Your Movie Planner
SUNDAY
Roxanne (1987) PG
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3PM, RTÉ2 ★★★★★
Steve Martin’s sublime take on Cyrano de Bergerac. He plays a sensitive fireman (above, with Darryl Hannah) with a huge nose who helps his handsome colleague woo a woman he loves himself. One of the best films of the 1980s.
Shrek The Third (2007) U
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3.20PM, BBC1 ★★★
Second sequel in the fairytale-subverting animated series, and there’s still plenty of good-natured fun to be had. Slimy Prince Charming plots his revenge, while Shrek has quite a reaction when he learns that Fiona is expecting the patter of tiny green feet.
Night At The Museum (2006) PG
● 4.30PM, CH4 ★★★
History comes alive in this fantasy comedy in which divorced dad Larry (Ben Stiller) gets a job as the night watchman at New York’s Museum of Natural History. After dark, the exhibits come to life, bringing Larry a whole world of entertaining problems.
Lost Lives
(2019) 15 ◆
9PM, BBC ONE ★★★★
Liam Neeson, Adrian Dunbar, and Michelle Fairley are among the big names lending their voices to this documentary inspired by the namesake book recording the deaths of those lost during the Troubles.
Idiocracy (2006) 15
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11.05PM, FILM4 ★★★
Sci-fi comedy from Beavis And Butt-Head creator Mike Judge. Luke Wilson is the average guy waking up from a hypersleep of 500 years to discover that he is the smartest man on the planet. Maya Rudolph co-stars.
Love Is Strange (2014) 15 ◆ 1.05AM, CH4 ★★★★ At the heart of this thoughtful drama – starring John Lithgow (right) and Alfred Molina – is a loving same-sex relationship. When the devoted couple are forced to live apart, their bond remains strong while they get tangled up in the affairs of the friends who put them up.
MONDAY
Sinister Surrogate (2018) PG ●
2.15PM, CH5 ★★
The perils of having a child with a surrogate are sensationalised in this by-the-numbers thriller. No prizes for guessing it doesn’t go well when a couple think they’ve found the ‘perfect’ woman to carry their baby.
Bad Neighbours 2 (2016) 15
◆ 9PM, E4 ★★★
In this sequel to the 2014 comedy, Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen (above) are this time tormented by badly behaved sorority sisters, led by Chloe Grace Moretz. As the over-the-fence neighbourhood war intensifies, the couple get help from an unexpected source.
Safe House (2012) 15
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9.30PM, TG4 ★★★
Slick thriller, starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds. It centres on a CIA agent who has to protect a fugitive from mercenaries, but also has to deal with his clever prisoner’s mind games.
Fury (2014) 15
◆ 11.05PM, CH5 ★★★ During the last gasps of the Second World War, American tank crews in Germany discover that the conflict will end with a bang, not a whimper. Brad Pitt (above) is the officer in charge in a drama that boasts plenty of realistic action and artillery.
Senna (2010) 12
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11.50PM, ITV4 ★★★
Documentary, exploring the life and career of Brazilian racing driver Ayrton Senna. His death at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994 was a tragedy, but this film focuses as much on his electrifying time on the track as it does his legacy of safety in motor sport.
The Look Of Love (2013) 18
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12 MIDNIGHT, FILM4 ★★★
Start of a Film4 season of films by prolific British film-maker Michael Winterbottom. Steve Coogan stars in this biopic of Soho businessman Paul Raymond, who made a fortune in property, strip clubs and porn. Coogan also stars in Manchester music biopic 24 Hour Party People (Thursday 1.35am).
TUESDAY
Coyote Ugly (2000) 12
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8PM, ITV2 ★★★
LeAnn Rimes and Piper Perabo (above) belt out the tunes and grind their hips in a New York City watering hole that specialises in bar dancing. The equivalent of a wet T-shirt contest, with pretty girls, a rocking soundtrack and a mediocre script
Helter Skelter (1949) U
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10PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★ Oddball romantic comedy starring Carol Marsh as a hiccuping heiress who, in hopes of a cure, is sent to a haunted house for a good fright. David Tomlinson is the radio star who helps the young lady thwart a plan to marry her off by her dastardly guardians.
Sex Drive (2008) 15
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10PM, COMEDY CENTRAL ★★
Josh Zuckerman is the horny fella who goes to see a girl he met online, in the car he stole from his cocky older brother (James Marsden, above). Lame road movie antics with a rock soundtrack.
Haywire (2011) 15
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11PM, SYFY★★★
Mixed martial arts star Gina Carano is the agent, betrayed by her employer (Ewan McGregor), who fights back – both clean and dirty. Steven Soderbergh continues in his quest to direct every genre going with a film that packs plenty of punch.
Total Recall (1990) 15 ◆ 11.15PM, ITV4 ★★★★ Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, this outrageous and hugely enjoyable sci-fi romp stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (right) as the construction worker who has had memories implanted in his head – or has he? Cue a trip to Mars to find out.
WEDNESDAY
Deviant Love (2019) PG
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2.20PM, CH5 ★★★
Here’s a film which ticks every box in the TV movie thriller checklist, from the vulnerable female protagonist, to the mysterious stranger who wins her over. And guess what? He is hiding a dark secret. An enjoyable slice of escapism regardless, with a cast including Emma Bell, Nick Ballard, Bradley Bundlie and Gail O’Grady.
Lone Survivor (2013) 15
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9PM, ITV4 ★★★
Fact-based account of an ill-fated Navy Seals mission sent into Afghanistan in 2005. Mark Wahlberg (above), Eric Bana and Taylor Kitsch form part of the unit tasked with killing Taliban-allied militia leader Ahmad Shah..
My Cousin Rachel (2017) 12
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9PM, FILM4 ★★★★
Rachel Weisz (below) loads the drinking of tea from cup and saucer with sexual power and suggestion in a thrilling adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s mystery novel. Sam Claflin is the impetuous relative (by marriage) who is at fi rst suspicious and then entranced.
Spring And Port Wine (1970) PG
● 10.05PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★ Kitchen sink drama, set in Bolton, where the stern head of the Crompton household (James Mason) tries to keep control of his four children, among them Susan George.
Young Adult (2011) 15
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1.25AM, CH4 ★★★
Charlize Theron is crass and classless in this black comedy from Jason Reitman (Juno). She plays an alcoholic writer who misreads the signals from her old highschool boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). Ignoring an important deadline, she heads to her old home town to cause a firestorm of immaturity.
THURSDAY
Sinister Seduction (2019) 12
u 2.15PM, CH5 ★★
Tanner Buchanan is the high school jock with a twisted plan in this silly TV movie thriller, as he targets a recently widowed mother (Kristina Klebe) and her lonely son (Sebastian Cabanas).
State Secret (1950) U
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2.30PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★ Nominated for Best British Film at the 1951 Baftas, this thriller puts surgeon John Marlowe (Douglas Fairbanks Jr) in peril when the European dictator he operates on dies. Jack Hawkins (above) is the military man who stages a cover-up and hunts Marlowe down.
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) 18 ▲ 9PM, ITV4 ★★★★
Clint Eastwood (below) directs himself in his visually splendid and celebrated revenge western. It deals with the lawlessness during and after the American Civil War – which turned Eastwood’s peaceful farmer Wales, and others like him, into fighting men.
Life Of The Party (2018) 12
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9M, SKY COMEDY★★★
Melissa McCarthy is the frumpy housewife who, free and easy after a divorce, heads back to college to join in the sorority shenanigans with her daughter. Good-natured comedy and McCarthy is always watchable.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) 12
u 10.20PM, 5STAR★★★ In part two of the Twilight Saga, the ancient order of the Volturi have heard about the romance between vampire Edward and human Bella. Caius (Jamie Campbell Bower, right) and the rest of the Volturi issue an ultimatum.
FRIDAY
Arrival (2016) 12
u
9PM, FILM4 ★★★★
Graceful and philosophical first-contact sci-fi drama with Amy Adams as linguist Louise Banks (above), who joins one of the teams at sites around the world where 12 UFOs – massive podlike monoliths – have appeared, Can she learn to speak the alien language?
Rocky V (1990) PG
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10.30PM, RTÉ2 ★★★
The weakest of the original saga, though full marks for Sylvester Stallone for milking a winning formula. This time the generic new boxer on the block is Tommy Gunn, while Rocky battles his own demons.
Ride Lonesome
(1959) U l
10.35PM, TG4 ★★★
Okay Western, starring Randolph Scott. It centres on a bounty hunter who captures a young killer, but his real motive is to settle a score with his captive’s elder brother. Lee Van Cleef also stars.
Basic Instinct (1992) 18
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11.20PM, CH5 ★★★★
A well-executed erotic thriller that doesn’t skimp on the sauce. Michael Douglas is the detective hunting a sexual predator, with Sharon Stone (below, with Douglas) as the object of his desire, and his investigation.
In The Heat Of The Night (1967) 15 u 11.45PM, BBC2 ★★★★
A disturbing study of racism from a time of turbulence in the US, with Sidney Poitier as the big-city cop who first finds himself on the wrong side of Rod Steiger’s small-town sheriff, and then has to work alongside him.
Let’s Be Cops (2014) 15
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12.10AM, CH4 ★★★
Chaotic comedy that recycles the buddycop genre, with losers making good. Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr impersonate LA police officers, and have a blast. It’s derivative, but the leads have fun and are full of energy.
SATURDAY
Dave (1993) 12
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1.30PM, RTÉ2 ★★★★
Ivan Reitman’s comedy stars Kevin Kline (below) as a lookalike who is asked to step in when the US president suffers a stroke. But the First Lady (Sigourney Weaver) doesn’t know about the switch.
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) PG
l 4.35PM, TG4 ★★★★★
Harper Lee’s classic novel got the adaptation it deserved in this moving drama. Gregory Peck is perfect as Atticus, the lawyer who agrees to defend a black man on a rape charge.
Shrek the Third (2007) (U)
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6.35PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★
The bad-tempered ogre must persuade a rebellious teenager to face up to his responsibilities as heir to the throne. Animated sequel, with the voices of Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz.
A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) (15) u 11.15PM, CH4 ★★★
Uneasy in the saddle, Seth MacFarlane (above) has a bumpy ride in this comedy western. He’s a cowardly sheep farmer who gets on the bad side of Liam Neeson’s outlaw. Co-stars Charlize Theron and Neil Patrick Harris add colour.
Kisses (2008) 15
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11.55PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★
Kelly O’Neill and Shane Curry (above) give strong performances as two adolescents from troubled homes in Lance Daly’s drama. The pair run away to Dublin together, unaware of the dangers lurking on the streets.