STAR
RATINGS
★★★★★ Fantastic
★★★★ Very good
★★★ Good
★★ Average
This week’s films rated and reviewed ★ Poor
With Film Editor Nigel Pizey
CHIEF FILM REVIEWER: JASON BESTSATURDAY 10 August
Big Hero 6
BBC1 2.00pm - 3.30pm ★★★★
● See Our Picks of the Week, leftLiar Liar
ITV 2.20pm - 4.00pm ★★★★
COMEDY A goofy comedy
starring Jim Carrey as a devious, lying
lawyer who, to the despair of his
ex-wife (Maura Tierney), never arrives
on time to see his adoring son (Justin
Cooper), and always has an excuse at
hand. Then Cooper makes a birthday
wish for his dad to tell only the truth
for 2 4 hours... This film fully exploits
its comic possibilities and Carrey is on
fine form. Dir: Tom Shadyac 1997, 12, 100min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE!The Bridge on
the River Kwai
Channel 5
3.15pm - 6.30pm ★★★★★
WAR DRAMA ‘I can’t imagine
anyone wanting to watch a stiff-
upper-lip British colonel for two and
a half hours,’ said Alec Guinness, star
of this anti-war classic. How wrong
he was. Made for $3million, it
grossed $33million in the US alone
and won seven Oscars. More than 60
years on, this story of a pig-obstinate
officer out to keep up the morale of
his men in a Japanese PoW camp by
building a bridge is still riveting.
Dir: David Lean 1957, PG, 195min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )Pirates of the Caribbean:
On Stranger Tides
BBC1 6.30pm - 8.40pm ★★★
FANTASY ADVENTURE
The fourth chapter in the Pirates
franchise sees Johnny Depp’s dandy
Cap’n Jack Sparrow go in search of
the Fountain of Youth, battling old
Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), sadisticBlackbeard (Ian McShane) and
female pirate Angelica (Penélope
Cruz) along the way. The acting’s
gloriously hammy and the action’s
up to the usual standard, but the
series is showing signs of fatigue.
Dir: Rob Marshall 2011, 12, 130min
SEX! VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE!Captain America:
The First Avenger
ITV 8.00pm - 10.20pm ★★★★
SUPERHERO Chris Evans is a
plucky but puny youngster from
Brooklyn who gets turned into a
strapping super-soldier during World
War Two by scientist Stanley Tucci’s
experimental serum. With its lovingly
rendered period settings and
costumes, this has a delightfully
nostalgic feel. It’s a cracking superhero
adventure. Dir: Joe Johnston 2011, 12, 140min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )Transformers:
The Last Knight
C4 9.00pm - 12midnight ★★
PREMIERE SCI-FI ACTION
Instalment number five in the
relentlessly daft series is the most
stupid yet: a ludicrous farrago
that jumbles up the
shape-changing robots
with Arthurian legend.
Mark Wahlberg is
back, while Anthony
Hopkins pops up as
an aristocrat, but
the silliest role of
all goes to Laura
Haddock’s polo-
playing, skinny
dress-clad Oxford
history professor.
Dir: Michael Bay 2017,
12, 180min
SEX ) VIOLENCE!
LANGUAGE!Schindler’s List
Channel 5
9.55pm - 1.05am ★★★★★
WAR DRAMA Steven
Spielberg reached full maturity with
this searing adaptation of Thomas
Keneally’s novel Schindler’s Ark,
based on the true story of German
businessman Oskar Schindler
(Liam Neeson), a philandering
entrepreneur in World War Two
German-occupied Poland whose
schmoozing with the Nazi authorities
was a cover for his efforts to save his
Jewish workforce from the Holocaust.
Dir: Steven Spielberg 1993, 15, 190min
SEX! VIOLENCE ( LANGUAGE!Bridget Jones:
The Edge of Reason
ITV 10.35pm - 12.30am ★★★
ROMCOM An agreeable return
to the screen for author Helen
Fielding’s neurotic heroine, who has
now abandoned publishing for the
equally cut-throat world of television.
The film-makers wisely minimise the
weaker elements of the novel to
concentrate on the proven chemistry
between Renée Zellweger,
Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.
Dir: Beeban Kidron 2004, 15, 115min
SEX! VIOLENCE ) LANG @Clouds of Sils Maria
BBC2 11.55pm - 1.55am
★★★★
● See Our Picks of
the Week, leftThe Drop
C4 12midnight - 1.55am ★★★★
● See Our Picks of the Week, leftThe Double
BBC1 12.15am - 1.50am ★★
THRILLER Retired CIA agent
Richard Gere and FBI rookie Topher
Grace hunt for a legendary Soviet
assassin known as Cassius, who may
have resurfaced decades after he
vanished. Despite two big surprises,
this espionage thriller lacks suspense.
Dir: Michael Brandt 2011, 12, 95min
SEX ) VIOLENCE @ LANGUAGE!Stations of the Cross
BBC2 1.55am - 3.40am ★★★★
WORLD CINEMA Growing
up in a strict Catholic sect in Germany,
a pious teen offers her life to God,
believing that her self-sacrifice will
cure her autistic four-year-old brother.
This austere art-house drama has
religious fundamentalism in its
sights but remains a harrowing
coming-of-age tale as well.
Dir: Dietrich Brùggemann 2014, 15, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )BEST OF THE REST
The Driver
Talking Pictures
10.10pm - 12midnight ★★★
THRILLER This smart 1 9 70s
crime drama has Ryan O’Neal playing
a professional getaway driver and
Bruce Dern as the obsessive cop
determined to catch him. None of
the characters in the film have
names, giving the whole enterprise
a fascinating air of mystery. Dern
takes the acting honours, although
O’Neal makes his sombre character
quite believeable. Full of pace and
style. Dir: Walter Hill 1978, 15, xmin
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE!Chris Evans in
Captain America:
The First AvengerJim Carrey
in Liar LiarLaura Haddock and
Mark Wahlberg in
Transformers: The
Last Knight● See listings pages for full details of regional films
Johnny Depp in
Pirates of the
Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides TV TIMES 29