LISTINGS TELEVISION
Settle back in your armchair tor our guide to the latest VllS releases appearing in the shops round about now.
Rental
I A league (it Their Own (PG) Geena Davis. Tom Hanks and Madonna hit a home run when this female baseball movie was released in the cinemas last year. Not a sport that traditionally travels well on film. but its humour and sly characterisations are well worth checking out. And unlike most Hollywood fare. it actually has a woman's perspective. which certainly gives the comedy a freshness. (Columbia Tristar)
I Housesitter ( 15) Semi- successful pairing of Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn has them telling lie after outrageous lie when she settles herself in his dream home and they have to feign marriage for a couple of weeks. The kind of cumulative comedy that is unpredictable only within a predictable wider framework. (C 1C)
I California Man (PG) Is‘ ~'
a dug-up prehistoric caveman passed off as an Estonian exchange student really the best way to pick up the babes? That‘s what this duo of Bill and Ted clones think. Forced humour that's not as hip as it thinks. (Buena Vista) I Carry on Columbus (PG) Good ol‘ Blighty had to stick its bit into the Columbus anniversary by letting a host of comedy
' thesps play with their old
parts. And for good measure. the ‘alternative‘ crew (Rik Mayall et al) try their hand at tickling the funny bits. Why do ('any ()n films reduce reviewers to double enlendre spouting wrecks? (Warner)
I Shadowhunter ( 18) A homicide cop (Scott Glenn) pursues a renegade Navajo serial killer out into the west in this cut‘n‘paste Western meets action thriller. Throw in a bit of supernatural mysticism and you've got something that‘s trying to be all things to all people. except the politically correct. (Medusa)
I The News Boys (U) A tum-of—the-century press strike musical starring Christian Bale. Now. there‘s a concept you‘ve just got to go for. (Buena Vista)
' I Knight Moves ( l8) Flaccid thriller starring Christopher Lambert as a chess grandmaster who’s number one suspect when a serial killer starts up business during a chess championship. No. this one‘s not set in Manchester either. (Columbia Tristar)
'1 u 14$)“: . ‘ a wife. 3 I Bonds of love ( 15) Kelly McGillis’s career has been in a bit of a tailspin ever since Top Gun. and it's not likely to improve here. as she stars in yet another Odyssey true story as the town bad girl who falls in love with a retarded man (Treat Williams). ‘I.ovc was their best defence — and their greatest weapon‘ says the hype: what the hell does that mean“? (Odyssey)
I Intimate Obsession
( 18) (Columbia Tristar) I Black Magic ( )5) (CIC)
I Stompin’ at the Savoy (PG) (CIC)
I Beach Beverley Hills (18) (2022(1)
I White Sands ( )5) (Warner)
I Killer Rules ( I5) (Warner)
~ifi‘imhrough
I The Phantom of liberty (15) Electric Pictures‘ Luis Bunuel Collection grows in size with this series ()f vignettes from the 19th century to the modern day. A world turned upside down and inside out. and closer in spirit to the master's early surrealist works than many of his offerings in- between. (Electric £15.99) I Diary ot a Chambermaid ( l5) Another Bunuel classic. in which political. sexual and social behaviour are shown to be equally perverse. as an ambitious chambermaid (Jean Moreau at her best) climbs her way up the
ladder. (Electric £15.99)
I Prince ot Tides ( l5) Superior adult fare. with Nick Nolte coming to New York to help his sister recover from a breakdown and at the same time falling in love
available in widescreen format so you can see director Barbara Streisand’s shots of her own legs in their full glory. (Columbia Tristar £14.99)
I Nook Spielberg's version of the Peter Pan story took a critical tnauling while still managing to rake in the box office profits. Certainly the ‘learn to be a good parent‘ stuff plays right to the sentimental side of star Robin Williams. but here the widescreen format does justice to the director's stunning cinematic tricks. (Columbia Tristar £14.99) I Peter Pan (U) The Disney version of the above can now be added to the cartoon collection that really does never grow old. A more straightforward telling of J.M. Barrie that will certainly keep the kids quiet. (Buena Vista £14.99)
' I Ghosts of the Civil Dead ( 18) Video shop shelves are aching under the strain of exploitative prison dramas. but this Australian feature is in a class of its own. Uncompromisingly brutal account of a riot in a ‘New Generation‘ prison. it has an integrity well beyond its peers. Watch
‘- out for post-punk Nick
Cave in psycho mode. (Electric £15.99)
I Fellini’s 8% ( 15) Less than the sum of its parts. Fellini‘s self-referential masterpiece. like most of his work. has dated somewhat and is probably now strictly film buff material. That said. no true film buff should be allowed to get through life without seeing it at least once. (Connoisseur £15.99)
I Winnie The Pooh and Tigger Too (U) ( Buena Vista £8.99)
I Winnie The Pooh - A Day for Eeyore (U) (Buena Vista £8.99)
I Winnie The Pooh - Goodbye Mr Pooh (U)
(Buena Vista £8.99)
with her psychiatrist. Now
TELEVISION
A selection of televisIon highlights,
listed by day, in chronological order. Television Listings compiled by Tom lappin.
FRIDAY 12
I Comic Iieliei (BBCl ) 7—9pm. 9.3()pm—2.3()am. The fourth fundraising Iaughathon. hosted by Lenny Henry. features the usual mix of the inspired and the insipid. Falling into the former category are Smashy and Nicey introducing Right Said Fred. Mr Bean guesting on Blind Date. French and Saunders transmogrifying into Prince and Barry White. and a special Have I Go! News For You. Falling into the latter category is Danny Baker. In between the mirth. and most importantly. are documentaries fronted by Joanna Lumley. Zoe Wanamaker. Tony Robinson and Lenny. spotlighting the national and intemational projects where Comic Relief aims to step in while others pull out. The Government: they do a lot of good work for charidee.
I Arena: Zhang Yimou (BBCZ) 9.3()—1().3()pm. Profile of China's most successful film director (Yimou‘s internationally-acclaimed works include Red Sorghmn and Raise The Red Ixintern). boasting unprecedented access for Western cameras to assorted luminaries ()f the Chinese movieworld. I CIIBBTS (Channel 4) 9.3()—1()pm. When the geezer who bought Sam's corvette pops his clogs. our dastardly bartnan sets out to winkle it back from the widow. After all. where's a fortysomething Lothario without his penis extension?
I Roseanne (Channel 4) l()—1().3()pm. Darlene. the smouldering tomboy. turns sixteen. Roseanne reckons a ‘Sweet Sixteen‘ party would be a good idea. Darlene doesn't.
I Whose line Is It Anyway? (Channel 4) 10.30—1 1.05pm. Complete these TV listings in the style of an amnesiac . . . er.
I This Is Spinal Tap (BBCI) 1.()()—2.2()am. Comic Relief draws to a close with Rob Reiner‘s epoch-making rockumentary. How much tnore funny? None more funny?
SATURDAY 13
I Sounds Of The Seventies (BBCZ) 7.15—7.5(lpm. ‘Comin' Home To You'. a look at the MOR titans who sold by the flareful in the decade that style forgot — Eric Clapton. Hall & Oates. Peter Frampton and Dire Straits among others. I Fine Cut: Incident At Oglala (BBCZ) 7.5()—9.2()pm. Robert Redford narrates the story of the events surrounding the deaths
in 1975 of two FBI agents on an Indian reservation in South Dakota. The subsequent prosecution (and persecution) of one Native American makes for chilling viewing.
‘ I Adventures: The Shark Shockers (Channel 4) 8—9pm. Aquatic Australians
I Ron and Valerie Taylor hang out with
develop new ways of protecting these
Hammerheads and Great Whites as they
endangered creatures and keeping
swimmers intact.
I Porterhouse Blue (Channel 4) 9—10pm. Sad stude Lionel Zipscr (John Sessions) struggles to reign in his apocalyptic
obsession with his earthmother 1 housekeeper Mrs Biggs (Paula Jacobs). : I Moving Pictures (BBCZ)
9.2()—10.()5pm. Including a profile of ascendant British director Beeban Kidron — from her award-winning adaptation of Jeanette Winterson‘s Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. to Hollywood and Used l
People (starring Kathy Bates and Shirley MacLaine).
I Bllllm (Scottish) 1 1.05pm-1 . 10am. Tough (but fair. natch) cop Steve McQueen drives fast and frantic round San Francisco in the search of the killers of a govemment witness supposedly under his protection. The action is packed.
SUNDAY 14
I Moviewatch (Channel 4) 6—6.30pm. The cinema review programme where the reviews are provided by punters. Tonight’s show visits a cinema in Belfast to review Trespass. Crush. Candyman and Hoffa. I Fragile Earth: Ablaze In Provence (Channel 4) 7-8pm. Forget the cheesey bourgeois tat that is A Year. . . — this study of the ecological merry-go-round caused by forest fires and deforestation shows the real (and endangered) Provence.
I A Year In Provence (BBCl ) 8.25- 8.55pm. Alfred Molina pops up as our corpulent incomers go in search of luxurious truffles for some chum back in London.
I Lipstick On Your Collar (Channel 4) 9—1().1()pm. Much hilarious camping and mincing and doo-wopping frotn the War Office warmongers against a backdrop of busty blondes and dreams of Dostoevsky. About time we had some plot development though.
I Screen Two: Enchanted April (BBCZ) 9.4()—l 1.20pm. Another chance to see the triple Oscar-nominated drama starring Miranda Richardson. Joan Plowright. Josie Lawrence and Polly Walker. A sun- drenched Italian castle offers an escape from the rain and boredom ()f Edwardian London . . .
I Everyman: A Fatal Bream (BBCl) l().1()-I().5()pm. The bizarre true story of Sally Croft (42. London-based chartered accountant) and Susan Hagan (45. AIDS counsellor in Hertfordshirc). After a
, disastrous dalliance with an Indian ‘guru'
and his plans for a huge spiritual city in Oregon. the pair now find themselves wanted for conspiracy to murder a US federal attorney. Extradition and life sentences loom.
I The Krays (Channel 4)
l(). l()pm—12.25am. TV premiere of this warts 'n' all depiction of London's notorious gangland of the 608. Features grimly fiendish performances by Gary and Martin Kemp. ex-Spandau Ballet. So true. funny how it seems . . .
I The South Bank Show (Scottish)
1 l.()5pm—12.()5am. Profile of cult American author Richard Price. scriptwriter of Sea ()flxn-e and The Colour ()fMonev. on the eve ()f the publication of his gritty new crime novel (YUt'kt’I'S.
MONDAY 15
I Horizon: Whatever iiappened To Star Wars? (BBCZ) 8--8.5()pm. Ten years after Rocking Ronnie launched his plan for
total superiority over those pesky
Russkies. Horizon lays bare the mixture
of lies. fantasy and political ego that was the Strategic Defence Initiative.
I Northern Exposure (Channel 4)
10—1 1pm. Applications now being accepted for membership of the ‘Chris
The DJ ~- He‘s A Dude' fanclub.
I EX-S: Deacon Blue - From Baintown To Your Town (BBCZ) l().40-l 1.10pm. Backstage. behind the scenes. on the road. ‘ beyond the hype. a profile of a band in the i throes of change. See feature. ' I Brown Sugar (Channel 4) I—l.55am. i This homage to the classic girl groups of l the 60s features footage of The Shirelles. l The Crystals and Martha and the 3 Vandcllas. l
TUESDAY 16 l
I Mork And Mindy (Channel 4) 6—7pm. l Nanu nanu — the first-ever episode of the
oddball series that gave the world Robin '
The List 12 —25 March 1993 55