The Herald - The Herald Magazine
THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS
director Zack Snyder does a great job of mirroring Gibbons’ artwork, and the memorable opening titles brilliantly set the tone for what is to come. Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup and Matthew Goode head the cast.
The Matrix (1999) (ITV4, 10pm)
Keanu Reeves is computer hacker Neo, a man with an impossible mission (or so it seems). He’s charged with saving the world and enlightening the human race to the fact that reality, as they know it, isn’t all that it appears. It turns out everyone is living in a computer simulation, but Neo is suddenly plucked out of the hi-tech illusion by a team of freedom fighters determined to reveal the truth. At the time of its release, The Matrix made a huge impact, thanks to its groundbreaking special effects and top-notch action. Although a slew of copycat films and some unnecessarily convoluted sequels have dulled the impact a little, it remains an eye-popping movie.
THURSDAY Taken (2008) (Film4, 9pm)
At the time, Liam Neeson seemed an unlikely choice for leading man in this fast-paced jaunt through the French capital, but he proved himself to be a charismatic and convincing action hero and launched a new phase in his career. He stars as a merciless avenger who will stop at nothing to rescue his daughter from the clutches of sex traffickers. The boulevards of Paris are littered with dead bodies by the time the end credits roll as the invincible hero relentlessly pursues his quarry, snapping arms as if they were dry twigs. The action set-pieces are well choreographed, including a breakneck car chase and some bonecrunching fist fights that recall Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne forays for ferocity and slick editing.
A United Kingdom (2016) (BBC4, 9pm)
Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), heir apparent to the nation of Bechuanaland (now Botswana), is studying law in 1947 London before returning home to lead his people. At a dance, Seretse falls in love with
typist Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), whose bigoted father George (Nicholas Lyndhurst) would never condone the flourishing romance. Paternal rage pales next to the indignation of Alistair Canning (Jack Davenport), the British government’s representative in southern Africa. Unperturbed, they wed and Ruth accompanies Seretse to Bechuanaland, where she faces hostility from his relatives. Meanwhile, the British – represented by snivelling district commissioner Rufus Lancaster (Tom Felton) – and the South African government use underhand tactics to separate the lovebirds.
FRIDAY You Were Never Really Here (2017) (Film4, 11.20pm)
Based on Jonathan Ames’ novella of the same title, You Were
Never Really Here is a brutal and unflinching revenge thriller from writer-director Lynne Ramsay. Traumatised war veteran Joe (Joaquin Phoenix in a fearless and at times heart-breaking performance) cares for his ailing mother (Judith Roberts) in his childhood home. By day, he wrestles with an addiction to painkillers and, by night, he accepts hitman assignments from associate John McCleary (John Doman). Joe accepts a meeting with a senator whose teenage daughter is missing. The politician has received a tip-off by text that his beautiful girl is a sex slave in a brothel located in the Kips Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan.
The Green Mile (1999) (5STAR, 9pm)
Tom Hanks and Michael Clark Duncan star in this riveting, Oscarnominated prison film, set in the 1930s. Hanks is a compassionate guard on Death Row, who has seen too many men breathe their last; Duncan (who died in 2012) plays a sensitive, gentle-giant healer who has been accused of the murder of two little white girls and faces going to the electric chair. Hanks and his colleagues have never met anyone like him before and at his huge hands they witness the supernatural. The film, directed by Frank Darabont, and was based on a Stephen King story, as was Darabont’s previous film, The Shawshank Redemption.