Web site TV for March 14 – March 20, 2010

TV film fare -- week of March 14

The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of March 14. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations.
 
Sunday, March 14, 1-3:30 p.m. EDT (A&E) "A Bronx Tale" (1993). Growing up in the 1960s, an Italian-American youth (Lillo Brancato) is torn between the decent values of his bus-driver father (Robert De Niro) and the easy-money life of the neighborhood crime boss (Chazz Palminteri) who treats him like his own son. Also directed by De Niro, the well-realized drama makes a convincing moral statement in its picture of a youth who comes to recognize the emptiness of dirty money and the deadly violence it spawns.
Some violence, racial slurs, sexual references and much rough language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Monday, March 15, 8-10:30 p.m. EDT (AMC) "Something to Talk About" (1995). After discovering her husband (Dennis Quaid) has been unfaithful, a Southern wife and mother (Julia Roberts) re-evaluates her life and family relationships, a painful process which leads her own mother (Gena Rowlands) to finally confront her tyrannical husband (Robert Duvall) about his own philandering. Director Lasse Hallstrom elicits strong performances in an ensemble work written by Callie Khouri whose sassy, comedic script makes well-considered points about marital communication, the value of family and eventual forgiveness. Confrontations about infidelity, fleeting violence and intermittent profanity as well as rough language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Monday, March 15, 10:15 p.m.-12:30 a.m. EDT (TCM) "The Prince and the Pauper" (1937). Durable version of the Mark Twain classic in which an English prince (Bobby Mauch) switches places with a lookalike urchin (Billy Mauch) for a lark that could prove fatal unless a would-be usurper (Claude Rains) is undone by a mettlesome commoner (Errol Flynn). Director William Keighley's melodramatic style only slows the pace of the boys' misadventures after swapping the dangers of the Tudor court for the squalor of the London slums and vice versa. For all the aristocratic villainy and stylized violence, the period adventure is grand fun for family viewers. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-I -- general patronage. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Thursday, March 18, 8-10 p.m. EDT (TCM) "My Darling Clementine" (1946). Poetic Western follows Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) after he becomes sheriff of Tombstone in 1882, befriends Doc Holliday (Victor Mature) and takes on the Clanton gang (led by Walter Brennan) at the O.K. Corral. Director John Ford builds an evocative picture of a pioneer community and the people who helped build it, largely through a series of vignettes beautifully photographed by Joseph MacDonald. Stylized violence and romantic complications. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.
 
Friday, March 19, 8-10 p.m. EDT (TCM) "The Browning Version" (1951). Affecting drama in which a disillusioned classics teacher (Michael Redgrave), nicknamed "the Himmler of the lower 5th," resigns after 18 years because of ill health and a wife (Jean Kent) who's having an affair with a science teacher (Nigel Patrick), then suddenly gets a new lease on life because of a student's gift of Browning's translation of "Agamemnon." Directed by Anthony Asquith from Terence Rattigan's play, the story may be sentimentally contrived but the school setting is keenly realistic and the performances are heartfelt, especially Redgrave's burned-out academic whose spirit is revived by a student's act of kindness. Implied adultery. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.

Saturday, March 20, 8-9:45 p.m. EDT (HBO) "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (2009). A heartless womanizing bachelor (Matthew McConaughey) is visited by the ghosts of his playboy uncle (Michael Douglas) and those of his jilted girlfriends (Emma Stone, Noureen DeWulf and Olga Maliouk) on the eve of the wedding of his brother (Breckin Meyer), and he comes to realize the depth of his feelings for his childhood sweetheart (Jennifer Garner). Though there's ultimately a wonderfully redemptive outcome and a strong affirmation of marriage and fidelity, along with a couple of superlative scenes for McConaughey, director Mark Waters' "A Christmas Carol" retread is marred by far too much crude and smutty humor before getting there. Crass sexual talk and innuendo, some crude language and fleeting profanity, premarital sexual situations and a drug reference. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
 
Saturday, March 20, 8-11 p.m. EDT (AMC) "Traffic" (2000). Powerful thriller that intersects four stories concerning the international drug trade including that of a recently appointed anti-drug czar (Michael Douglas) dealing with his addicted teenage daughter (Erika Christensen) and a Mexican border policeman (Benicio Del Toro) confronted with the temptations of money and power. Director Steven Soderbergh's stunning visual virtuosity and the stellar ensemble performances create a stark picture of greed, corruption and social decay where for every triumph, there is parallel setback and the battle begins again. Intermittent drug use, some violence, a few sexual encounters, brief nudity, some profanity and constant rough language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Saturday, March 20, 10-11:45 p.m. EDT (Cinemax) "Fighting" (2009). Intermittently violent, but otherwise engaging, boxing drama about a failed street salesman (Channing Tatum) who turns to underground fighting to survive and bonds with his manager (Terrence Howard) while romancing a waitress (Zulay Henao). Scenes of punishing brutality and approval of premature sexual relations mar director and co-writer Dito Montiel's mostly moving portrait of a friendship between two down-on-their-luck New Yorkers. Graphic beatings, a premarital sexual encounter, some crude and crass language. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

TV program notes -- week of March 14

Here are some television program notes for the week of March 14 with their TV Parental Guidelines ratings if available. They have not all been reviewed and therefore are not necessarily recommended by the Office for Film & Broadcasting.
 
Sunday, March 14, 7-8:30 p.m. EDT (check local listings) (PBS) "Celtic Thunder: It's Entertainment." Celtic Thunder, a group of five Celtic male vocalists, presents a musical review that spans six decades (TV-G -- general audience).

Sunday, March 14, 9:30-10 p.m. EDT (Fox) "Sons of Tucson." Premiere of a new comedy series about three brothers, Gary (Frank Dolce), Brandon (Matthew Levy) and Robby (Benjamin Stockham) Gunderson, who are left on their own when their divorced father is imprisoned for bank fraud and who turn to slacker sporting goods salesman Ron Snuffkin (Tyler Labine) to pose as their patriarch and keep them out of the clutches of foster care. In this episode, Ron -- deep in debt to a loan shark and living in his car -- makes a deal to help the boys enroll in school in exchange for a payout, and convinces them to let him move into the home they share, an investment property their father shielded from forfeiture. The script includes a few vulgarisms and passing references to a bizarre wig fetish, and Ron's relaxed ethics are hardly exemplary, but he is shown to be fundamentally decent, and what begins as a purely mercenary arrangement shows every sign of eventually becoming a genuine, if unorthodox, emotional bond. The humor -- much of it involving physical routines by Labine -- is mostly inoffensive, making this probably acceptable for teen viewers and up.

Sunday, March 14, 9:30-10:30 p.m. EDT (check local listings) (PBS) "Roy Orbison: In Dreams." This program chronicles the life and times -- and music -- of first-generation Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Roy Orbison (1936-88), recounting the saga of one of pop's most enigmatic, and often under-appreciated, pioneers (TV-G -- general audience).

Tuesday, March 16, 8-10 p.m. EDT (History) "Samurai." Actor and martial arts champ Mark Dacascos explores the story of Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645), the most famous of all samurai, and examines the weaponry -- and philosophy -- of Japan's great warriors.
Saturday, March 20, 2-3 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Vision Of Freedom." This story of the persecuted Ukrainian Catholic Church relates how appearances of Mary to Ukrainians encouraged the faithful there to persevere under oppression, a steadfastness which eventually gained them the freedom to practice their faith openly.