TV Movies

[Banana Woofwoof]

Not worthy of general discussion but have you ever seen a *good* TV movie?

This one- No-one Would Tell- was pretty good.  It was pretty harrowing for a TV movie.  You think ah, the bastard will get caught and everything will be okay, but he murders her and they find her in the river!

[trotsky assortment]

Made especially for VH1, the Sweetwater biopic is good.

[Derek Trucks]

Would Heimat qualify as a TV movie?  I know it did get a cinema premiere for the press but was made by the TV station.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

THREADS!

[alexl]

Would Heimat qualify as a TV movie?  I know it did get a cinema premiere for the press but was made by the TV station.

I would class it as a series - shame the boxsets cost a fortune.

[Jemble Fred]

Bernard & The Genie is the best film Richard Curtis has ever written â€" yep, even better than The Tall Guy. Even with the foul Christian bits.

It's a year or two since I hear Graham Linehan had a credit for 'additional material' on a full big screen version. God knows what happened to that, it's such an obvious hit in the making.

[quadraspazzed]

Was the Paul McGann Doctor Who film any cop? What about Not Only But Always, which again I haven't seen.

There was The Treaty made by RTE, a much better and more factually accurate take on the Irish War of Independence than 'Michael Collins'. Though it may have been a two-parter, which I guess makes its a (very) mini-series.

Sunday by Jimmy McGovern. Bloody Sunday by Paul Greengrass was alright too, though I much prefer the latter. Edit: And also, Hillsborough by McGovern I remember being very good though I hardly remember a thing about it.

The Navigators and Cathy Come Home by Ken Loach. At least I think The Navigators was a TV movie, I certainly saw it first on telly and am pretty sure that was the first time it'd been screened outside of film festivals. Definitely open to correction on that though.

Edit 2: Wasn't Winterbottom's The Road to Guantanamo first shown on TV before getting a proper cinema release too?

[Jemble Fred]

Was the Paul McGann Doctor Who film any cop? What about Not Only But Always, which again I haven't seen.

As a non-committed fan, I remember quite enjoying it, especially the McCoy/McGann crossover. It had lots of shite in it, but survived on novelty value if nowt else.

As for the latter, Cook fans (I think) a re pretty united in hating it. But I'm as big a Cook fan as anyone, and made sure to soak up every bit of pleasure it could give â€" as well as one of the eeriest real-life-person perforamnces I've ever seen from any actor, with Ifans' Cook (especially when he portrays Cook's private life â€" look at the scene where he goes to visit Wendy and the kids â€" it's like someone's found a private family home video), there are just lovely little reconstructions of possible moments which were never captured on film â€" the look between Pete & Dud at the Establishment is magical. And, liek so many other moments, you think 'yep, that moment could have happened'.

I'm burbling now â€" there are many things wrong with NOBA, and a lot of events have been rolled together and fucked with for dramatic purposes â€" plus it does tell a very basic cod version of the Cook & Moore story. But I prefer to enjoy it, myself, while acknowledging its flaws.

[trotsky assortment]

Would Heimat qualify as a TV movie?  I know it did get a cinema premiere for the press but was made by the TV station.

I would class it as a series - shame the boxsets cost a fortune.

A fortune is right.  I've still not seen it all, and would really like to.  I'm not forking out that kind of money though.

[neveragain]

I don't think I've ever seen a good American telly movie but our dramas I generally find highly enjoyable.

Call me what/when you will.

[Orias]

I don't think I've ever seen a good American telly movie but our dramas I generally find highly enjoyable.

Call me what/when you will.

Spielberg's excellent Duel was originally a TV movie extended for cinema release.

[Dark Sky]

Ghostwatch is an amazing ninety minutes of TV filmness...

And the Doctor Who TV Movie is pure class.

Another vote for Threads, though I don't recommend anyone watching that, ever.

The last non-ITV-Jane-Austen related TV movie I've seen was Disney's High School Musical, which has great songs in it, but the plot is extremely shite.  But you get the guilty thrill of vaguely fancying the sexy young actors in it which is a bonus.

[Utter Shit]

Wasn't Steven King's It a TV movie? Great film, scared the shit out of me as a kid.

[quadraspazzed]

I think, I may be wrong, that IT was a mini series.

Salem's Lot was pretty good as I recall, though I think that was a two-parter as well.

[Marv Orange]

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis is fun

[Nik Drou]

I once saw a TV Movie done in the form of a newsflash reporting an alien attack of some kind.  It was surprisingly realistic for this sort of thing and even came in Orson Welles-style by interrupting a more conventional-looking TV Movie.  It included at one point a telephone link-up with Arthur C Clarke for his perspective on the event.  I've no idea what it was called, if anyone knows what the hell I'm on about I'd be very grateful.  

Oh, and I can't say enough good things about Threads.  I got the promo DVD of that and put it on at about 1 in the morning, just to check to see if it was indeed the film and not something else of the same name.  I ended up watching the whole movie standing.  I didnt sleep well that night, though surprisingly the people i've lent it to have been rather nonplussed by it.

[Marv Orange]

I once saw a TV Movie done in the form of a newsflash reporting an alien attack of some kind. It was surprisingly realistic for this sort of thing and even came in Orson Welles-style by interrupting a more conventional-looking TV Movie. It included at one point a telephone link-up with Arthur C Clarke for his perspective on the event. I've no idea what it was called, if anyone knows what the hell I'm on about I'd be very grateful.

I've seen that, god damm boring if you ask me.