Our movie guy, James Finnegan, on a mix of genres on TV tonight…
The Call of the Wild (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) is one of those wonderful doggie adventures in an awe inspiring landscape.
Set in the 1890’s Klondike Gold Rush, the story follows a beloved pet dog called Buck, a mix of Saint Bernard and Scotch Shepherd, as he is stolen from his California home and sent to the Yukon where his sturdy breed is valued for their strength.
A chance encounter with frontiersman John Thornton (Harrison Ford) has later ramifications for Buck, but in the meantime he has to work as part of a pack dragging a sled that delivers the mail across the Yukon.
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Buck’s life is hard and harsh, but his spirit and temperament is better than some of the humans he has to interact with, and you will not be surprised at the eventual conclusion.
Starring Terry Notary as Buck thanks to motion capture, Omar Sy, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan and Bradley Whitford, this is a great Saturday Family Film.
Schindler’s List (Saturday 9.10pm RTE2) is Steve Spielberg’s moving Academy Award winning Holocaust drama, telling the true story of Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a German businessman who saved the lives of many Jews during the Second World War.
Schindler’s life is changed when he witnesses the systematic liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto population.
With the assistance of his accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley), they made a list of over a thousand Jews whom Schindler “bought” to work in his factories which saved them from the journey to Auschwitz and certain death.
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The acting in this film is flawless, with Ralph Fiennes as the sadistic Commandant Amon Goth, particularly horrifying and mesmerising at the same time. John Williams’ score is suitable touching and poignant.
For those of you hopefully celebrating tonight’s Lotto win, It Could Happen to You (Saturday 9.45pm TG4) could either be a warning or an invitation.
Inspired by a true life story, a New York Cop, Charlie Lang (Nicolas Cage) is short of cash and is unable to give his waitress Yvonne (Bridget Fonda) a tip. He does, however, have a lottery ticket.
He offers to pay her a double tip tomorrow or half-jokingly promises to share his winning should his numbers come up. Guess what happens then!
Charlie is very generous to those he comes across, and Yvonne buys the diner. However, Charlie’s wife Muriel (Rosie Perez) is not so impressed with how Charlie is dealing with his windfall.
Daniel Day – Lewis stars in Jim Sheridan’s drama The Boxer (Saturday 10.05pm RTE1) as a former IRA volunteer Danny Flynn who wants to leave his old life behind on his release from a fourteen year stint in prison at the age of thirty two.
As he opens a non-sectarian boxing gym for youngsters, his former colleagues continue to try and drag him back to his old life.
Then Maggie (Emily Watson), his first love and married to his friend also imprisoned for IRA activities, reconnects with Danny. Enjoy!
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