I’m pleased to announce the debut of a new weekly TV show. After nearly four years of writing and hosting Secret’s Out on ReelzChannel, I am bowing to requests that I cover major Hollywood releases as well as the indies and foreign films I love. The result: Maltin on Movies, which debuts this Friday and repeats several times over the weekend.
The details: Friday it airs at
1pm EST/10am PST, repeating at 6pm/3pm.Saturday, it’s on three times:
9am EST/6am PST, repeating at 4pm/1pm, and 2:30am/11:30pm.ReelzChannel airs nationally on DirecTV Channel 238, DISH Net Channel 299, TimeWarner Cable Channel 298, and on many local Comcast and Charter cable systems.
If you’ve enjoyed Secret’s Out, let me assure you that we’re not abandoning smaller movies, and every episode will still conclude with—
—a vintage film “from the vault” that’s available on DVD. I think we’ve managed to create a good mixture of mainstream and offbeat titles.
The first episode opens with my review of Disney’s Step Up 3D, a pleasant surprise—especially for 3D aficionados, and continues with the new British thriller The Disappearance of Alice Creed, starring Gemma Arterton and that fine character actor Eddie Marsan. I cover the DVD releases of Kick Ass, Clash of the Titans, and the superior French import A Prophet, which was nominated for an Oscar this year as Best Foreign Language Film. I revisit Carroll Ballard’s lovely family film Fly Away Home, which airs this week on HBO—and stars Anna Paquin, long before her vampire-filled adventures on True Blood. And we wrap things up with the new Criterion reissue of Powell and Pressburger’s stunning Technicolor melodrama Black Narcissus.
Next week I’ll have a similarly wide-ranging rundown, opening with two new theatrical releases: Julia Roberts’ new starring vehicle Eat Pray Love and Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the graphic novel series Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. I’m delighted to recommend the new DVD release of the superb Korean thriller Mother and the wacky Belgian animated feature A Town Called Panic, as well as an underrated American indie called The Joneses, starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore. I put in another plug for the DVD of Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer, one of the best films of 2010, and wrap up with my favorite film from TCM’s exclusive new Deanna Durbin DVD set, Mad About Music.
No one can say Maltin on Movies isn’t eclectic. I hope you’ll give it a try. And if you don’t get ReelzChannel on your local cable system, you can see streaming video of selected segments at www.reelzchannel.com.
