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RATINGS
★★★★★ Fantastic
★★★★ Very good
★★★ Good
★★ Average
★ Poorfilms rated and reviewed
WED 14 Aug THUR 15 Aug FRIDAY 16 August
Baby Obsession
Channel 5 2.15pm - 4.00pm ★
PREMIERE THRILLER
Although not her fault, as a teenager
Linsey Godfrey babysat for a child
who died from Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS). It haunts her,
especially now that she has a baby of
her own. Trouble is, mother of the
dead child Alicia Leigh Willis is
hatching a deadly plan... This is a
poor movie that uses the SIDS angle
in an uncomfortably exploitative way.
Dir: Ruth Du 2018, 12, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )Her
C4 1.25am - 3.35am ★★★★
SCI-FI ROMANCE This
satirical and touchingly sweet sci-fi
romcom is a quirky tale of a man
who falls in love with his computer.
Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is still
smarting from a painful break-up
with his wife when he buys a new
operating system that boasts intuitive
artificial intelligence. Voiced by
Scarlett Johansson, the OS names
itself Samantha and becomes ever
more intimately bound up with his
life... Dir: Spike Jonze 2013, 15, 130min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE @BEST OF THE REST
The Rake’s Progress
Talking Pictures
10.00am - 12.20pm ★★★
COMEDY DRAMAPlayboy
Rex Harrison thinks only of himself
until World War Two gives him a new
sense of responsibility. Expelled from
Oxford and then disastrously taking
on jobs as varied as racing driver and
dancing partner, he’s a ne’er-do-well
who remains likeable even though he
lets down almost everyone he meets.
A smooth comedy that was the
perfect showcase for Harrison.
Dirs: Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat 1945, U, 140min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )Dating to Kill
Channel 5 2.15pm - 4.00pm ★★
PREMIERE THRILLER After
the strange death of her daughter’s
boyfriend, Clare Kramer is worried.
She’s being stalked while her daughter
has hooked up with much older guy
David Fumero. These things aren’t
related, are they? Forgettable tripe.
Dir: Danny Buday 2019, 12, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )First Blood
ITV 10.45pm - 12.30am ★★★★
ACTION THRILLER In one
of his most iconic roles, Sly Stallone
stars in this impressive drama as
Rambo, a drifting Vietnam vet picked
up for vagrancy by mean sheriff Brian
Dennehy. Beaten and humiliated by
Dennehy’s deputies, Sly escapes and
takes to the woods where he lays in
wait for the police posse... It’s amazing
to think that John Travolta was
originally considered for the part.
Dir: Ted Kotcheff 1982, 15, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE @ LANGUAGE @In the Heat of the Night
BBC2 11.35pm - 1.20am ★★★★
THRILLER Big-city policeman
Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) comes up
against a wall of prejudice when he
tries to help bigoted, but canny Police
Chief Gillespie (Rod Steiger) solve a
murder case in a small Southern town.
This essentially simple whodunnit is
raised far above the norm, thanks to
a racially charged sub-plot and
powerful acting from the two leads.
Woven together with tension and
drama, this fine film took five Oscars.
Dir: Norman Jewison 1967, 12, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE!Born Romantic
BBC1 (not Wales)
12.35am - 2.05am ★★
ROMCOM Six Londoners form
relationships at a salsa club. But
nothing much results, bar a lot ofswearing. Most of the characters are
quite interesting but very hard to
like and, with lines such as ‘D’ya
fancy a shag?’, this is hardly romantic.
Jimi Mistry’s thief and Catherine
McCormack’s nervous girl who tends
other people’s graves are easily the best
things here. Dir: David Kane 2000, 15, 90min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE @Transcendence
C4 1.00am - 2.55am ★★★
SCI-FI THRILLER Johnny
Depp is a scientific genius who
uploads his consciousness onto a
super computer in this glossy thriller.
He goes ahead with his scheme
despite the misgivings of his wife
(Rebecca Hall) and colleagues Paul
Bettany and Morgan Freeman. Sure
enough, the virtual Depp is soon
displaying signs of world-threatening
megalomania... Although the script
doesn’t quite make the most of the
topic of runaway technology, it looks
fabulous and is very entertaining.
Dir: Wally Pfister 2014, 12, 115min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )BEST OF THE REST
Fantastic Beasts:
The Crimes of Grindelwald
Sky Cinema Premiere
8.00pm - 10.20pm ★★★
Satellite PREMIERE FANTASY
Eddie Redmayne’s bashful hero Newt
Scamander is back for the second in a
five-film series spun from JK Rowling.
He’s as an endearing as before, and
the magical creatures and places he
encounters have been conjured up
with the same cinematic wizardry. Yet
as Newt and his allies get drawn
deeper into the gathering storm
brought about by bad wizard
Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), there’s a
sense that Rowling’s invention has
overwhelmed her story’s narrative
drive. Dir: David Yates 2018, 12, 140min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )Evil Nanny
Channel 5 2.15pm - 4.00pm ★★
PREMIERE THRILLER
Apparently based on a true story, this
lurid tale sees couple Nicole Sterling
and Matthew Pohlkamp searching
for a live-in nanny. Cue the seemingly
perfect Lindsay Elston. There’s just
that niggling doubt not helped by
the movie’s title... It’s a plodder.
Dir: Jared Cohn 2016, 12, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )Me Before You
Channel 5 10.30pm - 12.45am ★★★
ROMANCE Jojo Moyes’
bestseller becomes an unabashed
tearjerker of a movie, but it has
been put together with real charm.
The appealing stars help. Emilia
Clarke brims with chirpy vitality
as working-class kook Lou, who
is hired as the paid companion for
Sam Claflin’s sardonic quadriplegic
toff Will, who has his mind set on
ending his life in six months’ time.
Dir: Thea Sharrock 2016, 12, 135min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE!BEST OF THE REST
The Tall Man
Horror Channel
9.00pm - 11.05pm ★★★
CHILLERJessica Biel is in
excellent form as a widowed nurse
trying to get to the bottom of a
mystery in The Tall Man, a taut
thriller that keeps wrong-footing the
viewer. Children are disappearing
from the depressed Pacific Northwest
town of Cold Rock. The residents pin
the blame on local urban legend the
Tall Man... Dir: Pascal Laugier 2012, 15, 125min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )Shoplifters
Sky Cinema Premiere
10.00pm - 12.10pm ★★★★★
● See Our Picks of the Week, p28
● See listings pages for full details of regional films TV TIMES^31Jessica Biel in
The Tall ManJoaquin
Phoenix in HerKatherine Waterston and Eddie
Redmayne in Fantastic Beasts:
The Crimes of Grindelwald