TV Times – 27 July 2019

STA R

RATINGS

HHHHHFantastic

HHHH Very good

HHH Good

HH Average

This week’s films rated and reviewed H Poor

With Film Editor Nigel Pizey

CHIEF FILM REVIEWER: JASON BEST

SATURDAY27 July

Shaun the Sheep Movie

BBC2 9.10am - 10.30am HHHH

ANIMATION⊲ A scene-stealing

sidekick in Nick Park’s Oscar-winning

Wallace and Gromit adventure A

Close Shave, Aardman Animation’s

wonderful Shaun the Sheep earned

a TV series and now gets his own

feature-film outing, too. Cue a riot of

slapstick silent-movie-style gags as

Shaun’s antics at Soggy Bottom Farm

trigger a chain of farcical events.

Dirs: Mark Burton, Richard Starzack 2015, U, 80min

SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )

Madagascar:

Escape 2 Africa

BBC1 5.15pm - 6.35pm HHH

ANIMATION⊲ In this jolly

sequel, the lovable zoo animals are

stranded in Africa when their plane

crashlands. But once there, lion Alex

(voiced by Ben Stiller) is reunited

with his dad (Bernie Mac) and nasty

villain Makunga (Alec Baldwin). It’s a

sweet cartoon with a good voice cast

and plenty of humorous situations.

Dirs: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath 2008, PG, 80min

SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )

Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles:

Out of the Shadows

C4 8.00pm - 10.10pm HHH

PREMIERE AC T I O N

FANTASY⊲ This sequel

to 2014’s live-action reboot sees

the band of sewer-dwelling,

pizza-loving giant turtles again

teaming up with their journalist

friend April O’Neil (Megan Fox)

and again tangling with their evil

ninja foe Shredder. It’s empty-

headed nonsense, of course, but

the action has a rowdy vigour.

Dir: Dave Green 2016, 12, 130min

SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )

Die Another Day

ITV 10.05pm - 12.35am HHH

ACTION ADVENTURE⊲ If

you can forgive the invisible car and

some laughable CGI effects, this

fourth and final Bond adventure for

Pierce Brosnan isn’t that bad. It

boasts a good villain in Toby

Stephens, and the story – about

a deadly new satellite weapon that

can harness the power of the sun –

is full of thrills and action aplenty.

Halle Berry and Rosamund Pike

are the women in 007’s way.

Dir: Lee Tamahori 2002, 12, 150min

SEX! VIOLENCE @ LANGUAGE )

Pitch Perfect 2

C4 10.10pm - 12.20am HHH

MUSIC COMEDY⊲ In this

sequel to the 2012 college comedy,

Rebel Wilson’s brash Fat Amy

and her all-female singing group

the Barden Bellas are once again

the underdogs as they aim to win

the World Championships. Some

of the cruder slapstick episodes

misfire, but the girls’ unruly

camaraderie is infectious and the

musical numbers are full of pep.

Dir: Elizabeth Banks 2015, 12, 130min

SEX! VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

BBC1 10.20pm - 12.30am HHH

SUPERHERO⊲ This second

joint adventure for the Marvel

Comics Avengers will probably leave

all but dedicated comic-book nerds

feeling befuddled rather than

dazzled. You certainly need your wits

about you to cope with the plot,

which finds Robert Downey Jr’s

wisecracking Iron Man inadvertently

creating a rogue peacekeeping robot

(voiced by James Spader) whose aim

is to destroy not preserve humanity.

Dir: Joss Whedon 2015, 12, 130min

SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )

Midnight Special

BBC2 11.00pm - 12.45am HHHH

● See Our Picks of the Week, left

The Visit

C4 12.20am - 1.55am HHH

● See Our Picks of the Week, left

Now Is Good

BBC1 12.30am - 2.10am HHH

DRAMA⊲ Based on Jenny

Downham’s Brighton-set novel

Before I Die, this teen drama is

funny, romantic and extremely sad.

An excellent Dakota Fanning plays

a 17-year-old who’s been living with

leukaemia for

four years. However, she’s determined

to live what life she has left to the full

• be it drugs, shoplifting or losing her
  virginity... Dir: Ol Parker 2012, 12, 100min
  SEX! VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE!

BEST OF THE REST

6 Below:

Miracle on the Mountain

AMC 12noon - 1.55pm HHH

SatelliteADVENTURE⊲Josh

Hartnett plays former professional

ice hockey player-turned-drug addict

Eric LeMarque, who heads into the

Sierra Nevada mountains for a spot

of snowboarding and ends up

stranded in the wild for eight days

after getting caught in a snowstorm.

Despite some cheesy flashbacks, this

is a gripping true tale of doughty

endurance, with Hartnett digging

deep as the resilient, odds-defying

hero. Dir: Scott Waugh 2016, 12, 115min

SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )

Smallfoot

Sky Cinema Premiere

6.15pm - 8.00pm HHH

● See Our Picks of the Week, left

Jurassic Park III

ITV2 7.15pm - 9.00pm HHH

ADVENTURE⊲An exciting

third trip to see the dinos, in which

Sam Neill, back from the first film,

is taken to his island of nightmares

by divorced couple Téa Leoni and

William H Macy, whose son has

vanished on a hang-glider trip

there. Gripping scenes are

undermined by clunky dialogue,

but the prehistoric beasties –

especially the pteranodons and the

spinosaurus – are as thrilling as ever,

as realised in the excellent special

effects. Dir: Joe Johnston 2001, PG, 105min

SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANG )

Dakota Fanning

in Now Is Good

Iron Man buffs up in

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Just chillin’ in Shaun

the Sheep Movie

● See listings pages for full details of regional films

The gang’s all here

for Madagascar:

Escape 2 Africa

TV TIMES 29