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Movies & TV

08th May 2023

One of the best war films of recent years is among the movies on TV tonight

Rory Cashin

1917

Some pretty great options to choose from this evening, if you’re in a movie mood.

Between the 2023 IFTA ceremony being on tonight on RTE2 at 9.35pm, plus Prime Video adding 24 huge movies to its library, there is a lot to choose from this evening. But if none of that entices you, here are the movies on TV this evening. Starting with…

Spider-Man – Sky Showcase – 6.50pm

Before Tom Holland, before Andrew Garfield, we got Tobey Maguire in the skin-tight suit… but even more iconically, we got Willem Dafoe brilliantly cast as the cackling villain Norman Osborne, aka the Green Goblin.

Yes Man – ITV2 – 6.55pm

Remember when Jim Carrey couldn’t lie in Liar Liar? This is kinda like that, except he has to say yes to everything anyone asks him to do. A pretty fun comedy, tbh.

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey – FilmFour – 7.10pm

Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter returned for this decent 1991 comedy.

1917 – BBC Two – 9pm

Our for the night is incredible WWI-set movie, which won three of the ten Oscars it was nominated for in 2020. Directed by Sam Mendes (Jarhead, Skyfall), and shot using an incredible mix of camerawork and editing tricks to make it look like one long uninterrupted take, it follows two soldiers (George MacKay and Dean Charles Chapman) as they try to get a vital message to the frontline before 1,600 of their fellow soldiers fall into a deadly trap. Check out our interview with Mendes about the movie right here:

The Expendables – Sky Showcase – 9pm

The first of the “Sly Stallone gets all of his action mates around to blow stuff up” trilogy. It isn’t as good as its set-up would have you hope it might be.

12 Strong – FilmFour – 9pm

Chris Hemsworth heads up this sorta biopic about a group of American soldiers sent to Afghanistan immediately following the events of 9/11. Watchable but not exceptional in any way whatsoever.

I, Tonya – TG4 – 10.05pm

Margot Robbie was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar thanks to her performance in this dark comedy about famed figure skater Tonya Harding.

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory – ITV4 – 11pm

The quality gap between this train-set sequel and the aircraft carrier-set original is shocking. Although this one does sometimes venture into the (ahem) dark territory of so-bad-its-good. So that’s … something?

The Rhythm Section – FilmFour – 11.35pm

Blake Lively plays a woman who trains herself to get revenge on the terrorists who killed her family. Co-starring Jude Law and Sterling K. Brown, it holds the record for being one of the biggest box office flops of all time. Plus it was partly filmed in Ireland!

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