.
There is quite the selection of films available today on the television, with perhaps just a little too much testosterone says our movie guy, James Finnegan…
First up is a real boys own adventure. Force 10 From Navarone (Saturday RTE1 2.30pm) is of course a sequel to ‘The Guns of Navarone’, although as it was made some seventeen years later, the original characters of Mallory and Miller, played by Gregory Peck and David Niven, were recast and played by Robert Shaw and Edward Fox.
Set in World War two, our heroes are sent on a mission to destroy a bridge in the Balkans that is important to the Nazis. However, there is a traitor within the group.
Continued below…
.
Directed by Guy Hamilton, who was very experienced with action films, notably in the Bond series, and also starring Harrison Ford, fresh from Star Wars, Carl Weathers, Richard Kiel and Barbara Bach (more Bond connections), it does not hit the heights of the original, but is a very suitable Saturday afternoon romp.
Junior (Saturday 3.30pm RTE2) is an Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy where Arnie plays a fertility expert who finds a treatment to enable men to become pregnant. When funding is cancelled, he tests it on himself. Guess what? It works!
Also starring Danny De Vito, Emma Thompson and Frank Langella, this is very much a film of its time.
In A Dog’s Journey (Saturday 7.00pm RTE1) a lovely St Bernard dog, Bailey, finds the meaning of his life through adventures with the humans he meets.
Starring Denis Quaid and Marg Helgenberger, this is a Disney type adventure for which you will need to have the tissues nearby – you have been warned.
Continued below…
.
Back to adventure with Avengers: Infinity War (Saturday 9pm RTE2), where the combined might of the Marvel Superhero world join forces to stop Galactic Baddie, Thanos, gather up six all powerful infinity stones in order to rule the galaxy.
Starring Robert Downey Jnr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch and Chris Hemsworth among others, this is epic action setting up an appropriate world crumbling ending of these series of films.
Daniel Day Lewis and Pete Postlewaite star in Jim Sheridan’s adaptation of Guildford Four member Gerry Conlon’s autobiography, detailing their fight for justice to overturn a life sentence cruelly imposed on him by a forced confession for being involved in an IRA bombing.
In The Name of the Father (Saturday 9.30pm TG4) is a powerful story with great actors at the peak of their prowess, including Emma Thompson as Gareth Peirce, is more than worthy of the multiple Academy Award nominations received.
The Mission (Sunday 1.05am RTE1) cannot be ignored.
The story of Jesuit missionaries and their congregation in 18th Century Brazil under threat from both crooked merchants and rival Church factions is another acting tour de force by Robert de Niro, Jeremy Irons, Cherie Lunghi, Liam Neeson and Aidan Quinn.
Directed by Roland Joffe, with a screenplay by Robert Bolt, it also has perhaps the greatest soundtrack in film history by Ennio Morricone.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
