HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET
Robert Zemeckis has made some groundbreaking films that, at the time, stretched the methods in which movies were made, from the animation-meets-live-action of Who Framed Roger Rabbit to the long-delayed filmmaking chunks to portray the passage of time in Castaway. His Welcome to Marwen, based on an actual story of a former soldier who found solace in an imaginary world populated by dolls who resembled the friendly (and less friendly) people in his life. In this case, the drama may not work successfully, but the special effects are amazing. Steve Carell stars, and the brought-to-life avatars of the women in his life are played by, among others, Leslie Mann, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monae, Diane Kruger, and, from Game of Thrones, Gwendoline Christie.
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Ava DuVernay is Ben Mackiewicz’s guest co-host for TCM’s The Essentials this month, and this week DuVernay selects some seminal films by Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. His 1950 drama, Rashomon, has remained, ever since, the template for all movie dramas showing the same event from multiple perspectives, and it leads off tonight’s Essentials showcase. Toshiro Mifune (pictured), later to co-star in NBC’s Shogun, stars in this story of a samurai who is murdered, and his wife raped – a story retold from several points of view, including the samurai’s ghost. And that’s followed, at 9:45 p.m ET, by 1957’s Throne of Blood, Kurosawa’s moody and masterful interpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Toshiro Mifune also stars in that one.