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Movies & TV

03rd Jul 2021

One of the best historical dramas of the last five years is among the movies on TV tonight

Stephen Porzio

It saw stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks team up with legendary director Steven Spielberg.

Stuck for something to watch this Saturday evening? Not to worry as JOE has compiled a list of the best movies airing on TV tonight.

Below are our picks for this evening.

Contagion – Turner Classic Movies – 9pm

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again – Steven Soderbergh’s starry and prescient pandemic thriller is either the worst film to watch given current circumstances or the best.

The Frighteners – Horror Channel – 9pm

After a tragic car accident that kills his wife, a man (Back to the Future’s Michael J. Fox) discovers he can communicate with the dead to con people. However, when a demonic spirit appears, he may be the only one who can stop it from killing both the living and the dead.

Peter Jackson’s first Hollywood movie, The Frighteners is a fun comedy-horror with a great lead turn from Fox.

Meet the Fockers – Sky One – 9pm

Having given permission to Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) to marry his daughter, ex-CIA man Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and his wife travel to Miami to Greg’s parents (Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman) who are as different from them as can be.

While not as funny or true-to-life as Meet the Parents, this sequel does garner some laughs thanks to Hoffman and Streisand.

The Post – RTÉ One – 9.50pm

Set in 1971, a cover-up spanning four US Presidents pushes the country’s first female newspaper publisher (Meryl Streep) and her editor (Tom Hanks) to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.

Our pick for tonight, The Post sees the quintessential Hollywood blockbuster director Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Jurassic Park) applying his energetic filmmaking to an important and timely story about the importance of a free press.

Aided by a massive ensemble cast – with brilliant turns from Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Rhys and Sarah Paulson – the end result is thrilling.

Watchmen – Film Four – 10pm

Based on Alan Moore’s iconic graphic novel, in a 1985 where superheroes exist, the murder of a colleague sends active vigilante Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) into his own sprawling investigation, uncovering something that could completely change the course of history as we know it.

While it now pales in comparison to HBO’s recent groundbreaking TV series take on the source material, Zack Snyder’s 2009 flick is a faithful and stylish adaptation.

The Purge – ITV 4 – 10.10pm

A wealthy family (led by Ethan Hawke) is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legal.

The Purge is frustrating because its world-building is so interesting yet it stays mostly in the one house. The later movies in the franchise are much better as they explore the series’ dystopian version of America in greater depth.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation – Channel 4 – 10.15pm

Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his team take on their most impossible mission yet when they have to eradicate an international rogue organization as highly skilled as they are.

While Tom Cruise is at his charismatic hero best and the action set-pieces are top-notch, the fifth entry in the Mission: Impossible series is stolen by Rebecca Ferguson as new franchise addition Ilsa Faust, a smart and driven femme fatale.

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