MOVIE PLANNER

SUNDAY

Love Me Tender

(1956) U ●

12.25PM, TALKING PICTURES TV HHH Repackaged to cash in on the chart success of star Elvis Presley (above, with Debra Paget), this western was originally intended as a straight biopic of the Reno brothers, an outlaw gang famous for their Civil War-era train robberies. Presley overshadows it all.

Johnny English Reborn

(2011) PG ●

1.20PM, CH5 HHH

Rowan Atkinson’s bungling spy is back in another 007 spoof, and he’s assigned to prevent the assassination of the Chinese Premier. Gillian Anderson and Dominic West lend their charms, but this is probably best appreciated by die-hard slapstick fans.

The House With A Clock In Its Walls (2018) 12 ◆ 2PM, UTV HHH

PREMIERE Dark family fantasy starring Jack Black as the wizard who takes in his orphaned nephew and, with their equally gifted neighbour (Cate Blanchett, above), sets about solving the dark magical mystery within the walls of their home.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

(1954) U ● 5.15PM, TG4 HHHH Howard Keel stars in Stanley Donen’s exuberant musical as a cowboy who gets married. It inspires his brothers to find their own brides – even if they have to resort to kidnapping.

Doctor Strange (2016) 12 ◆

9PM, RTé2 HHHH

Benedict Cumberbatch joined the Marvel Universe with this fantasy adventure. He’s the surgeon who turns to mysticism after damaging his hands in an accident, only to be drawn into an interdimensional battle.

Election (1999) 15 ◆

12 MIDNIGHT, BBC1 HHHH

Black comedy, starring Reese Witherspoon as a privileged control freak who is determined to win the school election – to the annoyance of her beleaguered teacher (Matthew Broderick).

MONDAY

Some Will, Some Won’t

(1969) U ● 2.05PM, TALKING PICTURES TV HHH Fun British comedy in which the beneficiaries of a will must jump through hoops to claim their inheritances. Ronnie Corbett, Leslie Phillips and Thora Hird are among the relatives having to act against type. Watch out for Dad’s Army’s Arthur Lowe.

Murder On The Island: Martha’s Vineyard Mysteries

(2021) PG ● 3.15PM, CH5 HHH

PREMIERE Another mystery for the sleuths who have both history and chemistry, played by Jesse Metcalfe (of Desperate Housewives fame) and Sarah Lind.

All The Money In The World (2017) 15 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 HHH

Christopher Plummer stars as billionaire J. Paul Getty in this drama about the

1973 kidnapping of his grandson. Michelle Williams (above) is the teen’s worried mum, while Mark Wahlberg is the former CIA man sent from America to Italy to fix things.

Atomic Blonde (2017) 15

◆

9.30PM, TG4 HHHH

Charlize Theron (below) is in action mode for this fun spy thriller. She plays a MI6 operative who arrives in Berlin before the fall of the wall to investigate the murder of a fellow agent. James McAvoy co-stars.

Metro (1997) 18 ▲ 11.10PM, ITV4 HHH

Eddie Murphy stars as a hostage negotiator on the trail of the jewel thief who murdered his colleague. Despite a couple of decent action scenes, this feels criminally formulaic.

Fill The Void (2012) U ●

2.45AM, CH4 HHH

Powerful, heartfelt portrait of the lives of women in Tel Aviv’s Haredi Jewish community. Eighteen-year-old Shira is torn between duty and her own long-held dream of family life.

TUESDAY

A Man For All Seasons (1966) U ● 2.50PM, SONY CLASSIC HHHH Directed by Fred Zinnemann, this is one of the best 1960s British historical epics. Paul Scofield stars as Thomas More and Robert Shaw is Henry VIII, with Vanessa Redgrave (above, with Shaw) as the doomed Anne Boleyn and Orson Welles as Cardinal Wolsey.

Snow White & The Huntsman

(2012) 12 ◆ 6.35PM, FILM4 HHH Kristen Stewart is a sulky Snow White, with Chris Hemsworth as the blockhead hunter sent by her stepmum (Charlize Theron) to kill her. A darker version of the fairytale, in which our heroine learns how to fight back.

The Blues Brothers

(1980) 15 ◆ 9PM, ITV4

HHHH

John Landis directs this cult comedy caper about two criminal brothers with a plan – a rather chaotic and destructive plan. John Belushi (left) and Dan Aykroyd are the musical duo putting the band back together and ripping their way through Sweet Home Chicago.

American Animals (2018) 15 ◆

9PM, FILM4 HHHH

PREMIERE An effective twist on the true-crime drama, this is primarily a dramatic reconstruction of a 2004 heist involving the theft of valuable books from a university library. What sets it apart are interviews with the real perpetrators reflecting on the crime. Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan star.

Harry Brown (2009) 18 ▲

11.05PM, 5STAR HHHH

Michael Caine stars in one of his finest leading roles since his grittier films of the 1960s and 1970s. He is the veteran, living on a grim council estate, who takes power back from violent, disaffected youths.

National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) 15 ◆ 11.40PM, ITV4 HHHH

Writer John Hughes apparently based the story on his family’s trip to Disneyland. Chevy Chase is the dad whose efforts to bond with his family on a road trip holiday to a theme park go badly wrong.

WEDNESDAY

The Guilty (2018) 15 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 HHHH

PREMIERE A superb thriller from Denmark, presented in a simple package, but devilishly complex and full of surprises. Asger (Jakob Cedergren, below) is the cop who, while under a cloud, takes an emergency call from a woman claiming to have been kidnapped.

Power Play (1978) 15

◆

9.05PM, TALKING PICTURES TV HHH As the title suggests, this thriller digs into the morality of power as the increasingly deranged dictator of an unnamed European country is toppled by a military coup. It’s not exactly subtle. Peter O’Toole, David Hemmings and Donald Pleasence star.

Mad Max 2 (1981) 18 ▲

10PM, ITV4 HHHH

George Miller’s adrenaline-fuelled sequel was one of the standout films of 1981. In a brutal future, Mel Gibson is again the leathery hardman coming to the aid of settlers under siege from lawless gangs.

RocknRolla (2008) 15 ◆ 11.10PM, 5STAR HHH

Guy Ritchie’s supercharged Cockney crime comedy has a strong cast. Gerard Butler, Idris Elba (above) and Tom Hardy are members of a London gang doublecrossing a Russian mobster over a lucrative property deal.

Crimson Peak

(2015) 15 ◆ 1.45AM, CH4 HHH This visually splendid Gothic fantasy from Guillermo del Toro (The Shape Of Water) stars Mia Wasikowska (right) as the young American marrying into a twisted English family (Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain).

THURSDAY

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas (2008) 12 u 8PM, BBC4 HHH Harrowing subject matter is handled in a sensitive way in Mark Herman’s adaptation of John Boyne’s book. Asa Butterfield is the German camp commandant’s son, striking up an unlikely – and tragic – friendship with a Jewish boy. Vera Farmiga (above, with Butterfield) also stars.

Crimson Tide (1995) 15 u

9PM, ITV4 HHHH

Action supremo Jerry Bruckheimer coproduced this submarine thriller, with Tony Scott directing. Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington are the Navy officers at war over whether to launch a nuclear attack against the Russians.

Searching

(2018) 12 u 9PM, FILM4 HHH

PREMIERE This prepandemic thriller joins a growing list of films that confine the action to laptop and phone screens (see last year’s Zoom-set Host). John Cho is the worried dad (above) who trawls through his daughter’s laptop, calling friends and checking her social media feed when she goes missing.

Kidulthood (2005) 15 u

12.05AM, 5STAR HHHH

Written by Noel Clarke, this acclaimed urban drama is set in west London, where the very rich live next to the very poor. It’s a dog-eat-dog world, and teens amuse themselves with sex, drugs and crime. Despite the gritty themes, this is a strong, well-rounded film.

The Woman In The Fifth

(2011) 15 u 2AM, FILM4 HHH The Englishspeaking stars of this downbeat Parisset drama are both at home in continental Europe. A depressed, divorced writer (Before Sunrise’s Ethan Hawke) embarks on an affair with a confident widow (fluent French speaker Kristin Scott Thomas, above).

FRIDAY

Bad Neighbours (2014) 15 u

9PM, ITV2 HHH

Out-of-control one-upmanship comedy with Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne as the nice couple resorting to dirty tricks after a bunch of fraternity party animals – led by an all-too-charming Zac Efron – disrupt their lives.

Limitless

(2011) 15 u 11.10PM, 5STAR HHHH This frenetic sci-fi thriller stars twinkly-eyed Bradley Cooper (right) as the layabout writer who gets a pharmacological boost from a pill that enhances mental capacity to amazing degrees. A spin-off TV show, largely without Cooper, was canned after just one series.

Almost Famous

(2000) 15 u

11.30PM, RTé ONE HHHHH

Director Cameron Crowe’s big-hearted 1970s-set comedy drama stars Patrick Fugit as a teenage journalist who hits the road with a rock band and finds himself falling for a groupie.

Young Guns

(1988) 15 u 12.05PM, BBC1 HHHH

The western got a shot in the arm from members of the socalled Brat Pack. Emilio Estevez (left), Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen and Lou Diamond Phillips saddle up.

Thoroughbreds (2017) 15 u

12.10AM, CH4 HHH

PREMIERE Twisted comedy thriller starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke (below) as childhood friends Lily and Amanda, who get reacquainted over one cruel summer. As a commentary on tortured female teenhood, it’s menacingly effective, even if it goes too far.

I Remember You (2017) 15 u 12.45AM, BBC2 HHH

Grim Icelandic horror thriller that would be a classic Nordic noir were it not for the presence of the supernatural, as a sinister force stalks the chilly towns and fjords.

SATURDAY

Sabrina (1954) U ● 3.45PM, RTé ONE HHHH

Billy Wilder’s sparkling comedy stars Audrey Hepburn (above) in the title role. When she catches the eye of groom-tobe William Holden, his brother (Humphrey Bogart) sets out to save the wedding by wooing her himself.

Independence Day (1996) 12 u

6.20PM, CH4 HHHH

Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum head the cast of this blockbusting sci-fi. When aliens launch an attack on Earth, the US president, an ace pilot and a computer genius lead the fight back.

Deadpool2 (2018) 15 u 9PM, CH4 HHH

The swearing super-antihero, played with saucy aplomb by Ryan Reynolds, is back. This time, he almost becomes a team player, joined by Zazie Beetz’s Domino and others.

22 Jump Street (2014) (15) u

9.30PM, RTé2 HHH

Two cops are sent undercover at a university, but their friendship is threatened as they join different student cliques. Crime comedy, with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum (above).

Ghost (1990) 12 u

12AM, VIRGIN ONE HHHH

Patrick Swayze stars in the supernatural weepie as a murdered executive who turns to a fraudulent psychic (the Oscarwinning Whoopi Goldberg) to help his girlfriend (Demi Moore) get justice.