THIS IS IT, 2009 (AP)
ATONEMENT, 2007
THE FORTUNE COOKIE, 1966
Get Him to the Greek, 2010
Sunday, 9 p.m., Comedy Central
Russell Brand (left) revisits his hilarious, out-of-control English rock star, Aldous Snow, from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Not as funny as that movie, but a big laugher anyway. Here a young, ambitious record exec (Jonah Hill) is charged with traveling to London to get Snow to a show on time — in LA. A kind of new take on the great “My Favorite Year,” which starred Peter O’Toole in the Brand part as the out-of-control star named (yes) Alan Swann.
This is It, 2009
Thursday, 1:30 p.m., VH1
Filmed up until just days before Michael Jackson (right) died of an overdose, this terrific documentary is about the creation of what would have been Jackson’s comeback show. And what a show it would have been. We are brought into his world as he works with choreographers, dancers and musicians—and no, he doesn’t look sick or drugged out; in fact, he’s at the top of his fantastic game. Don’t miss it.
Atonement, 2007
Thursday, 8:30 a.m., USA
The stick-with-you-for-a-long-time film from the novel by Ian McEwan concerns the fickleness of fate and how lives can be changed in an instant. In 1930s England in the years before the war, a young man (James McAvoy), in love with and loved by a woman above his station (Keira Knightley, left), is accused by her little sister (Saoirse Ronan) of a rape he did not commit. Brilliant.
The Fortune Cookie, 1966
Saturday, 3:45 p.m., TCM
It’s brilliant teamwork between Walter Matthau (left), as a sleazy lawyer, and Jack Lemmon (center), as a dopey cameraman. During a football game, a player knocks the cameraman out by mistake, and the ambulance chaser sees big dollars. Even though he only suffers from guilt for the phony lawsuit, it does bring back his beloved, gold-digging ex-wife (Judi West, right). Hilarious.