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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, looks at two comedies, a drama, a fantasy and a thriller on TV over the next few days…
Jack Frost (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) has a very strange concept, even allowing for a Christmas fantasy story.
Michael Keaton plays the aforementioned Jack, who is a musician killed in a car accident at Christmas.
On the anniversary of the accident, his son plays Jack’s harmonica, which brings Jacks spirit into the body of a snowman, so they can spend one last Christmas together.
This is one of those “marmite” films that you either love or hate. I know a number of people who feel it speaks to them. I, personally, am not one of them, but you may feel differently.
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Capote (Saturday 10.00pm TG4) is a fact based drama about eccentric author Truman Capote, played in an Oscar winning performance by the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Capote is following a rather gruesome murder case in a small Kansas town for an article in the New Yorker magazine.
However, he gets more and more involved, not only in the investigation, but the lives of the citizens of the town, especially the accused suspects.
In fact, the shocking subject matter provides enough intrigue to be a full length book, “In Cold Blood”, which makes Capote the most famous author in America at this time. However, the whole experience does not bring him the expected satisfaction he expects.
Step Brothers (Saturday 10.15pm RTE2) stars Will Farrell and John C Reilly as two 40 year old immature men, Brennan and Dale, who still live at home with their single parents.
This all changes when Brennan’s mother, Nancy (Mary Steenburgen) marries Dale’s widowed father Robert (Richard Jenkins) and the spoilt sons are forced to not only share a room but also find jobs.
Farrell and Reilly are well established film partners and were also heavily involved in the story and screenplay. I suspect there was a lot of improvisation in the making of this film that made the final cut.
I saw a very entertaining version of Legally Blonde (Sunday 9.00pm RTE2) made by the Causeway Community Action Group last year back as part of the purchase of the Shannon Ballroom.
In this original version, Reese Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a seemingly ditzy teenager who has her heart broken when her boyfriend dumps her because he sees her as a hindrance to his political aspirations.
She sets out to prove him wrong by enrolling in Harvard Law School, but now finds herself the target of fellow student’s attempts to humiliate her. However, her good heart does eventually conquer all.
Jack Ryan is a character that has been played on screen by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and now in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (Monday 9.30pm TG4) by Chris Pine.
This origin story pits him against Russian baddy Kenneth Branagh who also undertakes Directing duties in this entertaining spy thriller that also stars Kevin Costner and Keira Knightly. Enjoy and stay safe!
