Big movies on the small screen

Frozen (2013) 4.00pm BBC One

Just when you thought it was safe to walk into the living room without having to hear that song again, it’s time for the most popular film among little princesses (in blue dresses) to get another airing. Resistance is futile.

Pushing Tin (1999) 9.20pm TG4

This entertaining drama chronicles the ego clash of two cocky air traffic controllers. John Cusack had been the main man at the New York radar centre until supercool Billy Bob Thornton rode into town. Now a highly charged workplace becomes even more fraught.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) 9.25pm RTÉ 2

Who knew that a superhero movie involving the most motley of crews would be so successful, or so much fun? Chris Pratt leads the gang of misfits, which include a gun-totin’ raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and a walking tree (voiced by Vin Diesel).

Pal Joey (1957) 1.00pm BBC Two

John O’Hara provides the stories, Rodgers & Hart provide the music and Sinatra & Hayworth provide the va-va-voom in this entertaining musical about a hero/heel nightclub owner in San Francisco. The soundtrack includes Bewitched, The Lady is a Tramp and My Funny Valentine.

Now You See Me 2 (2016) 9.00pm Channel 4

The original yarn was a fun movie about Robin Hood style illusionists taking down corporate baddies. The sequel offers a bigger budget, glossier locations (London, Macau) and a meatier cast. Jesse Eisenberg is joined by Daniel Radcliffe and Lizzy Caplan.

Ray (2004) 9.00pm Sky Arts

When Jamie Foxx was nominated for an Oscar following his blistering performance in this biopic of soul legend Ray Charles, his rivals knew there was no need to prepare a speech. This was the performance that launched Foxx onto the A-list.

A Man For All Seasons (1966) 3.00pm TCM

Robert Bolt’s Oscar-winning screenplay magnificently unravels the relationship between Thomas More (Paul Schofield) and Henry VIII (Robert Shaw) at a time when opposition to the latter’s policy of a quickie divorce ultimately leads to the former’s execution.

Rocky Balboa (2006) 5.15pm Sky Cinema Action

The sixth instalment in the franchise finds our ageing palooka in a pretty bad state, regaling his restaurant clientele with stories of past glories. When the opportunity arises for the 60-year-old to take on the reigning heavyweight champ, our man is ready.

Hell or High Water (2016) 9.00pm Film 4

David Mackenzie’s cracking yarn stars Chris Pine as one half of a pair of bank-robbing brothers (Ben Foster is the other) who rob a number of Texas banks of their cash (not the big stuff in the safe, mind you; just the smaller stuff in the front drawers).

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) 6.35pm Film 4

This is a genuinely entertaining tale about a group of retired British ex-pats who travel to India only to find that their hotel is less salubrious than expected. The top-notch cast includes Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson.

Jack Reacher (2012) 9.00pm Sky One

Tom Cruise takes on the mantle of Lee Child’s most famous literary creation. The former army cop is called upon to investigate what appears to be a random shooting of civilians but in reality, is anything but. Rosamund Pike and Werner Herzog co-star.

The Guard (2006) 1.20am Channel 4

The story of a smalltown cop (Brendan Gleeson) teamed with an FBI agent (Don Cheadle) to investigate a smuggling ring sounds ho-hum but The Guard is anything but a formulaic yarn, thanks mainly to John Michael McDonagh’s razor-sharp script

Loving (2016) 3.40pm Sky Cinema Drama

Our gal Ruth Negga, currently wowing in the role of Hamlet at The Gate, was deservedly Oscar-nominated for her searing performance in Je Nichols’ true-life drama. The story concerns an inter-racial couple who took the state of Virginia to the Supreme Court.

Ghost (1990) 5.50pm Sky Cinema Drama

Patrick Swayze returns from beyond the grave to save soulmate Demi Moore from the clutches of nasty Tony Goldwyn and at the same time, prove that pottery can be dead sexy. Whoopi Goldberg provided Oscar-winning support .

Locke (2013) 1.30am Channel 4

Tom Hardy can do blockbuster, but he can also do small. In a movie that takes place entirely inside an automobile, Hardy is terri c as the family man in crisis who juggles everything via a series of phone calls. Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman provide the voices.

Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936) 4.40pm TCM

Superb slice of Capra corn as the director’s second favourite Everyman, Gary Cooper (his favourite was Jimmy Stewart), takes on the role of Longfellow Deeds, the smalltown poet who inherits a fortune and decides to share it with the poor and needy. Jean Arthur co-stars.

Carry On Teacher (1962) 5.00pm Film 4

This early (so less innuendo and normal sounding names) Carry On nds Ted Ray in the lead role of headmaster at an unruly school. The more familiar names – Kenneth, Hattie, Joan, Charles – are in the teachers’ room.

Midnight Run (1988) 1.10am Sky Cinema Select

Martin Brest’s terri c buddy comedy stars Robert De Niro as a bounty hunter charged with bringing mob accountant Charles Grodin to justice. The chemistry between the two leads is excellent, as is George Gallo’s screenplay.

Rush (2013) 9.35pm More 4

Ron Howard’s rst-rate drama follows the intense rivalry of motor racing duo James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) during the momentous 1976 season, the year in which Hunt eventually won the title at a rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix.

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) 10.45pm Film 4

A welcome opportunity to see John Carpenter’s cult classic about a New York police station besieged by baddies and ne’er-do-wells. Inspired by Howard Hawks’ classic western, Rio Bravo (1959), the movie was shot in just 20 days. No stars, just talent.

M*A*S*H (1970) 1.15am RTÉ 2

Robert Altman’s satirical war movie (set in Korea but aimed squarely at Vietnam) follows the fortunes of the sta at an army hospital. Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould take on the lead roles, with Sally Kellerman as Major ‘Hot Lips’ O’Houlihan. “Dude, I’m not deaf, I’m just blind, so I can hear when you make fun of my disability”

If you’re somebody who falls into the Young Adult demographic, you’ll need three hands when watching this: one for your popcorn, one for your beverage, and one for your industrial-sized box of tissues. Make no mistake, Josh Boone’s adaptation of John Green’s best-selling story packs all the emotion, pain, cynicism and laughter of that story into two hours of tear-duct testing drama. The strength of this story about two teenage cancer su erers who fall in love at a support group lies with the smart script, co-penned by Green and the guys who wrote the equally original rom-com, (500) Days of Summer. But the heart of the movie is the remarkable performance of young Shailene Woodley. If Jennifer Lawrence thought she was the only hot-shot youngster in Hollywood, she has found her match in Woodley. The 22-year-old shot to prominence in The Descendants and consolidated her rise in both Divergent and The Spectacular Now, but this is the performance that placed her on the A-list. In lesser hands, the role of a bright 16-yearold who refused to be de ned by her illness, even as she carries around her own oxygen tank, could have been an exercise in mawkish melodrama. Instead, Woodley brings us all the shades of this young girl’s experience, notably when she falls for fellow cancer su erer Elgort (her Divergent co-star). Elgort also makes a strong impression here, as does the supporting cast of Laura Linney and Willem Defoe, the latter playing an embittered author who hasn’t quite forgiven the world for his own daughter’s illness. There are times when the movie slips into Dr Phil territory (a sequence at The Anne Frank Museum, for example), but for the most part, The Fault in our Stars is a very human, very real and very touching drama. The Fault in our Stars (2014) 11.35pm, Sunday, Channel 4