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Our movie guy, James Finnegan, has the pick of the movies on RTE and TG4 this weekend…
THERE is something about dragons that seem to appeal to all of us. From classic fairytales all the way up to Game of Thrones, you can’t beat a fire-breathing character.
How to Train Your Dragon (Saturday 6.35pm RTE1) is the first in a series of films and television series, and is an absolute gem of a family film.
Hiccup is a young Viking teenager, who longs to follow the family tradition of becoming a dragon slayer to protect his village from the flying creatures.
When he finally captures one of the dragons, a species known as Night Fury, he finds that he does not want to kill it. Instead, he befriends it, realising his tribe may have misjudged them.
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Staring the vocal talents of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, David Tennant and Ashley Jensen, even the battle scenes are cute. Perfect for the inner five year old.
A somewhat more gritty tale of an unlikely friendship comes in The Crying Game (Saturday 9.20pm TG4).
An IRA member, Fergus (Stephen Rae) holds a British soldier, Jody, (Forest Whitaker) prisoner. They develop a rapport and unlikely bond.
Unfortunately the situation does not end well, and the guilt ridden Fergus sets outs out to meet Dil (Jaye Davidson), Jody’s lover, and they develop their own romance.
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Directed and written by Neil Jordan, this won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and BAFTA for Best British Film and is one of the seminal films in Irish cinema history.
The excellent supporting acting talents include Miranda Richardson, Adrian Dunbar and Jim Broadbent.
Still on the thriller style Vantage Point (Saturday 10.45pm RTE2) tells the story of an assassination attempt on the US President during a terrorism summit in Spain.
When he is shot, and there is a subsequent explosion in a nearby plaza, it leads to a situation of absolute chaos.
This films unique selling point is that the tale is told, and retold, from the different perspectives of the secret service agents protecting the President, a news producer covering the event, and a man in the crowd who may have caught the instigator on his camera.
Starring Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker (again), Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana and the late William Hurt who passed away this week, this is an interesting idea, similar to Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon.
Perhaps it gets a little bit too caught up in showing how clever it is, but it is an entertaining yarn and well worth a watch.
Straight afterwards is Enigma (Sunday 12.20am RTE2) Directed by Michael Apted and with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard, adapted from the Robert Harris novel, this film is based around the Enigma code breakers of Bletchley Park during World War Two.
Staring Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows and Tom Hollander, this is a highly fictionalised story based around the decrypting of German messages. It is also the last film scored by the great John Barry. Enjoy and stay safe!
