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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, says there are lots of moral conundrums and action adventures in this week’s selection of reviews…
The first film on the schedule is UglyDolls (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1). It’s similar in theme and style to the Toy Story franchise in as much as we should accept everyone for who they are rather than what they look like.
The Dolls are designer ugly as part of the Hasbro toy range and are the rejects from the production conveyer belt because they don’t fit the perfect template.
One of these dolls, Moxy (Kelly Clarkson) is a happy soul who wants nothing more than to be loved by a child.
She lives in Uglyville, along with Lucky (Leehom Wang) who is asked to persuade Moxy to drop her dream and learn to be content where she lives.
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However, when Wedgehead (Emma Roberts) suddenly appears in Uglyville, it shows that there are other places in existence.
This is a charming animated film with the usual compliment of characters and songs. In fact the voice cast seems more appreciated for their singing. However the central message of what it is to be different is not the worst to be delivered.
I’m certain this lesson has reached the characters in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (Saturday 9.00pm RTE2) but they are far too busy to let their faces show it.
This was the second film of Tom Cruise’s interpretation of the lead character of the strong silent vigilante who rights wrong and travels by Bus between retributions.
It appears that there is a secret government conspiracy (is there any other kind?) who frame an army major, Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders) for both murder and treason.
Reacher and Turner have to go on the run to prove her innocence and expose the true baddies in what is quite the action thriller adventure, directed by Edward Zwick and based on the Lee Childs novel. A good Saturday night action film to enjoy.
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Allied (Saturday 9.20pm TG4) is a similar type of adventure, where a dashing Canadian intelligence officer Max Vatan (Brad Pitt) is parachuted into 1942 North Africa.
He makes his way to Casablanca (and yes, there are a number of references to that classic) on a mission to assassinate the German Ambassador with the aid and assistance of French resistance fighter Marianne (Marion Cotillard).
They pose as husband and wife so as not to raise concerns. They reunite in London, but there are now suspicions as to where Marianne’s true loyalties lie.
Max is tasked to lay a trap and deal with his wife should she fail, or else he himself will be dealt with. This film needs good performances from the leads, and gets them, in this Robert Zemeckis directed production.
Just room to recommend Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Death of Stalin (Saturday 11.10pm RTE2) which is a true underrated classic about the chaos surrounding the dictator’s last days.
Unfortunately current events add a different gloss to the film. Enjoy and stay safe!
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