PICK OF TV MOVIES

SATURDAY

The Queen’s Corgi (2019) (C5, 3.25pm) The Duke of Edinburgh (voiced by Tom Courtenay) buys a puppy as a present for the Queen (Julie Walters). Older pets Nelson and Margaret tolerate the young whippersnapper, Rex (Jack Whitehall), but fellow corgi Charlie is incandescent with rage that he has been displaced as top dog. Following a disastrous state visit by US President Donald Trump (Jon Culshaw), Charlie lures Rex to his doom in the icy waters of St James’s Park Lake. Thankfully, the well-to-do corgi survives and a frozen, collarless Rex is taken to an animal shelter. The Queen’s Corgi is a well-groomed, if slightly flat, computer-animated comedy with an impressive voice cast.

Zombieland: Double Tap (2019) (C4, 9.20pm)

Ten years after Ruben Fleischer’s debut feature, comedy horror Zombieland, won numerous awards, the director reunites cast and crew for a bloodthirsty sequel that mines dark humour in the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and her sister Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) have survived for more than a decade, but Wichita and Little Rock decide to leave the safety of the group to forge a new path. Columbus is downhearted to be separated from sweetheart Wichita, but his spirits soar when he meets blonde seductress Madison. An awkward reunion between Columbus and Wichita is interrupted by news that Little Rock has eloped with a pacifist called Berkeley, who is ill-prepared to protect them from zombies...

Crazy Rich Asians (2018) (BBC1, 11.05pm)

New York University lecturer Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is invited by her boyfriend Nick (Henry Golding) to Singapore to attend the wedding of his good friends Colin and Araminta Rachel is blissfully unaware that Nick is the golden boy of Singapore’s wealthiest dynasty headed by ferocious matriarch Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh), who expects her boy to marry into money and is deeply unimpressed with a lowly academic as Nick’s choice of partner. Based on the novel by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians is a frothy romantic comedy full of beautiful, privileged people falling in love across the class divide. Jon M

Chu’s crowd-pleasing confection is a sweet and heartfelt frolic through the battlefields of love, which delivers a full complement of uproarious laughter and tugged heartstrings.

SUNDAY

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) (C4, 2.10pm)

Postponed from last week, this adventure follows 12-year-old Alexander Elliot (Louis Ashbourne Serkis), who falls victim to bullying classmate Lance (Tom Taylor) at Dungate Academy. Fleeing his tormentor, Alex seeks refuge in a building site where he pulls a sword from a block of stone just like Arthurian legend. This simple act by a pure-hearted hero stirs King Arthur’s evil half-sister Morgana in her subterranean lair. She employs sorcery to reanimate fallen warriors to slay Alex and steal Excalibur. In response, a young Merlin materialises at Dungate Academy and inspires Alex to undertake an epic quest. The Boy Who Would Be King is a familyfriendly spin on the sword in the stone, which combines medieval magic, occasionally uneasily, with present-day growing pains.

Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (2017) (BBC2, 11.20pm)

In the summer of 1979, jobbing actor Peter Turner (Jamie Bell) and Hollywood star Gloria Grahame (Annette Bening) are neighbours in a London guesthouse. It is more than two decades since Gloria’s halcyon years, which included an Oscar win for The Bad and the Beautiful, but Peter is smitten. However, when Gloria receives a devastating diagnosis, she ends the affair. Two years later, she returns to the UK for a stage role and collapses in her dressing room. In her hour of need, Gloria calls for Peter and he dutifully takes charge of her recuperation in the home he shares with his father Joe (Kenneth Cranham), mother Bella (Julie Walters) and brother Joe Jnr (Stephen Graham). Based on a true story, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is a handsomely mounted drama, which charts a star-crossed romance across class and cultural divides.

MONDAY

Taken (2008) (ITV4, 9pm)

At the time, Liam Neeson seemed an unlikely choice for leading man in this fast-paced jaunt through the French capital, but he proved himself to be a charismatic and convincing action hero and launched a new phase in his career. He stars as a merciless avenger who will stop at nothing to rescue his daughter from the clutches of sex traffickers. The boulevards of Paris are littered with dead bodies by the time the end credits roll as the

invincible hero relentlessly pursues his quarry, snapping arms as if they were dry twigs. The action set-pieces are well choreographed, including a breakneck car chase and some bonecrunching fist fights that recall Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne forays for ferocity and slick editing.

TUESDAY

Super 8 (2011) (Film4, 6.45pm)

From director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is a rollicking adventure set in 1970s rural America that pays homage to

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial with echoes of The Goonies. In the sleepy industrial town of Lillian, Ohio, teenager Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother. The youngster invests his time in making a low-budget zombie film with his friends including Alice (Elle Fanning). Just as the camera starts rolling on a night-time sequence, the youngsters witness a truck drive on to the railway tracks and derail an oncoming freight train. As they make a hasty escape, the trespassing teens are oblivious to a monstrous creature crawling free from the twisted wreckage...

Sicario (2015) (Film4, 9pm)

Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) is part of the FBI’s Special Weapons and

Tactics team, who are at the forefront of the war against drugs. A government agent named Matt Graver (Josh Brolin) asks Kate to join his top-secret task force, which intends to cripple a drugs cartel from the top down. Kate willingly signs up and learns that she will be venturing onto Mexican soil, but as the bullets fly, her conscience is left spattered in blood. Sicario gradually tightens the screws on our frayed nerves until we’re begging for mercy. At the blackened heart of the film is a tour-de-force performance from Blunt, whose steely-nerved heroine might have to sacrifice more than her idealism.

WEDNESDAY

War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) (Film4, 11.10pm)

Twelve years have passed since the ALZ-113 virus ravaged the globe. Caesar (Andy Serkis), his wife Cornelia (Judy Greer) and their sons are living in exile in the woods with the rest of the apes. Under the cover of darkness, Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson) and his sharpshooting soldiers stage an assault on the ape stronghold and kill most of Caesar’s family. The grief-stricken leader orders the survivors to flee in search of a new home while he exacts revenge on the Colonel. War for the Planet of the Apes is a fitting conclusion to the rebooted sci-fi franchise, orchestrating a cataclysmic showdown between the last remnants of mankind and genetically enhanced primates. Serkis delivers a tour-de-force portrayal of a leader gnarled by the desire for revenge.

THURSDAY

Catch Me If You Can (2002) (Film4, 6.15pm)

This funny and stylish romp is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale, who as a teenager managed to swindle the US government out of thousands of dollars by affecting a series of outlandish disguises: as an airline pilot, doctor, international playboy, even the assistant attorney general. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Abagnale, driven by fantasies of luring his family back together with his ill-gotten gains, and Tom Hanks is the dogged FBI agent on his trail. With plenty of fun along the way, the two leads also develop a poignant relationship. Director Steven Spielberg keeps a brisk tempo, underscored by John Williams’s funky, jazzy score, propelling the plot inexorably towards its fascinating conclusion.

Suspicion (1941) (BBC4, 9pm)

Alfred Hitchcock brings out Cary Grant’s dark side in this masterful thriller. Shy Lina (an Oscar-winning Joan Fontaine, who, believe it or not, was the only person to pick up an Academy Award for a performance in a Hitchcock film) comes from a wealthy family and is swept off her feet by handsome playboy Johnny (Grant). It’s only after she marries him that she discovers he’s a penniless habitual liar with a gambling habit. However, that becomes the least of her problems when she grows increasingly afraid that Johnny is planning to murder her. Despite Hitchcock’s reported dissatisfaction with the ending, this remains a compelling watch.

FRIDAY

Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016) (C5, 11pm)

Bridget (Renee Zellweger) careens at high speed towards her 43rd birthday without a wedding ring on her finger. Then a late-night blunder into the wrong yurt at a festival leads to a spontaneous coupling with a handsome American love guru called Jack Quant (Patrick Dempsey). A few days later, Bridget is powerless to resist the silky charms of old flame Mark Darcy (Colin Firth). A pregnancy test at work confirms Bridget is about to become a mum, if only she knew who the father was... Bridget Jones’s

Baby throws a warm, affectionate and frequently hilarious baby shower for characters we’ve grown to love, and proves Bridget is no closer to achieving her Happy Ever After. Zellweger slips back into the title role with ease.