Finnegan On Films: Laughs Aplenty To Allay The January Blues

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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has some movies to put a smile on your face this Saturday…

Dwayne Johnson plays Derek Thompson, a minor league ice hockey player in Tooth Fairy (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) who has earned this nickname for his habit of knocking opponents teeth out.

However, when he steals a dollar from his girlfriend’s six year old daughter that had been left for her lost tooth, and he tells her that the Tooth Fairy doesn’t exist, he is forced to pay for this impertinence by receiving a magical summons forcing him to spend a week as the “real” Tooth Fairy.

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Also starring Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews, Stephen Merchant, Billy Crystal and Seth McFarland, this is a good family watch, but be ready for the ice hockey scenes and questions from the little ones.

Evan Almighty (Saturday 9.10pm RTE2) is a spin off from “Bruce Almighty”.  In this modern version of the Noah’s Ark story, Steve Carell stars again as Evan Baxter, A former news reporter and now a Congressman.

A great flood is coming, and Evan is recruited by God (Morgan Freeman – who else?) for a special mission.  He is tasked with building an ark in order to save the wildlife of the world from the forthcoming event.

If this were not enough, he must also try and persuade others that “the end is nigh”, is even more difficult by changes in Evan’s appearance when they take more of a biblical tone.

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The Stag (Saturday 9.30pm TG4) is a comedy in which a quiet groom, Fionnan (Hugh O’Connor) to be prefers to have a peaceful weekend’s walking break  with his Best Man, Davin (Andrew Scott in the first of two appearances this weekend) rather than a stag night.

Unfortunately, the trip is gate crashed by his fiancée’s infamous brother who rejoices in the moniker “The Machine” (Peter McDonald) who has very different ideas and the events soon descend into chaos.

Bill Nighy, Ben Schnetzer, Andrew Scott (again) and Imelda Staunton are among the cast of the comedy drama Pride (Saturday 10.50pm RTE2), which is based on true events.

Gay Rights activists gather in London or a pride march in 1984, and they decide they have a common cause with the Coal Miners who are on strike at the same time.

However, when the miners union reject their fundraising activities, the activists decide to travel to a Welsh pit village to show their support in person.

King of Thieves (Saturday 11.40pm RTE1) is another story based on true events, when retired criminals get back together to pull off one more big robbery in Hatton Garden, London’s jewellery district.

Starring Michael Caine, Michael Gambon, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtney and Francesca Annis, this is a very interesting film that concentrates more on the aftermath of the robbery, and I loved the clips from previous performances that help give a context for the actor’s characters that the script does not deliver. Enjoy!

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