FILM HIGHLIGHTS
MONDAY SHALLOW HAL (2001) E4, 8pm
Jack Black and Gwyneth Paltrow star in this sweet romantic comedy about not judging a book by its cover. When a womanising playboy gets stuck in an elevator with a life coach, he ends up telling him about the life he lives. Looking to help him, Hal is hypnotised into only seeing the inner beauty of women. He soon falls for his boss’s shy daughter, unaware that she is morbidly obese. Can their love overcome physical appearance?
HORRIBLE BOSSES (2011) TG4, 9.30pm
Side-splitting comedy about three friends who are unhappy in their jobs because of their psychopathic superiors. When a drunken conversation about hypothetically killing their bosses comes about, the trio decides to put a plan into action for real, but things soon go pear-shaped. Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis star, with the unlikeable bosses played by Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell.
HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET (2012) 3e, 11pm
Tucked between her breakthrough role in Winter’s
Bone and the blockbuster series run in The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence starred in this thrilling horror film about the secrets a house can keep. After moving into a new home with her mother, Elissa soon falls for a boy who lives down the street. It leads her to discover some shocking truths about the street they now inhabit, but there are even more surprises to come.
TUESDAY BACKTRACK (2015) Sky Cinema Premiere, 10pm
Adrien Brody and Sam Neill star in this suspenseful thriller about a psychologist who finds his life descending into turmoil after discovering a shocking secret that all his patients share. To save himself and his sanity, he must follow the clues back to False Creek, his childhood home that he thought he had left behind long ago.
THE DEPARTED (2006) Sky Atlantic, 10.20pm
It’s a deadly game of cat and mouse as an undercover cop and a mole try to sniff each other out, while trying to play their parts in a notorious South Boston Irish gang. With the undercover cop trying to bring down mob boss Frank Costello for good, the gang’s inside man has other plans and the two are set on a collision course. Martin Scorsese’s masterful crime drama boasts a cast full of top performances from Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin, to name just a few.
WEDNESDAY BLITZ (2011) 3e, 10pm
When a serial killer begins to target police officers, killing them in savage ways one by one, tough-as-nails cop Tom Brant (Jason Statham) is sent in to take him down. With each new dead officer, the stakes are raised higher and higher for Brant to put an end to The Blitz once and for all. Paddy Considine and Aidan Gillen also star.
THE CROW’S EGG (2015) Sky Cinema Premiere, 10.30pm
This heartwarming Indian comedy-drama tells the story of two young brothers who live in the slums of Chennai, where they spend their time stealing eggs from the nests of crows. The two soon become obsessed with trying pizza after seeing one on a TV advert, and set out to raise the money to make their dreams a reality.
BEGINNERS (2010) Channel 4, 1.20am
A 38-year-old graphic designer is shaken by the news of his father’s terminal cancer, but is then shocked further by the revelation that he had also taken a young male lover. What follows is a gripping story about love and starting over, starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent.
ThUrSDAY THE SAPPHIRES (2012) 3e, 10pm
Witty drama about the 1960s singing sensations, starring Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy. When big-hearted music scout Dave Lovelace discovers Australian Aboriginal sisters, Cynthia, Gail, Julie and Kay, he just knows that they will be the next big thing. This film portrays their whirlwind journey of discovery, as they travel to Vietnam to perform for the US troops stationed there.
THE RUNNING MAN (1987) E4, 10pm
Based on the dystopian story by Stephen King (published under the writer’s pseudonym Richard Bachman), this actionpacked sci-fi thriller sees Arnold Schwarzenegger trapped in a world where TV executives are gods, and their brutal gameshows help cull the population, keeping everyone in line. When Ben Richards gets wrongly convicted and dropped into such a terrifying show, he must survive the deadly traps and crazed fighters to make it out and clear his name. This is Arnie at his best.
EK THA TIGER (2012) Channel 4, 1.45am
An action-packed thriller about a Trinity College scientist who is suspected of selling top secret missile technology to forces in Pakistan. To counteract this, the Indian government sends in a secret agent to find out about what the professor has actually been up to, leading them on a roller-coaster journey that takes them from Dublin to Istanbul, then to Kazakhstan and Chile. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif head the cast.
FrIDAY THE EXPENDABLES (2010) TV3, 9pm
Action film equivalent of a who’s who of action veterans stars Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Mickey Rourke, and that’s just scratching the surface. Barney Ross (Stallone) is the leader of the titular group, a ragtag collection of mercenaries who do the jobs far too dangerous for anyone else. When a CIA operative hires them to take down a fellow agent who has gone rogue and sided with a Latin dictator, the team must fight tooth and nail to get the job done, no matter what the cost.
BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001) TV3, 10.45pm
Rapid-fire action film from director Ridley Scott with a cast including Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana and William Fichtner. A team of soldiers is dropped deep behind enemy lines in Somalia to capture a warlord. The mission soon goes belly up and becomes a fight for their very survival as they come under heavy fire from his forces. As the casualties begin to rise, it seems that hope of a rescue is running out fast.
MY LAST FIVE GIRLFRIENDS (2009) RTE1, 11.55pm
Brendan Patricks stars as Duncan, a man who has had a run of failed relationships, and decides to sit down and ask his former partners why things went wrong. He hopes that the insight that the five females give will help him find true love, but the revelations lead him down a train of thought that suggests that true love is actually more like a battlefield. Naomie Harris and Kelly Adams also star.
SATUrDAY IRON MAN 3 (2013) BBC One, 10.50pm
Robert Downey Jr stars in his third solo outing as the titular Avenger, pitting brashly brilliant billionaire Tony Stark against the dangerous terrorist known as The Mandarin. Stark teams up with a 10-year-old boy to investigate a series of bombings masterminded by the mysterious terrorist, only to find a dark secret related to a former colleague he humiliated at a New Year’s Eve party in 1999. Gwyneth Paltrow (below), Guy Pearce and Don Cheadle are among the stars.
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM (1987) Channel 4, 12.00am
The late Robin Williams enjoyed a consistently brilliant acting career, but never was he more magnetic and electrifying than playing irreverent radio DJ Adrian Cronauer in Barry Levinson’s timeless comedy. Cronauer is sent to Vietnam at the height of the war to inject some much-needed light relief into the soldiers’ lives. However, he soon finds himself in a censorship battle with Sergeant Major Dickerson (JT Walsh), while his new girlfriend shows him the horrors of the conflict first-hand, making for a potent mix of comedy and drama.
THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 RTE 2, 9.15PM
This Tony Scott-directed thriller, a remake of the 1974 film of the same name, unfolds at breakneck speed, typical of the late director. After a New York subway train is hijacked by an audacious criminal mastermind going by the name Ryder (John Travolta), dispatcher Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is plunged into a deadly game as the hijacker threatens to kill the train’s passengers unless his ransom is paid within one hour. Garber uses his knowledge of the subway system to outwit the criminal, but it’s not long before the chaotic situation goes horribly awry through a series of frenetic, breathless action sequences. James Gandolfini also stars.