FILM HIGHLIGHTS
MONDAY THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994) TV3, 9pm
Tim Robbins shines as Andy Dufresne, a banker who claims he was wrongly sentenced to life at Shawshank State Penitentiary. He refuses to be broken by his shocking treatment, and falls in with the prison fixer, Red (Morgan Freeman). But he has a dream that no amount of prison life will crush. Though a box office disappointment, it’s now regarded as a modern classic.
THE FIFTH ESTATE (2013) TG4, 9.30pm
Benedict Cumberbatch sports a selection of frightful haircuts as computer hacker Julian Assange in this high-paced dramatisation of the founding and effects of controversial secrets-leaking website Wikileaks. Assange teams up with journalist Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Bruhl) to expose secrets, When they get their hands on US intelligence documents, a split develops in their ambitions for the site. The Americans aren’t happy either...
THE WOMAN IN BLACK (2012) Channel 4, 12.40am
Even boy wizards must grow up, and this Daniel Radcliffe post-Harry Potter starring role saw him conquer the box office for the revived Hammer studio’s refreshingly old-fashioned yet spooky
adaptation of Susan Hill’s novel. Radcliffe is widower London lawyer Kipps, who travels to northern England to sell an old, forbidding and creepy house that may or may not be haunted...
TUESDAY NOTTING HILL (1999) RTE2, 9.30pm
Richard Curtis’s hugely successful romcom follow-up to Four
Weddings and a Funeral sees Hugh Grant’s bookseller William literally bumping into Hollywood megastar Anna Scott (played by Hollywood megastar Julia Roberts). An unlikely romance blooms between the two, but William pulls the plug, unable to deal with the enormous media interest. However, has he made the mistake of a lifetime?
PREDATORS (2010) Film4, 11.05pm
A much-better-than-had-been expected addition to the cult alien bounty hunter series. A group of exceptional killers who have nothing else in common are stranded in what seems to be the jungle. It’s not long before they realise that not only are they not on Earth, but that they are being hunted down by ruthless aliens. Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishbourne lead the cast.
THE DEER HUNTER (1992) ITV4, 11.45pm
Multi-Oscar-winning drama about a group of steelworkers from Pennsylvania whose initial bursts of patriotism when drafted for the Vietnam War are subsequently shattered when they encounter the brutal realities of war. Directed by Michael Cimino , it’s one of the key Hollywood movies of the 1970s, and stars Robert De Niro, John Cazale and Meryl Streep.
WEDNESDAY THE LAST MIMZY (2007) Channel 4, 10.10am
Brother and sister Noah and Emma Wilder (Chris O’Neill and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn) come across a box of what look like toys, but are actually much more mysterious objects that have been sent back in time to pass on a message about the future. The more they play with the objects the more the children’s intelligence improves. However, things soon take a turn for the dark side and Emma must decode the telepathic messages she’s receiving to save her family.
PUSS IN BOOTS (2011) BBC1, 1.45pm
Animated spinoff for Shrek’s feline friend, with the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis. Focusing on the courageous cat’s adventures before meeting the ogre and donkey duo, this tale sees Puss mistakenly outlawed, with retrieving the fabled Golden Goose the only way he can clear his name. Luckily he doesn’t have to do it alone, as his childhood friend Humpty Dumpty and the enchanting bandit Kitty Softpaws are also along for the ride.
YOU’VE GOT MAIL (1998) RTE1, 2.40pm
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan star in this updating of much-loved James Stewart classic The Shop
Around the Corner. Joe Fox of conglomerate Foxbooks opens a new store across the street from Kathleen Kelly’s delightfully idiosyncratic place, The Shop Around the Corner. However, the business rivals also meet anonymously over the internet, and, unaware of each other’s real identity, begin to fall in love.
THURSDAY HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2010) BBC1, 3.40pm
Animation, with Jay Baruchel. Young Hiccup is the son a of a Viking warrior who has been trained to see dragons as their deadly enemies. But when he befriends an injured flying furnace, he gets to know a different side to the beasties, which comes in handy during his training as a future slayer.
PHILADELPHIA (1993) RTE1, 12.25am
The huge controversy stirred up as Hollywood took on Aids in a big budget film seems quaint nearly 25 years later. Tom Hanks lost several stones on his way to an Oscar as a man fired from his law firm due to Aids. The only lawyer willing to come to his aid is Denzel Washington’s homophobic small-fry brief.
ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) TV3, 11.35pm
A brash and desperate single mum talks her way into a job at a law firm, where she stumbles upon a case concerning a huge corporation, contaminated water and a bunch of underclass people with serious illnesses living nearby. Julia Roberts marries both her talent for comedy and drama to Oscar-winning effect in a gripping re-telling of a remarkable real-life story of tenacity and courage. Albert Finney provides ample support as her lawyer/mentor.
FRIDAY CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) RTE1, 2.25pm
In class and religion-obsessed Britain of the 1920s, two runners, – a devout Christian and a Jew – find different obstacles in their way in the run-up to the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. It’s delightfully evocative of the era it’s portraying, and its haul of Academy Awards included Best Picture, Best Screenplay for Colin Welland, and Best Score for Vangelis’s instantly recognisable musical accompaniment.
LOVE ACTUALLY (2003) RTE1, 9.25pm
Richard Curtis made his directorial debut with this intricately woven collection of the stories of various characters’ love lives, in which Emma Thompson shines as the wife who discovers her husband is having an affair, Liam Neeson’s stoic widower is happy again, and even the British prime minister (Hugh Grant) finds love below stairs with the tea maid (Martine McCutcheon). It’s corny and cringing, hilarious and heartbreaking, but it’s rapidly becoming as much of a seasonal treat as It’s A Wonderful Life.
SCROOGED (1988) TV3, 11.045pm
Bill Murray has built up a cinematic CV of stone-cold classics. He’s inspired in this late 20th century updating of A Christmas Carol as a ruthless TV executive whose idea of fixing a reindeer without antlers is to staple on a pair of fake ones. Over the course of Christmas Eve he is visited by three spirits out to show him the error of his ways, including a scene-stealing Carol Kane as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
SATURDAY THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992) Channel 4, 5.50pme
The most unlikely cast produced one of the funniest and most moving versions of the oft-told tale. Narrated by The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens, Michael Caine, in his best role for many a year, plays the famously miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, visited by three ghosts who bid to make him change his ways. It makes the very best of its cast, including Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy as Mr and Mrs Bob Cratchit.
BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) RTE2, 3.45pm
George Roy Hill’s tale of two honourable old West thieves who eventually meet their doom in South America is as fresh as a daisy as it remarkably nears its golden jubilee. Paul Newman and Robert Redford seal their spots in the top ranks of American cinema in this joyous, beguiling, heartbreaking and utterly unique take on the horse opera.
THE PRINCESS BRIDE (1987) TV3, 3.35pm
Stuffed full of quotable dialogue, in-jokes and with a heart as big as a whale, Rob Reiner’s take on the fairytale has developed a massive cult following. A young boy recovering from illness is read a story by his grandfather about a lovely princess and the penniless farm boy who comes to love her. It’s got sword fights, really good advice, a host of cameos and is as nailed-on a family film for all as it’s possible to get. Robin Wright is Buttercup, Cary Elwes is farmboy Westley, and Mandy Patinkin steals the show as the vengeful Inigo Montoya.