Our movie guy, James Finnegan, says some great character actors feature in the movies today…

One of the first actors and roles I really took notice of was Burgess Meredith who played The Penguin in the 1960’s “Batman” television show.

Little did I know that this was the start of watching out for the character actors, not necessarily the stars.  Also, I later found out just what an acclaimed and award winning actor he was.

So imagine my delight when there are two Meredith films on this weekend. Grumpy Old Men (Saturday 3.50pm RTE1) – a category I find myself approaching ever closer – tells of two retirees, widowers and neighbours, John and Max, played with delicious glee by Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

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Their mutual teasing and one-upmanship takes a turn for the intense when they both fall for attractive widower Ariel (Ann-Margaret).

Also starring Daryl Hannah, Kevin Pollack and the aforementioned Meredith, the true joy is seeing the comic duo geniuses Lemmon and Matthau bouncing off each other again.

DC League of Super Pets (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) is a different slant on the Super Hero genre as Superman’s pet Krypto and shelter dog Ace have to work with other animals to save captured heroes from the evil clutches of Lex Luthor.

Starring the vocal talents of Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Kate McKinnon, John Krasinski and Keanu Reeves, the sequel to this is due to be released imminently.

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Although the sequels became a bit silly, Rocky (Saturday 9pm RTE2) was a low budget drama that became the highest grossing movie of 1976 as well as launching a significant number of sequels.

Sylvester Stallone wrote himself the role of a lifetime as an unknown boxer who is given a shot at the heavyweight title when the current champion, Apollo Creed, decides to celebrate the American bicentennial.

Even though he was on his uppers, Stallone refused to sell his screenplay script to the studios unless he was given the role of Rocky.  The script went on to be nominated for the Best Original Screenplay at the year’s Academy Awards.

This is a really tight story, well directed by John G Avildsen, which won him the Best Director Oscar, and also starred Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers and the afore mentioned Burgess Meredith as Rocky’s coach, Mickey.

While on the script theme, Tony Scott’s crime thriller True Romance (Saturday 9.15pm TG4) was an early Tarantino screenplay, that he sold to finance “Reservoir Dogs”.

It stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as newlyweds who make a potentially fatal mistake as they steal a stash of drugs from the Mob to fund their new lifestyle.

Also starring Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt and Christopher Walken, the film includes the Tarantino lodestones – a Southern Californian setting, pop cultural references and slow motion violence, although to be honest it does show its age a bit at times.  Enjoy!

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