Finnegan On Films: Comedies And Oscar Winners On The Box Tonight

Posted by

.

Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has a diverse selection for your viewing pleasure tonight…

I freely admit it – I think Rowan Atkinson is a comic genius, and just the sight of him makes me crack up, especially in his Bondian persona, and he is well on form in Johnny English Reborn (Saturday 7.05pm RTE1).

After a disastrous mission in Mozambique, bumbling British secret agent English (Rowan Atkinson) has retreated to a Tibetan monastery to try to forget his shame.

But when he receives an urgent call from the Head of MI-7, Pegasus (Gillian Anderson), to lead a mission that only he can handle, English is back in action.

Continued below…

.

Using his questionable combat skills and an assortment of high-tech gadgets, English, along with his new partner, Agent Tucker (Daniel Kaluuya), must foil a plot to kill the Chinese premier.

Directed by Oliver Parker and also starring Dominic West, Rosamund Pike and Richard Schiff, this is great fun, with typical Atkinson slapstick and deadpan humour, and suitable for all the family.

It’s not always easy to define a Coen Brothers film, but Barton Fink (Saturday 9.45 TG4), can perhaps best be described as a psychological black comedy thriller.

A pretentious 1940s New York playwright, the aforementioned Barton Fink (John Turturro) sells out to the Hollywood dollar by writing a wrestling movie.  Unfortunately, he ends up in a dilapidated hotel nursing a serious case of writers block.

Continued below…

.

He finds himself as a suspect in a murder investigation, but finds solace with a fellow guest, who may or may not be what he seems.

Written, produced and directed by Ethan and Joel Coen, and also staring such fantastic character actors as John Goodman, Michael Lerner, Judy Davis, John Mahoney, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi and Frances McDormand, this is an early example of the Coen genius stardust.

In The Shape of Water (Saturday 9.50pm RTE2), Elisa Esposito (Sally Hawkins) is mute and communicates through sign language.

She lives alone above a cinema, and although friends with a neighbouring artist Giles (Richard Jenkins), lives a lonely life.  She works as a cleaner in a secret government laboratory in Baltimore.

In this facility is hidden a mysterious amphibious creature from a South American river, who is being held captive and studied as part of the US Space Race.

However, when Elisa comes across the creature, she begins to visit him in secret and they form an extraordinary relationship.  She finds out that there are plans to experiment on the amphibian, and helps him escape the facility.

With resonances from the ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ to ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’, this romantic fantasy was written, directed and produced by Guillermo del Toro, and was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Production Design.

However it is the sublime performance of Sally Hawkins in conjunction with Del Toro’s visual style that makes this a epic modern day fairytale. Enjoy!

.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Comments are closed.

image