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********************      The Week In TV Movies      **********************
*********     Select Films for Week Ending August 1st, 1998     *********** 
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Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane star in the neat-little comic
time-killer _Nuns on the Run_, playing two gang members who want out
of the crime scene.  They manage to steal cases of money during a
heist and, while being pursued by both their gang and their rivals,
they hide out in a convent.  To conceal their true identity, they
disguise themselves as nuns and they try to mix in with the others.
To their surprise, they also find out that the convent is affiliated
with an all-girls school.  Directed by Jonathan Lynn, _Nuns on the
Run_ is an amusing, fluffy slapstick comedy. Late Tuesday at 12:05 AM
on CITY.


_The Importance of Being Earnest_ was Oscar Wilde's fourth comedy and
his most popular one.  John has a secret identity - in town, he's
known as John, but in the country, he's known as Ernest.  Similarly,
John's friend, Algernon has a second identity:  Algernon in town and
Bunbury in the country (hence, he uses the term 'Bunbury.') John's in
love with Gwendolen and intends on proposing to her - meaning that
he'll have to 'kill off' Ernest.  Algernon decides to take advantage
of John's second identity as quickly as possible by posing as Ernest
when he tries to propose to John's ward, Cecily.  However, when all
identities collide together, havoc ensues.  This 1952 screen
adaptation, which stars Michael Redgrave, is a reasonably faithful
one, with the odd sequence switched around, but nonetheless enjoyable
for fans of this particular social comedy.  Wednesday at 1 PM on
CITY.


_Where Angels Fear To Tread_ may not have been a Merchant-Ivory
Production, but it was certainly part of the trend of films based on
the orks of E.M. Forester (_Maurice_ and _A Passage To India_ were
made before this film;  _Howards End_ would follow a year or so
later).  Helen Mirren plays an artistocrat who ventures off to Italy
with her friend (played by Helena Bonham Carter), marries a young
Italian gentleman and bears a child.  A meddling relative (played by
a luminous Judy Davis) totally objects to Mirren's actions and is
determined to take matters into her own hands.  Directed by Charles
Sturridge, who also did last year's overlooked _Fairytale: A True
Story_.


When Sarah McLachlan introduced "I Will Remember You" (she was the
opening act for Sting several years ago at the Molson Amphitheatre)
as being a song from Edward Burns' _The Brothers McMullen_, very few
people cheered at this film in the audience (a full house), including
the writer of this article - which just goes to show just how many
people actually saw this film.  Winner of the Best Picture award at
Sundance, Burns got himself a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight.
This charming romantic-comedy stars Burns as the middle of three
Irish- Catholic brothers, each with his own romantic pursuits.
Original and incredibly funny with a lot of heart.  Thankfully,
there's a little more to it than Burns' banana peeling scene.
Thursday at 8 PM on CBC Toronto.


Before making Hollywood films as _In The Line of Fire_, _Outbreak_,
and _Air Force One_, German director Wolfgang Petersen garnered
critical acclaim for the 1981 adventure-thriller _Das Boot_, which
involved a German U-Boat's underwater ventures in WW2.  Petersen's
camera work inside the U-Boat is spectacular, giving a claustrophobic
effect - something that is slightly reflected in _Air Force One_.
Interestingly, the crew members (working for the National Socialist
party) are seen in an incredibly human light, displaying genuine
human emotions.  They are actually sympathetic characters that the
viewer can relate to.  Re-released just last year with 30 minutes of
added material.  Late Thursday at 1 AM on Bravo!


Ron Fricke's _Baraka_ is obviously best seen on the movie screen.
Nothing can compare to seeing modern and traditional civilization
from all four corners of the earth as this 1992 documentary.  Words
really can't describe it.  Highly recommended.  Saturday at 7:30 AM
on Bravo!


Here's a Frightening Thought:  In the latest edition of Toronto Sun's
TV Guide, it describes _Happy Together_ under Chinese Cinema, stars
Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater, and is subtitled.  If it's *really*
the film I'm thinking of, viewers will be extremely disappointed that
the love scene at the very beginning of the film is not that the one
that involves Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater, but Leslie Chung and
Tony Leung - both superstars in their native homelands.  Should this
airing come, it will be an encore presentation on 47 - it was just
aired some weeks ago.  The researcher of this film ought to be
fired...  Considering that recent Chinese films have been aired
regularly on Channel 47 on Saturday nights, it's most likely that the
version of _Happy Together_ will be the one directed by Wong Kar-Wai
(who won the Best Director award at Cannes and who also directed
another acclaimed film - _Chungking Express_).  Saturday at 9 PM on
CFMT Toronto.