Web site TV for March 28 – April 3, 2010

TV film fare -- week of March 28

The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of March 28. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence and sexual situations.

Monday, March 29, 8-9:30 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Monkey Business" (1931). The four Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo) cause all manner of havoc as stowaways aboard an ocean liner and even more among some gangsters ashore. Directed by Norman Z. McLeod, the manic absurdity of the wacky sight gags and verbal mayhem keep the nonsensical situation from growing tiresome. Slapstick comedy and zany dialogue, including absurd double entendres. 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.

Tuesday, March 30, 8-10:30 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Dersu Uzala" (1978). Russian production about the friendship that grows between a turn-of-the-century explorer in Siberia and his guide, an aging Tungus hunter whose name gives the film its title. Japanese director Akira Kurosawa concentrates on evoking the vast remoteness of the Siberian wilderness, a world the Russian finds forbidding but one in which the hunter is perfectly at home. Finely acted, beautifully photographed, it is an admiring portrait of a man living in harmony with nature and with his fellow hunters. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was G -- general audiences. All ages admitted.

Thursday, April 1, 8-10:15 p.m. EDT (Showtime) "W." (2008). Largely speculative but generally absorbing dramatization of George W. Bush (an uncannily accurate Josh Brolin) making the decision to invade Iraq and its aftermath, interspersed with flashbacks showing his undisciplined youth, initiation at Yale, courtship of wife Laura (Elizabeth Banks) and his unlikely rise to the governorship of Texas and the presidency. Director Oliver Stone and screenwriter Stanley Weiser take a cautious, surprisingly balanced approach to their central character, and the other familiar personages -- Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss), Condi Rice (Thandie Newton), Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright) and others -- with Bush drawn as a God-fearing leader whose actions were motivated by both his complicated relationship with his father (James Cromwell) and a rather simplistic sense of good and evil. One use of the F-word, several crude words and brief profanity, a few sexual references, fleeting strong war footage and alcohol abuse; probably acceptable for older teens. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Saturday, April 3, 12:15-2:45 p.m. EDT (AMC) "The Comancheros" (1961). Outlandish but colorful Western in which a Texas Ranger (John Wayne) and a fugitive gambler from New Orleans (Stuart Whitman) join forces in the 1840s to take on a highly organized band of white renegades in league with Comanche raiders. Director Michael Curtiz adds some romance (Ina Balin) and a lot of rough humor to the action formula with only middling results, though Lee Marvin has a memorable bit as a half-scalped gunrunner. Assorted stylized violence and much horseplay. 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.

Saturday, April 3, 7-11:45 p.m. EDT (ABC) "The Ten Commandments." (1956). Less an inspirational story based on biblical sources than a dramatic vehicle with a sense of history, director Cecil B. DeMille's epic production offers some spectacular re-creations, excellent technical effects and good acting from a fine cast, including Charlton Heston as Moses, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson and many other stars of the era. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-I -- general patronage. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was G -- general audiences. All ages admitted.

Saturday, April 3, 8-10:15 p.m. EDT (HBO) "Duplicity" (2009). Sophisticated romantic caper about two intelligence officers (Julia Roberts and Clive Owen) who turn to industrial espionage hoping to exploit the no-holds-barred feud between the CEOs (Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti) of rival pharmaceutical companies. Writer-director Tony Gilroy's tartly clever globe-trotting thriller, which boasts all the complexity of a master chess match, explores the paranoia produced by corporate greed and the redeeming potential of the love between its cynically untrusting lead characters, though their affection is expressed in an intense unwedded affair. Brief, nongraphic, premarital sexual activity, some sexual humor and references, occasional crude and crass language, at least a dozen profanities. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Saturday, April 3, 10 p.m.-12:05 a.m. EDT (Cinemax) "Orphan" (2009). Atmospheric but ultimately exploitative chiller about a couple (Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga) who adopt a 9-year-old Russian-born girl (Isabelle Fuhrman) from a Catholic orphanage, only to find that her inexplicable, manipulative behavior is tearing their marriage apart, and may pose a physical threat to their two other children (Jimmy Bennett and Aryana Engineer). Director Jaume Collet-Serra's horror outing begins promisingly enough by relying on Fuhrman's ability to unsettle the audience, but interludes of excessive violence and distasteful psychosexual complications soon take hold, leading to a conclusion that plays on viewers' most visceral emotions. A few scenes of gory violence, brief graphic sexual activity, fleeting images of upper female and rear nudity, some rough and crass language, a couple of uses of profanity. 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.

TV program notes -- week of March 28
 
Here are some television program notes for the week of March 28 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 28, 3:30-6:30 a.m. EDT (EWTN) "Solemn Mass of Palm Sunday From Rome (Live)." Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the solemn liturgy of Palm Sunday, live from Rome. The rite will be rebroadcast 8-11 p.m. EDT.

Tuesday, March 30, 9-10 p.m. EDT (PBS) "The Quake." This episode of the series "Frontline" follows up on the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, one of the most devastating natural disasters in recorded history. Correspondent Martin Smith and his team arrived in the island nation's capital of Port-au-Prince within days, and the program bears witness to the disaster in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the problems with coordinating early relief efforts.

Tuesday, March 30, 10-11 p.m. EDT (PBS) "Whatever It Takes." Filmmaker Christopher Wong's documentary chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the first year of the Bronx Center for Science & Mathematics, an innovative public high school in New York City's economically troubled South Bronx. An "Independent Lens" presentation (TV-PG -- parental guidance suggested).
 
Wednesday, March 31, 8-8:30 p.m. EDT (ABC) "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown." The Emmy-nominated springtime "Peanuts" special produced and animated by the late cartoonist Charles M. Schulz in which Charlie, Sally, Lucy and Marcie must get ready for the big day by making several unsuccessful attempts to prepare eggs for coloring. Not to worry, the Easter Beagle steps in to take care of everything! (TV-G -- general audience.)

Wednesday, March 31, 10-11:30 p.m. EDT (PBS) "The Street Stops Here." This special profiles high school basketball coach Bob Hurley Sr. and his lifelong commitment to improve the lives of inner-city kids and save the high school that gives them hope (TV-G -- general audience).

Thursday, April 1, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Solemn Mass of the Lord's Supper From Rome (Live)." Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the solemn liturgy of the Lord's Supper, live from the Basilica of St. John Lateran.
 
Friday, April 2, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Celebration of the Lord's Passion From Rome (Live)." Pope Benedict XVI presides over the solemn celebration of the Lord's Passion, live from Vatican City.

Saturday, April 3, 3-6 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Easter Vigil Mass From Rome (Live)." Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Easter Vigil liturgy, live from Vatican City.

Saturday, April 3, 8-10:30 p.m. EDT (EWTN) "Easter Vigil Mass From the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Live)." The solemn Easter Vigil liturgy, broadcast live from the nation's largest Catholic church. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, is scheduled to be celebrant and homilist.

Amish Grace

On Oct. 2, 2006, the peaceful life of the small Amish community of West Nickel Mines, Pa. was utterly shattered when a crazed gunman, later identified as Charles Carl Roberts, entered the local one-room schoolhouse and took everyone inside it hostage.

Though he quickly released the male students, and a few of his other captives managed to escape, Roberts -- a familiar figure in the area whose motives remain mysterious to this day -- eventually shot down 10 young girls, killing five of them, before taking his own life.

"Amish Grace," a partially fictionalized account of the tragedy -- and of the remarkable religiously motivated spirit of forgiveness with which the victims' families reacted in its immediate aftermath -- premieres on the Lifetime Movie Network Sunday, March 28, 8-10 p.m. EDT

Based on the 2007 book "Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy" by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt and David L. Weaver-Zercher, this profoundly moving drama centers on the imaginary but pivotal character of Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), one of whose two daughters is portrayed as among the fatalities.

Unable to accept the swift reconciliation undertaken by her husband Gideon (Matt Letscher) along with other community leaders who -- in keeping with the real-life actions of Amish representatives - are shown visiting the killer's bewildered and grief-stricken widow Amy (Tammy Blanchard) to assure her of their good will and offer their support amid her devastation, Ida begins to question her faith, her role in the tightly knit but isolated community and the future of her marriage.

Though they may be doctrinally and culturally far removed from Catholicism, the radical commitment to Gospel values demonstrated by the actions of the Amish in the most extreme circumstances imaginable -- as poignantly recounted here -- obviously provide an inspiring example to Christians of every denomination as well as to religious believers of every stripe.

Through questioning by initially skeptical local news reporter Jill Green (Fay Masterson), various characters make it clear that, although the pardon they offered may have been prompt, it did not come easily, and that the spirit of forbearance in the face of unspeakable evil that forms one of the pillars of scriptural morality is primarily a matter of self-liberation and the surest path to inner, as well as social peace.

Though its harrowing narrative is delicately dealt with, the film is nonetheless clearly unsuitable for the youngest viewers. But objectionable content is entirely absent, making this excellent, morally formative, though challenging family fare for all but the most easily disturbed.