The Herald - The Herald Magazine
PICK OF TV MOVIES
SATURDAY
The Apartment (1960) (BBC2, 1pm)
Lonely clerk CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon) comes up with an unusual way to climb the career ladder at his faceless corporation – he lends his apartment to his superiors to use for their extramarital liaisons. However, while he may be promised promotions, he starts to have misgivings when he falls for the charms of elevator operator Fran (Shirley MacLaine), who turns out to be having an affair with Baxter’s smarmy boss (Fred MacMurray). Directed by Billy Wilder, this comedy drama is genuinely funny and frequently poignant, but also has plenty of satirical bite, most of which is aimed at office politics. No wonder it picked up five Oscars, including Best Picture.
Knives Out (2019) (C4, 9pm)
Wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) presides over a motley crew of dysfunctional relatives (played by, among others, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans and Toni Collette) who have their beady eyes on his vast fortune. He invites his kin to an 85th birthday party at his large mansion and apparently commits suicide by slitting his throat after doting carer Marta Cabrera has given Harlan his medication. Detective Lieutenant Elliott and Trooper Wagner attend the scene, accompanied by quixotic private detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). Knives Out pays loving tribute to Agatha Christie with a tongue-incheek country house whodunit, and writer-director Rian Johnson enjoys pulling the rug from under us.
SUNDAY
Patrick (2018) (C4, 1.30pm)
Beattie Edmondson shares the screen with her mother Jennifer Saunders in a feelgood, family-friendly comedy directed by Mandie Fletcher (Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie). Sarah Francis (Edmondson) was bequeathed a spoilt pug called Patrick by her grandmother and the animal has completely taken over the singleton’s life. The lease on her flat specifies no pets so Sarah keeps Patrick’s existence secret from the landlord. Her new teaching job forces her to spend most of the day in school while Patrick destroys the contents of the flat. In desperation, Sarah turns to a handsome vet for advice and kindles sparks of romance. The little dog, which is usually responsible for turning Sarah’s world into a battle zone, helps her to take control of her life and explore exciting new opportunities.
Long Shot (2019) (BBC1, 12.25am)
When he was 13, journalist Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) fell hopelessly under the spell of his 16-year-old babysitter. Decades later, the girl of his hormone-addled dreams,
Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), is Secretary of State for the United States, who has just been endorsed by President Chambers (Bob Odenkirk) as his successor. Luckily for Fred, Charlotte needs an idealist to add verbal firepower to her speeches and she asks him to join her on the long and winding road to the White
House. Directed by Jonathan Levine, Long Shot is a crowd-pleasing comedy of burning political ambitions and shameless media intrusion. Gender parity and climate change are easy targets for scriptwriters Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah and they land punchlines with forcible precision.
MONDAY
Gloria Bell (2018) (BBC2, 11.15pm)
In 2013, Chilean film-maker Sebastian Lelio directed the Oscar-nominated drama Gloria about a 58-year-old divorcee embracing life after her family has flown the nest. He helms this English language remake co-written by Alice Johnson Boher, which transplants the soul-searching to the bright lights of Los Angeles. Now her son Peter and daughter
Anne are grown up, and her ex-husband Dustin has a new wife, Gloria Bell (Julianne Moore) decides to actively search for romantic diversions. During one of these dalliances, she meets paintball instructor Arnold (John Turturro) and they begin to date. Gloria introduces Arnold to her friends and loved ones but her close relationship with Dustin is a cause for concern to Arnold.
TUESDAY
Total Recall (1990) (ITV4, 9pm)
Doug Quaid (Arnold
Schwarzenegger) is a construction worker in 2084 who dreams of going to Mars. Rather than make the journey, he turns to a company that specialises in implanting fake holiday memories, only to discover that his mind has already been tampered with and that he may have been there for real. To find his true identity, he sets off on a trip to the red planet and does battle with its evil governor. Paul Verhoeven’s gory thriller was billed as one of the first great sci-fi films of the 1990s, and it certainly lived up to that promise. Loosely based on Philip K
Dick’s short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall is fast, furious and far more memorable than the 2012 remake.
Baby Driver (2017) (GREAT! movies, 9pm) Director Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver is a high-octane crime caper which gleefully burns rubber to a toe-tapping soundtrack. Ansel Elgort plays Baby, who has suffered from tinnitus since he was involved in the horrific car accident that killed his parents. To drown out the ringing, he listens to music at a deafening volume, which allows him to focus on his duties as a getaway driver for criminal mastermind Doc (Kevin Spacey). For his final drive, Baby must assist Buddy (Jon Hamm), his fiery girlfriend
Darling (Eiza Gonzalez) and triggerhappy Bats (Jamie Foxx) in pilfering millions of dollars. As the plan takes shape, Baby kindles a romance with
diner waitress Debora (Lily James), who is desperate to leave town. Baby’s cut from the robbery should give them a way out, presuming Doc’s plan doesn’t go awry...
WEDNESDAY
The Firm (1993) (Film4, 9pm)
High-achieving Harvard law graduate Mitch (Tom Cruise) takes a lucrative job at a small but very profitable firm, despite his wife’s misgivings (Jeanne Tripplehorn) that it all seems a little too good to be true. She also notices that her husband’s new bosses are a bit too interested in their employees’ family lives. It turns out she was right to be suspicious as Mitch discovers the highclass company is controlled by the Mafia, putting his own life in danger. The Firm is based on a John Grisham legal thriller, but the plot loses something in the move from page to screen. Luckily, the movie manages to compensate with great performance from a stacked cast, including Gene Hackman, Wilford Brimley, Ed Harris and an Oscar-nominated Holly Hunter.
THURSDAY
The King’s Speech (2010) (BBC4, 9pm)
Bertie (Colin Firth), the younger son of King George V, suffers from a stammer that makes public speaking an ordeal. His wife Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter) enlists eccentric Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to help, but their sessions take on a new urgency when Edward VIII (Guy Pearce) abdicates and Bertie, now known as King George VI, faces the prospect of addressing a country on the brink of war. There’s a reason this film picked up four Oscars – including a welldeserved Best Actor statuette for Firth – and was nominated for eight more. It’s a fascinating tale, expertly and movingly told, while the flashes of humour and some unexpectedly colourful language mean it never feels too staid.
Brief Encounter (1945) (BBC4, 10.50pm) Housewife Laura Jesson (Celia Johnson) gets a nasty piece of grit in her eye at a railway station and consequently meets a handsome doctor, Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard). Her sight restored and her heart racing, Laura kindles a smouldering attraction to the dashing medic and deliberates cheating on her husband Fred (Cyril Raymond). The strangers agree to meet again and spin a thin web of lies to friends in order to conceal their true feelings. But can the pair really act on their growing passion for each other? David Lean’s seminal 1945 weepie remains one of the most achingly romantic stories committed to celluloid, with Johnson showing the turmoil beneath her character’s proper exterior.
FRIDAY
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) (BBC2, 1pm)
Unassuming bank worker Henry Holland (Alec Guinness) meets souvenir manufacturer Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and comes up with a devilishly good idea. Together, they can steal a million in gold bullion from Holland’s bank, melt it down, turn it into ornaments in the shape of the Eifel Tower, and smuggle it out of the country. They even recruit a couple of experienced criminals to help, but despite their best laid plans, the heist goes awry. The Lavender Hill Mob is one of the best comedies to come out of the golden age of Ealing studios. As well as an ingenious plot and a witty script, it boasts a pre-Carry On Sid James in a supporting role, and even a blink-andyou’ll-miss-her appearance by a thenunknown Audrey Hepburn.