Saturday April 15
Hell And High Water
(Sam Fuller, 1954)
2.50pm, BBC2
Fuller and star Richard Widmark enjoyed tackling the commies in Pickup On South Street so much that they turned immediately to another cold war drama. This one has Widmark as a US sub commander helping prof Victor Francen and his beautiful assistant Bella Darvi to foil a typically sneaky red plot to drop an atombomb on their own troops in Korea to spark a nuclear war.
Michael
(Nora Ephron, 1996)
4pm, C4
In among all his little devils - Pulp Fiction, Broken Arrow, Face/Off - it was high time for cherubic John Travolta to be on the side of the angels, and here he is one. This is a seraph gone to seed, however, a paunchy, stubble-chinned, boozy womaniser holed up in a cheap motel. A patchy but sweet comedy.
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
(Chris Columbus, 2002)
6.10pm, ITV1
Like the first one, but with spiders, plus a flying Ford Anglia, a little computer-generated comic hero in Dobby the house elf, Kenneth Branagh as bumptious dark arts master Gilderoy Lockhart, and the farewell wave of Richard Harris as Dumbledore. A faithful, agreeably scary adaptation.
The Cowboys
(Mark Rydell, 1972)
6.10pm, Five
Rancher John Wayne enlists 11 boys to drive his cattle to market, providing an irascible father-figure along the way. When he is brutally murdered after thrashing snakelike bandit Bruce Dern, the boys, now steeped in western tradition, seek vengeance.
Rush Hour 2
(Brett Ratner, 2001)
9pm, C4
Martial arts clown Jackie Chan is once again teamed with megamouthed Chris Tucker in a reprise of their east-west odd cops routine: but this time the action switches to Hong Kong, with Tucker now having to get to grips with a strange country. If this is all pretty tired and formulaic, the action is still fast and fresh.
Chocolat
(Lasse Hallstrom, 2000)
9.25pm, BBC2
In 1960s Gascony, the village of Lansquenet is a museum piece, preserved in staunch Catholic values by its stern mayor (Alfred Molina). Then in breezes Juliette Binoche's Mme Rocher to turn the old bakery into a chocolate shop. There is a reactionary backlash, but her sweet wiles win over many of the villagers, not to mention the handsome Gypsy down by the river (Johnny Depp).
The Ice Storm
(Ang Lee, 1997)
11.25pm, Five
A delicately crafted, superbly acted study of suburban morality in 1970s America. It focuses on the Hood family - student son, Paul (Tobey Maguire) is returning home for Christmas, finding parents Kevin Kline and Joan Allen's relationship in deep freeze: Dad's having an affair with a neighbour (Sigourney Weaver, playing borderline bitter).
Terminal Velocity
(Deran Sarafian, 1994)
11.40pm, BBC1
Charlie Sheen's sky-diver "Ditch" Brodie is fall-guy for blonde Russian agent Nastassja Kinski: investigating her apparent death while jumping out of a plane with him, he is soon embroiled in a scam involving an unfeasible amount of Soviet gold that the impressive Kinski wants to recover.
Easter Sunday
The Agony And The Ecstasy
(Carol Reed, 1965)
11.30am, BBC2
High-minded artiness with Charlton Heston firm of jaw and purpose as Michelangelo, ordered up the ladder to paint the Sistine Chapel by Rex Harrison's Pope Julius II when he'd really rather get on with his sculptures.
Jesus Christ Superstar
(Norman Jewison, 1973)
1.50pm, ITV1
Well, it is Easter, so here's Christ's passion, as interpreted by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber, after their stage musical. Jewison lays on a big, brash show and almost loses Ted Neeley's slightly wimpy Jesus along the way; Carl Anderson's Judas is a more powerful proposition. For fans of Rice/Lloyd Webber tunes only.
Out Of Africa
(Sydney Pollack, 1985)
3.45pm, ITV1
Danish writer Karen Blixen's autobiographical tale of love in the bush bagged a pile of Oscar trophies but is a bloodless affair. Meryl Streep's pallid Karen arrives in Africa to wed poxy German baron Klaus Maria Brandauer, but Robert Redford's great white hunter soon has her in his sights.
Popeye
(Robert Altman, 1980)
4.10pm, Five
Idiosyncratic even by Altman's standards; a musical romance inspired by EC Segar's comic strip. Robin Williams employs all his whirligig talents to put flesh on the cartoon character, who is scouring a brilliantly realised Sweethaven for his missing father, and deep in love with Shelley Duvall's Olive Oyl. Bizarre and curiously watchable.
Panic Room
(David Fincher, 2002)
9pm, Five
When Jodie Foster's wealthy, divorced Meg and diabetic daughter Sarah (Kristen Stewart) move into an old New York brownstone, they seem safe as houses: it contains a hi-tech, solid steel bolt-hole called the panic room. And wouldn't you know it, on their very first night they have to dive in there to escape three burglars. A hokey set-up, but Foster is never less than utterly convincing.
Heartbreakers
(David Mirkin, 2001)
10pm, C4
Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt are a mother-and-daughter con team: Weaver marries a rich man, then Hewitt seduces him, gets discovered, and the pair pocket a big divorce settlement. But complicating their clever scam are Gene Hackman's obnoxious tobacco tycoon, former victim Ray Liotta and nice Palm beach bar owner Jason "Earl" Lee.
LA Confidential
(Curtis Hanson, 1997)
10.20pm, BBC1
Superb, dense and dark thriller featuring Russell Crowe as a hardnut cop teaming up with colleagues Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey to root out crime and corruption. Hanson and Brian Helgeland richly deserved their Oscars for adapting James Ellroy's long, intricate novel, and the murky underworld of 1950s LA is brilliantly realised, with Kim Basinger impressive as a nearly fatal femme.
Easter Monday
Jungle Book
(Zoltan Korda, 1942)
1.30pm, C4
Lively adaptation of Kipling's Mowgli stories, with youthful Sabu as the man-cub who sees off Shere Khan the tiger and outwits a gang of thieves. This was the last time the three Korda brothers worked together.
The Princess Diaries
(Garry Marshall, 2001)
3pm, BBC1
An enjoyable wish-fulfilment teenie comedy adapted from the novels of Meg Cabot. Anne Hathaway plays Mia, a clumsy San Francisco schoolkid who discovers she is heir to the throne of a quaint little European state. Julie Andrews is regal as anything as her grandma, Queen Clarisse Renaldi, who has the job of transforming clutzy Mia into a princess.
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves
(Kevin Reynolds, 1991)
5.45pm, BBC1
Kevin Costner's Robin lacks Errol Flynn's elan but the opening escape from devilish Moors sets a dashing, sharp-edged tone. Back in Sherwood with trusty friend Azeem (Morgan Freeman), he is soon embroiled with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio's Marian, and with Alan Rickman's pantomime Sheriff.
Cats & Dogs
(Lawrence Guterman, 2001)
7.30pm, C4
A real life/CGI combination of talking animals, but these household pets are nowhere near as funny as Babe - maybe because pigs are cleverer than cats and dogs, but probably because of the ruff-ruff script. Tobey Maguire voices the brave beagle Lou, fighting to protect his mad professor-owner Jeff Goldblum from ninja kittens.
Westworld
(Michael Crichton, 1973)
11.50pm, BBC1
Crichton's tale of a wild west theme park, where rich folk go to act out their adventure/erotic fantasies with lifelike robots. But machines have a way of breaking down, and smug exec Richard Benjamin's dream holiday turns into a fight for survival. Yul Brynner is quite terrifying as a prototype Terminator.
Tuesday April 18
Waterloo
(Sergei Bondarchuk, 1970)
12.30pm, C4
An epic reconstruction of the nation-defining battle. As it was for Napoleon, Waterloo is something of a magnificent failure. Rod Steiger's emperor is an irritating mass of method trickery, outgunned by Christopher Plummer's cool Wellington, but all the august performances - including Virginia McKenna, Jack Hawkins, Orson Welles - are mere warm-up acts for the hour-long conflict.
A Streetcar Named Desire
(Elia Kazan, 1951)
12midnight, BBC1
Marlon Brando in one of his most famous roles as sweaty-brute Stanley Kowalski, hard up against fey, faded southern belle Blanche DuBois (Vivian Leigh). One of the big screen's enduring love-hate relationships, Oscar-laden and all hot and steamy from the Tennessee Williams play.
Wednesday April 19
Logan's Run
(Michael Anderson, 1976)
12.50pm, C4
Briskly paced sci-fi tale set in a future where people live inside a beautiful bubble city, a millennium dome of the senses. The downside is that citizens get terminated at the age of 30. Security guard Michael York, 29, naturally decides to do a runner before his birthday, and equally naturally takes Jenny Agutter with him.
Thursday April 20
Action In The North Atlantic
(Lloyd Bacon, 1943)
12.35pm, C4
Captain Raymond Massey and first mate Humphrey Bogart on the bridge of the merchant ship Sea Witch, making its perilous way through chilly waters in a wartime convoy to Murmansk. Gritty performances, rousing action, and a distinct lack of sentimentality make it a pretty convincing voyage.
Easy Rider
(Dennis Hopper, 1969)
1.40am, C4
The 1960s cult classic, epitome of road-movie-free-love-druggy-harmony. Cue Steppenwolf 's Born To Be Wild, Peter Fonda's cool Captain America, Dennis Hopper's Stetsoned dippy-hippy and Jack Nicholson's nascent freewheeler, all astride Harley-Davidsons to die for and running slap-bang into darkest redneckland.
The Lost Son
(Chris Menges, 1999)
3.15am, C4
In his first English language film, French star Daniel Auteuil plays a former Paris cop turned Soho-based private eye whose search for a missing son leads to a paedophile ring. Ciaran Hinds is the friend who sets him on the chase, Nastassja Kinski is Hinds' slightly shifty wife: an unremittingly bleak detective story.
Friday April 21
Millions Like Us
(Sidney Gilliat, Frank Launder, 1943)
12.40pm, C4
This warm-hearted portrait of a family at war, and a society in transformation, was a classic 1940s British flag-waver. In an excellent cast Patricia Roc stands out as young Celia, who leaves home to take a job in a factory - where Eric Portman is the foreman - and falls for shy aeroplane gunner Gordon Jackson.
Dead Poets Society
(Peter Weir, 1989)
11.35pm, BBC1
Robin Williams is the English teacher whose lessons in living for the day go down well with the students but fail to impress the conservative parents of Welton Academy in New England, circa 1959. One of those rare occasions when Williams's manic talents are gainfully employed.
The Faculty
(Robert Rodriguez, 1998)
11.40pm, C4
A sharp and witty sci-fi thriller in the style of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, with the teachers at an Ohio high school (including Bebe Neuwirth, Salma Hayek and Famke Janssen) taken over by aliens: the fate of the town and maybe the world rests in the hands of a bunch of bickering students - fortunately, as snappy a gang of teenies as you're ever likely to meet.
