FILM HIGHLIGHTS
SUNDAY THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL (1992)
Film4, 5.05pm Festive comedy, based on Charles Dickens’s classic tale, starring Michael Caine. Miserly businessman Ebenezer Scrooge makes his employee Bob Cratchit’s life a misery. Unrepentant and content with his selfish life, he is visited by three Christmas spirits to make him see the error of his ways. Channel 4, 6.05pm Sci-fi action comedy, with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. A deranged alien criminal known as Boris the Animal escapes from his imprisonment, intent on travelling back in time to kill K. With the fate of his partner and the entire planet at stake, Agent J gives chase to save the day.
ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (2014) BBC2, 6.45pm
Comedy, starring Ed Oxenbould. Alexander’s day gets off to a woeful start. Wishing his perfect family could understand how frightful his life is, he wants them to share his suffering — but it soon becomes clear that he isn’t the only one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
MONDAY BEAUTIFUL CREATURES (2013)
Film4, 6.35pm Fantasy drama, starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert and Viola Davis. Bored teen Ethan grows tired of his small-town life, until the arrival of the beautiful Lena. The pair soon grow close, but Lena harbours a magical secret — she is gifted with supernatural abilities, and on her 16th birthday, will be claimed by the forces of either good or evil.
SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)
TG4, 9.30pm Martin Scorsese’s thriller, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo. US Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner are sent to an asylum to look into the disappearance of a woman. The pair become trapped there by a storm, and soon discover that the island is concealing dark secrets.
NEERJA (2016)
Channel 4, 2am Indian thriller, starring Sonam Kapoor and Shabina Azmi. Flight attendant Neerja Bhanot is due to fly from Mumbai to New York. During a stopover in Karachi, the plane is boarded by four terrorists. Due to quick thinking on her part, the plane is trapped in Pakistan, but as the hijackers become more aggressive, Neerja does all that she can to save the lives of the terrified passengers.
TUESDAY THE TOURIST (2010)
Film4, 6.45pm Crime Thriller, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie (right). Maths teacher Frank Tupelo takes an apparently impromptu trip to Italy to mend a broken heart. After encountering the alluring Elise Clifton-Ward, he finds himself caught up in a complex world of gangsters and stolen money. However, as the pair dodge violent mobsters and the police, it soon becomes clear that Frank isn’t all that he seems.
TAKEN 3 (2015)
Film4, 9pm Action sequel, starring Liam Neeson. Bryan Mills is devastated when his ex-wife is suddenly murdered and he is framed for the crime. Evading capture, he uses his particular set of skills to find the true killers and protect his daughter before it’s too late.
MARS ATTACKS! (1996)
ITV4, 10.50pm Tim Burton’s classic sci-fi comedy, starring Pierce Brosnan and Jack Nicholson. Humanity rejoices when UFOs reach Earth with seemingly peaceful intentions. However, the visitors soon show their true colours when they launch an invasion on the Earth, and it falls to an unexpected hero to turn the aliens’ rayguns back on them and drive them away for good. Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Danny DeVito and Michael J Fox also feature in the cast.
WEDNESDAY AVATAR (2009)
Film4, 5.40pm Action, with Sam Worthington and Sigourney Weaver. Disabled former marine Jake Sully takes his twin brother’s place on a mission to the alien world of Pandora, populated by the primitive Na’vi. He soon falls in love with the natives and their way of life, but is forced to choose between them and his own people when he learns the true purpose of the mission. Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang and Michelle Rodriguez also star.
THE RIOT CLUB (2014)
Film4, 9pm Drama, starring Sam Claflin, Max Irons and Douglas Booth. Oxford University student Miles joins an exclusive society dedicated to hedonistic excess and ostentatious affluence. However, an intense rivalry develops between him and ambitious fellow student Alistair, one that threatens to destroy Miles’s reputation and his future.
CRANK (2006)
ITV4, 10pm Action thriller, starring Jason Statham, Amy Smart and Jose Pablo Cantillo. Former hitman Chev Chelios is injected with a poison that will kill him should his heart rate drop below a certain level. He embarks on a fastpaced adventure full of adrenaline-fuelled stunts in an effort to find an antidote and live another day.
THURSDAY AIRPLANE II: THE SEQUEL (1982)
Film4, 7.15pm Comedy spoof, starring Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty and Lloyd Bridges. Following the hilarious events of the first movie, disgraced former pilot Ted Striker escapes from his hospital bed to board the first commercial flight to the moon. However, a disastrous computer error endangers the flight and its passengers, and Ted is forced to spring into action to avert catastrophe and save the day.
BULLITT (1968)
ITV4, 9pm Action-packed crime thriller, starring Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and Jacqueline Bisset. A tough police lieutenant is put in danger when the government witness he is tasked with protecting is murdered. He sets out to bring the culprits to justice, but he soon makes a shocking discovery.
IDENTITY THIEF (2013)
Film4, 9pm Comedy, starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. Family man Sandy is horrified when he is arrested for a series of crimes that he did not commit. It soon becomes clear that his identity has been stolen by crafty con artist Diana. The authorities are prepared to believe him, but circumstances conspire to mean that only Sandy can stop her. But first he has to track her down. Genesis Rodriguez also stars.
FRIDAY THE COWBOYS (1972)
TG4, 9.35pm Western, starring John Wayne, Roscoe Lee Browne, Bruce Dern and Colleen Dewhurst. A grizzled rancher loses all of his ranch hands to the gold rush, forcing him to take on a ragtag group of young boys to replace them. Little do they know, however, a bunch of cattle rustlers are watching their every move, and planning a devastating attack.
WAR (2007)
TV3, 10.30pm Action thriller, Jason Statham, Jet Li and John Lone. FBI agent Jack Crawford becomes hell-bent on revenge after his partner and family are brutally killed. He soon sets his sights on tracking down the murderous assassin known only as Rogue, but as the mortal enemies inch towards a final showdown, they stumble upon a dark and shocking truth about their shared history.
SATURDAY A CLASS APART (2007)
be3, 9pm Heartwarming drama, starring Jessie Wallace, Nathaniel Parker and Sanchez Adams. A single mother tries her best to keep her son out of trouble by appealing to send him to a good school. Hearing of her plight, the headmaster of a local private school provides a life-changing opportunity by offering him a coveted place at his institute.
SCENT OF A WOMAN (1992)
RTE2, 12.35am Award-winning drama, starring Al Pacino, Chris O’Donnell and James Rebhorn. Shy college student Charlie takes a side job looking after retired Army colonel Frank. Blind and belligerent, the old-timer appears stubbornly set on making Charlie’s job as difficult as possible as he embarks on a raucous weekend filled with booze and women. Unexpectedly, the two men soon find some common ground, and an unlikely friendship blossoms.