FILM HIGHLIGHTS
MONDAY GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS
Sky1, 9pm Car crime in Long Beach California plummets when
thief Randall ‘Memphis’ Raines (Nicolas Cage) has a crisis of conscience and walks away from the scene. However, he’s drawn back into it when his brother Kip messes up and gangsters turn the screws on the elder sibling to complete the deal. The job? Simply steal 50 cars and have them on a container ship within five days. Angelina Jolie co-stars in an actioner filled with stunts.
THE KING’S SPEECH
RTE1, 9.35pm Oscar-winning biopic, based loosely on a true story. The quiet, shy second son of the British monarchy ‘Bertie’ finds himself pitched into the top job as George VI when charismatic elder brother Edward abdicates for the love of American divorcee Wallis Simpson. But there’s a slight problem: he has a stammer. Enter an unorthodox Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush). It won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Screenplay and Actor for Colin Firth as the stammering king.
A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD
TG4, 9.30pm An IFTA-nominated Colin Farrell stars in this drama chronicling the lives of two friends in 1960s Cleveland, who find each other 20 years later in a substantially less repressed New York. There they try to negotiate a somewhat unusual triangle with an older woman and try to hold their friendship together despite death and an unexpected pregnancy.
TUESDAY RANGO Film4, 4.40pm
Keep the kids amused before dinner with this excellent, hilarious animation reuniting
Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski with star Johnny Depp. There are also enough western in-jokes and nods to other movies to keep adults interested. In the sun-baked town of Dirt, pet chameleon Rango accidentally kills a low-level outlaw eagle, and the townsfolk make him sheriff in the hope he’ll take on the real bad guy, Rattlesnake Jake.
CHEF Film4, 9pm Jon Favreau directs and stars in this feel-good comedy drama featuring Robert Downey Jr, Sofia Vergara and Scarlett Johansson. Former wunderkind chef Carl Casper’s sensational start to his career crashes after a hatchet job restaurant review on his precious signature dishes causes him to be sacked from a fancy Californian restaurant. He winds up running a food truck. There, he is re-ignited with his love of cooking and bonds with his previously estranged son, before he undertakes a culinary road trip to make a triumphant comeback in California.
WEDNESDAY LAST VEGAS RTE1, 9.35pm
Comedy starring four acting Oscar winners – Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline and Morgan Freeman – who play four childhood friends. With one of their number about to marry, they decide to return to one of the regular haunts of their youth – Las Vegas. However, they soon realise that Sin City has changed since their younger days in this nostalgiac comedy – and, what’s worse for the quartet, they come to realise they have changed too.
DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK
C4, 12.35am Superior fantasy from the always interesting Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and the Hellboy series among others. A young girl, Sally, is sent to live with her father Alex and his new girlfriend Kim, in a house which was previously owned by an artist who vanished under very mysterious circumstances. It’s all reasonably tense until she hears voices coming from the fireplace, where rat-like creatures want to claim her as one of their own.
THE ENEMY WITHIN
Sky Atlantic, 1.40am A remake of Seven Days in May, with a top drawer cast of Forest Whitaker, Jason Robards and Sam Waterston. Marine Colonel ‘Mac’ Casey (Whitaker) discovers an apparent plan to stage a military coup and remove White House incumbent President Foster (Waterston) for the seemingly more pliant vice-President Kelly, so Casey and Foster begin to search for evidence. Needless to say, some very powerful people insist in putting insurmountable obstacles in their way.
ThUrSDAY WHAT A GIRL WANTS
TG4, 10.30pm For a man perhaps pigeonholed as a serious actor, Colin Firth doesn’t half enjoy showing his more light-hearted side. This comedy sees him play a wealthy British politician who rejects his hereditary earldom to run for a seat in the British House of Commons as an MP and eventually become Prime Minister. However, his world is turned upside down when the teenage daughter (Amanda Bynes) he never knew existed flies over to meet him. However, while he welcomes her into his life, friends and his snooty aristorcratic family are less keen.
HOT FUZZ ITV2, 9pm The second of the so-called ‘Cornetto’ trilogy, following Shaun of the Dead, sees the same creative team of director Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg (below) and Nick Frost reunite. A merry spoof of the tough American cop genre, PC Nick Angel is too good for the London Met and finds himself busted down to a quiet English village, where, for a dedicated cop like Angel, the lack of crime is infuriating. There are, however, a whole series of gruesome ‘accidents’ Timothy Dalton is a hoot as the bad guy.
VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA
Film4, 2.05am Somewhat of a return to form for Woody Allen, friends Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) spend the summer in Barcelona. Vicky’s fiance is back home, but Cristina is up for adventure, and finds it in local artist Gonzales (Javier Bardem). However, the sparks really begin to fly when his unstable firecracker of a wife Maria Elena (Penelope Cruz, who picked up a Best Supporting Actress Oscar) arrives.
FrIDAY
THE FUGITIVE TV3, 11pm Successful Dr Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) finds himself stitched up for the murder of his wife. He’s on his way to the big house when a spectacularly staged train crash helps him to escape to try to find the real killer – a mysterious one-armed man – and clear his name. This big-screen adaptation of a 1960s TV classic is thoroughly stolen by master of deadpan Tommy Lee Jones, who brings his entire arsenal of hangdog expressions to the role of US Marshal Sam Gerard, a role which took him all the way to Oscar night and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
DEAD MAN WALKING
RTE1, 11.10pm Tim Robbins directed thenpartner Susan Sarandon to an Oscar in the story of Sister Helen Prejean, an active campaigner against the death penalty in America. Desperate for a last appeal, Death Row convict Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) enlists her help. Despite everything, the pair develop a firm friendship, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that time is running out fast for him, and that a gut-punch ending is increasingly on the cards.
SCOTT PILGRIM vs THE WORLD
C4, 12.35am Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the hit comic book series is a wonderful tribute to manga, computer games and geekery in general. Gaming fanatic and bassist with Sex Bob-Omb Scott Pilgrim instantly falls in love with the woman of his dreams, Ramona Flowers. However, if he is to land this impossibly cool and sassy New Yorker, he must first do battle with her seven evil exes in videogame-style combat.
SATUrDAY
MEN IN BLACK C4, 6.20pm Tommy Lee Jones (Kay) and Will Smith (Jay) return as the two special agents protecting the Earth from the scum of the universe. When last we saw Kay he had used the memory-wiping gizmo and had returned to a normal life. However, Jay must now bring him back as he’s the only living person with the expertise to save the galaxy from a sinister seductress.
GLADIATOR C4, 10pm Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott bring the muchmocked sword and sandals epic brilliantly into the 21st century. Crowe is mesmerising as Maximus, a Roman general who’s double-crossed by the ruthless son of the emperor, has his wife and child murdered, then is captured and sold to a gladiator trainer. However, he becomes a popular fighter in the arena, and may yet get the chance to avenge his family and rid Rome of a tyrant. It also features a memorable soundtrack.
THE PLAYER RTE1, 1.05am Robert Altman’s masterful satire featuring a star-studded cast, many of whom are playing themselves (such as Harry Belafonte, Jack Lemmon, Burt Reynolds, Julia Roberts and James Coburn), is well worth staying up for. Hollywood studio executive Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) receives threatening faxes and emails. He believes that they’re from a screenwriter, but his bid to placate him makes things worse.