KING KONG 2005
Monday, 8 p.m., AMC
SOUL TRAIN: THE HIPPEST TRIP IN AMERICA 2010
Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., VH1
INDEPENDENCE DAY 1996
Saturday, 8 p.m., A&E
Grease, 1978
Sunday, 10:04 a.m., AMC
It’s hot and annoying outside, so this is a good time to stay indoors for National Endlessly Entertaining Movie Week. OK, there is no such thing, but there should be. Right off, you’d have to be in the Taliban to not get a huge kick out of this Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta classic. It’s the 1950s and good girl Sandy moves into town and falls in mutual crush with bad boy, Danny (Travolta). Much teen angsting to one of the all-time great movie sound tracks.
King Kong, 2005
Monday, 8 p.m., AMC
Peter Jackson (“Lord of the Rings”) went way extravagant in this the third iteration of the magical movie about that ape. Not as fantastic as the first and better than the second, this is still a great version. A filmmaker (Jack Black) takes a beautiful actress (Naomi Watts) to Skull Island. which is filled with dinos and a giant ape named Kong. How can any ape resist that face?
Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America, 2010
Tuesday, 6:30 p.m., VH1
Before “OMG” was even an expression, there was Don Cornelius and “Soul Train,” the ultimate OMG. This movie was made to commemorate the 40th anniversary of one of TV’s longest-running shows, but this is more than a montage — it’s an exploration of the phenomenon featuring show clips of Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and a bazillion others.
Independence Day, 1996
Saturday, 8 p.m., A&E
Don’t you hate it when aliens attack on your day off? The president (Bill Pullman) needs to stop a giant alien attack on the Fourth of July. Oops— there goes NYC, LA, and DC. Survivors flee to Area 51, where the government may be holding an alien. It takes a scientist/cable installer (Jeff Goldblum) and a flying hero (Will Smith, above) to save the planet. Almost as good as the Macy’s Independence Day fireworks. . .