King's cutting edge
FOR people who cannot stand reality, The Lawnmower Man (Pearl, 9.30pm) has plenty of the virtual sort. It is set largely in a computer-generated society where technology tells humans what to do and not the other way around. In fact this place is not unlike Hong Kong, but without the crowds.
The film was a surprise hit with most critics when it was released in 1992 and not surprisingly got a good run for its money in the territory. One person it was not a surprise hit with was Stephen King, who finally got tired of seeing people turn his books - Lawnmower Man was actually a short story - into films and disowned this one entirely. He was granted an injunction preventing the producers using his name in connection with the film.
The visionary special effects enliven what is at times a drab and predictable movie, but their impact will diminish significantly on the small screen. There are some moments of nice humour and the story, if I dare mention his name in connection with it, bears some of King's finer hallmarks; his vivid imagination and his eye for the perverse.
Pierce Brosnan (of Noble House fame) is a brilliant scientist who experiments with drugs and computer technology to improve the mind of his retarded gardener, with startling and unforeseen results. And this does not mean his gladioli come up better than usual.
THERE is a documentary on World called Bikini Jam: Uncovering The Cover Girl (8.30pm), which is about beauty pageant contestants. It should not be confused with From Beyond (World, 9.30pm) which is about people from another planet.
In From Beyond a doctor invents a machine that stimulates a sensory gland in the brain allowing him to see into the beyond. He discovers bizarre inhabitants of another world, but realises too late that if he can see them, they can also see him.
BASED on a true incident, Lost! (Pearl, 2.00pm), tells the story of three people adrift in the Pacific Ocean on an overturned boat. Complicating the efforts of the others to survive is the fact that one is a religious zealot and believes it is a test and they should do nothing to help themselves. No nudity, no violence, but still very disturbing, so think twice about letting the kids watch it alone.