Films of the week (w/e 27/08/2010)

Well out of the dross I have picked out five of the best offerings available on Freeview in the UK next week.

The Bourne Identity is the film that is credited with helping to save the James Bond franchise (at least until MGM ran out of money). If you have read the book throw it away as it bears little or no resemblance to that. As an all out action film it is terrific the camera work and direction is outstanding and Matt Damon who links to one of our other offerings this week, is excellent as the agent with amnesia. I watched it again recently on DVD and it is well worth it. The supporting cast are excellent (Brian Cox, Clive Owen to name but two). The times are on the side panel of this blog.

Sunday night we have Excalibur. I first saw this film as part of film director Alex Cox's BBC2 series Videodrome I think it was called. It is a British take on the Arthurian legend backed by American money shot in Ireland by John Boorman. At times it is breathtaking in its imagery and its acting. The stand out actors are Nicol Williamson as Merlin and Helen Mirren as Morgana. They were allegedly cast deliberately because they didn't get on following a previous film they had worked on together. Whatever the reason Williamson in particular throws himself into the role with gusto and captures the part bumbling part menacing nature of the magician. Perhaps if the BBC had shown this to the new version cast it might have improved somewhat.

Monday night is Highlander night. I shall declare an interest here. This is in my top two films of all time. I love the notion behind the whole film and frankly I don't care what reviewers say about it. Having held a claymore and exclaimed 'There can be only one' at a museum in the Highlands of Scotland I somehow feel part of it all. This film will not change your life, it will not spiritually uplift you or make you a better person but it is incredibly good fun. Sean Connery and Clancy Brown are brilliant as the mentor and the villain respectively. Also look out for a blink and you'll miss it appearance by Hugh Quarshie and Celia Imrie both of whom have done alright for themselves. The head of the NYPD investigation was in Police Squad the spoof US detective series with Leslie Nielsen and keep expecting him to freeze and everything to carry on around him. Go on and have some fun with this.

On Friday night we have two offerings. Firstly there is Team America: World Police. This little gem is from the team that brought you South Park and is a pastiche of the British series Thunderbirds. If you can't stand South Park then you won't watch this. It is one of those films that you watch and start laughing but then think should I be actually laughing at this. It is outrageously funny in parts and if you do have a sense of irony you will love it. This is the other film with a Matt Damon connection as it features a puppet of him.

Lastly we have Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Donald Sutherland and Morgan Freeman. It is worth checking this one out as it rises above the usual dross of this type of film. Sutherland is brilliant as a general bent on covering up the outbreak of a virus at any costs. A marked contrast with his role in MASH many years previously.