Top films to watch on TV this week
WEDNESDAY
Super 8 (2011) Film4, 6.45p.m.
From director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is a rollicking adventure set in 1970s rural America that pays homage to ET: The Extra-Terrestrial with echoes of The Goonies.
In the sleepy industrial town of Lillian, Ohio, teenager Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother. The youngster invests his time in making a low-budget zombie film with his friends including Alice (Elle Fanning). Just as the camera starts rolling on a night-time sequence, the youngsters witness a truck drive on to the railway tracks and derail an oncoming freight train.
As they make a hasty escape, the trespassing teens are oblivious to a monstrous creature crawling free from the twisted wreckage...
THURSDAY
Gladiator (2000) Channel 5, 10p.m. Director Ridley Scott collected five Oscars, including Best Picture for this muscular and gore-laden sword and sandals epic.
The hero of the day is Maximus (Russell Crowe), a general in the army of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris), who is adored as much by his men as he is by the Emperor. Conniving heir to the throne Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) murders the Emperor in a fit of jealousy and orders the immediate execution of gallant Maximus, the sole threat to his rule. The hulking hero escapes with his life and is forced into slavery, training as a gladiator under the debonair Proximo (Oliver Reed).
Crowe shoulders leading man duties with relish, lending Maximus an unexpected emotional depth and complexity opposite Reed in his final performance.
FRIDAY
Psycho (1960) Sony Movies Classic, 9p.m.
When crooked young woman Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) hits the road with a stash of stolen money, she makes the mistake of stopping off at the Bates Motel. After being bumped off in the most famous shower scene in history, a string of people go looking for her, with no idea what they are going to find…
Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller is a masterpiece, with everyone involved doing some of their greatest work. Anthony Perkins is unforgettable as disturbed young man Norman Bates, Saul Bass’s opening titles
are simple but effective, and Bernard Herrmann’s creepy score ranks among his finest and has been ripped off many times since.
Forget the Gus Van Sant remake and ignore the host of sequels – just revel in this cheaply made movie which will give you nightmares for weeks to come.
SATURDAY
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Channel 4, 6.30p.m.
In what was once believed to be the third and final instalment in the franchise, legendary adventurer Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) goes in search of his father (a perfectly cast Sean Connery), who has been captured by the Nazis. At the same time, he’s asked to help locate what could be the final resting place of the fabled Holy Grail – a subject which has obsessed Dr Jones Snr all his life. However, it’s not long before Indy realises both his quests are linked. Steven Spielberg had some making up to do after the lacklustre second film and he more than manages it with this cracking yarn. Ford and Connery have great chemistry, and there’s also an eye-catching turn from River Phoenix as the young Indiana.
SUNDAY
Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) Channel 5, 11.05p.m.
Bridget (Renee Zellweger) careens at high speed towards her 43rd birthday without a wedding ring on her finger. Then a late-night blunder into the wrong yurt at a festival leads to a spontaneous
coupling with a handsome American love guru called Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey). A few days later, Bridget is powerless to resist the silky charms of old flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), who is separating from his wife. A pregnancy test at work confirms Bridget is about to become a mum, if only she knew who the father was…
Bridget Jones’s Baby throws a warm, affectionate and frequently hilarious baby shower for characters we’ve grown to love, and proves Bridget is no closer to achieving her Happy Ever After. Zellweger slips back into the title role with ease, oozing lovability, fragility and regret.
MONDAY
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) ITV4, 9p.m.
Having destroyed a cyborg assassin sent to kill her, and had a child with the late soldier sent to protect her, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is now locked up in a psychiatric institute. Thankfully she is broken out by her young son John (Edward Furlong), and a reprogrammed Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger).
The bad news is a liquid metal killer (Robert Patrick) is out to kill them all. Considering state-of-the-art effects date faster than dairy, James Cameron’s ground-breaking movie still looks great after 30 years.
Furlong grates as John, but the stunts, editing and score are top-notch, Hamilton deserves full marks for such a committed performance and Schwarzenegger is as effective a good guy as he was an implacable villain.
TUESDAY
Armageddon (1998) ITV4, 9p.m.
A lump of rock the size of Texas is on a collision course with Earth, and the only folks who can save the day are a bunch of roughneck drillers. So, instead of teaching astronauts to become drillers (which even one of the film’s stars, Ben Affleck, admits would have made more sense), Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis) and his crew train to become astronauts so they can land on the rock and blow it up.
Providing you can stop yourself picking holes in the plot, this is a very enjoyable blockbuster, a perfect marriage of Michael Bay’s flashy direction, Jerry Bruckheimer’s epic production skills and some of the best actors of the day, with supporting roles for Liv Tyler, Michael Clarke Duncan, Billy Bob Thornton and Steve Buscemi.