Here are my choice cuts for films you can watch on TV in the UK this week on Freeview.
Monday 3rd June: A Good Year (2006)
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Film 4, 6.40pm.
Russell Crowe stars as a businessman who inherits a beautiful house in the middle of the French countryside. Reluctant to take it on, he soon becomes enthralled by its charms. Possibly because he manages to wangle a date with Marion Cotillard. From Alien director Ridley Scott, A Good Year is an enjoyable couple of hours even though Crowe refrains from starting any fistfights with photographers.
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Tuesday 4th June: The Iron Lady (2011)
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Film 4, 9pm.
With the death of Margaret Thatcher this year dredging up mixed opinion on the woman who once led Britain, it’s a good time to revisit The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep quite rightly bagged the Best Actress Oscar for her efforts. Regardless of your personal thoughts on Thatcher, you can’t fault Streep’s performance. Especially that bit where she goes to buy milk. I was convinced she wanted it.
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Wednesday 5th June: Calamity Jane (1953)
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Film 4, 4.40pm.
Doris Day as a gun-totin’ gal in the West? Sounds grand, we’ll have half a dozen. A big shining musical with a warm heart at its centre in the shape of Day, you’re probably a robot if you don’t smile, tap your feet or at least chuckle under your breath at Calamity Jane. It’s a reminder for me of watching films with my Grandparents when I was wee. Grand stuff.
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Thursday 6th June: Starter For Ten (2006)
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BBC 4, 9pm.
James McAvoy proper lucked out with Starter For Ten. Not only did it offer him his first leading role in a well-written British comedy drama, he also shared onscreen romance with Rebecca Hall AND Alice Eve. Blimey. McAvoy plays a lad during his first year at Bristol University, during which he ends up on the school’s University Challenge team. It’s a funny sweet adaptation of the novel by David Nicholls (who also penned One Day.)
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Friday 7th June: Point Break (1991)
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BBC1, 11.55pm.
Nearly twenty years before Kathryn Bigelow became the first female ever to win the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, she created the institution known as Point Break. Keanu Reeves’ pretty boy surfer is the perfect role for the actor, whose penchant for being dumb in every movie plays well here. The real star of the flick is Patrick Swayze, as the enigmatic leader of a gaggle of surf rats. Soaring across waves and rockin’ a dye job most of us would rather be bald than wear, it’s a testament to his awesomeness.
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Saturday 8th June
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The Others. Channel 4. 11.35pm.
At the time of its release, The Others stirred up a ton of talk surrounding its ending. I won’t spoil it here for you, because I’m not a colossal arse. A downright terrifying ghost story, Nicole Kidman leads as Grace, a woman in charge of her family’s sprawling house while her husband is away at war. A cunning tale with genuine scares when you least expect them, retire those tired notions of cats jumping out and ironing boards falling over….The Others will have you shitting bricks.
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ITV2. 11.45pm.
If you’ve not seen Terminator 2: Judgment Day then we’re probably not friends. James Cameron’s superior sequel to his original outing, Terminator 2 is THE best action film of the 1990s. It’s more than explosions, car chases and cyborgs constructed from liquid metal. Cameron sews a huge heart into the centre of the story which fuels the fast pace surrounding it. If you aren’t reaching for the Kleenex come the finale then you’re a massive liar because I know you were.
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Sunday 9th June: The Pianist (2002)
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ITV3. 9pm.
Bizarrely, The Pianist received a critical drubbing on release, with claims that the film spent too much of it’s middle act in silence. Eleven years on and it stands up to every one of those half-baked rants. Adrien Brody as the titular pianist who remains behind in a demolished Warsaw ghetto during World War II, holds the film up with his harrowing performance. Brody, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance even dropped 31 pounds for the role.
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