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Movies On M-Net Stars in May, 2008:


Life With Mickey
On:  Monday 5 May at 19:30

1993 Directed by James Lapine. Michael J Fox, Christina Vidal

Michael J Fox plays former sitcom child star Michael Chapman, 31, who hasn’t worked since his sitcom was canned 16 years before. He co-owns a struggling children’s talent agency with his brother Ed, where their biggest client is a bratty 14-year-old boy who keeps on threatening to go to another agency.

One day, Mikey is pickpocketed by 10-year-old street urchin Angie, whose fast-talking ways and angelic face give Mikey an idea: he’ll train her as an actress.

As Angie has no place to stay, she moves in with Mikey. At first, the two clash horribly, but the grown-up kid and the little grown-up soon find that reversing their roles may not be such a bad idea after all.

Ed Wood
On: Monday 12 May at 19:30

1994 Directed by Tim Burton. Johnny Depp, Martin Landau

Ed Wood follows the story of  Edward Wood, the undisputed king of B-movies. Wood was a World War II hero who went into battle wearing a bra and panties under his uniform. He surrounded himself with misfits, and made movies about aliens, monsters and transvestites.

His Plan 9 From Outer Space - in which the flying saucers are quite obviously children’s plastic toys - is considered the worst movie ever made. His talents were, at best, mediocre, but his passion was unsurpassed. He became an alcoholic and died in 1978, aged just 53.

The Wood
On: Monday 19 May at 19:30

1999 Directed by Rick Famuyiwa. Taye Diggs, Omar Epps

Roland, Mike and Slim have been friends since their school days. Now one of their merry band is about to get married. But hours before the wedding, Roland disappears.

Mike and Slim find him, very drunk, at the house of an old girlfriend. Clearly, this brother is in no fit state to say “I do”. They have to sober him up, fast.

Then they have to persuade him that his pre-wedding jitters are just that, jitters. As the minutes tick by, the guys reflect on their school days in The Wood - Inglewood - and all the things they got up to in their journey towards manhood.

Big Night
On: Monday 26 May at 19:30

1996 Directed by Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci. Stanley Tucci, Tony Shalhoub

Two immigrant brothers’ American Dream is turning into something of a nightmare.

Their bistro Paradise serves up authentic Italian fare, but customers seem more interested in the Grotto across the road, which specialises in quick Italian meals with mass appeal.

Primo, a purist, believes the quality of his cooking will make the customers come, but Secondo is more practical. The customers won’t come unless someone famous comes to eat there.

Luckily for them, a famous singer is about to do just that. As the brothers feverishly start preparing the feast that will blow the budget and make culinary history, they are joined by friends and lovers - each of whom adds their own special ingredient to the Big Night.


Love Field
On: Tuesday 6 May at 19:30

1992 Directed by Jonathan Kaplan. Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Haysbert

Michelle Pfeiffer plays Lurene, a talkative Dallas housewife who idolises Jackie Kennedy. When she learns that the Presidential couple is coming to Dallas, she’s ecstatic, and decides to go to Love Field to see them, perhaps even touch them.

But before she even gets there, she learns that JFK has been assassinated. Devastated, she decides to support Jackie by attending the funeral. Despite her boorish husband’s objections, she hops on a bus to Washington. Along the way, she befriends a quiet black man and his daughter - two people who will forever change her outlook on life.

Not Without My Daughter
On: Tuesday 13 May at 19:30

1991 Directed by Brian Gilbert. Sally Field, Alfred Molina

In the mid-eighties, an American woman travelled to Iran with her Iranian doctor husband and their four-year-old daughter for a two week visit. The visit stretched out into a harrowing 18-month ordeal in which Betty Mahmoody was trapped in an alien city with hostile in-laws, a husband who insisted she embrace his culture, and an unsympathetic embassy. The film follows her story and her attempts to escape with her daughter.

Little Woman (1994)
On: Tuesday 20 May at 19:30

1994 Directed by Gillian Armstrong. Winona Ryder, Gabriel Byrne

Louisa May Alcott’s charming 19th century tale about sisterhood, liberation and love features some of today’s biggest stars. The story revolves around the March women of Massachusetts, whose husband/father has gone off to fight in the Civil War. Marmee is the wise mother who gently guides her girls, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, towards womanhood. Jo is the tomboy in the group, who aspires to be a writer. The film follows their domestic and romantic adventures, and culminates in Jo moving to New York, where a German professor takes an interest in her writing.

Of Mice And Men
On: Tuesday 27 May at 19:30

1992 Directed by Gary Sinise. John Malkovich, Gary Sinise

John Steinbeck’s classic Depression era fable is brought to the screen with great skill by actor/director Gary Sinise, who plays George, the intelligent protector of Lennie, a gentle giant whose mind never kept pace with his body. The two are very different, but share the same dream: to buy a little patch of land where George can teach Lennie to raise rabbits without inadvertently crushing them to death. They land a job on a ranch during harvest time, and manage to interest a nice old man in their dream. But when the sexy, bored wife of the foreman starts flirting with Lennie, it sets off a chain of events that culminates in heartbreak.


84 Charing Cross Road
On: Wednesday 7 May at 19:30

1987 Directed by Eileen Diss, Edward Pisoni. Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins

Helene Hanf and Frank Doel wrote letters for 20 years. Separated by the Atlantic Ocean and sharing a passion for old books, the two started corresponding when Hanf, a writer living in New York, answered an ad for cheap, out-of-print books.

Over the next two decades, the two very different intellectuals became firm friends, with Hanf sending him and his staff parcels containing ham and other unobtainable treats, and Doel sending her the books she so loved. The tragedy was that they never met.

Unstrung Heroes
On: Wednesday 14 May at 19:30

1995 Directed by Diane Keaton. Andie MacDowell, John Turturro

An inventor starts unravelling when his beloved wife is diagnosed with cancer. Unable to give his son, Steven, 12, the attention he needs, he sends the boy to his two brothers.

Danny is paranoid; Arthur is a compulsive scavenger, but together, they teach their confused nephew the importance of faith, family and holding on to memories.

Places In The Heart
On: Wednesday 21 May at 19:30

1984 Directed by Robert Benton. Sally Field, John Malkovich

Sally Field plays a determined young widow who refuses to let the bank repossess her farm. Instead, Edna takes in a blind lodger to help pay the mortgage, and hires a farmhand to plant cotton. She also has to deal with domestic problems involving her sister’s unfaithful husband, and hostility from a deeply prejudiced community.

Beloved
On: Wednesday 28 May at 19:30

1998 Directed by Jonathan Demme. Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover

Former slave Sethe is eking out a living in Cincinnati, Ohio, when she gets a visit from an old friend, Paul. Sethe and Paul were slaves on a Kentucky farm, where horrible things happened. But right now, Sethe has bigger troubles.

Her daughter Denver - the only child who still lives with her - is too afraid to step outdoors, her neighbours avoid her, and her house is haunted. One day, Sethe and Denver rescue a wild, aggressive young woman, whose past is irrevocably linked to that of the troubled former slave …


The Innocent
On: Thursday 1 May at 19:30

1995 Directed by John Schlesinger. Anthony Hopkins, Isabella Rossellini
Leonard Markham is a shy young Englishman who is sent to Berlin for an Anglo-American telecommunication project. His jovial American boss, Bob Glass, introduces him to the city’s delights, including a decadent nightclub, where Leonard meets the alluring Maria. The two soon embark on a passionate affair, but it’s not without its problems, as Maria’s estranged husband is a violent, jealous man. Meanwhile, Leonard finds his innocuous assignment taking on dark and dangerous overtones when he is expected to spy on the Russians AND the Americans …

Cemetry Club
On: Thursday 8 May at 19:30

1993 Directed by Bill Duke. Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis

Three 60-something Jewish widows get together every time they visit their late husbands’ graves. Doris is the conservative one, who refuses to forget the man who made her so happy. Lucille is the wild one, who is following in her late husband’s philandering footsteps. Esther is the one in the middle, not knowing quite what the future holds.

When she meets widowed policeman Ben at the cemetery, she discovers that love the second time round may not only be possible, but better …

The Field
On: Thursday 15 May at 19:30

1990 Directed by Jim Sheridan. Richard Harris, Sean Bean

Richard Harris plays Bull McCabe, an embittered, stubborn old Irishman whose entire purpose in life revolves around a piece of land owned by a widow.

Bull, like his father and his grandfather before him, have lovingly tended to this field for decades, and he now wants his son, Tadgh, to do the same. But trouble comes to town in the shape of an American property developer. How will Bull react if the American manages to outbid him at auction?

Immediate Family
On: Thursday 22 May at 19:30

1989 Directed by Jonathan Kaplan. Glenn Close, James Woods

Linda and Michael have been married for 10 years. They have everything money can buy, except a child. After numerous failed attempts to conceive, they start looking at adoption as an option. They are paired with Lucy, a streetwise young girl who isn’t ready for the responsibilities of parenthood, even though her equally young boyfriend, Sam, is. As Linda nurtures Lucy through her pregnancy, she develops an unexpected affection for the tough mother-to-be, while Lucy discovers what family is all about.

The Good Mother
On: Thursday 29 May at 19:30

1988 Directed by Leonard Nimoy. Diane Keaton, Liam Neeson

Anna is a 30-something divorcee who is devoted to her daughter, Molly, a bright and inquisitive six-year-old. But that same curiosity lands Anna in hot water when her ex-husband accuses her of being a bad mother. Molly, it turns out, has told her father that Leo, Anna’s new beau, has been sleeping over. The child has even seen him in the nude. As the custody battle gets underway, Anna is torn between her love for Molly and her passion for Leo, a man she has come to know as kind and honourable.


The Remains Of The Day
On: Friday 2 May at 19:30

1993 Directed by James Ivory. John Haycraft, Christopher Reeve

It’s 1958, and an elderly English butler is driving to the coast to persuade a certain Miss Kenton to return to the country home where they worked together before World War II. During the journey, memories of the past 20 years come flooding back.

Stevens recalls his master entertaining heads of state, his father dying while he was serving dinner, and the feisty Miss Kenton trying to draw him out of his shell.

By the time he reaches his destination, he realises that he has wasted years of devotion to a master who did not deserve it – devotion that would have been better spent on a woman he has secretly adored for 20 years.

Intersection
On: Friday 9 May at 19:30

1994 Directed by Mark Rydell. Richard Gere, Sharon Stone

Richard Gere plays a successful architect who is torn between three women: his beautiful, aloof wife, who works with him in his architectural practice; his bubbly lover, a magazine writer; and his 13-year-old daughter, whom he is terrified of hurting. As he ponders his options, Fate intervenes - with cataclysmic consequences.

Reversal Of Fortune
On: Friday 16 May at 19:30

1990 Directed by Barbet Schroeder. Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close

Reversal Of Fortune looks at the real-life case of Claus von Bulow, who was charged with the attempted murder of his heiress wife. Sunny, who narrates from her hospital bed, gives some insight into the couple’s troubled marriage, but never lets on exactly what happened.

Claus remains a maddeningly enigmatic man, and we never quite know what to think. In real life, Claus was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years, but his lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, managed to reverse the verdict on appeal.

To this day, the couple’s three children are divided about what really happened to their mother, who had a $75 million fortune. She remains in a coma in a US hospital.

The Natural
On: Friday 23 May at 19:30

1984 Directed by Robert Redford, Robert Duvall. Robert Redford, Robert Duvall

Baseball is not just baseball - to some people, it’s life itself, filled with triumph, tragedy and miracles. Such is the case in The Natural, a cult classic about a talented baseball player who, with his homemade bat named Wonderboy, begins carving out a name for himself, just to see his promising future shattered by a bullet.

Years later, the 30-something Roy Hobbs gets a second chance when he is invited to play for the New York Knights. But Fate seems determined to bring him to a fall. Will talent and character win out over temptation and corruption?

Regarding Henry
On: Friday 30 May at 19:30

1991 Directed by Mike Nichols. Harrison Ford, Annette Bening

The story revolves around a hard-as-nails Manhattan lawyer who neglects his wife and daughter, until a robber’s bullet puts him into a coma. When Henry gains consciousness, he is not the same man. Gone are his memory, his nasty streak, and his desire to connive people. He is just a big, baffled boy, who wants to be nice to everybody, especially his wife and daughter.


Nell
On: Saturday 3 May at 19:30

1994 Directed by Michael Apted. Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson

When word gets out that an old woman has died in her cabin in the woods, a doctor goes there - to find Nell, the dead woman’s 20-something daughter. Nell is like no other woman Jerome has ever met. She is wild, uninhibited, and speaks a language all her own. Jerome ropes in the help of a fellow doctor, Paula, and after consulting a judge, they agree to observe Nell for a few months to see just how they can help her. But as they gain the young woman’s confidence, they discover that she may be the person doing the helping.

28 Days
On: Saturday 10 May at 19:30

2000 Directed by Betty Thomas. Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen

Gwen is an entertainment journalist whose working and private life is one long party. But the partying stops when a judge sentences her to 28 days in rehab for driving under the influence. Gwen tries to duck out of it, but her counsellor persuades her that it’s either rehab or jail.

At Serenity Glen, Gwen starts mingling with other addicts, only to find her recovery being hampered by her boyfriend’s well-meaning “gifts” of drugs and booze.

The Preachers Wife
On:  Saturday 17 May at 19:30

1996 Directed by Penny Marshall. Whitney Houston, Denzel Washington

Heavenly-looking Dudley arrives in Newark, New Jersey, as a kind of Jack of all trades. He offers to help Pastor Henry Biggs around the church, runs errands for Mrs Biggs, who has been feeling a tad neglected lately, and plays with Biggs Junior. As Dudley spreads the message of love, a greedy developer is put in his place, and the pastor and his wife reconnect. Who said the age of miracles was over?!

Horse Whisperer
On: Saturday 24 May at 19:30

1998 Directed by Robert Redford. Robert Redford, Kristin Scott

It’s a day that starts like any other: two happy young girls set out on their horses for an early morning ride. But a few minutes later, a truck crashes into them, instantly killing one girl and her horse and severely injuring the other girl and her horse. The girl loses her leg and becomes morose and withdrawn; the horse is so traumatised that a vet recommends he be put down. Instead, the mother sets off for Montana with child and horse, hoping a legendary horse whisperer (Robert Redford, star and director) will be able to cure the horse and make her child smile again. And so begins a period of healing for all four characters: Annie, Grace, Pilgrim and Tom.

Powder
On: Saturday 30 May at 19:30

1995 Directed by Victor Salva. Sean Patrick Flanery, Jeff Goldblum

Sean Patrick Flanery plays Powder, the boy who is raised in a basement his entire life, until the deaths of his grandparents result in him being discovered. With his unnaturally white skin, hairless body and uncanny ability to look into people’s souls, he is different - a difference which is not appreciated by the majority of people in this small Texas community.

His only friends are a science teacher, a social worker and a teenage girl who believe Powder has something to offer, but will their support be enough to make him stay?


Hope And Glory
On: Sunday 4 May at 19:30

1987 Directed by John Boorman. Sebastian Rice Edwards, Sarah Miles

Anything but dark and tragic, the story revolves around a bright and curious 10-year-old boy, Bill, who thrills to all the exciting happenings around him. He hides with his mother and two sisters when the bombs fall, plays with his friends in the rubble, and observes as his older sister draws stocking lines on her legs to make herself pretty for the soldiers. There are tragedies, yes, but he and his loved ones are spared, and are wiser and closer as a result.

Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken
On: Sunday 11 May at 19:30

1991 Directed by Steve Miner. Gabrielle Anwar, Cliff Robertson

Sonora is an orphan who dreams of making it big in Atlantic City, the place where anything is possible. On her way there, she lands a job as a stable girl with a travelling equestrian show, where the main act involves mounting a running horse as it reaches the top of a high tower - then sailing down the animal's back as it plunges into a deep pool of water.

Sonora wants to try it, but the manager’s son, with whom she is falling in love, warns her against it. One day, Sonora attempts the feat, and something goes very wrong. But despite this setback, she goes ahead and tries it again, with spectacular results.

Much Ado About Nothing
On: Sunday 18 May at 19:30

1993 Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson

The story revolves around two lords, Benedick and Claudio, who return from battle to find romance with the Italian governor’s niece and daughter, Beatrice and Hero. For the younger couple, it’s love at first sight; for the older couple, it’s all about verbal sparring. As if things aren’t complicated enough, the jealous Don John conspires to sabotage one of the romances, leading to misunderstandings all round.

Ghandi
On: Sunday 25 May at 19:30

1982 Directed by Richard Attenborough. Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen

Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948) was a pacifist who refused to use violent means to attain political ends. This film follows the idealistic young lawyer as he travelled from India to South Africa and back again, eventually liberating his country by simply getting his followers to refuse to do what they were told to do. On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu radical, but his legacy continues. His birthday, 2 October, has been declared the International Day of Non-Violence by the United Nations.

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