On Demand picks

January 19, 2010

PEARL HARBOR

(Encore on Comcast) A historical epic, a love story of sorts, and most of all an adrenaline movie depicting the Japanese surprise attack of Dec. 7, 1941, that decimated the Pacific Fleet at anchor in Hawaii and jolted America into World War II. Spectacle dominates, but Ben Affleck fills the screen with icon-sized heroism as a combat pilot. Josh Hartnett is his boyhood pal and rival for the affections of Kate Beckinsale’s nurse in this ungainly but potent-enough film, awash in gung-ho earnestness and resonant pop culture artifacts. (PG-13; runs through Feb. 11)

IS ANYBODY THERE?

(Comcast Movies: All Movies) Michael Caine single-handedly lifts this soggy whimsy into the category of the watchable. He plays a fading traveling magician in a rural old-age home; Bill Milner (“Son of Rambow’’) plays the morbid youth who befriends him. (PG-13; runs through Feb. 17) TY BURR

THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

(Encore on Comcast) Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver sizzle in Peter Weir’s evocative drama set in the seething mystery of Southeast Asia. Linda Hunt turns in a marvelous performance as an enigmatic Asian. (PG; runs through Feb. 11)

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