FILMS OF THE WEEK

THE BIG MOVIE

Casino Royale (2006) 12 Saturday, 9pm, ITV Die Another Day, Pierce Brosnan’s final outing as 007, had a mixed reception. Audiences wanted more Bond, but the time was right for a refresh, and Daniel Craig was chosen to take the character into a new era. Casino Royale is set early in Bond’s career with MI6. He’s still the skilled, confident and stylish agent we know and love, but he’s also impetuous and ever so slightly vulnerable. In this film, there are three key scenes where Craig’s Bond is especially exposed – tortured by villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), poisoned and on the brink of death, and betrayed by the woman he loves (Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, above, with Craig). In this film and the ones that follow, we get insights into Bond’s character that we have never seen before – in addition to the action, the cars, the women and the gadgets.

CLASSIC FILM CHOICE

The Deer Hunter (1978) 18 Thursday, 11.05pm, ITV4 One of the most celebrated films of the 1970s, director Michael Cimino’s masterpiece pivots around its three central characters’ experiences before, during and after military service in the Vietnam War. Robert De Niro (above), Christopher Walken and John Savage star as Mike, Nick and Steven, three friends who live together in a Pennsylvania steel town. It’s told in three distinct acts, and we first see the trio as they celebrate Steven’s wedding ahead of shipping out. The second act follows their gruelling experiences in the war, including the notorious game of Russian roulette that they are forced to play while prisoners of war. Inevitably, the war changes them, and there is no going back. An important film when it was released, just three years after the war ended, its significance has not dimmed almost 40 years later.