At long last.
The weekend is here and what better way to celebrate than by checking out one of the fine flicks airing on TV this evening.
Here, JOE has selected tonight’s best options.
Hancock – Film Four – 9pm
Will Smith plays Hancock, a superhero whose ill-considered behavior regularly causes damage in the millions. He changes when the person he saves (Jason Bateman) helps him improve his public image.
Also starring Charlize Theron, Hancock’s first half is quite fun before an abrupt tonal shift into less comedic territory. Overall, it’s the type of flawed, but interesting movie that is crying out for a reboot.
This is 40 – Comedy Central – 9pm
Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) are both about to turn 40, their kids hate each other, both of their businesses are failing, they’re on the verge of losing their house, and their relationship is threatening to fall apart.
A spin-off of its director Judd Apatow’s previous film Knocked Up, the common criticism levelled at This is 40 is that it’s too long at over 130 minutes. However, Paul Rudd is in it and who doesn’t love Paul Rudd?
The Italian Job – ITV 4 – 10pm
Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron (again) and Jason Statham lead the cast in this slick American remake of the Michael Caine starring classic.
Assassination Nation – Film Four – 10.45pm
After a malicious data hack exposes the secrets of American town Salem, chaos descends and four girls must fight to survive while coping with the hack themselves.
This timely social satire is further elevated by tons of style from its director Sam Levinson (who created popular series Euphoria) and a revelatory lead turn from actress Odessa Young.
Hail, Caesar! – RTÉ One – 11.15pm
In this star-studded Coen Brothers’ comedy, a Hollywood fixer (Josh Brolin) in the 1950s works to keep the studio’s stars – including leading man Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) – in line.
Those who loved the filmmakers’ other comedies like The Big Lebowski and Burn After Reading should dig this. To be real though, Hail, Caesar! is worth watching just for its “Would that it were so simple” scene alone.
Phantom Thread – BBC Two – 11.20pm
Set in 1950s London, Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a renowned dressmaker whose fastidious life is disrupted by a young strong-willed woman (Vicky Krieps) who becomes his muse and lover.
Reteaming Day-Lewis with filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson after There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread is notable for being the actor’s last movie before retirement.
The Infiltrator – Turner Classic Movies – 11.50pm
Bryan Cranston stars as a US Customs special agent, who in the 1980s helped bust Pablo Escobar’s money-laundering organisation by going undercover as a corrupt businessman.
We’ve pointed this out before but given The Infiltrator also stars Irish actor Tom-Vaughan Lawlor, it technically features Nidge, Pablo Escobar and Walter White together.
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story – Channel 4 – 12.10am
A group of misfits (led by Vince Vaughn) enter a Las Vegas dodgeball tournament in order to save their cherished local gym from the onslaught of a corporate health fitness chain.
Boasting a hilarious supporting turn from Ben Stiller as the villain of the piece White Goodman, Dodgeball is incredibly silly but also very funny and endlessly quotable.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
