Film and television critic Philip Wakefield assesses the best movies on offer on the box this week, for Tuesday, September�2 to Monday, September 8.
Tuesday, September 2
Cast Away
2000, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies Greats
The longest commercial ever for Federal Express stars Tom Hanks as an executive of the caller who�s the sole survivor of a plane ram that strands him on a defect island. As a workaholic in a hurry world Health Organization sees life differently with time on his manpower, Hanks delivers a sound, empathetic performance, but i worthier of a Jenny Craig weight-loss campaign than an Oscar nod, while the love story between him and Helen Hunt is touching but also drawn out.
Wednesday, September 3
The Last Kiss
2006, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies
Scrubs� Zach Braff stars as one of four friends suffering thirtysomething angst in this sharp-witted relationships dramatic play adapted from the Italian film, L�Ultimo Bacio. One can�t header with the pressures of fledgling parenthood, another is stuck in a one-night-stand rut, a third has just been jilted and the fourth (Braff) is wrestling with the finality of becoming a married man and a father when he meets a woman 10 years younger who�s infatuated with him. It sounds as well corny to contemplate just is unusually funny, tender and thought-provoking.
Thursday, September 4
The White Planet
2006, G, 8.30pm, Rialto Channel
Glacial describes the tread of this French Canadian documentary roughly wildlife in the Arctic that�s so solemn it verges on dull and makes March of the Penguins search like a sprint. Some of the footage is extraordinary merely much of it is mired in soporific commentary ("a beam of wakeful, a clue of fondness and life is created") and an intrusive, Inuit-inspired score that detract from what�s on screen.
Friday, September 5
Dirty Harry
1971, AO, 8.30pm, MGM
The sequels weren�t much glom but the original was a taut, tough, right wing law-and-order fabrication about a maverick investigator who battles bureaucracy to get his man. Abounds with anti-liberal one-liners wish: �Sociology, huh? Well, merely don't let you degree get you killed.� Clint Eastwood squints, Don Siegel directs.
Saturday, September 6
Shanghai Knights
2003, PGR, 7.30pm, TV2
Shanghai Noon's Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy O'Bannon (Owen Wilson) ride again in this dumb-fun sequel ready in Victorian England, where they stumble on a plot to murder the Royal Family. The anachronic, shambolic screenplay doesn�t stand scrutiny however sneaks in some unspoilt gags around Jack The Ripper, Sherlock Holmes and Hollywood while servicing the stars� magnetic shenanigans and Chan's sensational chop-socky choreography.
The Mummy Returns
2000, AO, 8.30pm, TV3
This sequel power delight those who weren't born when Raiders Of The Lost Ark opened but won�t excite sr. filmgoers hankering to recapture the shudder of it all. Still, Mummy 2 does meliorate on the original with its tempo, never lets up action-wise and oodles with its goofy temper. Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz and John Hannah star.
Once Upon a Time in Mexico
2003, AO, 9.50pm, TV2
Robert Rodriguez rounds up his Desperado work party for a B-grade sequel with an A-list cast and an alphabet soup plot. He shot Mexico as the fourth film in the Desperado serial by including flashbacks to a nonexistent Desperado 3. Confused? Wait until you try understanding the convoluted, south of the border-drug cartel-military coup-rogue Uncle Sam shenanigans. They unspool as a surreal, kaleidoscopic shoo-in that becomes increasingly cartoon-ish and repellant.
The Truman Show
1998, AO, 10.30pm, TV3
A guarded, revelatory Jim Carrey plays an indemnity agent whose world is the ultimate in world TV: A soundstage in which everyone is only an supernumerary. He alone is unaware of the 5000 cameras trained on him since birth. As sand through and through the hourglass, so are the days of Truman�s life ... until a quondam �co-star� infiltrates the pale fence lay out and casts doubt on all he holds near, initiating a search for the truth that�s as liberating as turning off the box in the corner. Peter Weir directs a eerily prophetic playscript by Kiwi Andrew Niccol (Lord of War).
About Adam
2000, AO, 11.45pm, TV One
Refreshingly amoral romantic-comedy around Irish siblings who are seduced by the like handsome stranger. Kate Hudson, Frances O�Connor and Stuart Townsend star.
Sunday, September 7
Batman Begins
2005, PGR, 7.30pm, TV2
The new-millennium Dark Knight makeover was kept so quiet that it was developed under a false name - The Imitation Game - and pumped up a puny Machinist (Christian Bale) into the fiercest winged freak terroriser yet. Director/co-writer Christopher Nolan�s bid to reinvigorate the franchise with realism is empowered by a colossus cast that includes Tom Wilkinson and Morgan Freeman and a Gotham City that was designed to resemble "New York on steroids".
Flashdance
1983, AO, 8.30pm, C4
The feeling didn�t concluding long for Jennifer Beals. After catapulting to the top as the steelworker-turned-dance exponent in this blockbuster romance, she tumbled spectacularly with dross like Terror Stalks The Class Reunion before determination redemption in The L Word.
Identity
2003, AO, 10.30pm, TV2
Grisly, psychological thriller about 10 strangers world Health Organization seek shelter from the rain in a motel where a killer on the loose makes Norman Bates look like Norm Peterson. The Ten Little Indians premise is formulaic - i by one the guests are killed - just the plotting�s clever, the scares consistent and the denouement a surprise. 3:10 to Yuma�s James Mangold directs John Cusack, Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet.
Monday, September 8
Proof of Life
2000, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies Greats
Underrated thriller starring Meg Ryan as the tormented wife of an engineer (David Morse) abducted by South American guerillas wHO falls in love with the kidnap-and-ransom expert (Russell Crowe) she hires to negotiate his release. It�s a knock-down, suspenseful floor that�s multi-layered rather than melodramatic, and told with authority and taut preciseness. Taylor Hackford (Ray) directs.
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