The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THE WEEK’S BEST FILMS
SATURDAY Iron Man (2008) (Channel 4, 8pm)
Inventor and playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is CEO of global weapons manufacturing business Stark Industries. During a demonstration of a devastating missile in Afghanistan, insurgents capture Tony and compel him to build another missile, this time to engage American forces. Instead, Tony orchestrates an escape wearing a crude yet ultra-strong suit of armour. He returns home a changed man and announces the shutdown of the weapons manufacturing arm of Stark Industries. Unfortunately, members of the board have other ideas.
Shanghai Noon (2000) (BBC One, 10.50pm)
Jackie Chan is the most impressive special effect in Tom Dey’s rollicking martial arts comedy. He leaps, pirouettes, kicks and punches his way out of every tight spot as 19th-century Chinese Imperial Guard Chon Wang (pronounced John Wayne), who works as a servant to the beautiful Princess Pei Pei (Lucy Lui) in The Forbidden City. When the princess is kidnapped and held hostage in America’s Wild West, Chon Wang joins the party despatched by the Emperor to deliver the ransom in gold to her captors. En route, Chon is separated from the other guards and runs into hapless train robber Roy O’Bannon (Owen Wilson) and his rag-tag entourage.
SUNDAY The Devil Wears Prada (2006) (Channel 4, 2.30pm)
Graduate Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) lands a job as second assistant to the fearsome Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), editor of Runway magazine. Andy hopes the position will be a stepping stone to serious political journalism and is unprepared for the challenges that lie ahead, catering to her tyrannical boss’s every whim. David Frankel’s adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s international bestseller is delicious. Streep glides through every frame in swathes of Galliano, Valentino and, of course, Prada, armed with a dizzying array of knockout one-liners.
Friends with Kids (2011) (Channel 5, 10pm)
Manhattan advertising executive Jason (Adam Scott) has known best friend Julie (Jennifer Westfeldt) since college, but there has never been a romantic spark between them. Living a few floors apart in the same building, they postulate that having children wrecks a marriage, so the secret to a successful relationship must be to raise a brood first and then find a soul mate. But when they decide to put their theory to the test, the couple’s married friends predict disaster.
MONDAY Shell (2012) (Film4, 1.25am)
The Highlands provides a startling and bleak backdrop to Scott Graham’s elegiac debut, which explores the dynamic between a 17-year-old called Shell (Chloe Pirrie) and her troubled mechanic father, Pete (Joseph Mawle). The pair live and work in a rundown petrol station, which attracts almost no passing traffic. The absence of Shell’s mother, who left when she was four, creates a deeply troubling bond between father and child that threatens to consume and ultimately destroy them. The teenager’s messy fumblings with a local boy (Iain de Caestecker) add
TUESDAY Survivor (2015) (Film4, 9pm)
Security expert Kate Abbott (Milla Jovovich) is drafted to the US embassy in London by her mentor, Ambassador Maureen Crane (Angela Bassett), to identify visa applicants who pose a threat to homeland security. Intuition tells Kate to look closer into Romanian doctor Emil Balan, who wants to visit America to attend a medical conference. She delays his application and investigates further, but a hit-man known as The Watchmaker (Pierce Brosnan) is hired to eliminate her.
WEDNESDAY Gilda (1946) (Film4, 11am)
Rita Hayworth features in her signature role in Charles Vidor’s steamy 1946 thriller. Gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) often wins big by cheating at cards but it’s a risky practice. He arrives in Buenos Aires and visits a casino, where he attempts to cheat at blackjack. The staff spot his trickery and Farrell is hauled before casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready), who hires him to ensure other gamblers don’t get away with the same deceptions. Ballin later returns from a holiday with his wife on his arm and Farrell is stunned to discover his boss’s other half is his old flame, Gilda (Hayworth). Unaware of the connection between his wife and his new employee, Mundson enlists Farrell to keep an eye on Gilda and ensure she doesn’t attract the attention of other men.
THURSDAY RoboCop (2014) (Film4, 9pm)
In 2028, laws prevent mechanised soldiers from patrolling the streets of America. Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton), CEO of OmniCorp, realises he needs to pluck consumers’ heartstrings to sway political opinion. The golden goose is incorruptible cop Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman), who is critically injured and can be rebuilt with OmniCorp technology. When Alex’s memories begin to resurface, human will battles against technological might for ultimate control in a glossy remake of Paul Verhoeven’s seminal 1987 sci-fi blockbuster.
Gorillas in the Mist (1988) (5*, 1.30am)
Sigourney Weaver gives the performance of her life in this true-life drama, based on the experiences of American anthropologist Dian Fossey, who gave up her city career to study endangered African mountain gorillas. She learns more about how the primates communicate, but risks making some dangerous enemies among the human poachers. The scenes with Weaver among the apes were painstakingly filmed with real gorillas, and Fossey’s slow descent into madness is harrowing.
FRIDAY Confetti (2006) (BBC Two, 11.05pm)
When a bridal magazine announces a competition to find the Most Original Wedding of the Year, with a dream home and a cover shoot as the first prize, couples from across the UK apply. The finalists are hopeless romantics Matt (Martin Freeman) and Sam (Jessica Hynes) with their Busby Berkeley musical theme; professional tennis partners Josef (Stephen Mangan) and Isabelle (Meredith McNeill) and their courtside ceremony; and nudists Michael (Robert Webb) and Joanne (Olivia Colman), who want to tie the knot au naturelle. Writer-director Debbie Isitt gives her actors scope to embellish and enrich their characters, ad-libbing with gusto, to create a memorable menagerie of oddballs and misfits.