Premiere and encore movies on
M-Net in February, 2009:
SUNDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
27 DRESSESSunday 1 February at 20:00
2008. Directed by Anne Fletcher. Starring Katherine Heigl, James Marsden
Jane is an incurable romantic who loves weddings. She has been a bridesmaid 27 times, but she'd love to walk down the aisle herself - perhaps with her boss, the sweet and sensitive George. But then, Jane's opportunistic sister Tess breezes in from overseas and makes a play for George. Jane is crushed. Fortunately, a charming guy called Kevin has been distracting her lately, asking questions to do with weddings.
MR MAGORIUM’S WONDER EMPORIUMSunday 8 February at 20:00
2007. Directed by Zach Helm. Starring Ted Ludzik, Natalie Portman, Zach Mills
Molly Mahoney is the awkward and insecure manager of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. But when Mr. Magorium, the 243 year-old eccentric who owns the store bequeaths the store to her, a dark and ominous change begins to take over the once-remarkable Emporium.
RENDITIONSunday 15 February at 20:00
2007. Directed by Gavin Hood. Starring Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep
A CIA analyst questions his assignment after witnessing an unorthodox interrogation at a secret detention facility outside the US.
I AM LEGEND Sunday 22 February at 20:00
2007. Directed by Francis Lawrence. Starring Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok, Willow Smith
2012. The city of New York, population 1. Three years after a virus wiped out the human race, the city is a jungle. No people, no traffic, just silence and a few wild deer. The only man alive is Robert Neville, a military scientist who is immune to the virus.
When Robert isn’t driving around with his dog Sam looking for food, he’s talking to shop window dummies and sending out radio messages, just in case someone, somewhere, survived the apocalypse. And every so often, he goes out hunting New York’s deadliest new species - zombies, feeling that if he can trap and cure just one, he can put an end once and for all to his loneliness and guilt.
MONDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
MARTIAN CHILDMonday 2 February at 20:30
2007. Directed by Menno Meyjes. Starring John Cusack, Bobby Coleman, Amanda Peet, Sophie Okonedo, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt
David, a recently widowed sci-fi writer, adopts a troubled little boy who thinks he’s a Martian. Dennis, 6, lives in a cardboard box and only eats a certain kind of cereal. At first, David thinks he’s the one doing all the healing, until Dennis shows him that he is just as alien, just as lonely and that perhaps together - and with a little help from the women in David’s life, they can make sense of this new arrangement called family. John Cusack’s real-life sister, Joan, plays his sister Liz.
ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGEMonday 16 February at 20:30
2007. Directed by Shekhar Kapur. Starring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Clive Owen, Abbie Cornish, Samantha Morton
Cate Blanchett reprises her role as the strong-willed virginal queen, Elizabeth I.
It’s 1585 and Elizabeth is facing a concerted onslaught from her enemy, Philip II of Spain, who wants Mary, Queen of Scots, to succeed her as queen. Failing that, his mighty armada will take on her fleet. Clearly, this staunch Catholic does not like her Protestant ways.
The arrival of Walter Raleigh, a dashing explorer who charms her with his wit and gifts, diverts her attention for a while, until he gets a little too close to her lady in waiting.
(
Only two films are in the Monday night line-up because of the broadcast of The Grammy's and Oscars. For more info see: New on M-Net in February, 2009)
TUESDAY NIGHT ENCORES
SAY ANYTHINGTuesday 3 February at 23:00
1989. Directed by Cameron Crowe. Starring John Cusack, Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Joan Cusack
Lloyd Dobler is a stereo-blasting teen with no real purpose in life. Diane Court is a pretty overachiever who doesn’t know how to relate to her peers. When Lloyd plucks up the courage to ask Diane out on a date, he finds his purpose in life – utter devotion to Diane – and she learns how to relate.
It’s a match made in heaven, except that Diane is about to enrol in a university abroad and her dad isn’t too keen on her new boyfriend. Then Fate intervenes with a lesson for everyone. A wonderful film that perfectly captures what it was like being a teenager in the Eighties.
ALIENSTuesday 10 February at 23:00
1986. Directed by James Cameron. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen
More than 50 years after destroying an alien spaceship, Ripley is found drifting in space, in hypersleep. Her daughter has died of old age and she has no purpose in life - until she is asked to accompany a mission to LV-426 to see why the colonists are so quiet.
LV-426 is the planet where Ripley first encountered the Alien, a monstrous, intelligent and lethal insect. Except for a frightened little girl, the colony is deserted. Of humans, that is. The planet is infested with Aliens, headed up by a Queen who is ferociously protective of her young. But she hasn’t reckoned on Ripley, who is just as protective of her young charge.
ALIEN 3Tuesday 17 February at 23:00
1992. Directed by David Fincher. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Charles S Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann, Lance Henriksen, Pete Postlethwaite
Alien 3 piles on more monsters as Ripley returns to wage war against a species of ferocious, intelligent insects. This time, Ripley wakes up to find that her spaceship has crash-landed on a planet populated by male prisoners. She’s the only survivor. When convicts start dying in horribly familiar ways, she suspects she has brought an Alien with her.
HEARTS AND SOULSTuesday 24 February at 23:00
1993. Directed by Ron Underwood. Starring Robert Downey Jr, Elisabeth Shue, Kyra Sedgwick, Charles Grodin, Tom Sizemore, Alfre Woodard
Thomas is a 20-something yuppie who’s so intent on climbing the career ladder that he’s forgotten to have fun. But this changes when the invisible playmates of his childhood reappear, asking him if they can “borrow” his body to sort out some unfinished personal business.
The playmates are the ghosts of actual people - a thief, a waitress, a single mother and a librarian - who died in a bus crash in 1959, the year Thomas was born. Thomas agrees, and comical mayhem ensues.
WEDNESDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
GENERATION KILL 0001 (Mini-series)Wednesday 4 February at 21:30
2008. Directed by Susanna White. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Lee Tergesen
Generation Kill is a seven part mini-series that focuses on the exploits of the young men of the 1st Reconnaissance Battallion who spearheaded the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as seen through the eyes of embedded Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright.
Part One introduces the boys as they are waiting for the green light to invade, and see how they deal with shoddy supplies, clueless officers and rumours that J-Lo is dead.
GENERATION KILL 0002 (Mini-series)Wednesday 11 February at 21:30
2008. Directed by Susanna White. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Lee Tergesen
As the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion get ready for their first contact with the enemy, Sgt Brad “Iceman” Colbert tries to keep his unit focused.
Part Two sees Bravo Company heading north for a crucial river. However, a wrong turn keeps them out of the action, until a violent skirmish erupts in Al Gharraf, and one soldier records his first kill. In between the action, the boys talk about why they joined the Marines and the merits of facial hair.
GENERATION KILL 0003 (Mini-series)Wednesday 18 February at 21:30
2008. Directed by Susanna White. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Lee Tergesen
As the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion awaits its next mission, one soldier’s unexpected actions put the troops in jeopardy.
Having survived their first trial by fire, the Marines have to deal with new challenges. One involves one of their own men endangering everyone’s lives by requesting an artillery strike on a regimental combat team; the other involves having to capture an airfield defended by the Iraqi Republican Guard.
GENERATION KILL 0004 (Mini-series)Wednesday 25 February at 21:30
2008. Directed by Simon Cellan Jones. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands, Lee Tergesen
While searching for Chemical Ali, the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion also has to find the body of a murdered Marine.
Part Four sees resentments rising to the surface as the Marines have to deal with unpopular leadership and a visit from a clergyman. But two new missions, to find Chemical Ali and the body of a murdered Marine who was possibly crucified, refocus their minds.
Parts Five, Six and Seven continue in March.
THURSDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
ASK THE DUSTThursday 5 February at 22:45
2006. Directed by Robert Towne. Starring Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, Idina Menzel, Donald Sutherland
Ask the Dust revolves around the love-hate relationship between two proud and ambitious people. Arturo, an Italian American who aspires to be a great writer, is down to his last nickel, when he meets Camilla, a feisty Mexican waitress.
There is an immediate attraction between them, but they fight it, because they both want to date people who will take them out of rooming houses and into a world of glamour, acceptance and security.
They nevertheless embark on a torrid affair, all the while doing and saying things to drive the other away. Meanwhile, other equally hurting characters, such as an alcoholic war veteran and a scarred landlady, complicate their lives even further.
THE GATHERING 0001 (Mini-series)Thursday 19 February at 23:15
2007. Directed by Bill Eagles. Starring Peter Gallagher, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Kristin Lehman, Jenna Boyd, Peter Fonda
A New York City surgeon discovers that a coven of witches may be behind his wife’s inexplicable disappearance.
Dr Michael Foster wakes up after a disturbed night to find his wife Ann has vanished. She’s not at her early morning yoga class and the yoga teacher has also disappeared. One woman thinks they’ve run off together. Another woman tells him that the two were dabbling in black magic and may have joined a coven. Michael doesn’t believe either theory – he just wants his wife back.
Meanwhile, his teenage daughter Zee, who has some inkling of what her mother was up to, starts her own search.
THE GATHERING 0002 (Mini-series)Thursday 26 February at 22:30
2007. Directed by Bill Eagles. Starring Peter Gallagher, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Kristin Lehman, Jenna Boyd, Peter Fonda
Dr Michael Foster is still searching for his wife Ann who vanished from their apartment one night. It’s beginning to look as if a coven of witches may indeed be behind her disappearance. But the closer Michael gets to the truth, the more dangerous things become.
Then he gets some unexpected assistance from a policeman, who has also lost someone close to him, and his teenage daughter Zee, who may be something of a witch herself.
FRIDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
SUPERBADFriday 6 February at 20:30
2007. Directed by Greg Mottola. Starring Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Emma Stone
Three nerds who are desperate to lose their virginity get involved in all sorts of hi-jinks to get into an end of the year party.
GOOD LUCK CHUCKFriday 13 February at 21:15
2007. Directed by Mark Helfrich. Starring Dane Cook, Jessica Alba, Dan Fogler, Ellia English
When 30-something Charlie was a boy, he refused to kiss a goth girl and she put a spell on him. This is how explains why every woman he sleeps with ends up falling in love with someone else.
Charlie’s best friend Stu says he should appreciate no-commitment sex, but Charlie isn’t so sure. When he meets the klutzy Cam at an ex-girlfriend’s wedding, he realises she’s the girl for him. His dilemma set in when he believes that if he really is cursed, he won’t be able to sleep with her because she’ll fall for someone else.
ALIENS VS. PREDATOR - REQUIEMFriday 20 February at 20:30
2007. Directed by Greg Strause & Colin Strause. Starring Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis, Ariel Gade
A Predator spaceship has just blasted off from the Antarctic, when an Alien bursts from the chest of a dead Predator. In the resultant chaos, the ship is damaged and falls back to Earth, crashing outside a small Colorado town.
People start dying horribly as the mutated Alien puts his breeding plan into action. Then, to make things more deadlyy, an armed-to-the-teeth Predator arrives, determined to kill every Alien in town, and he doesn’t care how many humans get in the way.
THE RETURNFriday 27 February at 20:30
2006. Directed by Asif Kapadia. Starring Adam Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Peter O’ Brien
Joanna Mills (Gellar), a traveling business woman, begins having nightmares of a murder that occurred 15 years ago. Soon she is drawn to an old farmhouse, where the murder took place.
SATURDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKSSaturday 7 February at 20:00
2007. Directed by Tim Hill. Starring Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Justin Long
Chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore are living happily in the woods, when their tree is cut down and they are carted off to the city. They end up in the home of a struggling songwriter David, who at first can’t stand the naughty little critters, but who is then inspired to write a song.
The movie is a combo of live action and animation.
FAILURE TO LAUNCHSaturday 14 February at 21:15
2006 Directed by Tom Dey. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zoey Deschanel
At 35, Tripp has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, and a great house - trouble is, he lives with his parents. They want him out, so they hire Paula, an "interventionist," who has a formula in these cases: chance encounter, get him to ask her out, involve him in a trauma, meet his friends and get their nod, delay sex, have him teach her something, then launch him.
It's worked up to now, but this gets complicated when Tripp thinks she's getting too serious and one of his pals is attracted to Paula's deadpan, semi-alcoholic roommate, who's plagued by a mockingbird. Too many secrets may scrub the launch, and if Paula really likes him - who can intervene then?
TALLADEGA NIGHTS: THE BALLAD OF RICKY BOBBYSaturday 21 February at 21:15
2006. Directed by Adam McKay. Starring Will Ferrell, Sacha Baron Cohen, John C. Reilly
Ricky Bobby is a dim-witted, good-humoured Nascar champion, at the top of his game and his life, too, it seems. He has lots of money, a trophy wife, two bratty kids he dotes on, and a best friend and wingman who looks out for him on the track.
But all this changes when Jean Girard, a smug gay French Formula One driver, arrives on the Nascar scene, hoping to oust Ricky from his number one position. There are some words, and an accident, and Ricky loses his nerve, his winning streak and his wife in quick succession. The only one who still believes in him is his loyal assistant Susan.
PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHESTSaturday 28 February at 21:15
2006. Directed by Gore Verbinski. Starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
Once again thrown into the world of the supernatural, Captain Jack Sparrow finds out that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, Captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman.
With time running out, Jack must find a way out of his debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife. If this weren't enough, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann are arrested and sentenced to death unless Will can get Lord Beckett Jack's compass, who are forced to join Jack on yet another misadventure.