I, Robot a minor science-fiction treasure

WITH the first Ashes Test in Brisbane and the Open golf in Melbourne, movies seem to be in short supply this week.

Will Smith

WITH the first Ashes Test in Brisbane and the Open golf in Melbourne, movies seem to be in short supply this week.

And I, Robot (Saturday, 8.30pm, Ten) is certainly no masterpiece - except, perhaps, in the special effects department. But it remains one of the minor treasures of Hollywood science fiction. It had its origins in a 1950 collection of stories by Isaac Asimov, doyen of sci-fi writers, who loved robots the way some Hollywood filmmakers love cars or horses. Set in Chicago in the not-too-distant future, it depicts a world in which robots are in plentiful supply, doing all the hard work and humdrum chores for their human masters. When the world's biggest manufacturer of humanoid automata, run by chief executive Lawrence Robertson (Bruce Greenwood), prepares to launch its latest model, the NS5, it looks as if his dream of a robot in every home is a step closer to reality. But as HAL the computer taught us in 2001: A Space Odyssey, never trust a robot capable of abstract thought or wilful disobedience.

Back in the 1940s, My Favourite Wife (Wednesday, 2am, ABC1) proved a huge hit for Irene Dunne and Cary Grant. It was a follow-up to The Awful Truth, a screwball comedy of the 30s that won a best-directing Oscar for Leo McCarey. McCarey was all set to direct My Favourite Wife when he was badly injured in a motor accident and Garson Kanin took over the director's role. Dunne's character, shipwrecked for seven years, returns to civilisation to discover her husband (Grant) has had her declared legally dead and is married to another. The film offers lots of good, old-fashioned fun and was remade as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day and James Garner, in 1963.

In the Mix (Monday, noon, Seven) is a Hollywood gangster comedy and may come as a pleasant surprise. Usher, the rap singer (once credited as Usher Raymond), plays a nightclub DJ recruited to act as a bodyguard for a mobster's daughter. Frank, the boss of the north side, is amusingly played by Chazz Palminteri. Directed by Ron Underwood (Stealing Sinatra), it's fairly predictable, but gangster comedies often work for me because the rituals of the business are funny in themselves. I like watching elderly soberly suited dons swearing on the graves of their mothers and using that strange verb, to disrespect. But if you want the real thing, and a Hollywood classic to boot, see The Godfather Part II (Sunday, 11.10pm, ABC1), with De Niro, Pacino and the rest. It ranks among the few sequels considered superior to the original film.

I, Robot (M) 3.5 stars
Saturday, 8.30pm, Ten

My Favourite Wife (PG) 4 stars
Wednesday, 2am, ABC1

The Godfather Part II (MA15+) 5 stars
Sunday, 11.10pm, ABC1