Films on TV round-up: grandmasters and sad fathers

Yet more Tom Hanks. It's a good job I get the chance to write about him every now and then, because otherwise the room in my flat decorated from floor to ceiling with pictures of him would just be weird.

Commencing: Monday 28th November 2011

Storyville: Bobby Fischer - Genius and Madman (2011) Wednesday, BBC4, 9pm



I'm not sure whether a Storyville documentary counts as a film, but (a) it's 90 minutes long, (b) it's filtered as a film on tvguide.co.uk, and (c) what, you want to come and write it yourself?

I've been fascinated by Bobby Fischer for years now, as I generally am by any example of genius coupled with insanity. Since his death in 2008, documentary-makers are waking up to his incredible story, with this year's Bobby Fischer Against the World getting a small cinema release, and a dramatisation of his life in the works, which I think at one point had David Fincher attached as director, currently scheduled for 2013.

The youngest-ever chess grandmaster at the age of 15, Fischer went on to dominate the sport at a time when the top players were almost exclusively Russian, which was reflected by the Soviet Union's huge power over the governance of chess. After taking the World Championship from Boris Spassky in 1972, Fischer became a recluse, constantly at odds with the sport's governing body, critical of the US, especially its foreign policy, viciously anti-Semitic (despite having a Jewish mother), and a vocal Holocaust-denier.

I don't pretend to know much about chess, but from what I understand he was one of those rare innovative players of individual sports who is simply and demonstrably in an entirely different league from any of his opponents. Think Tiger Woods or maybe Ronnie O'Sullivan. Now imagine if one of them suddenly started giving press conferences describing Jews as an evil, murderous race, and you have an idea of how shocking his descent into madness was. For an example, listen to this interview he gave to a Filipino radio station on 9/11.


Anyway, I've no idea whether this documentary's a good one, but its subject is definitely interesting. Besides, it's on BBC4 so at the very least there won't be any horrible poor people in it, eh?
Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Saturday, C5, 3.50pm



(*skips quickly through DVD*) No, no Holocaust denial here, you're quite safe. I realise I turn this feature into Hanks fanboydom every time one of his films is on, but it's my hope that over the fullness of time we can build this up into a kind of Hanksabase for future generations to enjoy.

Even though it has the capacity to make me well up like a tween who's just been told One Direction have decided to pursue solo projects, I absolutely refute the notion that Sleepless in Seattle is a girls' film. It is instead one of the best portrayals of masculinity you can find in cinema. For what is masculinity, really? Is it the ability to drink yourself into liver failure without outward signs of illness, beat a bigger man at arm-wrestling, or liberate hostages from a building full of German terrorists while wearing a vest?

It's the last one, obviously. But leaving that aside, is there any greater measure of a man than the ability to stoically raise your child in the wake of your wife's death? I always felt that what Tom Hanks does in Sleepless is vastly underrated among his greatest performances: paint a picture of quiet masculinity alongside sensitivity (he plays an architect, for crying out loud, which is Hollywood shorthand for 'artistic but still totally at home on a building site'), with all his usual gosh-what-a-great-guy charm thrown in, too. Basically, if you subscribe to the notion that the template for the perfect male film star is a man with whom women want to sleep and men want to have a beer, it's all here.

Oh yeah, Meg Ryan's in it as well.

As a side note, you'll see below that The Da Vinci Code is on this week too. It's one of the two or three Tom Hanks films I haven't seen, because I know it's going to be awful, and I just can't face it. Having only just managed to shower off the stink of Larry Crowne, it's going to be a while before I bring myself to as well.
Also on this week

Thunderball Monday, ITV4, 3.15pm
You Only Live Twice Monday, ITV4, 9pm (also Tuesday 4.20pm)
Snakes on a Plane Monday, Film4, 9pm
Shallow Hal Monday, 5*, 9pm
Robocop Monday, C5, 10pm
Tightrope Monday, ITV4, 11.25pm
Diamonds Are Forever Wednesday, ITV4, 9pm (also Thursday 5pm)
Meet the Parents Wednesday, BBC3, 10pm (also Saturday 9.45pm)
Three Kings Wednesday, ITV2, 11pm
Training Day Thursday, ITV4, 10.35pm
Inside Man Thursday, ITV2, 11.05pm
Transformers Thursday, Film4, 9pm
The Sixth Sense Friday, More4, 9pm (also Saturday, 10.25pm)
Brazil Friday, Film4, 9pm
The Da Vinci Code Friday, 5*, 9pm (also Saturday, 5pm)
Never Say Never Again Friday, ITV4, 10.30pm
World Trade Center Friday, More4, 11.05pm
Ghostbusters II Saturday, C5, 5.55pm
Taken Saturday, C4, 9pm
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Saturday, Dave, 9pm
Lethal Weapon Saturday, ITV4, 10.30pm
Waltz with Bashir Sunday, C4, 12.30am