The best of the DIRECTV primetime lineup
By a wonderful coincidence of boxing films-programming, Creed (9pm HBO2) knocks the dreadful Southpaw (9pm MaxP) flat on its rear end in the opening seconds. Had a horror film (The Butterfly Effect) not been picked yesterday, and had it screened on a “real” movie channel, the director’s cut of one a groundbreaking horror (Evil Dead, 9pm Spac) would have taken top spot.
Today’s Number One Film:
Ex Machina, 9pm Cinemax Ch 540. Watch this if you liked Her, Lucy or Chappie. The first feature film from the writer of 28 Days Later shows his gifts may be even stronger behind the camera than the typewriter – and it might be ungracious to add, “especially considering that his first novel was The Beach”.
The best of the DIRECTV primetime lineup
Too early and too late starting times, even for a Friday night, kept stronger titles, including a far better horror film (Let Me In BEST FILM OF THE DAY, 11pm CnCl) out of the top spot. As usual, the DIRECTV channel leads on music, with OneRepublic for the teeny-boppers (10pm) and Bob Dylan’s son’s band for the grownups (the Wallflowers On Soundstage, 11pm).
Today’s Number One Film:
The Butterfly Effect 7.18pm HBO Plus Ch 526. Watch this if you liked The Number 23, Drag Me to Hell or Predestination. This film is not a iterary worth by a long, long shot but is just too wonderfully bad to be excluded from choice. No one outside of adolescence or a PNM Cabinet would swallow the idea behind it – that Ashton Kucher, former host of MTV’s Punk’d, blacks out at crucial times in his childhood to block out such delights as a child-molesting neighbour including him in an amateur porn film,
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The best of the DIRECTTV primetime lineup
Anyone with enough Spanish to follow the subtitles should watch White God (8pm FoxCin), the Hungarian drama-horror-thriller that might be the most original animal film ever shot.
Today’s Number One Film:
Black Mass BEST FILM OF THE DAY, 6.55pm MaxPrime Ch 542. Watch this if you liked The Departed, Prisoners or Goodfellas. Viewed on the silver screen, upon its general cinematic release, it seemed impossible to imagine anyone denying Johnny Depp the Best Actor Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe
The best of the DIRECTV primetime lineup
If it had screened just an hour earlier, A Clockwork Orange BEST FILM OF THE DAY (9.58pm TCM) would certainly have been today’s number one selection.
Today’s Number One Film:
Groundhog Day 9pm Fox Classics Ch 560. Watch this if you liked The Truman Show, Forrest Gump or Hugo. Groundhog Day was the turning point in Bill Murray’s career, the first time audiences could see the stinging talent for character acting that led to his magical performances in the offbeat