Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has some suggestions for your viewing pleasure tonight…

ONE of the great family films of my generation was “The Railway Children” which had a particular resonance with me as its Director, Lionel Jeffries, kindly invited me to its premiere back in 1970.

So a belated sequel The Railway Children Return (Saturday RTE1 6.35pm) is a welcome addition to the original story.

Set this time in 1944, the Watts children, Lily, Pattie and Ted, are evacuated from Manchester to the Yorkshire village of Oakwood, and the home of Annie Waterbury, a Headmistress whose husband is away at the war, and her son Thomas.

Continued below…

There is a US Army base in the area, so when the children come across an African – American soldier, Abe, with a wounded leg claiming to be on a secret mission, their adventure begins.

Starring Sheridan Smith, Tom Courteney, John Bradley, Beau Gadsdon, Austin Hayes, Hugh Quarshie and the luminous Jenny Agutter reprising her role as Roberta, this is a touching story and production.

I Used To Live Here (Saturday 9.45pm TG4) started out as a social documentary about the effects of suicide on young people and the wider community.

This in turn was developed into this impressive drama through the use of workshops and non professional actors. Teenager Amy (Jordanne Jones) is grieving from the loss of her mother three years ago.

She lives with her father in Tallaght, but when a boy she is keen on commits suicide, it understandably raises issues for her.

Added to the arrival of a former girlfriend of her father, and a young boy that might be her half brother, Amy has a lot to take on.

In Mile 22 (Saturday 9.55 RTE1)  the latest collaboration between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg, the latter plays CIA operative James Silva, who leads a small top secret team of intelligence officers on an urgent and dangerous mission (Is there any other kind in films?).

Continued below…

There task is to smuggle a foreign intelligence officer from the American Embassy in Indonesia to an airfield for extraction twenty two miles away.

However, with the city’s military, police and street gangs standing in their way, this is not a straightforward task.

Also starring John Malkovich, Lauren Cohan, Ronda Rousey and Nikolai Nikolaeff, this is a classic film of unnuanced chases, plenty of shoot outs and nasty baddies.

I pity the fool who hasn’t seen Rocky III (Saturday 10.30 RTE2), but it is perhaps my favourite film in the series and is again written and directed by Sylvester Stallone.

Rocky has defended his title a number of times, but a more comfortable lifestyle has reduced his competitive focus, just as a rather dangerous contender, Clubber Lang, is rising through the ranks.

It turns out that Clubber lives up to his name, and challenges Rocky for a title fight.

Mr T stars as Clubber and the rest of the original cast return once again, but don’t blame me if “Eye of the Tiger” is this weekend’s earworm. Enjoy!

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