Five Fabulous Flicks

Start the weekend — and next week — right with these films airing July 10-16. All times ET.

Napoleon and Pedro deliver a cake
Napoleon and Pedro deliver a cake

July 11
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
Certainly not for everybody, this irony-saturated film did more for so-called geek chic than anything else. Starring Jon Heder and Efrem Ramirez (as the ubiquitously referenced Pedro), Napoleon Dynamite is definitely one to put in a time capsule for a future generation to contemplate. Comedy Central, 7pm

July 12
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
John Cleese is brilliant as an uptight British barrister who falls hard for a con artist (Jamie Lee Curtis) on the trail of a cache of stolen diamonds in this frequently silly film. But what else can you expect when Cleese co-wrote it and his fellow Monty Python star Michael Palin is part of the cast? IFC, 9pm

July 13
The Kite Runner (2007)
A beautiful drama about two childhood best friends, Amir and Hassan, who are torn apart after one boy’s fearful act of betrayal sets in motion a catastrophe. Decades later, Amir returns to a perilous Afghanistan under the Taliban’s iron-fisted rule to face the dark secrets that still haunt him, and, in an act of courage, finally set things right. Showtime 2, 8pm

July 15
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Gus Van Sant directs as Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch and others on a road trip to the drug-imbued dark side and on into oblivion. Great performances throughout make it worth repeated viewings, as does the eye-catching cameo by the notorious William S. Burroughs. You’ll think twice about ever putting a hat on a bed again. IFC, 7pm

July 16
Braveheart (1995)
The pinnacle moment of Mel Gibson’s career, this film rode the wave of Celtic euphoria in the U.S. all the way to the Academy Awards, where it took Best Picture. The film traces the life and career of Scottish noble warrior William Wallace, whose mission was to free Scotland from the grip of English tyranny. TNT, 10pm

© 2004 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Paramount Pictures Corporation.