Snow and its side effects

Well the weekend has now been cancelled due to another wave of snow in sunny Huddersfield. I have now been living here for nearly 18 years and this is the first proper winter we have ever had. Yes there has been snow before but this is the first time that we have had a time when the town has ground to a halt at times. The council have not coped with it desperately well. The potholes in the road that were bad before the cold weather, and weren't being fixed, are now significantly worse. There is one road in Slaithwaite which has what I would describe as a car-killer of a pothole. The road has just totally subsided so it now resembles something from Journey to the Centre of the Earth rather than a pothole.

My concern here is that with all the potholes what unseen damage has been done to my car literally days away from its MOT. So since I am somewhat sidelined since we are not at the rugby club today I thought I would inflict some more film opinions on you. This week, as you will see from the little list on the right of your screen, I have highlighted three films for your delight and delectation. These are not necessarily the best films on those days in terms of critical acclaim but are my favourites and on some days there are other films which are well worth a look.

Today, after Gerry Adams investigates the story of Christ, Channel 4 has two films which are both worthy of attention. At about 8 there is 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which is the sequel to the Fantastic Four. I am a comic book fan but I always felt that the FF were Marvel's equivalent to Stepford and a bit too stereotypical. This film is better than the first film, which isn't actually saying a lot, and is diverting entertainment. It is followed by one of the best action films you will see. The current governor of California goes around the jungle deforesting it and having his crack team wiped out one at a time in Predator. There is no deep pathos here, no real moral message it is just really good fun if you like violent action thrillers. This is why I have nominated it as my film for the day. Other offerings available on some of the smaller channels are Top Gun and Romancing the Stone and Black Widow all on Film 4.

On Monday, my film of the day is Highlander. It is one of my favourite films of all time and has one of the largest franchise operations in existence with 4 'sequels', 2 spin off TV series and a number of animated series as well as books. Highlander, like Predator, is no Citizen Kane but is just enjoyable fun which is what the critics, the real ones, never really seem to appreciate. There are other better films on today but few will be as original in concept as this or will be as loyally supported by the fanbase that exists. There are rumours of a remake of the film in the pipeline and fans of the original are waiting with dread at this prospect. Other offerings of note today would be The Sixth Sense, Ladyhawke (set aside the really bad soundtrack) and Working Girl.

On Tuesday, I don't have a favourite film as such. Crocodile Dundee is alright but has begun to show it's age somewhat. I strongly suggest that you avoid The War of the Roses. I went to the cinema to see it on the back of the previous collaborations of Messrs Douglas, Turner and De Vito. That is two and a half hours I will never get back. On Wednesday if you liked Highlander on Monday you can watch it again. On Thursday you will find the quirky Local Hero and the deeper Once Upon A Time in America. I lost patience with the latter and never really took too it as I am not a big fan of american gangster films.

On Friday, there are repeats of T2 and Top Gun and the very British comedy, Time Bandits which hasn't aged very well largely because of the effects. I will probably check out Seraphim Falls on BBC1 at 11.45.

Just for the information of my international readership, which I have apparently acquired. Since you don't have British TV much of the scheduling information is irrelevant but the recommendations still stand. In the UK until the 1960s we only had one TV channel and a few radio channels - all BBC. The Beeb added another in the 1960s and we got ITV. In the 1980s Channel 4 arrived and in the 1990s Channel 5( if you could get the signal). This was about the time of the cable and satellite TV boom. There are now hundreds of channels showing next to nothing that anybody wants to see. The ones that people watch are showing programs that were, in many cases, made 20 years ago. Most of my recommendations will be for terrestrial channels or on freeview (the free to air digital channels)

With films, almost all will probably be available at your local DVD rental outlet by now since it generally takes a couple of years to get on to terrestrial TV here unless your film has been backed by one of the channels (usually the BBC or Channel 4). Any TV programs I may mention probably won't be available in overseas markets but keep an eye out as you never know. Books and music recommendations are almost certainly available at Amazon or Itunes etc.