THE special effects in Cocoon (Pearl, 9.30pm) look like leftovers from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but let's not be harsh; this is a gentle and effective heart-tugger, with a good cast at work. Don Ameche won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
And it spawned a sequel, which is showing next week. That was directed by Daniel Petrie, not Ron Howard, and was extraordinarily scrappy. The original is the one worth sitting down for. It's unusual, moving and sentimental, without inducing heavy nausea.
Much of its success is down to that cast, which also includes Jessica Tandy, Brian Dennehy and Steve Guttenberg in a refreshing departure from the moronic Police Academy series.
If Cocoon has a problem it is that it's about growing old, and therefore acts as a mild depressant. It does, however, feature convincing aliens, which is ample compensation.
Conan the Barbarian (Pearl, 12.55am) features little that is convincing at all, unless you happen to be the sort who is taken in by Arnold Schwarzenegger sporting fake tan and a sword.
Conan, part-written believe it or not by Oliver Stone, is heavy-handed nonsense and mostly unintelligible. Arnie is the young stalwart of the Dark Ages who seeks out the barbarian tribe which massacred his village and to boot his parents. In the sequel, Conan the Destroyer, he did more of the same.
GENE Wilder squeezes some laughs from The Woman in Red (World, 9.30pm), which is a broad remake of the French knicker-dropping farce Pardon Mon Affair. Happily married Wilder goes ga-ga over Kelly LeBrock, who rides horses in sensual fashion in his local park. Beware of the Stevie Wonder soundtrack, which features I Just Called to Say I Love You.
