It’s Friday.
The weather is far from spectacular.
Stay in, it’s the cool thing to do.
If you are, in fact, chilling out at home, you may want the option of a movie or three.
Here’s how it looks on the box on Friday, 6 May…
Pitch Perfect 3 – Film4 – 7.10pm
Spirited comedy, the third such one in the trilogy.
Sicario 2: Soldado – Virgin Media One – 9pm
The sequel to Sicario, and nowhere near as good as the fantastic original.
Rocky IV – ITV4 – 9pm
The fourth one, which is more montage than movie.
Star Trek Into Darkness – Film4 – 9pm
The second one of the modern JJ Abrams trilogy, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as a wildly over-marketed villain.
Pitch Perfect – ITV2 – 9pm
Spirited comedy, the first such one in the trilogy.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword – Turner Classic Movies – 9pm
Guy Ritchie attempted to start a six-film franchise about King Arthur here, with Charlie Hunnam as the titular hero.
It, er, didn’t work. Instead, Legend of the Sword proved a critical and box office disaster and nobody talked about a second movie, let alone a sixth one. LOTS is bad, certainly, but honestly? We’ve seen worse.
Now You See Me 2 – E4 – 9pm
A film so smugly terrible this writer turned it off after less than an hour.
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear – Comedy Central – 9pm
Frank Drebin is back.
El Dorado – TG4 – 9.05pm
TG4 with the standard ‘Friday Night Western’ shout.
Call Me By Your Name – RTÉ 2 – 9.45pm
Gorgeously photographed coming-of-age drama in which a teenager (Timotheé Chalamet) begins a relationship with his father’s research assistant (Armie Hammer) in 1980s Italy.
Sabotage – Film4 – 11.40pm
Our main choice this evening comes with a word of warning – this thing is gross.
Arnold Schwarzenegger leads a crack team of drug enforcement agents who all sport names like ‘Monster’ and ‘Neck’ and so on. They steal some money and all of a sudden members of the team start getting picked off one by one.
Who’s responsible for these unnecessarily brutal murders? Why is this film so disgustingly violent? Will director David Ayer ever make a charming romantic comedy? Is this film still somehow worth checking out purely for the morbid curiosity factor? And wait, is that Sam Worthington?!
All of these questions and more will be answered, if you dare tune in.
Step Brothers – Channel 4 – 12.10am
Don’t touch his drum set.
Urban Legend – Horror Channel – 12.40am
Post-Scream horror about… urban legends.
Viva – RTÉ 2 – 1.15pm
Spanish-language independent film from Irish director Paddy Breathnach, telling the story of a young drag performer who must come to terms with his sexuality and the difficult relationship with his father.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge