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3:20 AM Encore
Oliver Twist (2005 GB): I’ve written of my admiration for Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel in the past, but only when comparing and contrasting it with other versions of the same story. Now it finally gets its own well deserved recommendation. Twelve-year-old newcomer Barney Clark essays the role of orphan Oliver, sent as a small child to the workhouse of corpulent Mr. Bumble (Jeremy Swift), befriended by pickpocket Artful Dodger (Harry Eden) and fence Fagin (Ben Kingsley), rescued from the gutter by middle-class bibliophile Brownlow (Edward Hardwicke) , and plunged into danger by the nefarious Bill Sykes (Jamie Foreman) after an ill-fated trip to a book shop. Polanski’s adaptation remains true to Dickens’ novel and looks suitably Victorian despite being shot entirely in the Czech Republic rather than a British film studio. Of particular note is Pawel Edelman’s cinematography, which captures the dust and damp of Victorian London in muddy hues of brown and grey.

11:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Evil Within (1970 PHI): Okay, I’m having a super hard time believing this one is for reals, but it’s listed on the FMC website and I’m going to take the channel at its word. The Internet wouldn’t lie, right? The Evil Within is a Filipino movie starring legendary Indian actor Dev Anand, who died last December. I’ve never seen it, it has no reviews on IMDb or anywhere else, but was apparently distributed by Fox. I guess we’ll all just have to tune in to see if this is what it claims to be, or whether it’s actually one of the other Evil Withins out there (there are at least five other films with the same title).

Thursday 4/5/12

8:30 PM The Movie Channel
Night Catches Us (2010 USA): Here’s a virtually unknown but quite worthwhile drama set in Philadelphia circa 1976. This Philadelphia, however, is not the white working-class Philly of Rocky Balboa, but the Germantown neighborhood where the Black Panther Party and other black liberation movements put down roots in the 1960s. Star Anthony Mackie (Half Nelson, The Hurt Locker) plays Marcus, a former Panther who returns home for his father’s funeral only to be broadsided with accusations of snitching. Finding most of his old comrades now less than hospitable, Marcus makes common cause with lawyer and activist Patty (Kerry Washington), a widow whose husband had been killed by the police who continue to rule the streets of the City of Brotherly Love with an iron fist. This solid if very low-budget feature deserved a far better fate at the box-office and is well worth checking out this evening. Also airs at 11:30 PM.

Saturday 4/7/12

12:35 AM Starz
Attack the Block (2010 GB): In case you missed it when it debuted on American television in February, here’s one of the best horror flicks of the last few years. Written and directed by newcomer Joe Cornish, the story revolves around a youthful group of South London hoodies who find themselves the last line of defense during an alien invasion of Planet Earth - but there’s a deeper, darker secret being concealed by the invasion, as our youthful if somewhat uncouth heroes will soon discover. Set in and around a fictional sink estate, Attack the Block allows Cornish to display his deep knowledge of and love for genre flicks whilst avoiding the excesses of Tarantino. Also airs at 3:35 AM.

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