TV Times – 13 July 2019

(Jacob Rumans) #1

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 I

Kellan Lutz in The
Legend of Hercules

The 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, p28

Hell 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

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