Films This week’s fi
SUNDAY14 July
Star Wars: Episode IV –
A New Hope
ITV 1.30pm - 4.00pm HHHHH
● See Our Picks of the Week, p28
Call Me Madam
BBC2 2.40pm - 4.30pm HHHH
MUSICAL⊲ This jolly Irving
Berlin musical brought the dynamite
Ethel Merman back to Hollywood,
kicking up a storm as a Washington
socialite appointed ambassador to a
European duchy. George Sanders gets
in the swing as the foreign minister
she romances and the musical
numbers are outstanding, from the
dancing of Vera-Ellen and Donald
O’Connor to showstoppers such as It’s
a Lovely Day Today and International
Rag. Dir: Walter Lang 1953, U, 110min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )
Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows: Part I
ITV 4.00pm - 6.35pm HHHH
FANTASY ADVENTURE⊲
With evil wizard Voldemort in the
ascendant, Harry, Ron and Hermione
decide to go it alone in the last-but-
one episode of Harry Potter’s epic film
saga. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint
and Emma Watson are exposed on
screen as never before, but the young
actors rise to the challenge with as
much pluck as their characters. With
the friends on the run from the forces
of evil, trying to track down the
magical objects on which Voldemort’s
power depends, the mood is dark –
making this the grimmest movie to
date. Dir: David Yates 2010, 12, 155min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )
Jane Got a Gun
C4 12.15am - 2.00am HHH
WESTERN⊲ Natalie Portman
makes a stand as a doughty
frontierswoman in 1871 New Mexico,
where her eponymous Jane strives to
preserve her wounded, bedridden
husband (Noah Emmerich) from a
remorseless outlaw gang. Yet as her
enemies draw closer to her secluded
ranch she is forced to call on the help
of her former fiancé (Joel Edgerton).
It’s a western with a slow-burn build
up before we arrive at the explosive
final showdown, with Portman and
Edgerton turning in sturdy
performances, while a near-
unrecognisable Ewan McGregor
oozes menace as their evil adversary.
Dir: Gavin O’Connor 2015, 15, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE @ LANGUAGE @Department Q:
The Absent One
BBC2 12.45am - 2.40am HHH
THRILLER⊲ Detective Carl
Morck (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is back to
solve cold cases in the second in this
trilogy of Danish crime thrillers. This
time, along with reliable assistant
Assad (Fares Fares), Morck
investigates the death of a brother
and sister, and the man who claimed
the crimes as his own. It’s good,
moody, watchable fare, if a little
contrived. Dir: Mikkel Nørgaard 2014, 18, 115min
SEX @ VIOLENCE £ LANGUAGE @BEST OF THE REST
Ring of Bright Water
Talking Pictures
12.05pm - 2.10pm HHH
DRAMA⊲The engaging saga of a
London office worker (Bill Travers)
and the otter he buys in a pet shop
that takes over his life. Their trip to
Scotland on the train delivers some of
the best laughs. What they get up to
when they arrive is the main force of
a story that makes up for in pretty
scenery and thoughtfulness for what
it sometimes lacks in pace. Real-life
wife Virginia McKenna is the doctor
Travers meets when he gets there.
Dir: Jack Couffer 1969, U, 125min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )How to Train Your Dragon
Film4 2.40pm - 4.35pm HHHH
ANIMATION⊲An enchanting
animated tale featuring a cute,
laid-back sense of humour, a
surprisingly gripping story and some
fantastic visuals which recreate the
mythical Viking era in which dragons
roamed the landscape. Jay Baruchel
provides the voice of the film’s teenage
hero Hiccup, who secretly befriends a
dragon he thinks he’s wounded.
Dirs: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois 2010, PG, 115min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )The Last of the Mohicans
Sony Movie Channel
6.45pm - 9.00pm HHHH
PERIOD ADVENTURE⊲
James Fenimore Cooper’s frontier
Western gets a riveting modern
re-telling, red in tooth and claw.
Stirring action scenes are the heart of
the film’s appeal but director Michael
Mann holds some of his carefully
composed shots far too long, trying to
infuse the tale with a resonance and
importance it doesn’t really have. On
his best form, Daniel Day-Lewis is a
virile Irish-American Hawkeye and
the thrilling fights are splendidly paced
and edited. Dir: Michael Mann 1992, 15, 135min
SEX ) VIOLENCE @ LANGUAGE )Lawless
Film4 10.50pm - 1.05am HHHH
CRIME DRAMA⊲Shia
LaBeouf, Tom Hardy and Jason
Clarke play bootlegging siblings in
Prohibition-era Virginia in this violent
gangster movie based on a true story.
They’ve developed a formidable
reputation, but then a crooked new
DA (Guy Pearce) sets out to bring
them down. As things start to turn
ugly, Jessica Chastain and Mia
Wasikowska enter the brothers’
lives. Hardy delivers a standout
performance. Dir: John Hillcoat 2012, 18, 135min
SEX! VIOLENCE £ LANGUAGE £Daniel Radcliffe
in Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows: Part IKellan Lutz in The
Legend of HerculesThe Cheating Pact
Channel 5 2.15pm - 4.00pm HH
THRILLER⊲ A ridiculous
made-for-TV thriller in which
high-school student Daniela Bobadilla
is framed for murder, by a girl unhappy
with her test results. Yes, you read that
correctly. Dir: Doug Campbell 2013, 12, 105min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )The Legend of Hercules
Channel 5 11.00pm - 12.55am HH
FANTASY ACTION⊲ Taking
scant notice of Greek myth, this
clunky sword-and-sandal adventure
finds the demigod hero (played by
muscle-bound Twilight hunk Kellan
Lutz) betrayed by his villainous
step-dad and sold into slavery, before
scrapping his way to freedom and
the throne. The dialogue is groan-
worthy and the acting scarcely better,
but director Renny Harlin (Die Hard
2 , Deep Blue Sea) does give the
fight scenes a fair amount of clout.
Dir: Renny Harlin 2014, 12, 115min
SEX ) VIOLENCE! LANGUAGE )BEST OF THE REST
Sicario
Film4 9.00pm - 11.25pm HHHH
● See Our Picks of the Week, p28Hell Drivers
Talking Pictures
9.30pm - 11.45pm HHH
ACTION DRAMA⊲A rough,
tough story of daredevil lorry drivers
who seem scarcely to pause for breath
between the end of one fight and the
beginning of another in their bid to
make a fortune in their high-speed
vehicles. The love scenes have,
courtesy of Stanley Baker and Peggy
Cummins, more bite than in most
Brit films back then. Spot the then
27-year-old Sean Connery in only his
third film. Dir: Cy Endfield 1957, PG, 135min
SEX ) VIOLENCE ) LANGUAGE )MON15 July
30 TV TIMES