SATURDAY
AUGUST 2
2014

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

Bravo, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 2006 comedy, starring Meryl Streep as a dictatorial fashion editor, was made only eight years ago, but look at all the players whose stars have ascended since. You start with Anne Hathaway, the sweet center of the film, who was handed her first significant adult role here. But keep going: Other co-stars include Emily Blunt, who just starred opposite Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow; Adrian Grenier, who was just starting to break out as a star of HBO’s Entourage; and Simon Baker, two years before taking his own star-making TV role as The Mentalist.The gang’s all here – along with Stanley Tucci, who, as always, enhances every scene he’s in with a little extra sparkle and intensity.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 1963 movie stars David Niven – whose day this is on TCM – as a master thief, and Robert Wagner as his equally suave and sly son. But the movie’s center turns out to be the bumbling detective on their trail: Inspector Jacques Cousteau, played to comic perfection by Peter Sellers. Some aspects of humor, you outgrow through the years – but Clouseau, he always makes me laugh, even just thinking about him. And when he spins that globe, I’m laughing even before he reaches out to stop it from rotating…

 
  
 
 

TNT, 8:00 p.m. ET

You have to respect and applaud Bradley Cooper’s acting choices – not only what he does on screen, but the roles he accepts. TV viewers knew about his good looks and easygoing style by watching him as far back as Alias, but after co-starring in The Hangover, he could have settled into an easy street of unchallenging romantic comedies. Instead, he went for the unexpected – first by starring opposite Robert de Niro in this 2011 modern variation on Flowers for Algernon, then by reteaming with him (and the wonderful Jennifer Lawrence) on Silver Linings Playbook, and now co-starring in Guardians of the Galaxy by providing the voice of a talking raccoon. No kidding. And no, it’s not necessarily a step backwards…

 
  
 
 

BBC America, 9:00 p.m. ET

Okay, this is just weird. This 2013 Canadian film is a faux documentary, “interviewing” historians about a reimagining of World War I. Instead, after alien spacecraft land in the forests of Europe, the conflict instead becomes Worlds War I, as former enemies unite on the battlefield to take aim against deadly weaponry from outer space.

 
  
 
 

Sundance, 9:00 p.m. ET

This 1999 Stanley Kubrick movie captured Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman when they were still a couple, but also captures tensions between their characters that are difficult not to overlay onto their real-life counterparts at the time. Kubrick’s theatrical sexuality and dreamlike direction may seem indulgent in this late-career film – but if you go back and read the original novella that is its source material, it’s almost shocking how faithful this movie adaptation is to the spirit, and the obsessions, of the original. And give me credit: for once, I'm exercising restraint when selecting an accompanying photo.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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3695 Comments
 
 
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Dave Bianculli
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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.