Your Movie Planner
SUNDAY
Congo (1995) 12
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2.25PM, CH4 ★★★
Revival of the jungle adventure tale, more popular in the 1940s and 1950s, this stars Laura Linney and Dylan Walsh (above) as two scientists on an expedition to the Congo, where they become the endangered species. It’s silly but thoroughly enjoyable.
Back To The Future (1985) PG
● 2.30PM, FILM4 ★★★★
The first film in Robert Zemeckis’s nearperfect time-travelling trilogy. Michael J. Fox, then known only for his TV work, is the teenager sent back in time by his eccentric scientist pal, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd).
Home Alone (1990) PG
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5.55PM, E4 ★★★★
Cute as a button but a bit of a handful, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) makes a criminal duo regret trying to rob his house when he’s left on his own over Christmas.
Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe (1991) PG
● 6.40PM, VIRGIN THREE ★★★★
An Oscar-nominated Jessica Tandy plays an old-timer in the American South who recalls the bigotry she encountered during her youth in the 1930s.
Inception (2010) 12 ◆
9PM, RTé2 ★★★★★
Corporate spy Leonardo DiCaprio (above) is hired to implant a destructive idea in the mind of the heir to an energy empire (Cillian Murphy) in this inventive thriller from Tenet director Christopher Nolan.
Oblivion
(2013) 12 ◆
10.40PM, ITV4 ★★★
Slow-burn, post-apocalyptic sci-fi starring Tom Cruise as the man who has his version of the world blown to smithereens. You’ve seen it all before, but Cruise and co-stars Morgan Freeman and Andrea Riseborough add star quality.
MONDAY
His Perfect Obsession (2018) 12 2.20PM, CH5 ★★
Allison and her blind daughter, Abigail, set off for a fresh start after a bereavement. Returning to her sleepy home town, things start to look up when local accountant Bart, a childhood friend of Allison’s, offers kindness and friendship. But soon Allison has cause to regret her change of location…
Phantom Thread (2017) 15 ◆
9PM, TG4 ★★★★★
Paul Thomas Anderson’s made-tomeasure melodrama is an ideal swansong for Daniel Day-Lewis (above) should it prove to be the final film of the actor’s career. He plays Reynolds Woodcock, a renowned dress designer whose meticulous lifestyle undergoes a drastic change when he falls for waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps).
Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) 15 ◆
10.05PM, ITV4 ★★★
A daft petrolhead reboot of the 1974 carnapping thriller, with Nicolas Cage (above) roping in buddies to help him to pull off an audacious crime to save his brother’s life. Angelina Jolie also stars.
Brassed Off
(1996) 15 ◆
11.30PM, FILM4 ★★★★
It’s the romance, the comedy and the brass-band music that sell this coal-town tale. Tara Fitzgerald is the Yorkshire lass returning to her roots, where she plays the flugelhorn with conductor Pete Postlethwaite (above) and falls for the tenor horn (Ewan McGregor).
TUESDAY
The Huntsman: Winter’s War (2016) 12 ◆ 9PM, E4 ★★★
Both a sequel and a prequel, this stars Emily Blunt as Freya, the sister of evil Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron, above right, with Jessica Chastain) – whose cold heart spells trouble for the fairest in the land. The first film is on Monday at 9pm on Film4.
All The Money In
The World (2017)
15 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 ★★★ Christopher Plummer stars as billionaire J. Paul Getty in this drama about the 1973 kidnapping of his grandson. Michelle Williams (left) is the teen’s worried mum, while Mark
Wahlberg is the former CIA man sent from America to Italy to fix things.
I Walk Alone (1947) PG
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10PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★ The film that got the team together, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in their first screen pairing. In this Prohibition-era noir, they play rum-running brothers who get caught – but not before striking a deal that one will do the time while the other goes free.
Smokey And The Bandit (1977) PG
● 10.40PM, ITV4 ★★★★
The critics may not have liked it, but Alfred Hitchcock apparently regarded this good-natured caper as one of his favourite films. Burt Reynolds is the trucker hired to transport a stash of beer across the US – with Jackie Gleason’s sheriff hot on his heels.
Our Kind Of Traitor (2016) 15 ◆
11.40PM, FILM4 ★★★
Adaptation of a John le Carré novel, following dirty money from Russia into the legitimate banking system. Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris (above) are the English couple getting tangled up in this messy business.
WEDNESDAY
Non-Stop (2014) 12
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9PM, MORE4 ★★★
Liam Neeson’s (below) second-wind action career soars to new heights in this solid airborne thriller. Neeson is a US air marshal who has to deal with a midair emergency after a terrorist holds a plane and its passengers to ransom. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery co-stars.
Death Wish (1974) 18
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10PM, ITV4 ★★★★
Michael Winner’s brutal thriller stars Charles Bronson as the man setting out for bloody revenge on the criminals who destroyed his family. It made Bronson a force to be reckoned with, and is responsible for a slew of cheap and nasty vigilante thriller copycats.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
(1989) PG ● 11.05PM, CH5 ★★★★
The classic slacker comedy stars Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves (below) as high-schoolers getting first-hand help with a history assignment in a timetravelling telephone box. The first sequel, Bogus Journey, is on Thursday at 11.05pm on Ch5; the belated second sequel, Face The Music, is in cinemas this week.
Ingrid Goes West (2017) 15 ◆ 11.05PM, 5STAR ★★★
Black comedy with a perfectly cast Aubrey Plaza as the oddball who moves to Los Angeles and befriends a social media influencer (Elizabeth Olsen) under false pretences – after kidnapping her dog.
Adore
(2013) 15 ◆
1.50AM, CH4 ★★★
Robin Wright and Naomi Watts star as middle-aged women whose friendship is tested when each has an affair with the other woman’s son. A dreamy psychological study, rather than a steamy sex drama.
THURSDAY
How Green Was My Valley (1941) U ● 1.40PM, FILM4 ★★★★
John Ford directs this much-lauded drama – which pipped Citizen Kane to the Best Picture Oscar, and is an adaptation of the 1939 novel by Richard Llewellyn. Maureen O’Hara (above) stars as one of the members of a hard-working family in a Welsh coal mining town.
My Stepfather’s Secret (2019) 12
◆ 2.20PM, CH5 ★★
Bailey, a college student, comes home to find her widowed mother head over heels in love with new man Hugo. Bailey is suspicious, especially when she discovers Hugo up to no good in her bedroom.
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) PG ● 11.05PM, CH5 ★★★★
The second outing for the air guitar airheads is another mostly excellent adventure (the third film is currently in cinemas). The plot sees the evil De Nomolos (Joss Ackland) send two robot replicas of the duo (Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves) back in time to stop their rock group winning the all-important Battle of the Bands.
Bait (2019) 15
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11.20PM, FILM4 ★★★★
This low-budget, experimental drama, shot on black-and-white 16mm film, could have been unwatchable. But it succeeds by being bold and creative, as well as being grounded in a recognisable tension – namely between Cornish locals and the tourists they have been forced to rely upon.
Scarface
(1983) 18 ▲
11.40PM, ITV4 ★★★★
Al Pacino is electrifying as Cuban immigrant Tony Montana (above) in Brian De Palma’s gangster classic. Pacino plays Montana’s violent and bloody rise from dropout to druglord with incredible and mesmerising agility. Michelle Pfeiffer is Montana’s trophy wife.
FRIDAY
Galaxy Quest (1999) PG ●
9PM, 5STAR ★★★★
Sigourney Weaver (below), Tim Allen and Alan Rickman are the fading TV sci-fi stars boldly going into the unknown when aliens mistake their corny show for the real thing. A gloriously silly parody that is full of knowing references for Star Trek fans.
Den Of Thieves (2018) 15
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9PM, VIRGIN ONE ★★★
An elite unit of the Los Angeles county sheriffs’ department investigates a series of heists, and uncovers a criminal gang composed of military veterans, whose strategic experience make them an elusive foe.
Selma (2014) 12
10PM, RTé2 ★★★★
David Oyelowo puts in a career-defining performance as Dr Martin Luther King in this historical drama about the marches that changed America. Tom Wilkinson plays President Lyndon B. Johnson.
The Lone Ranger (2013) 12 ◆
10.45PM, BBC1 ★★★
Gore Verbinski resurrects the old US radio serial, by way of its TV spin-off, in ambitious style – with a showstopping train sequence. Armie Hammer is the masked man, with Johnny Depp as his sidekick, Tonto, and Helena Bonham Carter as a helpful madam (below).
The Drop (2014) 15
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12.05AM, CH4 ★★★
Satisfying crime drama, penned by Dennis Lehane. Tom Hardy stars as a Brooklyn bartender, skirting the edges of crime as trouble and violence escalate around him.
Bullitt (1968) 15
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1.10AM, RTé ONE ★★★★
It’s one of the films that turned Steve McQueen into an icon and features arguably the best car chase in cinema history. The actor plays a cop assigned to protect a witness due to testify against a crime syndicate.
SATURDAY
The Jungle Book (2016) PG
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6.35PM, RTé ONE ★★★★
Arguably the best of Disney’s live-action remakes of its animated classics features the voices of Bill Murray and Ben Kingsley. It’s the tale of a boy raised by animals in the jungle.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) 12 ◆ 9.15PM, RTé2 ★★★★★ Felicity Jones and Diego Luna (both below) star in the grittiest instalment in the sci-fi saga. Set before the events of the first film, it follows the plot to steal the plans for the Death Star.
Game Night (2018) 15 ◆
9.30PM, RTé ONE ★★★★
Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams and Sharon Horgan are among the game cast of this fun black comedy. A group of friends’ games night turns into a real-life mystery when one of them is kidnapped.
The Break-Up (2006) (12) ◆
10.35PM, TG4 ★★★
A couple’s relationship comes to an end, but neither wants to give up their home, forcing them to carry on living together. Comedy drama, starring Jennifer Aniston (below) and Vince Vaughn.
Papadopoulos & Sons (2012) (15) ◆
12.05AM, BBC1 ★★★
A Greek millionaire loses everything in a financial crisis, and is forced to help his brother run a fish and chip shop. Comedy, starring Stephen Dillane, Georgia Groome and Georges Corraface.