Your Movie Planner

SUNDAY The Towering Inferno (1974) 15 ◆ 2.10PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★

Paul Newman, Steve McQueen (above) and Faye Dunaway share billing in this epic disaster movie in which the world’s tallest building goes up in flames during the opening celebration.

Kubo And The Two Strings (2016) PG 2.15PM, RTÉ2

● ★★★★★ Bafta-winning stop-motion animation from the American studio Laika, with Art Parkinson as a one-eyed boy with powers over origami who must embark on a quest.

Donnie Brasco (1997) 18 ▲ 9PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★★

Gritty mob drama from Mike Newell, who also made lighter fare such as Four Weddings And A Funeral (Wednesday, 11.35pm, Film4). Johnny Depp stars as Brasco, the player introduced to ‘the family’ by Al Pacino’s old-timer – but he is hiding a dangerous secret.

Doineann (2021) 15 ◆ 10PM, BBC2 ★★★★

Peter Coonan takes the lead in this Irishlanguage mystery thriller, playing a TV producer who returns to his holiday home on a remote island to find no trace whatsoever of his wife and their baby.

Ali (2001) 15 ◆ 11.30PM, BBC2 ★★★★

Will Smith leaves his leading man looks in the dressing room in Michael Mann’s visually effective biopic of iconic boxer Muhammad Ali. The film itself is fairly typical of the genre, but Smith’s Oscarnominated performance (above) punches well above its weight.

The Eagle 1AM, CH4 ★★★

(2011) 12 ◆

What did the Romans ever do for us? They provided the perfect excuse for epics such as this – a blustering tale based on Rosemary Sutcliff’s children’s novel. Channing Tatum is the centurion searching Britain for the eagle standard once lost by his father’s legion.

MONDAY

Last Orders (2001) 15 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 ★★★★

This adaptation of Graham Swift’s novel has a heavyweight cast of Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Tom Courtenay, David Hemmings and Helen Mirren. It’s a journey into the past for four friends as they gather to reminisce – about lives and pints shared.

As Good As It Gets (1997) 15 ◆ 9PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★★

Helen Hunt gives Jack Nicholson sass in the story of grumpy, misanthropic writer Melvin (Nicholson, below), his gay neighbour (Greg Kinnear) and the waitress (Hunt) who draws Melvin out of himself. Hunt and Nicholson both won Oscars for their performances.

Equus (1977) 15 ◆ 9PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★

Richard Burton had hoped that playing the psychiatrist in this adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s stage play would revive his career. While he did receive an Oscar nomination, it was one of his last acclaimed roles.

Phantom Thread (2017) 12 ◆ 9.30PM, TG4 ★★★★★

Celebrated British dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) falls in love with Alma (Vicky Krieps, above with DayLewis), a shy but strong-willed waitress who refuses to conform to his meticulous way of living in Paul Thomas Anderson’s taut, Oscar-winning drama, co-starring Lesley Manville in typically top form.

The Social Network (2010) 12 ◆ 11.40PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★★

Tightly scripted by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, this drama charts the rise of Facebook, which started life at Harvard. Jesse Eisenberg (above) is Mark Zuckerberg.

TUESDAY Went The Day Well? (1942) PG

● 4.05PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★

This Second World War drama, starring Basil Sydney and Leslie Banks (above), was inspired by the short story The Lieutenant Died Last, written by Graham Greene in 1940. Here, an English village fights back after it’s occupied by German paratroopers.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (2009) 12 ◆ 6.10PM, FILM4 ★★★

Suitably loud and fun follow-up to Michael Bay’s sci-fi fantasy, based on the original two-in-one toy range. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox star.

Gone In 60 Seconds (2000) 15 ◆ 9PM, 5STAR ★★★

A daft reboot of a 1974 car theft thriller, with Nicolas Cage roping in his buddies to help him to pull off an audacious crime to save his brother’s life. Angelina Jolie (above, with Cage) and Christopher Eccleston also star.

Disturbing The Peace (2020) 15 ◆ 9PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★

Guy Pearce (left) is the latest in a long line of cinema lawmen to lay down his guns after tragedy strikes, only to have to pick them up again when danger threatens. This time, it’s outlaw bikers who soon realise they’ve come to the wrong town.

Alpha Dog (2006) 15 ◆ 10.50PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★

True-crime drama starring Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake and Olivia Wilde in a story of underage excess as California kids live a life of sex, drugs and, ultimately, murder.

WEDNESDAY The Swimmer (1968) PG ● 4.35PM, GREAT! MOVIES ★★★★

Burt Lancaster stars as Ned Merrill, taking a dip in as many pools as he can all over a quiet suburban town. What he finds reveals as much about 1960s US society as it does about Ned. Lancaster cited this film as his favourite and his performance a career best.

Red (2010) 12 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 ★★★

Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren (below) and Morgan Freeman are the ‘Retired and Extremely Dangerous’ operatives who are drawn back into the field in this comedy actioner. Former CIA man Frank (Willis) is bored with the quiet life – until an assassination squad raids his house.

Hostile Witness (1969) U ● 9.05PM, TALKING PICTURES TV ★★★

Ray Milland both directs and stars in this solid courtroom thriller. He plays distinguished barrister Simon Crawford, who finds himself in the dock when the man suspected of killing his daughter in a hit-and-run accident winds up dead. But is he guilty or not guilty?

The Queen v Patrick O’Donnell (2021) 15 ◆ 9.30PM, TG4 ★★★★★

True-life drama about one of the most compelling murder plots in Irish history, that of a quiet-spoken Donegal man who killed the infamous informer James Carey in 1883.

Rambo: Last Blood (2019) 18 ▲ 10PM, CH5 ★★★

Thirty-seven years after Vietnam vet Rambo first exploded on to the screen, Sylvester Stallone (right) proved there was life in the old war dog yet – here, he confronts his past to exact revenge in a final mission.

Four Weddings And A Funeral (1994) 15 ◆ 11.35PM, FILM4 ★★★★

Much-loved British romcom, written by Richard Curtis and starring Hugh Grant as a ‘serial monogamist’. Andie MacDowell is the American lady who catches his eye.

THURSDAY The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) PG ● 9PM, ITV4 ★★★

Arguably the best of the Roger Moore James Bond movies, this has everything you would expect from a 007 film of the era – less spying, more stunts, and a villain (Richard Kiel’s metal-mouthed Jaws, above, with Moore) you can’t help loving.

Black And Blue (2019) 15 ◆ 9PM, FILM4 ★★★

Slick action thriller with James Bond’s Naomie Harris as a rookie New Orleans police officer who not only witnesses three of her colleagues committing a murder, but also captures the killing on her body camera. And now, everyone wants that footage. Run!

The Guard (2011) 15 ◆ RTÉ2, 9.30PM ★★★★

Brendan Gleeson (above) is on top form as a laidback garda whose easygoing life is disrupted by a drug-smuggling operation and an uptight FBI agent (Don Cheadle). Comedy thriller from John Michael McDonagh.

Iris (2001) 15 ◆ 10.55PM, BBC4 ★★★★

Richard Eyre’s acclaimed adaptation of John Bayley’s memoir of his marriage to author Iris Murdoch (played by Kate Winslet, above, as a young woman and later by Judi Dench). It’s a moving drama following John (Jim Broadbent) as he nurses his talented wife through dementia.

My Left Foot (1989) 15 ◆ 11.25PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★★

Jim Sheridan’s Oscar-winning biopic of writer and artist Christy Brown, who had cerebral palsy and learned to write and draw with his foot. Daniel Day-Lewis is superb.

FRIDAY West Side Story (1961) PG ● 3.10PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★★

Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s Oscar-winning musical based on Romeo And Juliet starring Natalie Wood (below with Richard Beymer).

Shane (1953) PG ● 9.20PM, TG4 ★★★★★

Remembered – correctly – as one of the greatest Western movies of all time, this tale of a mysterious gunfighter helping downtrodden homesteaders is a smallscale, low-key drama of virtue, courage and sacrifice. Knives Out

(2019) 12 ◆

9.30PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★★ A rollicking fun tale in the Agatha Christie mould sees a crime writer’s demise spark family feuds at a grand old house. Daniel Craig excels as a Southern-gent detective.

The Hunt For Red October (1990) PG ● 10.30PM, CH5 ★★★★

Edge-of-theseat Cold War action, adapted from Tom Clancy’s novel and directed by John McTiernan (Die Hard). Sean Connery (above) is the Soviet captain of a nuclear sub, who goes rogue with his state-ofthe-art vessel and worryingly pilots it towards the US.

Boyz N The Hood (1991) 15 ◆ 12.05AM, BBC1 ★★★★

John Singleton’s influential urban drama was inspired by his own background. Cuba Gooding Jr and Ice Cube (above) star as the friends growing up in a tough neighbourhood of LA.

SATURDAY How To Train Your Dragon (2010) PG ● 6.35PM, RTÉ ONE ★★★★

Jay Baruchel voices clumsy viking Hiccup, who comes to believe his people have misjudged the dragons they wage war on. Top animated adventure from Dreamworks.

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) 12 ◆ 9PM, CH4 ★★★

In a future world where cyborgs compete in gladiatorial combat sports, one such mech (Rosa Salazar) proves to possess a rare fighting ability. Robert Rodriguez’s take on Yukito Kishiro’s manga.

The Crying Game (1992) 18 ◆ 9.20PM, TG4 ★★★★★

Neil Jordan’s acclaimed thriller stars Stephen Rea as a Provisional IRA member who falls for the lover of a British soldier he held hostage – with devastating results. Miranda Richardson also stars.

Vantage Point (2008) (12) ◆ 10.45PM, RTÉ2 ★★★

A Presidential assassination attempt is told from eight di erent perspectives (including those of bystander Forest Whitaker, above, and Secret Service man Dennis Quaid) in this twisty action thriller – an ambitious idea, but it just ties itself up in knots.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) 12 ◆ 10.45PM, UTV ★★★★

As a new Hellboy film hits cinemas, hopes are high that it will be as thrilling as Guillermo del Toro’s films. Ron Perlman stars as the big red hero.

Bridge Of Spies (2015) 12 ◆ 11.30PM, CH4 ★★★★

Steven Spielberg’s tense and strongly acted cold War legal thriller stars tom Hanks (right) as the US lawyer defending a man (mark Rylance) accused of being a spy for the Soviets.