Thursday 15 December 2005

What films are on British TV this Christmas?

Not a lot from my point of view since I have seen every single one being shown on terrestrial and have the best ones in my permanent collection.  I will be watching Son of the Bride (Argentinian), Nowhere in Africa (German Oscar winner) and Winged Migration (nature doc) -- all on BBC4 and Confidences Trop Intimes on FilmFour, plus a couple of the premieres on Sky Movies.

If you do have access to satellite or freeview do not miss the Buster Keaton shorts and features on Sky Cinema (afternoons 19th-23rd, or a day later on Cinema 2).  While people divide into Keaton vs. Chaplin (I am in the first camp), if you have not previously seen them do try the Chaplins on Artsworld -- The Great Dictator on the 23rd, Modern Times on the 27th and Limelight (brilliant -- and Keaton is in it) on the 30th.  Other silents worth seeing are Battleship Potemkin on BBC4 on the 17th and Pandora's Box with the luminous Louise Brooks on FilmFour on the 24th late.

As for the terrestrial premieres they are a sorry bunch with a lot of seasonal dreary television movies.  The best of the bunch are The Man who Wasn't There (Channel 4 late on the 24th), Toy Story 2 (BBC1 Christmas Day) and 8 Women (good French fun with a terrific cast) on Channel 4 late on the 30th.  Also late on the 30th is Insomnia on BBC1, but it is not a patch on the Norwegian original.  The other heavy-hitters: Minority Report, The Shipping News and Signs kind of left me cold.

To be continued since I have already been disconnected once while preparing this.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gotta be Toy Story out of this list lolol.

The shipping news that's another good one. Rache xx

Anonymous said...

Signs. Ugggh. This was the film that finally put me off seeing Hollywood pap at the cinema. I mean such a good cast. Mel Gibson (Istick by what I said before - he's only made 2 good films), Joaquin (Leaf) Phoenix and on of the Culkins. You're aching for them to show something of their personality, but it's ruined by a crap script/ direction. You know there's a really good film in their, but it's hiding in the cupboard with the aliens. The Shipping News too. Could be good. But Kevin Spacey...... like the Big Kahuna he's way too grey - maybe that's all he can do, maybe that's all he is, but there's so little personality in his performance here that it's left to Judi Dench to provide it all as she does so easily, of course. Minority Report (otherwise known as a Tom Cruise vehicle) had an interesting concept at heart, but then I'm a sci-fi fan on the side.

I'd go for BBC4 too, if I still had a TV that is. It's where the best stuff is.