Festive Films
Tuesday, December 28 The Magnificent Seven (1960)
3.25pm RTÉ2
This cracking adaptation of
Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai nds
Yul Brynner leading the famous septet against Eli Wallach and his band of brigands. Justi ably regarded as an all-time classic,
The Magni cent Seven should be renamed The Magni cent Eight,
such is the contribution of Elmer Bernstein and his magni cent score. Many interesting stories emerged from the Magni cent Seven set. A particular favourite recalls how the other six actors in the troupe were constantly trying to outshine Brynner who, as the leader, was placed in the forefront of every shot. Steve Mcqueen was the worst culprit, constantly ddling with his hat to attract attention (notably in the early scene with the makeshift hearse). Brynner stayed quiet until one day he decided he had had enough. “If you take o your hat again,” Yul rebuked Mcqueen, “I’ll take o my hat. And then no-one will look at you”. Result.
Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
9.00pm Channel 4
With its starry cast (Daisy Ridley, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe), snowy landscapes, heightened drama and legendary locomotive - Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the Agatha Christie classic tale has the feel of a comfort blanket. Branagh himself is in Poirot mode, complete with Best Supporting moustache.
Extra Ordinary (2019)
11.15pm RTÉ2
The genre marked supernatural comedy is not overburdened with impressive entries (think Ghostbusters, Evil Dead and Beetlejuice) but we can add this
Irish gem to the list. Co-directed by
Mike Ahern and Enda
Loughman, Extra Ordinary made a big impact when it premiered at SXSW and also wowed audiences at that year’s Galway Fleadh. The story follows the fortunes of driving instructor, Maeve Higgins, a sweet-natured singleton who has inherited the supernatural powers of her late father, cheesy TV Psychic Risteard Cooper. Though reluctant to exercise her ability to communicate with the dead, she is called into action when a young widower (Barry Ward) is haunted by his wife, and an ageing rock star, (Will Forte), use Satanist rituals to promote his career. In lesser hands, this could have been undergraduate hokum. Thanks to the smart work of the writer-directors, winning performances from Higgins (who clearly made major contributions to the script) and Arnett, and a committed turn from the always excellent Ward, Extra Ordinary is a crowdpleasing treat.
Jackie (2016)
12.50am RTÉ2
“I never wanted fame. I just became a Kennedy”
There have been numerous movies about JFK over the years, covering the Camelot years, the assassination, and the various conspiracy theories that followed. Jackie Kennedy, too, has been the subject of a few movies, though these tend to concentrate on the former First Lady’s role as fashion icon or beautiful victim of circumstance. The brilliance of Pablo Larraín’s approach is that it chronicles the fateful events in Dallas on November 22, 1963, entirely through the prism of the young woman who was closest to the action. In the maelstrom that followed the
gun re on
Dealey Plaza, Natalie Portman’s superb, Oscar nominated performance reminds us that the woman left standing in a blood-stained Chanel suit wasn’t some media construct, but a 35-year-old mother of two, whose husband had just been shot in the head before her eyes. Through the director’s use of extreme close-up and uid framing, Portman portrays the pain of this young widow but also her resolve. Jackie uses both the planning of the state funeral and the
rst post assassination interview with Life magazine reporter, Theodore White (Billy Crudup), to control the narrative of JFK’S legacy and construct what would become the myth of Camelot (her phrase, as it happens). Jackie boasts a strong supporting cast, including Greta Gerwig, John Hurt and Peter Sarsgaard (as RFK); but this is all about Jackie, and all about Natalie.
Wednesday, December 29 A Star is Born (2018)
9.00pm BBC One
In this most recent update of the classic Hollywood tale about one seasoned performer falling from favour, while their partner becomes the toast of the town, Bradley
Cooper takes on directing, producing, screenwriting and composing duties, while also playing the male lead.
For all these Herculean e orts,
Bradley is overshadowed by Lady Gaga, who channels her inner Garland and Streisand to deliver a powerhouse performance.
Withnail & I (1986)
12.45am TG4
Writer/ director Bruce Robinson’s autobiographical tale perfectly captures the life of a wannabe actor at the fag-end of the 1960s. The squalor of the lifestyle (“we are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell”) would probably be hard to bear were it not for the cracking central characters and their Pythonesque exchanges. Richard E. Grant has never been better as the self-absorbed Withnail, while Paul Mcgann is excellent as his more thoughtful atmate, Marwood (the I of the title). Withnail & I bombed at the box-o ce, but its cult status is assured, not least among those who play the famous Withnail Drinking Game, matching the two lead actors glass for glass as the movie unfolds. “Very foolish, man.”
Thursday, December 30 An American in Paris (1951)
10.00am TG4
One of the most popular of all Hollywood musicals, Vincente Minnelli’s multi-oscar-winning classic stars Gene Kelly in blistering form, alongside Leslie Caron, making her stunning screen debut. Kelly is the struggling artist in the City of Light who nds himself torn between the respective charms of Nina Foch and the gamine Caron. In truth, the story is a bit hackneyed, but the Gershwin score, including Our Love is Here To Stay, I Got Rhythm and S’wonderful, is a gem. Watch out for that famous 17-minute ballet sequence.
Judy (2019)
9.30pm BBC Two
The legendary Judy Garland has been portrayed many times on stage and screen, most memorably by Judy
Davis in the 2001 mini-series, Me and My Shadows. What sets this biopic apart is the fact that it concentrates on the last year of Garland’s life, when a lifetime of work, stress, husbands, booze and pills had taken their toll on the 47-year-old entertainer. What also sets this one apart is the remarkable central performance of Renée Zellweger. Not only does she perfectly convey Garland’s mannerisms (and demons), she even gets to convincingly deliver some of Judy’s most memorable standards, including Get Happy, By Myself and, of course, Over the Rainbow. That Oscar was well-deserved.
Adapted from Peter Quilter’s stage play, End of the Rainbow, the movie concentrates on Judy as she travels to London’s West End to restore her
nances and hook up with husband #5. It regularly dips back into her early years when the teenager was setting out on the yellow brick road of her MGM career and found herself the victim of a regime that monitored her weight, controlled her habits and introduced her to a world of barbiturates.
While the narrative of Judy does have a number of aws, notably a few unwelcome dips into schmaltz, it is powered by strong performances. Jessie Buckley (who could easily have portrayed Garland in her 30s) scores well as her London minder; Finn Wittrock makes an impression as nal hubby Mickey Deans, while young Darci Shaw catches the eye as the Oz-era youngster. But this movie is all about Renée.
Good Morning Vietnam (1988)
10.20pm TG4
This is the lm that turned Robin Williams from an amusing television personality into a fully- edged movie star. Williams is perfectly cast as the motor-mouthed disc jockey, Adrian Cronauer, whose irreverent radio broadcasts kept the American troops amused in Vietnam but had a di erent e ect on the army brass. To be honest, there isn’t much apart from the Oscar-nominated Williams to admire in the lm, but it’s a tour-deforce performance. Apparently, the real Cronauer was nowhere near as funny as Williams. But then who is?
Ready Player One (2018)
10.35pm BBC One
Based on Ernest Cline’s cult novel about a futuristic world where people spend most of their time in a virtual reality, Ready
Player One appears to be a movie aimed squarely at
14-year-old boys.
But don’t despair.
Steven Spielberg is too smart a storyteller to limit his audience to one demographic. In fact, the USP of Ready Player
One is the lm’s ability to channel one generation’s store of pop culture references into another generation’s storyline.
The movie is set in 2045. We quickly learn that “reality is a bummer”, especially for Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), a working-class teenager from Ohio who, in common with just about everybody else, spends all of his time living his life as an Avatar in a virtual world known as OASIS. This fantasy land has been created by a tech genius named James Halliday (Mark Rylance, channelling his inner Crispin Glover). When Halliday dies, he leaves three keys hidden in this virtual world, the nder of which will obtain control over the whole shooting gallery. Wade and his smart gamer friends are on the quest, but so too is corporate nasty, Ben Mendelsohn. This is just the sort of young hero versus adult baddie scenario on which Spielberg thrives.
Beautifully shot by the director’s regular DP, Janusz Kaminski, Ready Player One is a fast-paced adventure ride, powered by an 80s soundtrack (Van Halen, Twisted Sister, A-HA, etc) and featuring strong performances from its mostly young cast. (Watch out for our gal, Susan Lynch.) Even if you’re not a devotee of pop culture, you’ll nd yourself gleefully lapping up references from King Kong to The Breakfast Club to Monty Python’s holy hand grenade of Antioch. Not to mention a glorious homage to Stanley Kubrick. OK, it’s about 20 minutes too long and occasionally the audience su ers a sensory overload, but Ready Player
One is one to savour.