The weekend has landed.
It’s Friday, everybody!
Perhaps you’re off to Garth Brooks. Maybe you’re mourning the death of Queen Elizabeth II, or at the very least paying attention to the endless TV news coverage of the fallout thereof. You might be planning on watching The Late Late Show, which boasts a star-studded bill this week.
Or maybe you’d rather take in a movie or two. Here’s the most interesting options on the box – potentially subject to change on certain channels due to all of the Queen coverage – on Friday, 9 September…
Rough Night – E4 – 9pm
Essentially a female-fronted remake of grisly comedy Very Bad Things, in which Scarlett Johansson and her friends deal with the aftermath of a hen party that goes very wrong indeed.
The Fast and The Furious – ITV2 – 9pm
The very first one. Holds up in fun and quaint way, given the escalating carnage that would eventually follow in this series.
The Sum of All Fears – Film4 – 9pm
Nuclear-themed Jack Ryan thriller with Ben Affleck taking up the role previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford, and later played by Chris Pine and John Krasinski.
From Noon till Three – TG4 – 9pm
Friday. 9pm. TG4. Western.
American Pie 2 – Comedy Central – 9pm
That’ll be the second one, then.
Full Metal Jacket – Turner Classic Movies – 9pm
The team at Turner Classic Movies love this one.
The Notebook – Virgin Media One – 9pm
A beloved modern weepie in which an elderly man reads a love story to a woman in a nursing home. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams act out the subsequent parts.
DannyBoy – RTÉ 2 – 10pm
Comedy set in 1980s small-town Ireland, centring on a young man looking for love amidst a sea of goths, new romantics of post-punks.
True History of the Kelly Gang – Film4 – 11.20pm
Highly abstract and fictional account of the escapades of legendary outlaw Ned Kelly, featured a talented cast including George MacKay, Nicholas Hoult, Russell Crowe and Charlie Hunnam.
The Remains of the Day – BBC Two – 11.20pm
A butler represses his deep affection for a housekeeper, who feels the same for him, to dedicate himself to his master. Period drama featuring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson
Brassed Off – Channel 4 – 11.20pm
Well-received drama about a band trying to win big, with Pete Postlethwaithe and Ewan McGregor.
Hard Target – Turner Classic Movies – 11.25pm
Our main choice tonight.
Y’know, people say that John Woo’s stint in making American movies wasn’t that great but the man did give us Face/Off, Broken Arrow, an unfairly maligned Mission: Impossible film and the glorious nonsense that is Hard Target.
Jean-Claude Van Damme plays a mysterious drifter caught up in a deadly game played by evil rich men who hunt less fortunate people for sport. Hard Target is great, silly ’90s fun, boasting Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo as a tremendous villain pair, inventive action scenes, and an appalling mullet on JCVD.
Postcards from the Edge – RTÉ One – 11.30pm
An actress battles against drug dependency and struggles to get out from under the shadow of her famous mother. Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine star.
Hampstead – Channel 4 – 1.10am
Brendan Gleeson – recently announced as a cast member of the upcoming Joker 2 – and Diane Keaton star in a romantic comedy-drama.
Buried – Film4 – 1.55am
Ryan Reynolds wakes up trapped in a box, and the clock is ticking down.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
