TV • PAGE 25
THE BULLETIN • APRIL 15 - 21, 2021
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“Movie: Cézanne et moi”
Danièle Thompson (“Cousin Cousine,”
“Queen Margot”) wrote and directed this
2016 biographical drama that follows
the parallel paths, careers and passionate
friendship of post-impressionist painter
Paul Cezanne and writer Emile Zola, who
both left their hometown for the Paris art
scene in the late 19th century. Guillaume
Canet (“Last Night”), Guillaume Gallienne
(“Marie Antoinette”) and Alice Pol
(“Queen to Play”) head the cast.
BY JAY BOBBIN
“The Terminator”
“Aliens”
“Avatar”
“Survivor’s Remorse”
An inner city Boston family realizes the
rewards and challenges that come with
success when one of their own signs a
massive NBA contract and moves everyone
to a tony Atlanta suburb in this drama
series that aired on Starz from 2014 to
2017. Jessie T. Usher, RonReaco Lee and
Erica Ash head the cast.
“Movie: Love in Harmony Valley”
“Movie: That Thing You Do!”
This romantic Canadian TV movie from
2020 stars Eric Hicks (“Cardinal”) as a
man forced to work on a community
project with the woman (Amber Marshall,
“Heartland”) he blames for his sister’s
serious accident. Guest what happens next.
Nina Kiri (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) and
Andy Yu (“Fargo”) are also in the cast for
director Justin G. Dyck (“Art of Falling in
Love”).
Tom Hanks made his directing and
screenwriting debuts with this charming
1996 comedy-drama about a rising young
rock band in 1964. He also plays a key
character: the record producer who gives
the band its big break. Tom Everett Scott,
Johnathon Schaech, Liv Tyler and Rita
Wilson also star. The film’s title song,
which is also the fictional band’s big hit,
earned an Oscar nomination.
BEST JAMES CAMERON MOVIES
“The Terminator” (1984) The movie that put
director and co-writer Cameron on the map also
gave Arnold Schwarzenegger one of his biggest hits,
playing to the star’s very specific strengths by casting
him as a cyborg sent back through time to the present
day to kill a woman (Linda Hamilton) before she can
give birth to a future revolution leader.
“Aliens” (1986) The original “Alien” wasn’t his
movie, but Cameron knew how to carry the franchise
forward with this first sequel that makes astronaut
Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) a heroine you don’t mess
with – even if you’re an extraterrestrial – as she
becomes a surrogate parent to a youngster (Carrie
Henn) who needs protection from aliens on the planet
where the first one unwittingly was picked up.
“The Abyss” (1989) The search for a missing
submarine leads an undersea team to discover a
new life form in Cameron’s intriguing saga, which
is as interesting for its human drama – much of it
involving estranged spouses played by Ed Harris and
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio – as for its otherworldly
elements. A sequence in which someone makes the
ultimate sacrifice for the greater good, while others
try to revive that person, is exceptionally suspenseful.
Cameron’s fascination with things oceanic continues
with the Disney+ series “Secrets of the Whales,”
a National Geographic production premiering
Thursday, April 22 ... Earth Day.
“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991) It
took Cameron eight years, but here’s an example of
how to make an ideal sequel, introducing exciting
new aspects and characters while retaining enough
of what made the original movie popular. Just as
Arnold Schwarzenneger says in his trademark line,
he’ll “be back” ... but as a good guy instead of
a villain this time, as he tries to protect the young
revolutionary-to-be (Edward Furlong) and the latter’s
mother (returnee Linda Hamilton) from an even
deadlier Terminator (Robert Patrick).
“True Lies” (1994) Cameron and Arnold
Schwarzenegger left sci-fi to tackle another
popular genre together with this spy tale, a hugely
entertaining combination of adventure and humor.
Schwarzenegger plays a covert, terrorist-fighting
operative whose wife (a terrific Jamie Lee Curtis) is
shocked to discover what he really does for a living
when she’s drawn into the danger. Cameron certainly
doesn’t skimp on the action sequences here, whether
they involve horses or Harrier jets.
“Titanic” (1997) Well, of course. In the film that
made Cameron “the king of the world” – or at least
of the Oscars for its year – he weaves fact and fiction
together to set the love story of privileged Rose (Kate
Winslet) and scrappy Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio)
against the maiden, ultimately fateful voyage of the
title ocean liner. Some still may debate why Rose
ultimately “let go” (if you’ve seen the movie, you
understand), but there’s no arguing the impact this
blockbuster had on screen history and the box office.
“Avatar” (2009) The threat posed to the humanoid
population of a mining colony being expanded
by humans is the thrust of Cameron’s imaginative,
massively profitable fantasy that has had multiple
sequels long brewing ... but as co-star CCH Pounder
recently confirmed to us, the filmmaker’s creative
approach is, “When it’s ready, it’s ready.”