SATURDAY
SEPTEMBER 14
2013

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Sundance, 8:00 p.m. ET

Future Dark Knight Christian Bale was just a kid when he starred in this 1987 film by Steven Spielberg, a faithful adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s novel about a British boy who was in Shanghai in 1941 when the Japanese invaded, making him a prisoner of war in a strange land. John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson co-star, but this movie belongs mostly to Bale, and to Spielberg’s beautiful cinematic images.
 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

A night of movies about ships in trouble is on hand tonight on TCM – a fleet of films that includes 1957’s Abandon Ship! (10 p.m. ET) and 1953’s Titanic (midnight ET). But the evening leads off with a really good one: Alfred Hitchcock’s 1944 Lifeboat, which takes place aboard the confining craft of its title. So how does Hitch work his trademark cameo appearance into this film? It’s worth tuning in just to find out… And you’ll stay for the rest, a gripping wartime character study starring Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix and Walter Slezak.

 
  
 
 

Starz!, 9:00 p.m. ET

In this new episode, the Queen leaves her royal chambers and heads to the battlefield, where what she sees leads to a new perspective on her kingdom, and her future plans. And she’s not the only powerful woman roaming the battlefields, either…

 
  
 
 

Syfy, 9:00 p.m. ET

The latest Syfy movie with a funny title, but no reason to watch, is tonight’s new Robocroc, which endows an artificial crocodile with Terminator-type sensors and sensibilities. I’m not asking you to watch it – just to spend a minute imaging some future possibilities for similar Syfy films along similar lines.  A mechanical wild pig named Cyboarg, perhaps? An artificial insect named Antroid? Or perhaps a boxing, hopping-mad Australian machine called Kangaroobot? I eagerly await your own suggestions… All of which will be more fun than tuning in to Robocroc.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 9:45 p.m. ET

Part 1 of 2. This is a repeat of last Sunday’s episode, but one that’s scheduled handily in case you missed it, as a catch-up session prior to tomorrow’s Season 2 finale. It’s election night 2012 on this show, and the gang at the newsroom is working as hard as it can to recapture its credibility and make no mistakes – sort of like Aaron Sorkin, behind the scenes, is working hard to stick the landing on this redemptive second season.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.