
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| 14:00 |
14:00
Storyville
Film Mark Frost, David Lynch's unsung partner on the cult TV series Twin Peaks, made his directorial debut with this nasty story of dark deeds in the Deep South. As if adultery, corruption, blackmail and murder weren't enough, Frost throws in a little video voyeurism and an upcoming election to keep the plot simmering. James Spader disappoints as the politically ambitious lawyer at the centre of events, but there are some choice performances from Jason Robards, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer and Peaks veteran Piper Laurie. Engagingly offbeat in the main, but the action loses its way towards the end.
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| 16:00 |
16:00
American Gangster Special
Interests A behind-the-scenes look at the crime film from director Ridley Scott, starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington.
16:15
The Nativity Story
Film After crashing onto the indie scene with the dynamic and controversial growing-pains chronicle Thirteen, director Catherine Hardwicke shows much more decorum for The Nativity Story. Unfortunately her retelling of the Christmas story is rather too reverential, full of po-faced performances from a cast that includes Keisha Castle-Hughes as the Virgin Mary. Considering that Mary is a young teenager at the time she falls miraculously pregnant, she has surprisingly little awe or curiosity about her predicament (qualities that Castle-Hughes exuded in abundance in coming-of-age yarn Whale Rider). It doesn't help that Hardwicke treats every extraordinary incident as a given, shying away from too much speculation about Mary's innermost fears. She portrays icons instead of human beings, while Ciaran Hinds comes across like a pantomime villain in the role of King Herod. None of this will concern devout Christians, but anyone hoping for more than an RE lesson will be disappointed.
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| 18:00 |
18:15
Notes on a Scandal
Film Judi Dench reunites with Iris director Richard Eyre to give one of the most intense performances of her career in this gritty, observational drama based on Zoë Heller's bestselling novel. The Oscar-nominated Dench injects malignant spite into the role of Barbara Covett, a lonely London teacher who develops a dark obsession with her spirited new colleague Sheba (fellow nominee Cate Blanchett). After catching Sheba in a compromising position with an underage student, Barbara's fixation reaches skin-crawling levels. Dench and Blanchett really sink their teeth into their meaty characters, clearly relishing Closer writer Patrick Marber's deliciously acerbic script. Yet what makes Dench's performance the stronger of the pair is her skilful manipulation of the audience's emotions - eliciting initial sympathy, despite Barbara's sharp tongue, so that her subsequent behaviour hits even harder. The film's melodramatic climax packs less of a punch, but this is still deeply satisfying adult viewing, complemented by a mood-enhancing Philip Glass score.
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| 20:00 |
20:00
Gridiron Gang
Film Fair play to him, The Rock - or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as he is billed here - is doing his best to avoid the usual action hero clichés. At this stage in his career, he should probably be emulating Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vin Diesel by appearing in some family-friendly action comedy. Instead, he's starring in this gritty urban drama - based on a true story - as an idealistic youth probation officer and former American football player attempting to establish a "gridiron" team made up of inmates at a maximum-security detention centre. There's an "against all odds" predictability in the way the story unfolds, but the action is skilfully directed by Phil Joanou. And while The Rock is effective enough playing the troubled kids' mentor, his performance isn't likely to win him any acting awards.
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| 22:00 |
22:15
Summer of Sam
Film Spike Lee's fact-based drama is set during 1977, while New York is being terrorised by David Berkowitz, the serial killer dubbed "Son of Sam". The focus is on troubled Italian-American couple John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino, and Adrien Brody plays a rather seedy fledgeling punk rocker and part-time male hooker. The scenes involving Berkowitz are disturbingly creepy, and Lee successfully evokes the seedy side of the late 70s, thanks chiefly to the fantastic soundtrack.
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