I've been watching some real dreck recently, barely anything worth mentioning. However, a notable nugget did turn up.
I got a load of movies in a bundle entitled "Magic and Fantasy", and although this sounded good, wow, it really brings home how utterly awful magic and fantasy was before Jackson made the Lord of the Rings movies. I tried to watch two in a row, Dazzle and The Sorcerer's apprentice, and I had to start skipping to the end in both movies at about half way. They were pretty much unwatchable. They're rated 5.6 and 4.6 respectfully on IMDB. I decided to not bother with the third entitled The Last Leprechaun after seeing it has a 3.5. It seems I was entirely lacking in my knowledge of the director David Lister who, it seems, has managed to keep making really crappy movies for decades without ever being told to stop.
Totally unenthused to go on with this set, I tried the Canterville Ghost because this one at least had Patrick Stewart as the ghost. And, amazingly, it was quite watchable. Nothing extraordinary, but just very watchable, something you wouldn't go out of your way to watch but if it was on you'd sit through it. It got a 6.3 on IMDB.
Which brings me onto my pick of the week:
Moby Dick (1998)
A TV-movie in two parts of one and a half hours each - starring, amongst others, Patrick Stewart, with a rare late cameo/bit part from Gregory Peck.
I'd never seen or read the story of Moby Dick before and the idea of ye olde naval adventure had me filled with trepidation, but I needn't have worried so much, this was enthralling from beginning to end with yet another captivating performance by Stewart. He doesn't even appear until about an hour into it, but the build up to his reveal is as good as him being there.
Another wonderful hidden treasure that would be well worth your time if you are in any way unfamiliar with the Moby Dick story. Not quite blockbuster movie epic, you still know you're watching a TV-movie but it's as close to perfect as a TV-movie will ever be. Has a 6.5 on IMDB. (If you have read the book, no it's not as good as the book etc).
I also saw El Cid (1961), the Heston, Loren classic which, it goes without saying, was a great use of 3 hours. 7.3 on IMDB