The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS
SATURDAY
Pete’s Dragon (2016) (BBC2, 2.15pm)
A little boy called Pete (Levi Alexander) is orphaned in a road accident and left to fend for himself in the forest that buffers the community of Millhaven - only to be rescued by a green dragon, which the boy names Elliott. For six years, Pete (now played by Oakes Fegley) and Elliott grow up side-by-side until a logging operation disturbs the peace. Forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) discovers Pete living wild and spirits him back to civilisation. The orphan bonds with her daughter Natalie and father, but he yearns to return to Elliott in the woods.
Insidious: The Last Key (2018) (Film4, 11.20pm)
Parapsychologist Elise Rainier is ushered back to New Mexico, and the house where she grew up, to explore a reported manifestation in the building where young Elise and her brother Christian were terrorised by their abusive father Gerald. The children also bore witness to the grim fate of their mother, Audrey, who was murdered in the family home. Flanked by kooky assistants Specs and Tucker, Elise is reunited with her brother Christian and learns that her two grown-up nieces, Imogen and Melissa, are being targeted by a demon.
SUNDAY
The Great Wall (2016) (C4, 9pm)
Every 60 years, hordes of fleshhungry, green-blooded monsters called the Tao Tei rise to punish avaricious mankind. A secret military sect called the Nameless Order, led by General Shao and brilliant strategist Wang, exists solely to repel these hideous beasts from atop China’s Great
Wall. Mercenaries William (Matt Damon) and Tovar stumble into the middle of this brutal conflict. The Great Wall is a special effectsheavy monster mash and glossy B-Movie, elevated to entertaining hokum by directorial brio and solid performances from the international cast.
Erin Brockovich (2000) (5*, 10.25pm)
Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts) is a sassy, twice-divorced single mother who has learned the hard way that there is only one person in this life
she can rely upon - herself. So she talks her way into a junior position at Albert Finney’s law office, where she stumbles upon medical records relating to a community ravaged by an abnormally high number of serious illnesses. Roberts turns in the best performance of her career, capturing the abrasive, sometimes infuriating, though ultimately courageous spirit of a woman whose desire to fight for the rights of the underdog rewrote American legal history.
MONDAY
Thelma & Louise (1991) (C5, 11.05pm)
Bored housewife Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) plan to leave their humdrum existences behind during a weekend road trip. Unfortunately, the break turns out to be more life-changing than they could ever have imagined. Ridley Scott’s terrific drama puts an engaging, feminist spin on the buddy road movie thanks to Callie Khouri’s excellent script.
Custody (2017) (Film4, 11.20pm)
Writer-director Xavier Legrand’s dramatic feature debut centres on Miriam (Lea Drucker), who has managed to flee her volatile spouse Antoine (Denis Menochet) with their 12-year-old son Julien. The distraught lad becomes a pawn in a battle between the spouses when Antoine asserts his legal rights to see Julien.
TUESDAY
Passengers (2016) (Film4, 9pm)
The Starship Avalon launches, loaded with 258 crew and
5,000 passengers in deep sleep, bound for the distant colony of Homestead II. A meteor shower causes a malfunction to the ship’s central computer and mechanical engineer Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and journalist Aurora Dunn (Jennifer Lawrence) wake 90 years prematurely. As they come to terms with their predicament, romance sparks between Jim and Aurora.
Mad Max 2, (1981) (ITV4, 10pm)
Mel Gibson reprises his role as tough-talking, tougher-acting ex-cop Max Rockatansky in this sequel to 1979 low-budget smash, Mad
Max. We’re in the same punky, post-apocalyptic world as the first film and with a budget only slightly increased – it wasn’t until the third film, Beyond Thunderdome, that the big bucks rolled in (Tina Turner co-starred in that one as Aunt Entity and the great Maurice Jarre wrote the soundtrack). Here it’s Gibson who hogs the limelight as he and his souped-up V-B Pursuit Special encounter a gyrocopter and its pilot. Max co-opts both into his plan to visit a makeshift refinery which some peaceful settlers have set up – the trouble is a vicious biker gang known as the Marauders has had the same idea.
WEDNESDAY 2012 (2009) (5*, 8pm)
When a scientist predicts that the world is about to face a global cataclysm with the potential to wipe out the human race, the US president joins forces with other heads of state to make plans for the catastrophe. The movie’s biggest attraction is the chance to see the world coming to an end, and the special effects do not disappoint. Actors John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor manage to stand out amid the CGI.
Independence Day (1996) (Film4, 9pm)
Essentially a reworked version of War of the Worlds, Independence Day sees a whole host of aliens visit Earth, intent on destroying it. After the world’s landmarks are laid to waste spectacularly, it seems to fall to the Americans - in the form of cocky, courageous fighter pilot Will Smith, computer genius Jeff Goldblum and plucky president
Bill Pullman - to save the planet. Featuring fun performances, a super David Arnold score and impressive special effects, it’s blockbuster that deserved the hype.
THURSDAY
Darkman (1990) (Sony Movies, 9pm)
After the success of the first two Evil Dead movies, director Sam Raimi scored a surprise blockbuster with this gothic fantasy adventure. As he was unable to secure the rights to The Shadow (adapted a few years later), Raimi pressed on with this pet project. Liam Neeson plays Peyton Westlake, a scientist developing a type of synthetic skin to help burn victims. Alas, the
‘skin’ rapidly disintegrates after 99 minutes, until Westlake discovers it
is photosensitive. After demanding an incriminating document, which Peyton knows nothing about, gangster Robert Durant and his team blow up Westlake’s lab. He survives and seeks vengeance.
The History Boys (2006) (BBC4, 10.40pm)
An acclaimed adaptation of Alan Bennett’s award-winning play, The History Boys is a deeply moving lesson in schooldays nostalgia, centring on the tug of war between teachers and students at a grammar school in the mid-1980s. The headmaster (Clive Merrison) is focusing his attention on ushering his brightest boys into the esteemed halls of Oxford and Cambridge. He enlists the services of eccentric English teacher Hector (Richard Griffiths), but he also drafts in impassioned twentysomething supply teacher Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore). The boys include Dominic Cooper, Russell Tovey and James Corden.
FRIDAY
Groundhog Day (1993) (Sony Movies, 6.55pm)
Cynical weatherman Phil Connors gets more than he bargains for while reporting on a quaint ceremony in Pennsylvania. After getting caught in a snowdrift, he, his producer and cameraman have to return to town, where he gets caught in a time loop, reliving the same day over and over. One of the best films of the 1990s, this is a heart-warming feel-good tale with a near perfect turn from Bill Murray.
Rush (2013) (BBC1, 10.45pm)
During the 1970s, tempers frayed between two very different Formula 1 drivers: charismatic ladies’ man James Hunt and ambitious Austrian speed fiend Niki Lauda. Their daredevil duels reached a horrifying crescendo at the 1976 German Grand Prix when Lauda’s Ferrari burst into flames, trapping him in the inferno. Just six weeks later, Lauda emerged from hospital with extensive scarring, determined to prevent Hunt from claiming the chequered flag at Monza. This incredible story of courage and resilience charts the rivalry between Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and
Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) from their early days through to the
Formula 1 circuit.