On demand picks

October 22, 2009

102 DALMATIANS

(Encore on Comcast) Live-action sequel with the Disney trademark of being accessible to kids but sophisticated and smart enough to keep adults awake. Imaginative art and set decoration, lively costumes, witty dialogue, and nifty special effects are all backdrop to Glenn Close’s tour de force as Cruella De Vil. Her melding of Norma Desmond and the Bride of Frankenstein will delight adults while the kids are amused by the high jinks of those adorable puppies. (G; runs through Dec. 24)

BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY

(Encore on Comcast) Renée Zellweger dials in to the precise frequency from which the malaise-afflicted heroine of Helen Fielding’s popular novel is transmitting. She’s the main reason the film about the smart, endearing, and endlessly self-doubting London career woman works. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant (exploring his dark side) help as the men she can’t be sure are in her life. (R; runs through Oct. 29)

KINDERGARTEN COP

(Encore on Comcast) Undercover cop Arnold Schwarzenegger, posing as a kindergarten teacher, is funny when he’s mowing down bad guys, scary as a teacher in this film that’s tougher on kids than on killers.(PG-13; runs through Nov. 19)