‘Do you maggots understand that?!’
Our TV movie pick for tonight (Thursday, 23 May) is Full Metal Jacket, which was recently named the “second best war movie of all time”.
Co-written and directed by Stanley Kubrick (2001: A Space Odyssey, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining) – widely considered the greatest filmmaker ever – the 1987 film is set during Vietnam War and follows the experiences of J.T. ‘Joker’ Davis (Matthew Modine, Stranger Things).
This is as Joker endures the rigours of basic training pre-deployment under an abusive and foul-mouthed drill sergeant (R. Lee Ermey, in a now iconic performance) and later when the soldier is sent to Vietnam as a military journalist.
There, he covers and eventually participates in the bloody Battle of Hué.
Also co-starring an incredible Vincent D’Onofrio as Joker’s fellow soldier in training Leonard ‘Gomer Pyle’ Lawrence, Full Metal Jacket was Kubrick’s second last movie.
And the hard-hitting war film saw him operating at the height of his powers – capturing the madness of war but also the impact training and combat has on soldiers’ psyche.
Full Metal Jacket is so well-regarded, in fact, that the voters at Ranker recently crowned it the second best war movie of all time – right behind Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
The Kubrick film is airing on TV on the channel Quest at 10pm. It is also available to rent on Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft, Rakuten TV and the Sky Store.
Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:
Napoleon Dynamite – Film4 – 4.50pm
One of the great modern comedies.
My Cousin Vinny – Comedy Central – 9pm
In this beloved Oscar-winning comedy, two New Yorkers accused of murder in rural Alabama call in the help of one of their cousins, a loudmouth lawyer with no trial experience (Joe Pesci).
Paul – Film4 – 9pm
Two science fiction geeks (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg) come across an alien (Seth Rogen) in this sci-fi comedy.
El Cid – BBC Four – 9pm
The acclaimed ’60s three-hour historical epic with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren.
Robbery – Legend Xtra – 9pm
From the director of Bullitt, this ’60s crime flick fictionalises the 1963 Great Train Robbery.
The Gunman – Legend – 9pm
Sean Penn leads a great cast – including Idris Elba, Javier Bardem and Mark Rylance – in this action thriller that is sadly not very good.
Parallel – Sky Sci-Fi – 9pm
This Canadian sci-fi thriller from 2018 has an 82% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The Da Vinci Code – Sky Showcase – 10.05pm
Dan Brown’s smash-hit mystery thriller novel gets the big screen treatment.
Mad Max 2 – ITV4 – 11.05pm
With Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga landing in cinemas this week, what better time to catch up with one of the best entries in the post-apocalyptic action movie franchise?
Snatched – Film4 – 11.05pm
This comedy sees Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer play a mother and daughter who are abducted while on vacation in South America.
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LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
