CAST AWAY (2000)
Sunday, 8 p.m., FX
A harrowing plane crash leaves lone survivor, Chuck, (Tom Hanks), a FedEx employee, stranded for years on the proverbial deserted island. With only a volleyball for a friend, Chuck battles the elements, extreme loneliness, an infected tooth, and a slipping grip on sanity. Movie characters should never get on a plane it always leads to disaster.
NEVADA SMITH (1966)
Tuesday, 5:30 p.m., TCM
Harold Robbins used characters from his potboiler “The Carpetbaggers” to create this western about Smith, the offspring of an Indian mother and a white settler father who spends his life avenging their murders. Campy and insanely corny, but the cast does include Steve McQueen, the glorious Suzanne Pleshette, Karl Malden, Arthur Kennedy, Martin Landau, and a young Janet Margolin. I mean, come on!
A MIGHTY HEART (2007)
Wednesday, 6 p.m., Sho2e
From the memoir by Mariane Pearl, wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, comes this powerful and gripping true tale starring Angelina Jolie. Mariane’s story is recounted from the day of her husband’s abduction by terrorists in Pakistan through the days and nights of waiting amidst hapless government intervention and increasing CIA paranoia. With Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Irfan Khan.
16 BLOCKS (2006)
Saturday, 12 a.m., USA
Richard Donner’s action throwback uses character development and good dialogue to tell its tale instead of just pyrotechnics. Bruce Willis plays a down-and-out cop assigned to escort a small-time crook turned-witness (Mos Def) 16 blocks to court. What he doesn’t know is that the witness is set to testify against his colleagues. Def is brilliant as the witness who can’t stop talking.