Film Four & Film Four +1 TV Listing

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Monday 23rd December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Monday 23rd December

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11:00


Howl's Moving Castle (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-nominated follow-up to the acclaimed Spirited Away is a beguiling fantasy about love, transformation and self-acceptance. In a village in a war-torn land, a shy teenager called Sophie works in a hat shop and lives in the shadow of her glamorous sister Lettie, until she encounters the infamous wizard Howl. The meeting incites the jealousy of the Witch of the Waste, who transforms Sophie into a wizened old lady. Sophie's subsequent quest to lift the curse brings her firmly into Howl's world. Miyazaki paints her journey with characteristic vigour and ingenuity, gleefully exploiting a steampunk aesthetic which has its greatest iteration in the castle of the title: a bloated Gothic mansion that heaves itself along on four spindly legs to an accompaniment of groans and wheezes. This screening is of the English-dubbed version of the film, which includes impressive vocal performances from a cast including Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Jean Simmons and Billy Crystal.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Tatsuya Gashuin, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Mitsunori Isaki
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2004, U, 4 Star)

13:25


The Thirty-Nine Steps (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Don Sharp's remake, the third cinematic adaptation of John Buchan's spy thriller, places the action back in its original setting, just before the Great War. Richard Hannay, a mining engineer, inadvertently stumbles upon an international espionage plot, and must flee for his life. He's doggedly pursued by the police and by enemy agents, from the start of his ordeal in London, up to the Scottish Highlands and then back down again to the movie's precarious climax back in the capital. And it's not just his own life he must worry about: he picks up an initially unwilling accomplice along the way, and must also find a way to persuade the authorities that he's not a turncoat and that they must act upon the information he has discovered.
Director: Don Sharp
Starring: Robert Powell, David Warner, Eric Porter, Karen Dotrice, John Mills, George Baker
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1978, PG, 2 Star)

15:30


Titanic (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
James Cameron's Oscar-laden epic tells of the first and final voyage of the 'unsinkable' luxury liner through the love story of two very different passengers. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jack Dawson, a brash chancer in the steerage section of the ship who talks his way up to the staterooms and fancy restaurants, where he meets Rose DeWitt Bukater. She is promised to Cal Hockley in a loveless match but quickly falls for Jack. The first half of the film establishes their story, the second the fate of the Titanic once it has struck the iceberg. The destinies of all the crew and passengers are mirrored by the tragedy that befalls the two lovers, while spectacular special effects recreate the ship's fate. Edited for content.
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1997, 12, 4 Star)

19:15


Airplane! (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker's film, which launched a thousand imitators, remains the classic mould-breaking comedy. Peter Graves plays Captain Oveur, the stricken captain of a packed plane. Can passenger Ted Striker overcome the traumas he suffered as a wartime pilot and land the plane with the help of his ex-girlfriend, stewardess Elaine or are they all doomed? Verbal and sight gags galore lampoon every cinematic genre, with Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack among the distinguished cast happy to make fools of themselves. And don't call me Shirley.
Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker
Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, Peter Graves
(Subtitles, 1980, 15, 4 Star)

21:00


Star Trek (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
JJ Abrams' sci-fi adventure prequel, starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, uses the twin devices of a parallel timeline and time travel to boldly move the franchise where it had never gone before. In order to foil a Romulan attack, George Kirk sacrifices himself, having first arranged for an escape pod to take his pregnant wife to safety. Around 20 years later, the young tearaway James T Kirk is encouraged to join the Starfleet Academy by Captain Pike. An equally youthful Spock has also recently thrown in his lot with humankind and with Starfleet, having had enough of the Vulcan racism directed at him due to his half-human parentage. The two recruits instantly clash. But they must overcome their differences if they are to survive a vengeful visitor from the future, who's determined to make Spock pay for his part in an atrocity that's yet to be committed... Also starring Eric Bana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg and Winona Ryder. This screening is introduced by the director.
Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2009, 12, 4 Star)



23:30


Joy Ride (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
John Dahl's chiller stars Steve Zahn and Paul Walker as Fuller Thomas and his brother Lewis who, along with Lewis's friend from college, Venna, decide to drive across the States as part of their vacation. To lighten up the trip, they buy an old CB radio and start talking to truckers, eventually winding them up with jokes and tricks. But they go too far, and find that one trucker, who goes by the handle of Rusty Nail, is out for their blood - and he knows the dusty back roads far, far better than they do... Inevitably compared to Spielberg's Duel, Joy Ride is just as tense and scary, but very, very different, with a white knuckle night chase through a cornfield one of the highlights.
Director: John Dahl
Starring: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, Leelee Sobieski, Jessica Bowman, Stuart Stone, Basil Wallace
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2001, 15, 3 Star)

01:20


Berberian Sound Studio (Film) Film icon 15 certificate
Toby Jones stars in director Peter Strickland's remarkable psychological horror film, which offers a truly disturbing cinematic experience despite its near-absolute lack of standard horror visuals. The narrative centres on the reserved, well-mannered Gilderoy, a gifted sound engineer from Surrey, whose expertise at recording and creating innovative sound effects sees him hired by an Italian film studio. But this is the 1970s and his new employers specialise in the ultra-low budget, ultra-violent and exploitative films of the country's burgeoning giallo horror movement.
(Subtitles, 15)

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Tuesday 24th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Tuesday 24th December

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11:00


Fred Claus (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
David Dobkin's festive comedy stars Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus, the slacker brother of Santa, who has grown apart from his more successful brother. When he needs to be bailed out of the slammer, Fred calls in a favour and Santa agrees to pay the money so long as Fred comes to Lapland and helps him with the Yuletide rush. But in Lapland, an efficiency expert, Clyde, is casting his eye over Santa's operation with a view to closing it down. Can the estranged brothers pull together to save the business?
Director: David Dobkin
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, John Michael Higgins, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2007, PG, 3 Star)

13:10


Jungle 2 Jungle (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Tim Allen plays Wall Street high-flyer Michael Cromwell. Before he can marry his fiancé Charlotte, he must divorce his wife Patricia, who works with indigenous people deep in the South American jungle. When he tracks her down, he also discovers he has a teenage son, Mimi-Siku, raised as one of the natives, who wants Michael to take him to New York to experience life in the Big Apple. Cue fish-out-of-water gags galore in John Pasquin's comedy, as Mimi-Siku's innocent ways create mayhem in Michael's ordered metropolitan WASP life. Edited for content.
Director: John Pasquin
Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short, JoBeth Williams, Lolita Davidovich, Sam Huntington, David Ogden-Stiers
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1997, PG, 4 Star)

15:15


Escape to Victory (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine star in John Huston's sporting wartime drama as POWs in Germany. Caine plays John Colby, who was once England's football captain, while Stallone plays Robert Hatch, whose only thought is escape. When the camp commandant, ex-German international Van Steiner suggests a match between the POWs and the Germans, it soon escalates into a propaganda exercise, with Colby leading a team of international players out into France's national stadium to face the German national side. Meanwhile, Hatch and the French Resistance have planned an audacious escape for the whole team during the match. But not all of the players want to leave before the final whistle... Among those playing for the Allies are Pele, Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, legendary Polish midfielder Kazimierz Deyna and Mike Summerbee. First play on Film4. Edited for content.
Director: John Huston
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Pelé, Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Paul Van Himst
(Subtitles, 1981, PG, 2 Star)

17:35


Jumper (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Doug Liman's sci-fi thriller stars Hayden Christensen as David Rice, a 'jumper', who can teleport anywhere instantly. He uses his powers to accumulate wealth for his idea of an ideal lifestyle, but finds himself threatened by the Paladins, a shadowy organisation led by Roland, who are dedicated to tracking down and killing jumpers. Rice teams up with fellow jumper Griffin to take on the Paladins and to save his sweetheart Millie, who has become an innocent pawn in the battle. Edited for content.
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rooker
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, 12, 3 Star)

19:20


Airplane II: The Sequel (Film) Film icon 15 certificate
Director Ken Finkleman's comedy sequel, spoofing the disaster movie genre. Following events of the first film, now-disgraced former pilot Ted Striker escapes from hospital to board the first commercial flight to the moon. However, following a computer malfunction, the flight becomes endangered and Striker must once again avert catastrophe and endeavour to save the day... But really the plot plays second fiddle to silly, deadpan and parodic comedy. Many of the first film's cast return, including Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves, while William Shatner demonstrates his comic flair as Commander Buck Murdock. Finkleman's eclectic career includes the screenplay for Grease 2 and a Canadian sitcom starring Frankie Howerd. Edited for content.
Director: Ken Finkleman
Starring: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges, Chad Everett, Peter Graves, Chuck Connors
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1982, 15, 2 Star)



21:00


Paul (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost both co-wrote and co-star in this sci-fi comedy thriller - directed by Superbad's Greg Mottola - about a couple of geeky British UFO-watchers who encounter a real-life alien. Following a trip to the Comic Con fan gathering, Graeme and Clive are driving an RV around places in the US where UFOs have supposedly been sighted. One night, they witness a car crash, but when they go to inspect the wreckage, they're surprised to discover an extraterrestrial called Paul. He tells them that he's been held captive at Area Fifty One, and says he needs transport so he can make contact with a spacecraft that will rescue him. Once the men are over their shock, it's agreed that Paul can come along - after all, how much closer an encounter can you get?
Director: Greg Mottola
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nicholas Frost, Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jason Bateman, Sigourney Weaver
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 15, 4 Star)

23:00


Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Hilarious road movie featuring Steve Martin and John Candy as an urbane advertising executive and a crude salesman who are forced to become reluctant travelling companions.
Director: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, Dylan Baker
(Subtitles, 1987, 15, 4 Star)

00:45


Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Finnish director Jalmari Helander wishes everyone a twisted Christmas with this eccentric, inventive and somewhat gory action-comedy take on the Father Christmas myth. In the frigid wastes of northern Finland, an American team excavating an ancient site uncover the ritual burial of a horned figure. Unfortunately, as our pre-teen hero Pietari Kontio quickly works out, the archaeologists have dug up the frozen body of Santa Claus - whose true, cannibalistic nature has been forgotten during his aeons of icebound imprisonment. Once the evil being has thawed out, children from the surrounding villages start to go missing and herds of reindeer are found slaughtered. At which point Pietari persuades his father Rauno that they can outwit Santa and bring his rampage to an end. But can they also deal with Santa's little helpers? If you're looking for a loopy, slightly scary antidote to seasonal sentimentality, you may well find it here. First play on Film4.
Director: Jalmari Helander
Starring: Onni Tommila, Jorma Tommila, Tommi Korpela, Rauno Juvonen, Per Christian Ellefsen, Ilmari Järvenpää
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, In Finnish with English Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)

02:20


Dark Star (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
John Carpenter's first feature stars Dan O'Bannon as the leader of four astronauts aboard deep space cruiser Dark Star, whose mission is to seek out and destroy planets which contain life forms that could threaten Earth. With just one of their craft's payload of sentient bombs left, it's nearing time to head home. But then one of the bored, put-upon crew decides to go and feed the pet alien they picked up along the way - and inadvertently sets them all on a potentially disastrous course. The special effects may be laughably unsophisticated by present standards and the film is definitely of its time, but the narrative is quirkily gripping throughout.
Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm, Dre Pahich, Dan O'Bannon
(Subtitles, 1974, PG, 3 Star)

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Wednesday 25th December
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Film4 Listings for Wednesday 25th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Marmaduke (Film) Film icon U certificate
Almost 60 years after it was first published, Brad Anderson's comic strip about the misadventures of a clumsy Great Dane comes bounding into CGI, lip-synched life in this kids' adventure. The Winslow family, originally from Kansas, have upped sticks and plonked them down again in sunny California, thanks to Dad's new job at a pet-food company that's run by Don Twombly.
Director: Tom Dey
Starring: Owen Wilson, Lee Pace, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Kiefer Sutherland, Stacy Ferguson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, U, 2 Star)

12:45


Spirited Away (Film) Film icon 5 star rating PG certificate
An Oscar-winning animated fantasy adventure from the Studio Ghibli co-founder, Hayao Miyazaki. Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are moving home, though - sad at leaving her friends behind - it's not with good grace on her part. Driving through the woods, they realise they must have taken a wrong turn when the road peters out in a dead end. Hungry, they get out of the car and walk down a mysterious alleyway, which emerges into what her father imagines is a theme park, though it's eerily uninhabited. Exploring, they find empty restaurants, where Chihiro's parents greedily sate their hunger, and the girl discovers a boy called Haku, who warns her to get away before dark. But it's too late: dusk closes in and the trail magically becomes an impassable lake; far worse, her parents have been transformed into pigs.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Starring: Rumi Hîragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tatsuya Gashuin
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2002, PG, 5 Star)

15:10


The Lavender Hill Mob (Film) Film icon 5 star rating U certificate
Classic Ealing comedy from director Charles Crichton. Alec Guinness stars as a mild-mannered transporter of gold bullion. He has been doing the job for the past 20 years honestly enough, but suddenly decides to steal a million pounds. He enlists the help of paperweight manufacturer Stanley Holloway and the men hijack the bank's armoured car. Once in their hands, the gold bars are melted down and formed into small, souvenir Eiffel Towers. But after the booty is smuggled out to Paris, it is purchased by a group of English schoolgirls. As a result of their pleading with the girls, the gang retrieve all but one of the towers. But the last one is in the hands of a very determined student, and she refuses to part with it.
Director: Charles Crichton
Starring: Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sid James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding, Edie Martin
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1951, U, 5 Star)

16:50


Big Fish (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
An estranged son tries to reconcile with his dying father, a Southern raconteur, by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. William Bloom recreates his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales of giants, circuses, lost towns, love, war and bank robbery, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and failings.
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2003, PG, 4 Star)

19:10


Chalet Girl (Film) Film icon 12 certificate
Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick star in this bright and breezy British romcom. There was a time when working-class Kim reigned supreme as a skateboarding champion; but that was before her mother's death changed everything for her and her dad Bill. Now she's decided to give up her fast-food job and chance her arm with a new career as a chalet girl in an Alpine ski resort, where she hopes to win a life-changing sum of money in a snowboarding competition. Obviously, as well learning how to transfer her skateboarding skills to the slopes, she'll also have to acquire the knack of deflecting unwanted attention from the resort's predominantly posh, testosterone-fuelled young male clientele. But among the predictable serial gropers there's one lad who catches her eye: the rather narcissistic Jonny. Can Kim gain the confidence to hold her own among the relocated Chelsea set?
Director: Tom Williams
Starring: Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Bill Nighy, Brooke Shields, Tamsin Egerton, Bill Bailey
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 12)



21:00


Iron Man (Film) Film icon 5 star rating 12 certificate
Jon Favreau's action movie stars Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, the world's richest and most powerful arms manufacturer and dealer. But, while demonstrating his latest weapon in the Middle East, he's kidnapped by insurgents who are after his knowledge. Kept prisoner with a fellow scientist, he constructs an iron exoskeleton that gives him superhuman strength and enables him to escape. Back home, and now a reformed character, he refines his invention until he becomes Iron Man, the scourge of warmongers at home and abroad. But not all of his enemies are out in the open and he soon faces a threat from an unexpected source. With Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Stark's business partner, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, his long-suffering but loyal personal assistant.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, 12, 5 Star)

23:25


Troll Hunter (Film) Film icon 15 certificate
A mildly scary, very funny fantasy-horror that perfectly exploits the legends of its Nordic setting. Three film students set out to document a curious case of illegal bear-poaching. The youthful trio - excitable Thomas, grounded Johanna and their sardonic cameraman Kalle - quickly establish the man they need to interview is the dour and evasive Hans. But, despite the older man's gruff refusal to help, the trio follow him on one of his night-time forays into the pine forest, where they discover that Hans is after bigger, far more terrifying and deadly prey than bears. Suddenly they learn that their folklore is a shocking reality, and that the government is hiding a terrible truth from the populace. But, rather than fleeing the danger, the three beg Hans to let them continue filming.
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, In Norwegian with English Subtitles, 15)

01:30


The Host (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
While he's at work at a riverside park in Seoul, Park Gang Du sees a huge mutant creature rear up out of the water and make off with several citizens, including Park's daughter Hyun-seo. But the monster doesn't eat her straight away. Using her mobile, she calls her father from the creature's lair in the city's sewers. While the Korean and US governments try to deny the incident, it's up to Park and his family to gather what weapons they can and kill the monster. Stunning special effects and a tongue-in-cheek tone make Bong Joon-ho's film one of the best examples of the modern Korean horror genre.
Director: Joon-ho Bong
Starring: Kang-ho Song, Hie-bong Byeon, Hae-il Park, Du-na Bae, Ah-sung Ko, David Joseph Anselmo
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In Korean with English Subtitles, Widescreen, 2006, 15, 4 Star)

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Thursday 26th December
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Film4 Listings for Thursday 26th December

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11:00


The Spiderwick Chronicles (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Mark Waters' fast-moving, gripping fantasy begins as Jared Grace, his twin brother Simon and their sister Mallory move with their mother Helen to their great-great uncle's creepy home in the middle of nowhere. Jared finds his uncle's secret study and a book, the Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around Them, which opens up a world of goblins, spirits, ogres, trolls and griffins. Some of the creatures are friendly and helpful, but some are determined to gain possession of the book so they can take over the world. Can the Graces stop their evil plans?
Director: Mark Waters
Starring: Freddie Highmore, Sarah Bolger, Nick Nolte, Mary-Louise Parker, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, PG, 3 Star)

12:50


Deck the Halls (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito star in John in Whitesell's festive comedy. For years, Steve Finch has celebrated Christmas with co-ordinated festive family sweater-wearing, carol singing and a tasteful tree out front. His new neighbour, Buddy Hall, festoons his home with so many lights that his ambition is to be visible from outer space. As hostilities escalate, the neighbours go head-to-head with runaway sleighs, incontinent festive animals and a speed-skating challenge, as their wives look on in despair.
Director: John Whitesell
Starring: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Dylan Blue
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, PG, 2 Star)

14:40


Young Sherlock Holmes (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Barry Levinson's family drama, scripted by Chris Columbus, stars Nicholas Rowe as Sherlock Holmes and Alan Cox as John Watson, who meet as teenagers at boarding school. Holmes, already developing his detective skills, becomes interested in the seemingly unconnected deaths of prominent men, but by acting upon his deductive powers he places himself and Watson in mortal danger. The influence of Steven Spielberg as executive producer can be seen, with scenes that could have appeared in The Goonies or Indiana Jones, but Levinson gives the film its own distinctive style. Nigel Stock plays an eccentric teacher at the school; he played Watson in the 1960s BBC TV series. Edited for content.
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox, Sophie Ward, Anthony Higgins, Susan Fleetwood, Freddie Jones
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1985, PG, 3 Star)

16:50


Crocodile Dundee (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
'That's not a knife. This is a knife', is among cinema's best-known quotes, as the eponymous Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee routs a New York mugger in Peter Faiman's Oscar-nominated comedy. Hogan, an Australian national institution, broke into the big time with this film, playing an outback crocodile-hunter who attracts the attention of American journalist Sue Charlton. After she shares his life and dangers in the bush, she invites him to New York, an environment that's alien to Dundee but one he adapts to with charm and humour, as he and Charlton slowly fall in love. Edited for content.
Director: Peter Faiman
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon, David Gulpilil, Ritchie Singer, Maggie Blinco
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1986, PG, 4 Star)

18:40


Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
This family adventure from Chris Columbus is adapted from the first of Rick Riordan's series of fantasy novels, and stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, an American teen who finds that Greek myth is much closer to home than he imagined. It turns out that while his mum Sally is human, his father is the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes, Poseidon; which makes our hero a demigod. At first it's all a bit much to take in, as he learns the modern world is teeming with deities and their offspring. And things take a turn for the worse when Zeus suspects Percy of theft after the lightning bolt that confers supreme, terrifying power goes missing. With his mother kidnapped and the errant super weapon threatening to cause a catastrophic clash of the gods, Percy sets off to recover the artefact. As he does so, he discovers the many creatures and monsters of legend are also alive today, and are as fierce as ever. Also starring Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Steve Coogan. Edited for content.
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)



21:00


Sightseers (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Alice Lowe and Steve Oram teamed up to write and star in this dark and violent comedy-drama, directed by Ben Wheatley. They look such an ordinary couple, but these Midlands' lovebirds prove anything but. Chris is the proud owner of an Abbey Oxford caravan and adores few things more than exploring the glories of the British countryside. So, when presented with the opportunity to whisk his new girlfriend, Tina, off to see such heady sights as Keswick's Pencil Museum, Crich Tramway Village and the Ribblehead Viaduct, he jumps at it. Though, to be honest, the sheltered Tina seems keener on the journey's erotic possibilities. But, almost as soon as their odyssey has begun, an awful accident completely changes the tenor of their trip. And, from then on, only the exceedingly unwise do anything to cross the increasingly malevolent pair.
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies, Richard Glover, Monica Dolan, Jonathan Aris
(Premiere, Subtitles, Black and White, 2012, 15, 4 Star)

22:45


Man on Fire (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 18 certificate
Denzel Washington stars in director Tony Scott's revenge thriller. Alcoholic former CIA agent John Creasy tries to escape his troubled past by moving to Mexico City, where he takes a job as bodyguard to a rich businessman's 10-year-old daughter Lupita. Gradually, Creasy's new employment begins to mend his damaged persona as he bonds with the girl. But the Mexican capital's reputation for kidnapping proves accurate as she is snatched and a ransom is demanded. So Creasy sets out to track down and inflict maximum, grisly pain on everyone involved in Lupita's abduction.
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Giannini
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2004, 18, 4 Star)

01:35


Joyeux Noël (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
Christian Carion's drama retells the true story of the impromptu Christmas ceasefire of 1914, just five months in to the carnage of the First World War. The narrative begins by setting the scene at the conflict's outbreak: Danish soprano Anna Sorensen's Berlin recital is interrupted with the news and her German lover, the tenor Nikolaus Sprink, is rushed off to enlist; while two Scottish lads are excited at the prospect of escaping their humdrum existence, their priest is significantly more sanguine about the affair. Then it's straight in to the horrors of the trenches, where French and British troops are often within earshot of their German adversaries - and all are potentially just moments from death. In addition to proposing a genesis for that extraordinary, spontaneous moment of peace and goodwill, there are glimpses of the combatants' lives and of the great divide between the ranks.
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: Diane Kruger, Natalie Dessay, Benno Fürmann, Rolando Villazón, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2005, 12, 4 Star)

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Friday 27th December
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Film4 Listings for Friday 27th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


The Parent Trap (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Family comedy about identical twin sisters who are separated at birth when their parents divorce. Years later the girls meet at a summer camp and, despite strikingly different personalities, agree to a scheme to reunite their parents. When camp ends, they change places and start their plan with the first goal to scare off a gold-digger pursuing their father. A new remake of the 1961 favourite staring Hayley Mills.
Director: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson, Elaine Hendrix, Lisa Ann Walter
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1998, PG, 3 Star)

13:30


White Christmas (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney star in this festive family favourite from prolific director Michael Curtiz. Bob Wallace and Phil Davis are friends who met while serving in World War II and have subsequently become a very successful song-and-dance team. They meet singing sisters Betty and Judy at a nightclub in Florida and, with a hint of romance in the air, together head off to rural Vermont, where the girls are booked to appear at a ski lodge. When they arrive, they discover that the place is run by the men's former commanding officer, Major General Waverly, who's in dire financial straits because unseasonably warm weather is keeping the snow at bay.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen Slezak, Dean Jagger, Mary Wickes
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 1954, U, 4 Star)

15:55


Hairspray (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Adam Shankman's adaptation of the 2002 musical stars John Travolta, Queen Latifah and Nikki Blonsky. Teen Tracy Turnblad's regular cultural highlight is a local television music-and-dance programme called The Corny Collins Show. And, like all her friends, she dreams of having a chance to appear on it. However, this is Baltimore and it is 1962 - and Tracy's both overweight and, worse, has liberal attitudes to race relations, which don't sit comfortably with the segregationist views of the show's producer. But, could Tracy's ambitions for not only appearing on the show, but also racially integrating it, receive a fillip when she meets the son of Motormouth Maybelle, host of the monthly 'Negro Day' edition of the show? Also starring John Travolta as Tracy's mum, Christopher Walken as her dad, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron and Elijah Kelley; plus cameos from the star of the original movie, Ricki Lake, and its director, John Waters.
Director: Adam Shankman
Starring: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2007, PG, 4 Star)

18:15


Transformers (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
Michael Bay's all-action adventure, based on the popular toy. Earth becomes the battleground between the good Transformers and the bad, who are searching for the all-powerful Allspark, which could destroy humanity. Caught up in the middle is Sam Witwicky, whose beaten-up old car turns out to be an Autobot called Bumblebee. The duo hold the key to the battle that rages between the Decepticons and the government forces, led by Sgt Lennox, but can they stop the evil Megatron? Also starring Megan Fox. Edited for content.
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2007, 12, 4 Star)

21:00


Predators (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Adrien Brody, Alice Braga and Topher Grace star in this well-received addition to the Predator sci-fi action-adventure franchise, this time with Hungarian director Nimrod Antal at the helm. The action opens with Royce waking in a parachute that's drifting down towards a jungle. On landing he discovers he's one of a small group of people, all of whom have been similarly mysteriously delivered to their current location. With the exception of Edwin, a doctor, their only common trait is that all are expert killers, whether from the military or the wrong side of the law.
Director: Nimród Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 15, 3 Star)



23:10


Secretary (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Maggie Gyllenhaal made her breakthrough in Steven Shainberg's surprisingly delicate and humorous tale of unconventional love and liberation through humiliation. Gyllenhaal plays Lee Holloway, a shy woman discharged from a mental institution into the care of her dysfunctional family. She takes a lowly clerical job with dour, demanding attorney E Edward Grey. He's critical of her mistakes, and one day, verbal abuse crosses to physical, as he spanks her. But she seems to thrive on his treatment and a reciprocal relationship develops until Grey, finding she enjoys the humiliation, fires her. Bereft, and with her boyfriend Peter unable to fulfil her desires, she plans to win back Grey's affections.
Director: Steven Shainberg
Starring: James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jeremy Davies, Lesley Ann Warren, Stephen McHattie, Patrick Bauchau
(Subtitles, 2002, 18, 3 Star)

01:20


Vanishing Point (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Richard C Sarafian's road movie stars Barry Newman as former racing driver Kowalski, who accepts a bet to drive a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in just 15 hours. Along the way he inevitably comes into conflict with the cops, but also gains the support of Cleavon Little's blind radio DJ Super Soul, who alerts Kowalski to the police's attempts to stop him in his tracks. Thematically similar to Easy Rider, the film motors along on Newman's charismatic performance and is viewed by some as a cult classic.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Starring: Barry Newman, Cleavon Little, Dean Jagger, Victoria Medlin, Paul Koslo, Robert Donner
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1971, 15, 3 Star)

[leostiinta]

Saturday 28th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Saturday 28th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Inspector Gadget (Film) Film icon PG certificate
It's the comedy with a thousand moving parts, the story of the crazy, crackpot crime fighter who's not so much a detective, more a toolbox! Wowser, you'll thrill to the tall tale of a naïve and inept security guard who dreams of becoming the world's greatest law enforcement officer. Then one day he gets involved in a top secret project with a leading robotics scientist, and becomes a man of many parts - all of them moving! With the help of the pretty scientist, our bumbling, accident prone hero fights the nefarious, villainous Claw in this Disney big screen adaptation of the much loved cartoon series.
Director: David Kellogg
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Rupert Everett, Joely Fisher, Michelle Trachtenberg, Andy Dick, Cheri Oteri
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1999, PG, 2 Star)

12:35


Escape to Victory (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine star in John Huston's sporting wartime drama as POWs in Germany. Caine plays John Colby, who was once England's football captain, while Stallone plays Robert Hatch, whose only thought is escape. When the camp commandant, ex-German international Van Steiner suggests a match between the POWs and the Germans, it soon escalates into a propaganda exercise, with Colby leading a team of international players out into France's national stadium to face the German national side. Meanwhile, Hatch and the French Resistance have planned an audacious escape for the whole team during the match. But not all of the players want to leave before the final whistle... Among those playing for the Allies are Pele, Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, legendary Polish midfielder Kazimierz Deyna and Mike Summerbee. Edited for content.
Director: John Huston
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Pelé, Bobby Moore, Osvaldo Ardiles, Paul Van Himst
(Subtitles, 1981, PG, 2 Star)

14:55


Marmaduke (Film) Film icon U certificate
Almost 60 years after it was first published, Brad Anderson's comic strip about the misadventures of a clumsy Great Dane comes bounding into CGI, lip-synched life in this kids' adventure. The Winslow family, originally from Kansas, have upped sticks and plonked them down again in sunny California, thanks to Dad's new job at a pet-food company that's run by Don Twombly.
Director: Tom Dey
Starring: Owen Wilson, Lee Pace, Emma Stone, George Lopez, Kiefer Sutherland, Stacy Ferguson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, U, 2 Star)

16:40


Jungle 2 Jungle (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Tim Allen plays Wall Street high-flyer Michael Cromwell. Before he can marry his fiancé Charlotte, he must divorce his wife Patricia, who works with indigenous people deep in the South American jungle. When he tracks her down, he also discovers he has a teenage son, Mimi-Siku, raised as one of the natives, who wants Michael to take him to New York to experience life in the Big Apple. Cue fish-out-of-water gags galore in John Pasquin's comedy, as Mimi-Siku's innocent ways create mayhem in Michael's ordered metropolitan WASP life. Edited for content.
Director: John Pasquin
Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short, JoBeth Williams, Lolita Davidovich, Sam Huntington, David Ogden-Stiers
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1997, PG, 4 Star)

18:40


Mission: Impossible II (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
A secret agent must undertake a difficult assignment to capture a rogue erstwhile colleague who has stolen a deadly genetically engineered virus. With the villain intending to sell the virus and its antidote to the highest bidder, the heroic agent enlists the help of the criminal's former girlfriend. But when the beautiful woman becomes infected, there is a race against time to save her - and the entire human race.
Director: John Woo
Starring: Tom Cruise, Dougray Scott, Thandie Newton, Ving Rhames, Richard Roxburgh, John Polson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2000, 15, 3 Star)



21:00


Four Christmases (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn star in Seth Gordon's frothy romcom about a happily unmarried couple who reconsider their relationship after spending Christmas with their families. Brad and Kate usually avoid family Christmases by booking blowout holidays. But when dense fog grounds their flight to Fiji, they have no choice but to see each of their divorced parents - whom they've never introduced to one another - on the same day. Brad's dad Howard mixes insults about Brad's masculinity with criticisms of his Christmas presents, his cage-fighting brothers embarrass him, while hippy mum shows off her latest toy boy. The pair fare no better when they meet Kate's born-again Christian mum, her brash older sister Courtney and her father. As the day progresses, Kate and Brad find out more about each other and start having doubts about their relationship - to the point where they start to fear they can no longer reconcile their differences.
Director: Seth Gordon
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, Jon Favreau
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, 12, 3 Star)

22:45


The Hole (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
A scary comedy-horror from director Joe Dante about a suburban home that has among its features a secret portal, which would perhaps be best left undiscovered. The house is the new abode of teen Dane Thompson, his mum Susan and his irritating younger sibling Lucas. Kids being kids, it's not long before they've thoroughly explored their new residence - and found the strange, heavily padlocked trapdoor down in the basement. Together with Julie, the girl who lives next door, the unwisely intrepid gang manage to remove the carefully constructed barriers and lift the lid, to find themselves staring into... a pitch-black hole. At first it's not much to look at, but they gradually learn why the previous owner was so desperately keen to keep it permanently covered. Essentially aimed at a family audience, the film delivers enough genuine frights to make its 12 certificate necessary. First screening on Film4.
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Chris Massoglia, Haley Bennett, Nathan Gamble, Teri Polo, Bruce Dern, Quinn Lord
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 2009, 12, 3 Star)

00:35


Red Hill (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Writer/director Patrick Hughes's debut feature is a modern-day western in the guise of a violent revenge-thriller starring Ryan Kwanten, Claire van der Bloom and Tommy Lewis. Though it seemed like a good idea at the time, police officer Shane Cooper's decision to relocate to the remote town of Red Hill to alleviate stress complications with his wife Alice's pregnancy is soon revealed to be a terrible mistake. On the very first day in his new posting, Cooper discovers that his new colleagues, and especially their grizzled chief Old Bill, are rough and violent throwbacks to an earlier age of policing. Worse, there has been a jailbreak and a local man who was incarcerated for a notorious murder is heading back home to exact lethal revenge on the lawmen who put him away - and anyone else who stands in his way. But, as the bullets fly and the corpses start to stack up, a darker, far more perfidious tale is brought to light.
Director: Patrick Hughes
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, Tommy Lewis, Claire van der Boom, Christopher Davis, Kevin Harrington
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 15, 3 Star)

02:25


F (Film) Film icon 18 certificate
Johannes Roberts' genuinely chilling, atmospheric horror is set in a British high school. David Schofield plays Robert Anderson, a divorced, alcoholic English teacher in a tough north London comprehensive. One day, he returns an essay to a particularly nasty piece of work in his class, marked 'F', along with some cutting remarks, which result in laughter from the whole class. Humiliated, the boy punches him and storms out. But, some months later, he returns, along with a hoodie crew, intent on unleashing an Assault-on-Precinct-13-style nightmare on the people who belittled him.
Director: Johannes Roberts
Starring: David Schofield, Eliza Bennett, Ruth Gemmell, Juliet Aubrey, Emma Cleasby, Finlay Robertson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 18, 2 Star)

[leostiinta]

Sunday 29th December
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Film4 Listings for Sunday 29th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Jim Carrey stars in Ron Howard's family comedy, a live-action adaptation of the popular Dr Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. The whole of Whoville can barely contain its excitement. Christmas approaches and, as the snow gently falls, the Whos bustle around their town buying presents and arranging festive celebrations. It's such beautiful, heart-warming scene... unless you're the Grinch, a great, green-haired, grumpy, goblin-like creature who lives up on the hill that overlooks Whoville. The only thing the Grinch hates more than himself or his neighbours is Christmas.
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin, Molly Shannon
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2000, PG, 3 Star)

13:10


Chalet Girl (Film) Film icon 12 certificate
Felicity Jones and Ed Westwick star in this bright and breezy British romcom. There was a time when working-class Kim reigned supreme as a skateboarding champion; but that was before her mother's death changed everything for her and her dad Bill. Now she's decided to give up her fast-food job and chance her arm with a new career as a chalet girl in an Alpine ski resort, where she hopes to win a life-changing sum of money in a snowboarding competition. Obviously, as well learning how to transfer her skateboarding skills to the slopes, she'll also have to acquire the knack of deflecting unwanted attention from the resort's predominantly posh, testosterone-fuelled young male clientele. But among the predictable serial gropers there's one lad who catches her eye: the rather narcissistic Jonny. Can Kim gain the confidence to hold her own among the relocated Chelsea set?
Director: Tom Williams
Starring: Felicity Jones, Ed Westwick, Bill Nighy, Brooke Shields, Tamsin Egerton, Bill Bailey
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 12)

15:00


Big Fish (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
An estranged son tries to reconcile with his dying father, a Southern raconteur, by piecing together the stories he has gathered over the years. William Bloom recreates his father's elusive life in a series of legends and myths inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tales of giants, circuses, lost towns, love, war and bank robbery, the son begins to understand his father's great feats and failings.
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2003, PG, 4 Star)

17:25


Titanic (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
James Cameron's Oscar-laden epic tells of the first and final voyage of the 'unsinkable' luxury liner through the love story of two very different passengers. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jack Dawson, a brash chancer in the steerage section of the ship who talks his way up to the staterooms and fancy restaurants, where he meets Rose DeWitt Bukater. She is promised to Cal Hockley in a loveless match but quickly falls for Jack. The first half of the film establishes their story, the second the fate of the Titanic once it has struck the iceberg. The destinies of all the crew and passengers are mirrored by the tragedy that befalls the two lovers, while spectacular special effects recreate the ship's fate. Edited for content.
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Gloria Stuart
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1997, 12, 4 Star)

21:00


Easy A (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Director Will Gluck's intelligent and hilarious high school comedy stars Emma Stone in an outstanding lead performance. Olive Penderghast is something of an 'also ran' in her year at school, so when she spies the opportunity to make herself look a little more interesting and mature she jumps at it and falsely claims to a friend that she's lost her virginity to a college boy. However, what was supposed to be a confidential white lie becomes public, and soon she has the cachet of unprecedented notoriety around the entire school. But it's what happens next that's really interesting. Enjoying the glare of attention, she not only sets out to build on her newfound rep as a scarlet woman, she also subverts the moment to help some of the school's more picked-upon students.
Director: Will Gluck
Starring: Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden-Church, Patricia Clarkson
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 15, 4 Star)



22:50


Repo Men (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Jude Law and Forest Whitaker star in this blood-drenched thriller-cum-satire set in a grimy vision of the near future. Technology has finally solved the problem of organ transplants, at least for those who can afford them. But beware: fall behind on the payments and the organ provider will dispatch repo men with sharp blades to reclaim their property in a swift but grisly operation. Remy and Jake work for one such company, The Union, and are among its best 'bailiffs', performing their allotted tasks ruthlessly. Until, that is, Remy is forced to rely on one of The Union's products himself - at which point his perspective is radically reassessed and he goes on the run, hotly pursued by his erstwhile colleague. Also starring Liev Schreiber and Alice Braga. First play on Film4.
Director: Miguel Sapochnik
Starring: Jude Law, Forest Whitaker, Alice Braga, Liev Schreiber, Carice Van Houten, Chandler Canterbury
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 18, 3 Star)

01:00


The Hidden Fortress (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Akira Kurosawa's jidaigeki stars Toshiro Mifune in a swashbuckling tale of medieval derring-do. The action begins with peasants Tahei and Matashichi, mismatched in physical bulk, bickering their way across a wide, dusty plain; they chose the wrong side in the recent war and are making their eventful way home. After escaping a brief internment, they spot gold bars hidden in some shrubs. Unfortunately the gold is part of a trove belonging to Princess Yukihime, heiress to the defeated Akizuki family.
Director: Akira Kurosawa, Roger Cantin
Starring: Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Misa Uehara
(Black and White, Premiere, Subtitles, Subtitled, In Japanese with English Subtitles, 1958, PG, 4 Star)

[gertl]

Film4 Listings for Monday 30th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Deck the Halls (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito star in John in Whitesell's festive comedy. For years, Steve Finch has celebrated Christmas with co-ordinated festive family sweater-wearing, carol singing and a tasteful tree out front. His new neighbour, Buddy Hall, festoons his home with so many lights that his ambition is to be visible from outer space. As hostilities escalate, the neighbours go head-to-head with runaway sleighs, incontinent festive animals and a speed-skating challenge, as their wives look on in despair.
Director: John Whitesell
Starring: Danny DeVito, Matthew Broderick, Kristin Davis, Kristin Chenoweth, Alia Shawkat, Dylan Blue
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, PG, 2 Star)

12:50


Anastasia (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Russian royal Anastasia does not remember her origins and when she travels to St Petersburg to investigate her forgotten past, she falls in with two conmen who want to pass her off as the lost princess, little suspecting that their 'fake' princess is in fact the real thing.
Director: Gary Goldman, Don Bluth
Starring: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd, Hank Azaria, Bernadette Peters
(Subtitles, 1997, U, 3 Star)

14:40


The Spy Next Door (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Brian Levant directs martial arts icon Jackie Chan in this family-friendly action-comedy about a secret agent pitted against both the Russian mafia and the three children of the single mother he's fallen for. Artsy Gillian leaves 'Bob Ho' in charge of the kids for the weekend, and he uses his espionage skills to try to get to grips with the brood - who cover the traditional bases of bolshie, brainy and adorable - while Poldark and Creel are the villains in a subplot involving a misappropriated chemical formula. Levant includes homages to some of Chan's landmark movies, and the alpha male who's a fish out of water when dealing with kids is a good fit for Chan's likeable screen persona. Edited for content.
Director: Brian Levant
Starring: Jackie Chan, Amber Valletta, Madeline Carroll, Will Shadley, Alina Foley, Magnús Scheving
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)

16:30


Fred Claus (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
David Dobkin's festive comedy stars Vince Vaughn as Fred Claus, the slacker brother of Santa, who has grown apart from his more successful brother. When he needs to be bailed out of the slammer, Fred calls in a favour and Santa agrees to pay the money so long as Fred comes to Lapland and helps him with the Yuletide rush. But in Lapland, an efficiency expert, Clyde, is casting his eye over Santa's operation with a view to closing it down. Can the estranged brothers pull together to save the business?
Director: David Dobkin
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, John Michael Higgins, Miranda Richardson, Rachel Weisz, Kathy Bates
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2007, PG, 3 Star)

18:40


Iron Man (Film) Film icon 5 star rating 12 certificate
Jon Favreau's action movie stars Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark, the world's richest and most powerful arms manufacturer and dealer. But, while demonstrating his latest weapon in the Middle East, he's kidnapped by insurgents who are after his knowledge. Kept prisoner with a fellow scientist, he constructs an iron exoskeleton that gives him superhuman strength and enables him to escape. Back home, and now a reformed character, he refines his invention until he becomes Iron Man, the scourge of warmongers at home and abroad. But not all of his enemies are out in the open and he soon faces a threat from an unexpected source. With Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, Stark's business partner, and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, his long-suffering but loyal personal assistant. Edited for content.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, Shaun Toub
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, 12, 5 Star)



21:00


The Mechanic (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Jason Statham stars in director Simon West's action retread of Michael Winner's 1972 revenge thriller. Arthur Bishop earns his living as a 'mechanic', a euphemism for hitman that betrays the precision and emotional detachment with which he goes about his business. And that even applies when he's contracted to kill his wheelchair-using mentor Harry McKenna, though he does at least demand to know why he should send his friend to an early grave. Things then get awkward for Bishop, when McKenna's son Steve asks if he'll tutor him. Their partnership develops in fits and starts, but Bishop's boss Dean Sanderson makes it clear he's not happy with the nascent partnership's latest assassination. So, with all the main players inherently suspicious, trained killers, and various motives for murder in the air, it won't take much to spark bloodshed - and that catalyst comes with an unexpected sighting at an airport.
Director: Simon West
Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Tony Goldwyn, Donald Sutherland, Jeff Chase, Mini Anden
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 15, 3 Star)

22:50


4.3.2.1 (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Tamsin Egerton, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond and Shanika Warren-Markland star in writer-director Noel Clarke's fast-paced comedy crime-thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly get entangled with diamond thieves. The action begins in a cafe in London, where the four 19-year-olds briefly meet up before setting out on their separate paths. The narrative then takes place over the course of three days, and istold, in turn, from each woman's perspective. Joanne is an American living in London and working at a minimarket managed by Tee. Cassandra is a gifted pianist who's about to jet off to New York to audition for the chance to study under a famous teacher and hopefully meet a man she's developed an online relationship with.
Director: Noel Clarke, Mark Davis
Starring: Emma Roberts, Noel Clarke, Tamsin Egerton, Ophelia Lovibond, Shanika Warren-Markland, Jacob Anderson
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 15, 3 Star)

01:05


Wild at Heart (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 18 certificate
David Lynch's extraordinary and unique Cannes prize-winning road movie stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as star-crossed lovers on a bizarre odyssey through the American south, pursued by a hitman hired by her mother.
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, J.E. Freeman, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd
(Subtitles, 1990, 18, 4 Star)

[gertl]

Film4 Listings for Tuesday 31st December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Young Sherlock Holmes (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Barry Levinson's family drama, scripted by Chris Columbus, stars Nicholas Rowe as Sherlock Holmes and Alan Cox as John Watson, who meet as teenagers at boarding school. Holmes, already developing his detective skills, becomes interested in the seemingly unconnected deaths of prominent men, but by acting upon his deductive powers he places himself and Watson in mortal danger. The influence of Steven Spielberg as executive producer can be seen, with scenes that could have appeared in The Goonies or Indiana Jones, but Levinson gives the film its own distinctive style. Nigel Stock plays an eccentric teacher at the school; he played Watson in the 1960s BBC TV series. Edited for content.
Director: Barry Levinson
Starring: Nicholas Rowe, Alan Cox, Sophie Ward, Anthony Higgins, Susan Fleetwood, Freddie Jones
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1985, PG, 3 Star)

13:10


The Ladykillers (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
Alexander Mackendrick's classic Ealing comedy stars Alec Guinness as the sinister, eccentric leader of a gang of crooks whose perfect crime meets its nemesis at the unwitting hands of Guinness's elderly landlady, played by Bafta-award-winner Katie Johnson.
Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Starring: Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner
(Subtitles, 1955, U, 4 Star)

14:55


Scrooged (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Bill Murray stars in Richard Donner's comedic take on the Dickens classic as Frank Cross, a misanthropic, penny-pinching TV executive whose career rests on producing a ratings-busting version of A Christmas Carol. And just before Christmas, he's visited by the three ghosts... Featuring Carol Kane as a scene-stealing, psychopathically violent Ghost of Christmas Present. Edited for content.
Director: Richard Donner
Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover, Bob Goldthwait, David Johansen
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1988, PG, 3 Star)

16:50


St. Trinian's (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Directors Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson's overhaul of the comedy franchise about the rebellious pupils of a girls' boarding school stars Talulah Riley, Rupert Everett and Gemma Arterton. Annabelle Fritton, daughter of dodgy art dealer Carnaby, enrols at the shabby country boarding school, St Trinian's, run by her aunt Camilla. Head Girl Kelly introduces Annabelle to the school's various factions. And when Annabelle discovers the crazy, raucous 'curriculum', she realises that this is a school like no other. However, once she's past a cruel initiation prank, she settles down and enjoys being part of the chaos. But then disaster strikes: the school lacks the funds to continue. The institution's finest brains come up with a rescue plan... which involves the theft of a world-famous artwork. Also starring in the madness are Colin Firth, as a beleaguered school inspector, and Russell Brand, as Flash Harry, who helps the girls in their myriad nefarious deeds. Edited for content.
Director: Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson
Starring: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Jodie Whittaker, Gemma Arterton, Jonathan Bailey, Mischa Barton
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2007, 12, 3 Star)

18:45


Hairspray (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Adam Shankman's adaptation of the 2002 musical stars John Travolta, Queen Latifah and Nikki Blonsky. Teen Tracy Turnblad's regular cultural highlight is a local television music-and-dance programme called The Corny Collins Show. And, like all her friends, she dreams of having a chance to appear on it. However, this is Baltimore and it is 1962 - and Tracy's both overweight and, worse, has liberal attitudes to race relations, which don't sit comfortably with the segregationist views of the show's producer. But, could Tracy's ambitions for not only appearing on the show, but also racially integrating it, receive a fillip when she meets the son of Motormouth Maybelle, host of the monthly 'Negro Day' edition of the show? Also starring John Travolta as Tracy's mum, Christopher Walken as her dad, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron and Elijah Kelley; plus cameos from the star of the original movie, Ricki Lake, and its director, John Waters.
Director: Adam Shankman
Starring: John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2007, PG, 4 Star)



21:00


The Godfather (Film) Film icon 5 star rating 18 certificate
See the year out with this double-bill of Francis Ford Coppola's classic gangster epic. Marlon Brando stars in his Oscar-winning role as Don Corleone, the head of a Mafia family engaged in internecine war with rival crime clans.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Richard S. Castellano, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden
(Subtitles, 1972, 18, 5 Star)

00:20


The Godfather Part II (Film) Film icon 5 star rating 18 certificate
Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola's Academy-Award winning epic sequel to The Godfather. This film charts the early life of Vito Corleone, played by Oscar-winner Robert De Niro, and continues the saga of the Mafia crime family, now headed by Oscar nominee Al Pacino, in the 50s. With Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, John Cazale and Oscar nominees Talia Shire, Lee Strasberg and Michael V Gazzo. The final part of the trilogy can be seen next Sunday on Film4.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Robert de Niro, John Cazale, Talia Shire
(Subtitles, 1974, 18, 5 Star)

[gertl]

Film4 Listings for Wednesday 1st January

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Baby's Day Out (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Patrick Read Johnson's comedy, scripted by John Hughes, stars Joe Mantegna, Joe Pantoliano and Brian Haley as Eddie, Norby and Veeko, three inept criminals who kidnap Baby Bink, the son of a rich Chicago family. But while they are negotiating the ransom, Baby Bink escapes and begins to make his way back home. As the trio chase him, the infant manages to avoid a series of violent hazards, which his pursuers run straight into. The film owes much to the kind of cartoon violence that Road Runner inflicted upon Wile E Coyote, where falls and explosions are slapstick rather than fatal, while the interaction of the three criminals carries Hughes' trademark quick-fire humour. Edited for content.
Director: Patrick Read Johnson
Starring: Joe Mantegna, Lara-Flynn Boyle, Joe Pantoliano, Brian Haley, Cynthia Nixon, Fred Dalton Thompson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1994, PG, 4 Star)

12:50


Stormbreaker (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Geoffrey Sax's family action-adventure is based on Anthony Horowitz's successful teenage spy novels. Alex Pettyfer stars as Alex Rider, a 14-year-old schoolboy seconded to British intelligence after his uncle and guardian Ian Rider is murdered by rogue billionaire Darrius Sayle. Trained by Alan Blunt and Smithers, he takes on Sayle, not just for revenge but also to stop him unleashing the deadly Stormbreaker virus on the world.
Director: Geoffrey Sax
Starring: Alex Pettyfer, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Alicia Silverstone, Mickey Rourke, Damian Lewis
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, PG, 3 Star)

14:40


Journey to the Center of the Earth (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Eric Brevig's sci-fi adventure-fantasy adaptation of the Jules Verne novel, starring Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson and Anita Briem. Trevor Anderson, whose geologist brother Max vanished ten years previously, learns that the university is about to close the department named after the missing man, which would place his own career on an uncertain footing. When Trevor's nephew Sean arrives for a visit, he brings some of Max's most treasured belongings, including a heavily annotated copy of Jules Verne's A Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Director: Eric Brevig
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Josh Hutcherson, Anita Briem, Seth Meyers, Jean Michel Paré, Jane Wheeler
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2008, PG, 3 Star)

16:30


Crocodile Dundee II (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Mick 'Crocodile' Dundee, now living in New York, wages war against a drug-running gang when his reporter girlfriend is kidnapped because she possesses incriminating film of a drug-related murder. Having rescued her with his antipodean cunning and the help of a gang of punks, the couple flee to the relative safety of the Australian outback - but the villains are in hot pursuit.
Director: John Cornell
Starring: Paul Hogan, Linda Kozlowski, John Meillon, Hechter Ubarry, Juan Fernández, Charles S. Dutton
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1988, PG, 3 Star)

18:40


Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
This family adventure from Chris Columbus is adapted from the first of Rick Riordan's series of fantasy novels, and stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, an American teen who finds that Greek myth is much closer to home than he imagined. It turns out that while his mum Sally is human, his father is the Greek god of the sea and earthquakes, Poseidon; which makes our hero a demigod. At first it's all a bit much to take in, as he learns the modern world is teeming with deities and their offspring. And things take a turn for the worse when Zeus suspects Percy of theft after the lightning bolt that confers supreme, terrifying power goes missing. With his mother kidnapped and the errant super weapon threatening to cause a catastrophic clash of the gods, Percy sets off to recover the artefact. As he does so, he discovers the many creatures and monsters of legend are also alive today, and are as fierce as ever. Also starring Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Steve Coogan. Edited for content.
Director: Chris Columbus
Starring: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)



21:00


Predators (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Adrien Brody, Alice Braga and Topher Grace star in this well-received addition to the Predator sci-fi action-adventure franchise, this time with Hungarian director Nimrod Antal at the helm. The action opens with Royce waking in a parachute that's drifting down towards a jungle. On landing he discovers he's one of a small group of people, all of whom have been similarly mysteriously delivered to their current location. With the exception of Edwin, a doctor, their only common trait is that all are expert killers, whether from the military or the wrong side of the law.
Director: Nimród Antal
Starring: Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Oleg Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 15, 3 Star)

23:10


Man on Fire (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 18 certificate
Denzel Washington stars in director Tony Scott's revenge thriller. Alcoholic former CIA agent John Creasy tries to escape his troubled past by moving to Mexico City, where he takes a job as bodyguard to a rich businessman's 10-year-old daughter Lupita. Gradually, Creasy's new employment begins to mend his damaged persona as he bonds with the girl. But the Mexican capital's reputation for kidnapping proves accurate as she is snatched and a ransom is demanded. So Creasy sets out to track down and inflict maximum, grisly pain on everyone involved in Lupita's abduction.
Director: Tony Scott
Starring: Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, Marc Anthony, Radha Mitchell, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Giannini
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2004, 18, 4 Star)

02:00


Mission to Lars (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
A touching, small-scale documentary about an austistic Metallica fan's quest to meet his hero, Lars Ulrich. Tom Spicer has Fragile X syndrome - an anxiety-causing learning disorder that makes life a constant challenge. His brother and sister, William and Kate, want to do something special for him and decide that setting up a meeting between him an Ulrich could be a great way of helping him to come out of his shell. And so the family sets off across the US in an RV, trying to catch up with Lars at one of his shows. But their quest is fraught with difficulties; getting Lars to speak to them proves complicated - as William and Kate thought it might be - but what they anticipated less was how difficult the journey would be for Tom.
Director: James Moore, William Spicer
Starring: Tom Spicer, Kate Spicer, William Spicer, Jasmin St. Claire, Lars Ulrich
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2012, U, 3 Star)