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Movies & TV

29th Apr 2023

A powerful and twisty mystery drama is among the movies on TV tonight

Stephen Porzio

Lantana

It has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Staying in this Saturday night? Well, you could check out JOE’s Must Watch at Home for this week, which you can learn about right here:

Or you could watch one (or two) of these movies airing on TV this evening.

Lantana – AMC – 9pm

Our pick for tonight is this 2001 Australian movie focusing on the relationships of four couples that unravel as a woman’s body is discovered in the lantana bushes of suburban Sydney.

Featuring amongst its ensemble cast actors such as Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey and Geoffrey Rush, what could be a standard mystery in Lantana quickly evolves into an authentic, emotional, cathartic and gripping exploration of the everyday secrets that the inhabitants of a small town keep from one another.

Comparable in its structure to the multi-narrative storytelling of classics like Magnolia and Short Cuts, Lantana currently holds an impressive 91% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Bohemian Rhapsody – Film4 – 9pm

Rami Malek took home the Best Actor Oscar for his work playing Freddie Mercury in this music biopic.

Saw – Sky Max – 9pm

The ingenious first entry in the long-running horror franchise.

Halloween – Turner Classic Movies – 9pm

One of the first slasher movies ever and one of the best.

Scanners – Horror Xtra – 9pm

This early sci-fi horror from filmmaker David Cronenberg (The Fly, Videodrome) about psychics who can make people’s heads explode boasts incredible special effects and is set to be rebooted as a TV series for HBO.

Narrow Margin – Legend – 9pm

A ’90s neo-noir action thriller starring Anne Archer and Gene Hackman.

Le Mans ’66 – Channel 4 – 9.20pm

Starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, Le Mans ’66 is also known as Ford v Ferrari in some parts and is a great movie.

Schindler’s List – RTÉ2 – 9.30pm

Steven Spielberg’s incredibly powerful Holocaust drama which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.

I’m Not There – TG4 – 9.30pm

Ben Whishaw, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Richard Gere are all Bob Dylan in this fascinating unconventional music biopic.

Ingrid Goes West – MTV – 10pm

Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen are excellent in this black comedy-drama and social media satire.

Lantana

A still from 2001 Australian movie Lantana – our pick for tonight

The Perfect Storm – Turner Classic Movies – 11pm

A biographical disaster drama starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg.

Rambo: First Blood Part II – ITV4 – 11pm

The confusingly titled first Rambo sequel with Sylvester Stallone.

Broken City – AMC – 11.15pm

A private detective (Wahlberg again) finds himself embroiled in a scandal involving a New York mayor (Russell Crowe) in this watchable neo-noir crime thriller.

French Connection II – RTÉ One – 11.35pm

Gene Hackman reprises his Oscar-winning role as Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle in this action thriller sequel.

Greta – BBC One – 11.40pm

Ireland’s own Neil Jordan directs this pretty good horror thriller about a young waitress (Chloë Grace Moretz) in New York who becomes friends with an older widow (French acting titan Isabelle Huppert). However, the latter is hiding dark secrets.

Primal – Film4 – 11.45pm

This straight-to-VOD Nicolas Cage action thriller where he plays a big game hunter got mixed reviews upon release in 2019.

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