Throng

film of the week: planet of the apes

This week’s top movie is Tim Burton’s bold “reimagining” of the classic science fiction fable. A top-drawer cast and some impressive special effects bring to life Burton’s unique take on a world where humans live as slaves under the thumb of intelligent, talking apes. Mark Wahlberg stars as an astronaut from present-day Earth who crash-lands on the Planet of the Apes after his ship falls through a wormhole. With the help of a sympathetic ape (Helena Bonham Carter), he leads a human uprising against their ruthless masters. The supporting cast includes Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan (‘The Green Mile’, ‘Sin City’), Paul Giamatti (‘Sideways’) and model Estella Warren, with a cameo appearance from the star of the 1968 original, Charlton Heston.

saturday 12

a stranger to love (1996)

Moving drama starring Beau Bridges (‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’) as a man who begins a new life after a horrific attack causes him to lose his memory. Suffering from amnesia, he starts a new life a few miles away from his grieving family. As his wife attempts to come to terms with her loss, he falls in love with another woman.

Director Peter Levin
Starring Beau Bridges, Pam Dawber, Tess Harper

the spirit of st louis (1957)

Biographical drama telling the story of Charles A Lindbergh (James Stewart) and his historic 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic from New York to Paris. The film uses flashbacks to detail the pilot’s early life as a stunt flyer and explain his motivation for undertaking such a hazardous venture.

Director Billy Wilder
Starring James Stewart, Patricia Smith, Murray Hamilton

flash (1998)

Drama about a young boy whose father buys him a colt he cannot afford in an effort to compensate for leaving the family to earn more money. The boy becomes attached to the horse, but soon has to make a difficult decision about its future. Co-starring Ellen Burstyn (‘The Exorcist’).

Director Simon Wincer
Starring Lucas Black, Ellen Burstyn, Brian Kerwin

mcq (1974)

Thriller starring John Wayne as a big-city cop who sets out to avenge the death of his partner. He tracks the villain down, only to be pulled off the case by his superiors. Knowing he has been sacrificed to placate political bosses, the cop resigns from the force and continues the investigation in private.

Director John Sturges
Starring John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur

sunday 13

paratrooper (1953)

Wartime drama about an ex-US army officer with a mysterious past who joins the British army as a paratrooper. Despite his obvious leadership skills, the man refuses to take a high rank. However, when a raid in North Africa goes disastrously wrong, he finds himself forced to take command. Director Terence Young would later helm the James Bond movies, ‘Dr No’, ‘From Russia with Love’ and ‘Thunderball’.

Director Terence Young
Starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn, Susan Stephen

toys (1992)

Special effects-laden fantasy about a hi-tech toy factory that falls into the hands of an army general who turns its products into killing machines. The deceased owner’s children have to find a way of bringing down the nightmarish empire that is being constructed under their noses. Starring Robin Williams and Michael Gambon.

Director Barry Levinson
Starring Robin Williams, Michael Gambon, Joan Cusack, Robin Wright Penn

men in black 2 (2002)

Action-packed sequel to the sci-fi comedy about a top secret government task force set up to deal with unruly extraterrestrials. An MIB agent (Will Smith) turns to his former mentor (Tommy Lee Jones) for help in saving the world from a rampaging, shape-shifting alien that has taken on the outward appearance of a sexy lingerie model (Lara Flynn Boyle, ‘Twin Peaks’).

Director Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, Lara Flynn Boyle

planet of the apes (2001)

Big-budget remake of the 1968 sci-fi classic following the adventures of a daring astronaut (Mark Wahlberg) who crash-lands on a planet dominated by intelligent apes. With the help of a chimpanzee activist (Helena Bonham Carter) and a growing band of rebel humans, he forms a resistance movement to liberate mankind from their simian oppressors.

Director Tim Burton
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Estella Warren

monday 14

harry’s case (2000)

Drama about a once-powerful lawyer whose reduced fortunes result in him becoming a private detective for hire. As he desperately looks for evidence to prove that he was set up by his former employers, he is joined by a young man searching for his missing sister.

Director Stephen Williams
Starring Brian Markinson, Adam Beach, Fionnuala Jamison

the perfect husband (2004)

Drama based on true story. A family begin to suspect that their pregnant daughter may have been killed by her seemingly perfect husband (Dean Cain, ‘The New Adventures of Superman’) when she vanishes on Christmas Eve. They begin to doubt the husband’s innocence once details of an affair begin to emerge.

Director Roger Young
Starring Dean Cain, Sarah Brown, GW Bailey

resident evil: apocalypse (2004)

Science-fiction sequel based on the successful video game series. The Hive has been re-opened, leading to the contamination of Raccoon City by another plague of zombies. Gun-toting heroine Alice (Milla Jovovich) and her allies are caught in the midst of this nightmare scenario. In order to survive, they have to counter a terrifying new threat set loose by the evil Umbrella Corporation.

Director Alexander Witt
Starring Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Sienna Guillory

hollow man 2 (2006)

Science fiction thriller. A Seattle detective attempts to protect the life of a scientist from a rogue assassin (Christian Slater). He learns that the woman was involved in a secret programme to create an invisible solider –but the experiment went badly wrong and its subject is now seeking his revenge.

Director Claudio Fah
Starring Christian Slater, Peter Facinelli, Laura Regan

tuesday 15

execution of justice (1999)

Crime drama based on the real-life assassination of San Francisco’s mayor George Mosconi, an event which sent the Californian city into a spiral of fear and violence. The story revolves around the assassin, a disturbed young man named Dan White (Tim Daly).

Director Leon Ichaso
Starring Tyne Daly, Peter Coyote, Timothy Daly

dynasty: the making of a guilty pleasure (2005)

Drama revisiting the fabled on-and-off screen antics of the cast of cult soap opera ‘Dynasty’. One of the most popular TV shows of the 80s, ‘Dynasty’ revelled in extreme plotlines and vampy characters. But behind the scenes, the clash of egos and salary demands made it one of the most expensive programmes ever made.

Director Matthew Miller
Starring Pamela Reed, Alice Krige, Melora Hardin

wednesday 16

rescuers: stories of courage –two couples (1998)

Moving drama about four people who try to save Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust. In Amsterdam, a couple risk their lives to hide Jews in their house, while in Belgium, a couple run a school for boys, most of them Jewish.

Directors Tim Hunter, Lynne Littman
Starring Martin Donovan, Dana Delany, Alfred Molina

mystery woman: redemption (2006)

Murder mystery caper about a bookshop owner and amateur sleuth (Kellie Martin, ‘ER’). While engaged in remodelling the shop, Samantha and Philby investigate the murder of a mysterious visitor to town.

Director David S. Cass Sr.
Starring Kellie Martin, Nina Siemaszko, Clarence Williams III

out for a kill (2003)

Action thriller starring Steven Seagal. When an archaeologist uncovers a drug-smuggling ring, he finds himself framed by the enraged Chinese mafia and ends up in prison. Upon his release, he has only revenge on his mind.

Director Michael Oblowitz
Starring Steven Seagal, Michelle Goh, Corey Johnson

thursday 17

triumph over disaster: the hurricane andrew story (1993)

Drama based on true stories of courage during August 1992, when Hurricane Andrew devastated the south-eastern region of the USA. Mixing actual footage with reconstructions, the film features a cast of characters including the weatherman responsible for informing people about the hurricane, and a mother whose son was feared lost at sea.

Director Marvin J Chomsky
Starring Ted Wass, Eileen Heckart, Bryn Thayer

thicker than water (2005)

Poignant family drama. After discovering her late father once married a rodeo queen, a big-city lawyer travels into wild horse country and finds a long-lost family secret.

Director David S Cass Sr
Starring Melissa Gilbert, Lindsay Wagner, Grainger Hines

friday 18

mr and mrs loving (1996)

Fact-based civil rights drama set in 1950s America. A couple are put on trial for breaking local statutes on interracial relationships. The historic case results in a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn all anti-miscegenation laws throughout the United States. Starring Academy Award-winner Timothy Hutton (‘Ordinary People’).

Director Richard Friedenberg
Starring Timothy Hutton, Lela Rochon, Ruby Dee

surviving love (2003)

Romantic comedy starring real-life husband and wife Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen as a couple who have been married for 20 years who decide to get a divorce. They embark on a road trip to work out the divorce without the help of lawyers, only to become stranded in a snowstorm. Forced to huddle together to keep warm, their buried feelings rise to the surface.

Director Steven Schachter
Starring Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Adam Frost