A pretty miserable range of choice sends you scampering to the big screen for the best of the Also Rans (X-Men: Days of Future Past, various times, MovieTowne, Invaders Bay, POS [X-Men 3D: 10.45 am, 1.45 pm, 4.45 pm, 7.45 pm, 11 pm; XMen 2D: 6 pm, 9 pm]; Chaguanas [X-Men 3D: 10.45 am, 1.45 pm, 4.45 pm, 7.45 pm, 11 pm], and Tobago [8 pm, 10.45 pm). Even if you stay home, it's for older, less spectacular film versions of one comic book hero (Batman [Michael Keaton], 12.45 pm midday MaxW, Batman Returns, 1 pm TCM, Batman Forever, 3.15 pm TCM) or another (Spider-Man, [Toby Mcguire] 3 pm MaxW, Spider-Man 2– still the best web-slinging scene in the pizza delivery intro, 5.15 pm MaxW) or a coming-of-age film that's better than all the Also Rans but too recently picked to be placed above them (*What Maisie Knew, 1.20 pm Max). The week includes one of the great American films, also just too recently picked to be named (*Chinatown, 10 pm Thursday TCM BEST FILM OF THE WEEK) and a chance to be disappointed by the film version of a truly magnificent book without paying for it (Midnight's Children, 8.50 pm tomorrow Max). More objective/less enthusiastic Wong Kar Wei fans may not share BC on TV's unbridled enthusiasm for his first English-language film, the only reason it wasn't picked (My Blueberry Nights, 8.15 pm tomorrow MaxW).
Today's best film: *Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantion/2013/ USA/Western-Action-Drama-Thriller/165 mins/R for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language and some nudity) 6 pm today HBOC. Watch this if you liked Inglorious Basterds, 12 Years a Slave or Saw. Quentin Tarantino's latest film jumps past everything since Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction to sit with them, along with the screenplay of True Romance, as a contender for his best. Long on homage and filled to bursting with the originality he can so often explode, his take on the Western is extremely violent and just as thought-provoking. The trouble with his brand of lavish violence is it is artistically justified in his case, but never could be in the thousands of copycats he inspires. Dark, troubling, upsetting and, somehow, hugely entertaining. Not for the Sunday School crowd, perhaps, but excellent.
Rest of the week: The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah/1969/USA/ Western/154 mins/R) 5.55 pm Friday Turner Classic Movies. Watch this if you liked No Country for Old Men, Unforgiven or 3.10 to Yuma. Sam Peckinpah's best-loved Western follows a band of hard men to their destinies; stunning cinematography throughout, including the spellbinding, mood-setting opening scene in which children drop a live scorpion into an ants' nest and watch it die. A Western for people who can't stand Westerns, BC on TV would rank it much higher than the American Film Institute did (No 80 in the Top 100 American films).
Dark Water (Walter Salles/2005/USA/Horror-Drama-Thriller/105 mins/PG-13 for mature thematic material, frightening sequences, disturbing images and brief language) 10 pm Friday MaxW. Watch this if you liked Ringu (remade as The Ring in the USA), Ju On (remade as The Grudge) or Shutter (remade, to the eternal confusion of DVD suppliers, as Shutter). Perhaps the only American remake of a Japanese horror that might be better than the original, the American version's superior production values make the film much easier to follow, which adds substantially to its creepy vibe. Additionally, the far more literal American approach that usually annihilates the essence of the horror, actually adds to spookiness. This is both good drama and a horror for people who don't like horrors.
Best of the rest: Mon: Trading Places, 6.20 pm TCM; Tues: Ed Wood, 6.15 pm MaxW; Wed: *Seven Psychopaths, 9 pm HBOC; Thurs: *Quiz Show, 6.05 pm TCM; Fri: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 4.30 pm MaxW; Sat: Serpico, 7 am Max.*Starred films have been chosen in the last three months. Scheduled Internet times often vary on the day, particularly around month-end.