Your Movie Planner

SATURDAY

The Diary Of Anne Frank (1959) U 1.30PM, BBC2

See Classic Film Choice (right).

The Captive Heart

(1946) PG

6PM, TALKING PICTURES TV

Moving wartime drama, starring Michael Redgrave as a Czech soldier who pretends to be a dead British officer. To keep up the pretence inside his new PoW camp, he corresponds with the dead man’s wife (Redgrave’s wife in real life, Rachel Kempson) – and falls in love.

The Monuments Men (2014) 12

10PM, CH4

Matt Damon, Hugh Bonneville and George Clooney (above) star in this Second World War drama about lesser-known acts of bravery at the tail end of the war. Allies join forces to save Europe’s cultural heritage, piece by piece.

Birdman

(2014) 15

10.30PM, BBC2

PREMIERE See The Big Movie (right).

Snake Eyes

(1998) 15

12.20AM, CH4

A slam-dunk thriller starring Nicolas Cage – on howling form – as the corrupt cop hunting down a killer at a high-profile boxing match, with Gary Sinise as a sinister Naval commander.

What Doesn’t Kill You (2008) 15

12.30AM, BBC1

With strong performances, this crime drama packs powerful surprises into a familiar formula. Mark Ruffalo (above) and Ethan Hawke are friends in mob-ruled Boston. Girl With A Pearl Earring (2003) 12

1.20AM, BBC2

Colin Firth plays the Dutch artist Vermeer in this artfully styled fictionalisation of the creation of one of his most famous works. Scarlett Johansson is Griet (left), the maid who modelled for him and inspired him.

SUNDAY

How To Train Your Dragon (2010) PG

4.55PM, CH4

Fantasy animation set in a beautifully realised world of Vikings and dragons. A boy called Hiccup believes that the local fire-breathers are friends, not foes, and comes of age aboard the dragon whom he befriends (above). All he then has to do is convince the rest of his tribe…

Christine

(2016) 15

10PM, SKY PREMIERE

PREMIERE In 1974, 29-year-old Florida TV news reporter Christine Chubbuck shot herself live on air. In this striking account of the events leading up to her tragic act, Rebecca Hall makes Christine come alive as a woman who is much more than her shocking final statement.

The Boy Next Door (2015) 15

10.05PM, CH5

PREMIERE Fatal Attraction presented as a fatal error, a misfiring erotic thriller starring Jennifer Lopez (above). She plays an unhappily married teacher who lives to regret one night of passion with her 19-year-old neighbour.

Side Effects

(2013) 15

11PM, CH4

Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller has a Hitchcockian feel. Rooney Mara is both fierce and fragile as a woman who is prescribed experimental antidepressants by her doctor.

Evil Under The Sun

(1982) PG

11.05PM, ITV3

Peter Ustinov’s second stint as Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Corpses, a fake diamond and a host of exotic suspects at an Adriatic resort – Maggie Smith, Diana Rigg and Jane Birkin among them – give Poirot’s little grey cells plenty to ponder.

Norfolk

(2015) 15

11.55PM, BBC2

PREMIERE Bleak British drama, set in a bucolic but increasingly sinister rural landscape. Barry Keoghan (memorable in The Killing Of A Sacred Deer) stars as a son who is forced to see his father (Denis Menochet) in a chilling new light.

MONDAY

The Return Of Frank James (1940) U

10.35AM, TALKING PICTURES TV

Frank (Henry Fonda) seeks revenge for the death of his famous brother, Jesse, in this follow-up to the 1939 hit. Fritz Lang’s film doesn’t let the truth get in the way of a good yarn, as Frank hunts down the Ford brothers – and falls for a reporter (Gene Tierney), too.

The Way We Were

(1973) PG

1.10PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

Lazy rich kid Robert Redford and politically charged firebrand Barbra Streisand (below) are the classically mismatched pair in Sydney Pollack’s tissue-tugging tale of ill-fated lovers. (Freeview 32, Sky 323, Virgin 425)

A Life Of Deception (2017) PG

3.15PM, CH5

PREMIERE Gabrielle (Emmanuelle Vaugier) starts to suspect that her husband faked his own death after his body is never found following a kayaking accident. As Gabrielle investigates and gets closer to the truth, it seems someone is intent on framing her.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

(2011) 12 8PM, E4

The third, but by no means final, instalment – a fifth film was released last summer, and a sixth has been threatened – of the film series spun off from a range of toys. Robots from outer space change into cars and back again... and again and again. Shia LaBeouf stars.

No Escape

(2015) 15

9PM, FILM4

PREMIERE The setting of this misjudged survival thriller is an unspecified country in southeast Asia, where a violent coup kicks off just as Owen Wilson’s family man (left) arrives to start a new life with his wife and two daughters. Pierce Brosnan also pops up as a battle-skilled Brit, but his presence proves to be as much a nuisance as a bonus. Hector And The Search For Happiness (2014) 15 1.10AM, FILM4 PREMIERE Simon Pegg (left) leaves his scruff y Spaced days behind him for this glossy comedy drama. He stars as a psychiatrist who jets off to research the meaning of happiness around the world, little realising the answer is within him.

TUESDAY

The Medallion

(2003) PG

12.45PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

A sort of Rush Hour meets The Golden Child, this action adventure has Jackie Chan teaming up with Interpol agents – played by Lee Evans (above) and Claire Forlani – to rescue a mystical child from the clutches of an evil crimelord. 12 Angry Men

(1957) U 2.55PM, FILM4 Sidney Lumet’s remarkably simple but effective drama puts the audience in the position of a 12-strong jury debating reasonable doubt in the case of a young man accused of murdering his father. Henry Fonda stars as the voice of reason as frustrations fester and boil over.

East Is East

(1999) 15

9PM, MORE4

A witty examination of British multiculturalism as seen through the eyes of a first-generation mixed-race family in Salford. Om Puri is the proud patriarch and fish and chip shop owner – married to an English Catholic (Linda Bassett, above) – with Jimi Mistry as the rebellious son intent on fleeing an arranged marriage.

The Unborn

(2009) 15

9PM, HORROR

Supernatural horror, fuelled by Jewish mythology, starring Odette Yustman as a young woman being terrorised by the vengeful ghost of her twin, who died in utero. Gary Oldman is the rabbi exorcist. (Freeview 70, Freesat 138, Sky 319, Virgin 149)

Red Dawn

(2012) 12 10PM, 5STAR Reboot of the 1984 cult Brat Pack film, with Chris Hemsworth, Adrianne Palicki and Josh Hutcherson among the young people fighting defiantly on the home front when America is invaded by a foreign foe. The updated ‘Reds’ this time are Russian-backed North Koreans.

Harry Brown

(2009) 18

10.05PM, ITV4

Michael Caine (right) gives one of his finest performances in first-time British film-maker Daniel Barber’s grim innercity vigilante tale. Caine is Harry Brown (right), the old soldier who, like his contemporaries, has been all but forgotten. Pushed too far when a friend is murdered, Harry decides to fight back.

WEDNESDAY

Fast & Furious 5 (2011) 12

9PM, ITV2

The Fast & Furious franchise changes gear, swapping street racing for a heist plot and a welcome splash of humour – a new formula that pleased both audiences and critics alike. Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson drive it.

The Gauntlet

(1977) 18

9PM, ITV4

A lesser-known Clint Eastwood vehicle in which he plays it dumb as an inadequate, alcoholic cop set up to fail when escorting a witness to trial. Sondra Locke (below, with Eastwood) is a streetsmart prostitute who tags along for the ride.

The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988)

18 9PM, HORROR

A Nightmare On Elm Street creator Wes Craven directs this heady chiller, set in Haiti. Bill Pullman is the American employed by a drugs company to find a toxin used to create zombies. The country’s ancient voodoo religion and extremist politics collide – to mind-bending effect.

A Walk In The Woods

(2015) 15

9PM, FILM4

PREMIERE Based on travel writer Bill Bryson’s 1998 autobiographical book, this stars Robert Redford as Bryson, embarking on a 2,200-mile along the famous Appalachian Trail. He and his companion (a virtually unrecognisable

Nick Nolte, below, with Redford) might not be as ready for the challenge as they first think.

The Vow

(2012) 12 10PM, 5STAR

Channing Tatum has to woo his wife (Rachel McAdams) all over again after a terrible car accident leaves her with memory loss, and she forgets about him and their marriage. A soppy romantic melodrama that seems far-fetched, but is in fact based on a true story.

Win Win

(2011) 15 1.55AM, CH4 Stressed-out small-town lawyer and amateur wrestling coach Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) grapples with his own mediocrity in this warm-hearted comedy drama from Tom McCarthy (The Visitor). Taking in a troubled teen proves to be Mike’s best move yet.

THURSDAY

Penny Serenade

(1941) PG

11AM, TALKING PICTURES TV

If this superior weepy – directed by George Stevens, who also steered The Diary Of Anne Frank (see Classic Film Choice, right) – doesn’t make you blub, nothing will. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne (above) are the couple welcoming a bundle of joy into their lives, all too briefly.

Escaping Dad

(2017) 12

3.15PM, CH5

PREMIERE Sunny Mabrey is the wife and mum whose dream life turns into a nightmare when her successful husband becomes controlling and violent. She flees with her children, but he’s not the kind to take abandonment lying down.

Thunderball (1965) PG

9PM, ITV4

Sean Connery (above, with Martine Beswick) gets comfortably, swaggeringly into his stride for his fourth Bond film. The nuclear peril plot was met with critical indifference, but audiences lapped it up, particularly the repeated underwater action sequences.

Witchfinder General

(1968) 15

11PM, HORROR

Set during the English Civil War, this British horror classic follows the sadistic work of selfproclaimed witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, played with customary villainy by Vincent Price. Ian Ogilvy co-stars as the Roundhead in his way.

Tower Block

(2012) 15

11.10PM, 5STAR

Sheridan Smith and Jack O’Connell head the cast in this British thriller, set in a grim tower block where residents are picked off, one by one, by a sniper. After a strong opening, the tension and claustrophobia run aground.

Assault On Precinct 13

(2005) 15

11.40PM, ITV4

While a tough gangster is held at a police station, a vigilante mob attack, and the cop shop’s skeleton crew have their work cut out holding the fort. Ethan Hawke and Laurence Fishburne head the cast in a slick remake of John Carpenter’s low-budget cult classic.

FRIDAY

Viceroy’s House

(2017) 12

4.10PM, SKY PREMIERE

PREMIERE Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson star in this historical drama, directed by Gurinder Chadha. In the final days of the British Raj, Bonneville’s Lord Mountbatten oversees a complex transition to independence. King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword (2017) 12 8PM, SKY PREMIERE

PREMIERE Guy Ritchie’s excitable take on Arthurian legend replaces the greenery of medieval England with blood and dirt. Charlie Hunnam stars as a beefed-up King in waiting.

Sorcerer

(1977) 15

10.45PM, FILM4

Directed by William Friedkin, and with a pulsing score by Tangerine Dream, this tense thriller – The Wages Of Fear by another name – follows four men pulled into a desperate assignment in South America. Roy Scheider (above) stars.

Calvary

(2014) 15 11.05PM, BBC2

Brendan Gleeson (below, with Kelly Reilly) stars as a Catholic priest in a community in windswept Ireland, who is forced to face his mortality in the bleakest of ways. Part murder mystery, part black comedy, part existential drama, it’s a dark journey well worth taking.

This Is 40

(2012) 15 12.10AM, CH4

This ‘sort-of sequel’ to Knocked Up, also from Judd Apatow, doesn’t actually involve the main characters and stars of the former film, but is based around two of the supporting cast. Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd are the pair who start to fall apart as both hit a milestone birthday.

The Master

(2012) 15

1.10AM, FILM4

Another satisfyingly complex drama from Paul Thomas Anderson. Joaquin Phoenix (left) and Philip Seymour Hoffman are both excellent as pupil and teacher of a new way of thinking in a bleak 1950s America.