Film choice

The Core (2003) FILM4, 6.25PM ★★★

 Rome starts to crumble, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco collapses and pigeons go mental in Trafalgar Square. Something is obviously amiss, and this time it isn’t climate change. In fact, the Earth’s core has stopped rotating and a team of scientists has to build a special burrowing machine to start it spinning again. Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci and Aaron Eckhart do their best, but the excitement is intermittent.

The Emoji Movie (2017) SKY CINEMA PREMIERE, 6.30PM ★

 In this animated comedy set inside a young boy’s smartphone, Gene (voiced by TJ Miller), an emoji with multiple facial features, sets out on a quest to be like his colleagues who have only one. He does so with the help of apps like Spotify and Candy Crush. Sadly, the result is so horrendous that there aren’t enough Patrick Stewart-voiced emojis in the world to express what an ugly, artless exercise this is.

Triple 9 (2016) FILM4, 9.00PM ★★★

 A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan to kill a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet in John Hillcoat’s crime thriller. There is a lot to like here: a big opening and a strong cast (with Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot, Anthony Mackie and Chiwetel Ejiofor among them). But it feels like fragments of a great crime drama are missing; it’s enthralling up close, but then the big picture isn’t complete.