The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS
SATURDAY
Notting Hill (1999) (STV, 10.20pm)
Hugh Grant plays a London bookshop owner Will, who has a chance encounter with the biggest movie star in the world, Anna Scott (Julia Roberts). A spark develops, but can love overcome their very different lifestyles and the pressures of media intrusion? The leads make a great couple, and there’s also scene-stealing support from Rhys Ifans as Will’s oddball flatmate.
Entebbe (2018) (BBC2, 10.25pm) Premiere
Shortly after Air France flight
139 departs Tel Aviv carrying predominantly Israeli and Jewish passengers, German revolutionaries Wilfried Bose (Daniel Bruhl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike) and their accomplices retrieve guns from hand luggage and storm the cockpit. The terrorists divert the plane to Benghazi in Libya, where Wilfried clashes with flight engineer Jacques Le Moine during several hours on the runway to refuel. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the rest of the cabinet, are faced with a ransom demand: the lives of the passengers in exchange for the release of prisoners.
SUNDAY
Saving Mr Banks (2013) (BBC2, 5pm)
Decades after Mary Poppins first charmed cinema audiences, Robert Stevenson’s magical film continues to cast a spell with its lively characters, heart-warming sentiment and hummable tunes. Yet the colour-saturated fantasy almost never materialised on the big screen. Australian-born British novelist PL Travers, who penned the series of books on which the film was based, famously rebuffed Walt Disney’s efforts to purchase the rights for more than 20 years. That infamous tug-of-war between the writer and Hollywood filmmaker is recreated in Saving Mr Banks, an elegant and witty comedy emboldened by tour-de-force performances from Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.
Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) (Channel 4, 5.30pm)
All-action archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) made the perfect debut in this hugely enjoyable adventure from director Steven Spielberg and executive
producer George Lucas. He goes in search of the legendary Ark of the Covenant, encountering Nazis and his old flame Marion (the spirited Karen Allen) along the way. Ford is perfect as the hero, although he famously wasn’t the first choice for the role – it was originally offered to Tom Selleck, who had to turn it down because of his commitment to the TV series Magnum PI.
MONDAY
Dr No (1962) (ITV4, 5.45pm)
When a pair of British Secret Service agents go missing in Jamaica, superspy James Bond (Sean Connery) is dispatched to investigate. Finding he is being tailed from the moment he arrives in the country, he soon learns the disappearances are linked to a criminal genius who is using his intellect to disrupt American rocket tests. This clever and razor-sharp first outing for British secret agent 007 is one of the best and set a high bar for following movies in the franchise to aspire to.
Ghost (1990) (Channel 5, 10pm)
Tissues at the ready for this romantic drama, starring Patrick Swayze as executive Sam, who seems to have the perfect life – until he’s brutally murdered. Rather than move on to the next world, he decides to hang around on Earth to help his grieving girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) bring his killer to justice. His mission is made more complicated by the fact that the only person who can hear him is a fake psychic (Whoopi Goldberg), who is stunned to discover she really can communicate with the other side.
TUESDAY
Logan (2017) (Film4, 9pm)
World-weary Logan (Hugh Jackman) – aka Wolverine – lives under his birth name, James Howlett, in a tumbledown ranch in the desert with an albino tracker called
Caliban (Stephen Merchant), who helps him to care for ailing Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart). Out of the blue, Logan is offered $50,000 to drive a mysterious girl called Laura to “a place up north” called Eden. The child is a vital link to a new generation of mutants and is being pursued by Transigen head surgeon Dr Zander Rice.
Get Carter (1971) (ITV4, 10.25pm)
Jack Carter (Michael Caine) isn’t a happy man. He’s not the sort you should cross either. When his brother is killed in their home city of Newcastle, Jack journeys north to take revenge. Vindictive, ruthless and determined to get his man, he investigates the area’s underworld, uncovering a complex case of lies, backhanders and double-dealings involving a series of unsavoury characters. Despite being a flop on its initial release, Get Carter is a gritty, low-budget masterpiece that continues to win new fans. It’s a must-see for newcomers, but even if you have seen it a thousand times, it’s still worth a look. At any rate, you’ll be quoting its best-known lines for weeks afterwards.
WEDNESDAY
Murder On The Orient Express (2017) (Film4, 9pm)
The little grey cells of moustachioed sleuth Hercule Poirot – and cinema audiences unfamiliar with Agatha Christie’s fiendish 1934 novel – are rigorously tested in Kenneth Branagh’s handsome reimagining of the snowbound murder mystery. Poirot (Branagh) finds himself on the Orient Express in a cabin next to slippery gangster Samuel Ratchett (Johnny Depp), who offers to pay the Belgian to ensure his safety.
The detective declines, but then a murderer strikes.
Trespass Against Us (2016) (Film4, 11.15pm) Premiere
The sins of a hard-nosed, bullying father are compounded by a proud and reckless son in the feature film debut of director Adam Smith. Colby Cutler (Brendan Gleeson) presides over a traveller fiefdom of caravans and camp fires with a clenched rather than an iron fist. Colby’s son Chad (Michael
Fassbender) cowers in the old man’s shadow, but is secretly planning to transplant his wife Kelly and their two children to a neighbouring site. To finance the move, Chad leads night-time raids on country houses but a close brush with the law during one of these heists brings into focus everything at stake.
THURSDAY
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) (Film4, 9pm)
Secret agents Eggsy and Merlin join forces with their US counterparts
to bring down a psychotic femme fatale. Thankfully, they are assisted by a veteran hero brought back from the dead. Matthew Vaughn’s follow up to the first Kingsman adventure begins with a frantic chase, and doesn’t let up for most of the movie. Taron Egerton is once more superb as Eggsy, and Mark Strong is on top form as Merlin.
Logan Lucky (2017) (ITV4, 11.40pm)
Construction worker Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum), a one-time star footballer waylaid by injury, loses his job on the same day he learns his ex-wife intends to relocate to Lynchburg with her new beau. Jimmy channels his frustration into planning a heist with his one-armed brother Clyde. Their target is the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. The brothers visit convicted safe cracker Joe Bang and promise to spring him out of jail for the day to access the racetrack vault.
FRIDAY
The Wife (2018) (BBC2, 9pm) Premiere
Celebrated writer Joe Castleman (Jonathan Pryce) has been selected as this year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Joe’s wife Joan (Glenn Close) celebrates with her spouse, yet there is unspoken tension. The Castlemans travel to Sweden on Concorde and, mid-flight, they are pestered by muck-raking journalist Nathaniel Bone (Christian Slater). He is keen to pen a biography on Joe. Bjorn Runge’s slow-burning drama is draped elegantly around Close and her deeply moving performance.
War Of The Worlds (2005) (BBC1, 11.30pm)
Steven Spielberg’s updated take on HG Wells’ sci-fi classic is told on an epic scale. Divorced dockworker Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a terrible father to his headstrong teenage son Robbie and young daughter Rachel, but he is forced to step up when a series of lightning storms strike the city, knocking out all power and telecommunications. All hell breaks loose as a towering threelegged machine rises from out of the earth and begins incinerating every living being in sight. In a little under two hours, Spielberg draws upon his mastery of intimate human drama and jaw-dropping big-budget spectacle to deliver an exhilarating thrill-ride.