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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has the pick of the movies on RTE and TG4 this weekend…
Showing a sporting themed film in a weekend full of sport is brave, but A League of Their Own (Saturday 2.20pm RTE2) is one of the best of the genre.
Directed by Penny Marshall, it is a fictionalised telling of the actual All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, founded during the Second World War as the men were away fighting.
Dottie Hinson (Geena Davies) is a farm worker whose husband is away, who loves playing baseball, as does her competitive younger sister Kit (Lori Petty).
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The Peaches is managed by former player with a deep thirst problem Jimmy Duggan, played by Tom Hanks who puts in a typical Tom Hanks performance.
Told in flashback fashion, this is a film that even non baseball fans can enjoy.
A film that starts with a pun on the name is a good start in my book. Sherlock Gnomes (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) is a sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet who recruit the ace detective to investigate the disappearance of the garden gnomes from London.
With a fantastic vocal cast including Johnny Depp (Sherlock), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Watson), Gnomeo (James McAvoy), Emily Blunt (Juliet) and Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters and Ozzy Ozbourne as the purloined garden ornaments, this is not the greatest script, but it does have the wacky visual comedy so beloved by children (and childish adults like me).
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Following on the Bard theme is Shakespeare in Love (Saturday 9.20pm TG4) perhaps best remembered for Gwyneth Paltrow’s somewhat teary Oscar acceptance speech, which is a shame as there is a lot to enjoy in this film.
William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) has writers block and is in desperate need of inspiration. His latest Opus, Romeo and Ethel the Pirates Daughter, is not quiet coming together.
He meets a theatre loving noblewoman Viola (the aforementioned Ms Paltrow) and the pair are smitten with each other, which is unfortunate as her hand in marriage has been bought by the arrogant Lord Wessex (Colin Firth).
Various theatre companies are competing for Shakespeare’s new play, each with a company of pompous luvvies, looking for their percentage and a plum role. Even the Thames boat taxi has a script in process.
There are lovely references to other Shakespeare plays and famous lines in a hilarious and Academy Award-winning script by Tom Stoppard.
The cast includes Geoffrey Rush, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench (another Academy Award Winner for Best Supporting Actress as Elizabeth I) and the cream of British Stage and Screen talent all enjoying themselves royally.
There are books that seem unfilmable. One such is Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Saturday 11.30pm RTE2) yet this is a masterpiece of a film. It is however, dark, dark, dark – so be warned.
Grenouille (Ben Whishaw) is a mentally unstable Perfumer in 18th Century Paris who embarks on a murder spree to preserve the scent of his victims to create a unique perfume. Also Starring Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman this is directed by Tom Tykwer. Enjoy and stay safe.
