Paul Giamatti in American Splendor courtesy Fine Line
Monday, Jan. 28 at 9 pm/ETThe Monastery | SUND An old man who dreams of converting his crumbling Danish chateau into a Russian Orthodox monastery butts heads with a strong-willed nun. Could anything sound duller? But this wonderful documentary is actually a surprisingly complex and deeply poignant portrait of a stubborn and irascible loner who meets his match in the last person he ever expected.Tuesday, Jan. 29, at 10 pmFrances | FLX Jessica Lange took everyone by surprise with her shockingly raw portrayal of the troubled movie star Frances Farmer, a promising but difficult actress who went from Paramount costumes to a straightjacket in record time. On the short list of revelatory moments that suddenly redefine an actor’s career, this one’s close to the top.Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 9:30 pmOne, Two, Three | TCM When it came to comedies, Billy Wilder made some of the funniest (Some Like It Hot) and sharpest (The Apartment) ever. This underseen 1961 effort, in which a surpris...
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Though a decision is still pending on the original Law & Order's fate, NBC has inked coexecutive producer Chris Levinson to a two-year deal, Variety reports.... Smokin' Aces and The Last King of Scotland last week laid claim to the top two spots on both the DVD sales and rental charts.... Season 7 of Style Network's Finola Hughes-fronted How Do I Look? premieres May 14 at 9 pm/ET.... At long last available for Xbox 360: the wildly popular Guitar Hero II.
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SOAPnet will begin airing One Tree Hill and The O.C. weeknights at 5 and 6 pm/ET, respectively, on April 9.... The View's spring coffee mug, to be unveiled on Tuesday's show and featuring the hosts in a Warhol-inspired design, is available for purchase at ABC.com.... Smokin' Aces arrives on DVD April 17.
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At a time when the best of the cinematic best are being celebrated, how ironic that a C-lister-studded piece of unscreened-for-critics fluff like Epic Movie emerged No. 1 at the weekend box office, with a $19.2 million haul. Rounding out the top five were Smokin' Aces (opening with $14.3 mil), Night at the Museum ($9.5 mil, now at $217 mil to-date), Jennifer Garner's Catch and Release (which, from what I have read, they should have done with the script; $8 mil) and Stomp the Yard ($7.8 mil).
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