Your Movie Planner

SUNDAY

Babe (1995) U ● 1.50PM, UTV HHHH

Babe might be a plump little piglet, but he has aspirations to be a sheepdog and keep the farmer’s flock in line (above). Based on a Dick King-Smith book, this Aussie family film boasts snazzy and seamless visual effects that bring the farmyard to life. Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian (2009) PG ● 2PM, CH4 HHH

Having survived a night at the American Museum of Natural History, Ben Stiller now has his own business. But he cannot resist a distress call from Jedediah and friends – it seems things aren’t so fine and dandy at their new home, the Smithsonian in Washington...

Bill (2015) PG

● 3.05PM, BBC1 HHHH

The team from CBBC’s Horrible Histories – and, more recently, the BBC1 sitcom Ghosts – take to the big screen to tell the absurd, funny and deceptively educational story of how young William ‘Bill’ Shakespeare (Mathew Baynton, above) put ink in his quill. Rosie (2018) 12 ◆

9.30PM, RTé ONE HHHH

Novelist Roddy Doyle provided the screenplay for this hard-hitting drama. Sarah Greene takes the title role as a mother who is trying to find a place for her family to stay after their landlord sells their home. Sexy Beast (2000) 18 ▲ 12.10AM, CH4 HHHH

Ray Winstone (right) is the retired safecracker enjoying the Spanish sun with his wife (Amanda Redman). But their days of daubing tanning oil on their roasting bodies are brought to an end by Ben Kingsley’s psycho, who wants him for one last job. Stylish and edgy, with great performances.

MONDAY

The Greatest Show On Earth (1952)

U ● 1.05PM, FILM4 HHHH

Cecil B. DeMille’s name endures for good reason: he made some of the biggest, most flamboyant films ever. This Oscarwinner is no exception, a bombastic, crowd-pleasing drama with Charlton Heston as ringleader of a troupe of overwrought circus artistes. The Krays (1990) 18 ▲ 9PM, ITV4 HHHH

This gritty crime biopic – starring Spandau Ballet’s Gary and Martin Kemp (above) – was a big hit. The real-life brothers star as Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the violent, cruel twin gangster kings who ruled London’s East End during the Swinging Sixties. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

(1966) 15 ◆

9PM, PARAMOUNT HHHH

Sergio Leone’s Dollars spaghetti western trilogy reaches a peak with this epic that has three familiar bounty hunters – in order, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach – chasing after a stash of Confederate gold. A tour de force of rugged storytelling. Minority Report (2002) 12

◆ 9PM, SKY ONE HHHH

Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi crime thriller is a slick thrill ride in which the storytelling matches the fantasy. Tom Cruise (above, with Samantha Morton) stars as a cop policing crime before it happens – and spotting a suspicious glitch in the system. No Country For Old Men (2007) 15 ◆ 9.30PM, TG4 HHHHH

Brutal game of cat-andmouse from the Coen brothers. Josh Brolin (above) is the hunter pocketing the money from a drug deal gone wrong, then realising that he is being hunted himself – by Javier Bardem’s ruthless hitman.

TUESDAY

Tiger Bay (1959) PG

● 12.50PM, FILM4 HHHH

A remarkable debut by Hayley Mills (above) as a girl who forms a potentially dangerous relationship with a murderer. Dad John plays a copper on the case, whose questions – and the girl’s subsequent devious answers

– spin things ever deeper, ever darker.. A Will To Kill: Hailey Dean Mysteries (2018) PG ● 2.20PM, CH5 HH

Throughout this series of mystery films, Hailey (Kellie Martin) has often cast her mind back to the murder of her fiancé back in college. In this instalment, she returns to that college when a student goes missing. To The Stars (2019) 12 ◆ 7.05PM, SKY PREMIERE HHH

PREMIERE Comingout drama set in 1960s American farming country. Liana Liberato is Maggie (above), the confident new girl in a sleepy Oklahoma town, who helps bookish recluse Iris (Kara Hayward) to stand up to school bullies and wake up to her sexuality. Crimson Tide (1995) 15 ◆ 9PM, ITV4 HHHH

Action supremo Jerry Bruckheimer coproduced this submarine thriller, with Tony Scott directing. Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington are the Navy officers at war over whether to launch a nuclear attack against the Russians in a tense and well-acted drama.

Black Hawk Down (2001) 15

◆ 11.25PM, ITV4 HHH Ridley Scott’s harrowing war film chronicles the infamous Battle of Mogadishu, which should have been a simple case of ‘get in, get out’, but turned into a devastating fight. Josh Hartnett (above) and Brian Van Holt are among the soldiers fighting for their lives.

WEDNESDAY

Friends Who Kill (2020) 12 ◆ 2.20PM, CH5 HH

After her divorce, Hope is concerned that her daughter, Lacy, has become distant, so is relieved when Lacy makes a new friend. Unfortunately, that new friend, Cassie, will prove to be a dangerous and deadly influence. Ghostbusters (2016) 12 ◆ 6.15PM , FILM 4 HHHH

Entertaining reboot in which female phantom-hunters – Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Kate McKinnon (above) – tackle paranormal activity with slapstick aplomb. The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) PG ● 8PM, ITV4 HHH

Roger Moore’s second outing as James Bond is even more camp than his first – 1973’s Live And Let Die. Christopher Lee steps into the villain’s shoes as Scaramanga, a man intent on harnessing the power of the sun and, of course, doing away with 007 for good. Heartbreak Ridge (1986) 15 ◆

10.35PM, ITV4 HHH

Routine but satisfying war movie, directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood also stars as a steely veteran who helps a motley bunch of raw recruits to get into shape for battle – and then leads them into the fray. Snowpiercer

(2013) 15 ◆ 11.50PM, FILM4 HHHH Dystopian sci-fi, set aboard a train that carries humanity’s modern-day ice age survivors. It’s one big metaphor, with Chris Evans (right) as the lower-class passenger forcing his way up through the train’s hierarchical carriages. A follow-up TV series is available on Netflix. Drunk Wedding (2015) 18 ▲

12.50AM, CH4 HH

The title says it all. This found-footage comedy farce follows people getting drunk at a wedding. There’s plenty of bad behaviour, most of it sexual, with Brit Christian Cooke about the only recognisable face.

THURSDAY

A Black Hearted Killer (2020) PG

● 2.15PM, CH5 ★★

PREMIERE Organ transplantation is the backdrop for this TV movie thriller, an excuse to unleash a hysterical plan for revenge on a couple who are already reeling from loss.

Mr Brooks (2007) 18

▲

9PM , SONY MOVIE S ★★★

Kevin Costner stars as a serial killer with a soul in this unusual twist on the crime genre. He’s a successful businessman and family man with an urge to kill, whose inner demon has literally come to life – and is played with creepy relish by William Hurt. Role Models

(2008) 15 u

9PM, ITV4 ★★★ Entertaining slacker comedy starring Paul Rudd (left) and Seann William Scott as an aimless pair who, after a brush with the law, avoid jail time by mentoring a bunch of directionless teens. Life lessons beckon as the duo warm to and are put straight by their hard-knock charges. The Martian

(2015) 12 u

9PM, FILM4 ★★★★

Matt Damon is the botanist who is stranded alone on the Red Planet, and has to be resourceful to survive. It’s a gripping story, grounded in science fact as well as science fiction. Nasa holds a funeral for its lost astronaut, but not everyone gives up hope.

Genevieve (1953) U

●

9PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★★ Much-loved British musical comedy about two couples taking part in the London to Brighton veteran car run. Genevieve is a beautiful 1904 Darracq, driven by John Gregson and Dinah Sheridan; they are up against a Spyker, driven by Kenneth More and his latest squeeze. The Man With The Iron Heart (2017) 15 u 10PM, BBC4 ★★★

Dramatisation of Operation Anthropoid, the plot by Czech Resistance operatives to assassinate Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. Jason Clarke plays Heydrich, with Rosamund Pike as his wife, Lina (above).

FRIDAY

Unhinged (2020) 15

u

8PM, SKY PREMIERE ★★★

PREMIERE Caren Pistorius is the mum being menaced, with her teenage son, by Russell Crowe’s rage-filled motorist. And that’s about it. There’s little time spent explaining why he behaves so aggressively before and during the mayhem and violence he unleashes.

Road House (1989) 18

▲

9PM, 5STAR ★★★

Patrick Swayze stars as the bouncer whose cool demeanour and philosophical musings are distinctly at odds with the thugs who are causing trouble at the bar where he works. The Girl In The Spider’s Web (2018) 15 u 9PM, FILM4 ★★★ PREMIERE Claire Foy (right) goes punk to play Lisbeth Salander, the hacker heroine created by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. This is based on David Lagercrantz’s sequel novel, and follows Salander as an avenging angel with very dark wings. Central Intelligence

(2016) 12 u

11.05PM, CH4 ★★★

Enjoyable action comedy starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart as the high-school classmates who are reunited in adulthood. Formerly obese and bullied, Johnson is now a beefy CIA man, who teams up with Hart, the athlete turned bored-to-tears accountant. The Dinner (2017) 15 u

11.25PM, RTé ONE ★★★★

Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall star in this drama about a teacher and his congressman brother who meet for dinner with their wives to discuss the trouble their sons are in.

Philomena (2013) 12 u

12.05PM, BBC1 ★★★★

Fact-based drama following Philomena Lee (Judi Dench) and her 50-year search for the child she gave up for adoption when she was young. Steve Coogan (below, with Dench) co-stars as the journalist who helps her.

SATURDAY

The Vikings

(1958) PG ●

2.40PM, RTé ONE ★★★★★

One of the prolific director Richard Fleischer’s very best, which is saying something, is this good-looking historical adventure with Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh (above). Dark Lies The Island (2019) 15

u

9.40PM, RTé ONE ★★★

Comedy drama following the characters involved in a long-standing family feud in a small Irish town over the course of a week. With Peter Coonan, Moe Dunford and Tommy Tiernan. Fantastic Four (2015) (12) u 11.45PM, CH4 ★★★

Another superhero reboot, and the style here is darker than the 2005 and 2007 films. Miles Teller, Jamie Bell, Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara make up the awesome foursome. War of the Worlds

(2005) (12) u

11.55PM, BBC1 ★★★

A divorced father tries to protect his two children as alien war machines start to wipe out the human race. Sci-fi thriller, with Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. Saturday Night Fever (1977) 15 u 12.25AM, RTé ONE ★★★★

John Travolta (above) plays a streetwise teen seeking an escape from the drudgery of life in Brooklyn’s disco clubs. John Badham’s drama remains surprisingly gritty and intense.