[paul_hadley]

FILMFOUR WEEKLY

20:00 A Room With A View

(1985) Oscar-winning Merchant-Ivory adaptation of E M Forster's classic novel. While on holiday in Florence, English rose Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham-Carter) and cousin Charlotte (Maggie Smith) meet the enigmatic George Emerson (Julian Sands) and his free-spirited father (Denholm Elliot), and all sorts of romantic complications ensue.

22:00 Sexy Beast

(2000) Oscar and BAFTA nominated crime thriller. Ray Winstone plays Gary, a professional criminal now living with wife Amanda Redman in Spain. But the peace of his retirement is shattered when former associate and violent psychopath Don (Ben Kingsley) arrives to persuade Gary to return to London for one last job. And Don just won't take no for an answer...

00:00 Bully

(2001) Compelling drama about a disparate bunch of Florida teens who conspire to rid themselves of an abusive friend. Brilliant yet disturbing second feature from Larry Clark, director of the similarly controversial Kids.

FILMFOUR

Friday Night

18:00 Some Like It Hot

(1959) Timeless, classic comedy, regularly voted the best of all time. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon are the two musicians on the run from gangsters who don drag and take refuge in an all-girl band. Here, one falls for the band's gorgeous singer, Sugar Cane (Marilyn Monroe), while the other fights off a lecherous millionaire, played by Joe E Brown.


20:00 Picnic At Hanging Rock

(1975) Peter Weir's sensual and mysterious evocation of Australia at the turn of the century. On a shimmering hot day, the teachers and girls from a private school visit a local beauty spot, only for three of the girls and a teacher to disappear into thin air. Starring Rachel Roberts, Dominic Guard, Helen Morse and Jacki Weaver.


22:00 The Gift

(2000) Cate Blanchett stars in Sam Raimi's psychological thriller as a smalltown widow 'blessed' with psychic powers. When she's asked to assist in the brutal murder of society girl Katie Holmes, she uncovers a web of deceit that places her life in danger. Also starring Keanu Reeves.


00:00 L.I.E.

(2001) Michael Cuesta's film is an unsettling drama about the relationship between a middle-aged man and a 15-year-old boy. Impressive performances ensure a tough subject is given a surprising, complex and sophisticated treatment. Starring Paul Franklin and Brian Cox.

01:45 The Thin Blue Line

(1988) A documentary, and no ordinary one. It's the story of a miscarriage of justice, so persuasively argued that the authorities were moved to reopen the case, and eventually quashed the guilty verdict on one Randall Adams, removing him from Death Row at a stroke.

03:20 Stalker

(1979) In Andrei Tarkovsky's compelling science fiction film, a guide, a writer and a professor travel through the mysterious 'Zone' - a vast rural area believed to be contaminated and possessed by alien visitation - in search of an oracle reputed to make dreams come true. In Russian with subtitles.

Saturday Night

18:00 The Dam Busters

(1954) Chocs away for a stirring tale of wartime heroics. Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd) accepts an extremely dangerous mission to strike at Germany's vital industrial heart in this beautifully made classic. Directed by Michael Anderson.


20:10 Evolution

(2001) Sci-fi comedy from Ivan Reitman, who was the man behind Ghostbusters. David Duchovny and Julianne Moore combat a rapidly developing alien threat. Great special effects, superb dialogue and fast-moving action make this a stand-out comedy.


22:00 Manhunter

(1986) Michael Mann's unrelenting thriller, which is rated by many as superior to its better-known succcessor - The Silence Of The Lambs. Brian Cox stars as Hannibal Lector, the psychopathic killer cannibal. William Petersen plays Will Graham, an FBI profiler brought out of retirement to catch the family-murdering 'Tooth Fairy'.


00:00 Versus

(2000) Ryuhei Kitamura's rollercoaster of a yakuza/zombie/gorefest sees two prisoners on the run from a maximum security prison team up with the gangsters meant to rescue them, only to find that they and a female hostage are being used as pawns in a bigger game. As the bodycount rises so do the dead in this unique cult movie. In Japanese with English subtitles.

02:00 Ghost Dog - The Way Of The Samurai

(1999) Part thriller, part meditation on the human condition, Jim Jarmusch's FilmFour-funded film marries the ancient, honourable traditions of the Samurai with the less honourable traditions of mid-ranking Mafiosi through Ghost Dog - the enigmatic hitman played by Forest Whitaker.

03:50 Woody Allen On Bergman

Woody Allen talks to Mark Kermode about the huge influence Ingmar Bergman had on his career as a director.

04:10 The Seventh Seal

(1957) Ingmar Bergman's masterpiece passes the test of time. A knight and his squire (Max Von Sydow and Gunnar Bjornstrand) returning home from the Crusades through a plague-ridden land meet Death, who engages the knight in a chess game as the pair debate the mysteries of life, faith and death itself. In Swedish with subtitles.

Sunday Night

18:00 The Pink Panther

(1964) The first outing for one of madcap genius Peter Sellers' most celebrated roles, Inspector Clouseau. Here, cinema's most ineffective detective bumbles along the trail of a mysterious jewel thief. With Robert Wagner and Claudia Cardinale. Directed by Blake Edwards.


20:00 Time Bandits

(1981) Surrealistic comedy-fantasy by director Terry Gilliam. Craig Warnock stars as a young boy snatched from his suffocating suburban existence for a series of bizarre adventures in time and space with a band of renegade dwarfs led by David Rappaport. Also starring John Cleese, Sean Connery, Ralph Richardson and David Warner.


22:00 The Game

(1997) Michael Douglas plays a wealthy but bored financier who is introduced to 'The Game' by his brother (Sean Penn). But this is a game with no rules, and Douglas soon finds himself trapped in a rising tide of chaos where he can trust no-one. A taut, tense and darkly stylish thriller from the director of Se7en and Fight Club.


00:10 Brother

(1999) Takeshi Kitano directs and stars as a yakuza (Japanese gangster) exile who comes to LA and ruthlessly sets up an new, multi-ethnic crime family. Sparse, intelligent and shot through with gently sentimental humour. In English/Japanese/Italian/Spanish with English subtitles.

02:00 julien donkey-boy

(1999) Ewan Bremner stars in the title role as the schizophrenic son of a dysfunctional family who works in a school for the blind and lives at home with his father (Werner Herzog), pregnant sister Chloe Sevigny and brother Evan Neumann. Harmony Korine's second film was the first American film made under the Danish Dogme ethic.

03:50 The Business Of Strangers

(2001) Patrick Stettner's debut feature is a taut psychological character study and a masterful examination of office politics, replete with hilarious black humour. Stars Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles.

[KennyT]

Watch out if you try to record the films on Sunday night. Last time, the free broadcast stopped exactly at midnight on sunday. I still haven't seen the end of "Shallowgrave"!

K

[paul_hadley]

Hehehehehe.

[paul_hadley]

Another Freeview... and yet again nothing on there was worth watching. I have not once watched a FILMFOUR free-to-view weekend (this year anyway).

[paul_hadley]

Saying that though, I did want to watch Sexy Beast.

[KennyT]

I thought it was worth every penny!

One thing though. Were the films broadcast in Videophone mode or something? Both Evolution and Sexy Beast seemed very 'pixelly'.

K

[Inkblot]

Originally Posted by KennyT

I thought it was worth every penny!

One thing though. Were the films broadcast in Videophone mode or something? Both Evolution and Sexy Beast seemed very 'pixelly'.

K

FilmFour always looks bad, you can see the problem clearly when they switch it on for the cricket and all the outlines look jagged. Never understood why a film channel would be broadcast at lower quality.