FRIDAY’S BEST PICKS
8 PM ( USA) MOVIE Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and voice actor Bradley Cooper are among the lead players from the original 2014 blockbuster who return for this 2017 Marvel superhero sequel. In the new story, Peter Quill (Pratt) begins to unravel the truth behind his mysterious parentage after he and his fellow Guardians are hired by a powerful alien race as protection from invaders. Kurt Russell, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan and Sylvester Stallone also are featured in the film, which received an Oscar nomination for its visual effects.
8 PM ( AMC) MOVIE Unstoppable Denzel Washington has worked several times with action-specialist director Tony Scott (“Crimson Tide”), and they reteam on this effective, fact-inspired 2010 thriller that puts fresh spins on a time-tested premise of a train that’s out of control. Washington plays an experienced engineer who’s training a newcomer (Chris Pine, “Star Trek”) when they become the only hope of stopping a chemical-laden locomotive hurtling toward a town.
8 PM ( SHO) MOVIE The Truth Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda wrote and directed this sensitive 2019 drama starring Catherine Deneuve as Fabienne Dangeville, a celebrated French actress who has just written her highly anticipated memoirs. Fabienne’s screenwriter daughter Lumir (Juliette Binoche) is dismayed to discover the book has been published before she had a chance to read it, and she’s further irritated to notice that Fabienne has written about their stormy motherdaughter relationship as something out of a fairy tale. Ethan Hawke, Ludivine Sagnier and Clémentine Grenier also star.
8 PM ( STRZ) MOVIE Public Enemies Depression-era gangster John Dillinger lives again, through Johnny Depp, in writer-director Michael Mann’s (“Heat”) drama about the then-fledgling FBI’s campaign to establish itself by targeting the top criminals of the time. Christian Bale also stars as federal agent Melvin Purvis, dispatched by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) to catch Dillinger. Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (“La
Vie en Rose”) plays a woman who also catches Dillinger in her own way.
8 PM ( LMN) MOVIE The Wrong Fiancé When her boss, Charlotte (Vivica A. Fox), sends her out of town on a photography assignment, Abby (Jessica Morris) realizes this trip just might present the perfect opportunity for her to escape the relentless harassment she’s suffering from her violent ex-fiancé, Richard (Jason-Shane Scott). It doesn’t take long, however, for Abby to discover escaping Richard won’t be anywhere near that easy in this 2021 thriller. Michael Paré and Gina Hiraizumi also star.
9 PM ^ Frontline In her new film “A
Thousand Cuts,” filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz looks at actions being taken in the Philippines by President Rodrigo Duterte. He has firmly cracked down on the press, especially independent journalist Maria Ressa, who currently faces jail time for reporting that displeases Duterte.
10:30 PM ( HBO) MOVIE Chronicle Superpowers aren’t necessarily a benefit if you don’t know how to use them properly, as the three comrades at the heart of this 2012 sci-fi tale learn rather quickly. Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan play the central trio, which largely uses the “Blair Witch Project”-“Cloverfield” approach of amateur videotaping to show the events as they unfold. The result effectively depicts ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.