Finnegan On Films: Multiple Oscar Winners And A Few For The Kiddies

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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has an eclectic mix of movies to enjoy today…

Sense and Sensibility (Saturday 3.10 pm RTE1) is a period drama directed by Ang Lee based on the Jane Austen novel of the same name.

Emma Thompson, who also wrote the screenplay, plays Elinor Dashwood, while Kate Winslet plays Elinor’s younger sister Marianne.

Both sisters have somewhat different approaches to love, with one driven by passion, the other by common sense.  Naturally, both fall for very different men.

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This is an additional complication for the Dashwood family as, while originally from a wealthy English family of landed gentry, they have to face up to sudden destitution, and the sisters are therefore obliged to seek financial security through marriage.

This film received multiple awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Thompson, becoming the only person to have won screenwriting and acting Oscars.

Also starring Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Imogen Stubbs, Greg Jones, Imelda Staunton, Robert Hardy, Gemma Jones and Harriet Walter among others, this is feast for the eyes and ears.

In Smallfoot (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1), a village of Yetis live on the top of a Himalayan mountain, hidden from sight.

However, when a young friendly Yeti, Migo comes across a real human being, he is banished from his snowy home because none of his contemporaries believe such a creature could exist.  He must embark on a mission to prove himself and regain the respect of his fellow Yeti.

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This animated adventure stars the vocal talents of Channing Tatum, James Cordon, Zendaya, Danny deVito and LeBron James and also includes the usual slapstick comedy as well as underlying messages about tolerance and acceptance.  It is very suitable for the younger members of the family.

A single mother, Erin Brockovich (Saturday 9.35pm TG4) desperate for work and pleads her way into a routine administrative job at a law firm.

She comes across case documents concerning a case against a corporation for contaminating the water supply of a local community. She begins to realise something is very wrong, and begins her own investigation.

Julia Roberts is in Oscar winning form in Steven Soderbergh’s drama, which is based on a true story, and also stars Albert Finney, Aaron Eckhart Marg Helgenberger, Peter Coyote and the real Erin in a “blink and you’ll miss it cameo” as waitress Julia.

The classic Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Saturday RTE1 11.35pm) is loosely based on the real story of two notorious Wild West outlaws Robert leRoy Parker (“Butch” played by Paul Newman) and Harry Longabaugh (“Sundance” played by Robert Redford).

After numerous robberies, they are pursued by a single minded posse as they make a break for Bolivia to avoid arrest.

Directed by George Roy Hill, written by William Goldman and music by the recently departed Burt Bacharach, the film also stars Katherine Ross, and such western stalwarts as Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Cloris Leachman and Ted Cassidy.

It won Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Song (Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head) and Best Cinematography. Enjoy!

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