The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS
BOXING DAY Grease (1978) (BBC1, 5pm)
Following an idyllic holiday romance, 1950s teenagers Danny (John Travolta) and Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) part company, believing they’ll never see each other again. They’re unexpectedly reunited when she enrols at his high school, but picking up where they left off proves difficult, as Danny has been boasting to his mates about his steamy summer fling and fears sweet, straitlaced Sandy isn’t good for his image.
Dunkirk (2017) (BBC1, 9.05pm) Premiere
Christopher Nolan’s drama is a stunning mosaic of personal stories of hard-fought triumph and agonising defeat against the sprawling backdrop of the largest evacuation of allied forces during the Second World War. Young British soldier Tommy (Fionn Whitehead) escapes a hail of German bullets and races to the beaches of Dunkirk, where more than 300,000 exhausted men await rescue. On the other side of the Channel, sailor Mr Dawson (Mark Rylance) answers Winston Churchill’s impassioned call for civilian boats to rescue our boys.
SUNDAY The Sound of Music (1965) (BBC1, 3.45pm)
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical is based on the true story of novice nun Maria (Julie Andrews), who is employed as a governess to the seven unruly Von Trapp children. Their widowed father (Christopher Plummer) runs the house on military lines, but his new employee eventually brings fun and music back into his offspring’s lives and melts his heart in the process. However, the Austrian family’s happiness is threatened by the looming Second World War.
Jurassic World (2015) (STV, 4.40pm)
Dinosaur theme park Jurassic World opened to the public in 2005 and now welcomes more than 20,000 visitors a day. Claire Dearing
(Bryce Dallas Howard) oversees park operations, while Dr Henry Wu (BD Wong) plays God in the laboratories, splicing DNA strands to create terrifying new breeds. Thus the ferocious and highly intelligent Indominus Rex is born. When the
I-Rex escapes her paddock, Claire begs animal behaviour specialist Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to capture the beast.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991) (STV, 10.40pm)
Jonathan Demme’s terrifying 1991 treatment of the Thomas Harris novel is one of only three films to sweep the big five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress. Jodie Foster plays FBI trainee Clarice
Starling, who is eager to please her superior, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn). He implores Clarice to earn the trust of cannibal murderer Dr Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins) in order to track down a serial killer known as Buffalo Bill, who kidnaps women then skins his victims.
MONDAY Inside Out (2015) (BBC1, 1.20pm)
A young girl named Riley’s (Kaitlyn Dias) mood is shaped by five coloured emotions - golden Joy, blue Sadness, purple Fear, red Anger and green Disgust - which bicker behind a control desk inside her head. Her parents relocate from Minnesota to San Francisco, and Sadness unwittingly challenges Joy for dominance. The emotions clash and are expelled from Headquarters.
The Babadook (2014) (BBC2, 12.45am)
Seven years after the death of her husband, care home worker Amelia (Essie Davis) is still haunted by memories of her beloved. To add to her stress, her young son Samuel is exhibiting the signs of ADHD and interrupts his mother’s sleep patterns with claims of monsters in his room. The Babadook is a deeply unsettling and impressive debut from writer-director Jennifer Kent, drawing emotional power from the strong performances of Davis and Wiseman.
TUESDAY Frozen (2013) (BBC1, 3.35pm)
As children, Anna (voiced by Kristen Bell) and Elsa (Idina Menzel) love to play together, taking full advantage of Elsa’s ability to create ice and snow from her fingertips. When an accident almost ends in disaster, the King agrees to wipe Anna’s memory so she
forgets about her sibling’s hidden talents. At the same time, Elsa hides from the public gaze, fearful that she will hurt someone else with her powers.
Wonder Woman (2017) (STV, 7.30pm) Premiere
Diana (Gal Gadot) is an Amazonian princess, who lives on the island of Themyscira under the benevolent rule of her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen). During the First World War, handsome US Army spy Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crash-lands in the sea close to the island and Diana rescues him from a watery grave. He tells the Amazons about the conflict with the Germans, whose forces are marshalled by iron-fisted General Erich Ludendorff. Horrified by mankind’s self-destruction, Diana bids tearful farewell to her clan and prepares to head to the front.
WEDNESDAY To Catch a Thief (1955) (BBC2, 1.05pm)
John Robie (Cary Grant) is a reformed jewel thief, once known as The Cat, who has turned his back on crime. His reputation precedes him so when a wily thief targets a series of luxury hotels on the French Riviera, the finger of suspicion points at John. Determined to clear his name,
John hatches a plan to flush out the real culpri), but his cunning plan backfires in spectacular fashion in this beautifully crafted thriller from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.
Highlander (1986) (BBC1, 12.30pm)
A band of immortal warriors pit themselves against each other through the centuries, ultimately clashing in New York City in a dramatic final showdown from which there can be only one survivor. If you can stand the constant chopping and changing between centuries, this fantasy adventure starring Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery is great fun.
HOGMANAY Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) (STV, 11am)
Based on the beloved Roald Dahl tale, this comedic and fantastical film follows young Charlie Bucket (Freddie Highmore) and his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly) as they
join a small group of contest winners who get to tour the magical and mysterious factory of eccentric candy maker Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp). Aided by his diminutive Oompa Loompa workers, Wonka has a hidden motivation for the tour, one that he will reveal only after the children in the group show their true colors.
Beauty and the Beast (2017) (BBC1, 2.20pm)
Strong-willed bookworm Belle (Emma Watson) rebuffs the amorous advances of preening Gaston (Luke Evans), who wonders how he’ll know when he is in love. Before Gaston can find out, Belle trades places with her inventor father Maurice as the eternal prisoner of an accursed Beast in his crumbling stronghold. Beauty and the Beast is a ravishing liveaction remake of the 1991 Disney animation.
NEW YEAR’S DAY
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) (BBC1, 2pm) Premiere
The third and final film in the franchise soars in the slipstream of earlier films, which tenderly sketched the friendship between a Viking boy called Hiccup
(voiced by Jay Baruchel) and a Night Fury dragon christened Toothless. That unshakeable bond between man and beast is tested to (heart)breaking point in DeBlois’ script, which recycles themes of selflessness and devotion to their natural conclusion without sacrificing the tenderness, raw emotion or humour which have become the series’ trademarks.
The Greatest Showman (2017) (C4, 5.30pm)
Arguably 2018’s biggest sleeper hit, this musical stars Hugh Jackman as the legendary PT Barnum, a tailor’s son who falls under the spell of the privileged Charity Hallett (Michelle Williams). They live modestly until PT blags a $10,000 bank loan for a museum of living curiosities. Sardonic newspaper critic James Gordon Bennett (Paul Sparks) denounces the enterprise as “a primitive circus of humbug”, but the public disagrees, as does investor Phillip Carlyle (Zac Efron). The Greatest Showman is a joy-infused blast of pure pleasure.