Film Four & Film Four +1 TV Listing

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Tuesday 3rd December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Tuesday 3rd December

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11:00


Bear Island (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Donald Sutherland plays Frank Lansing, a researcher who has joined a NATO expedition to study global warming on an island deemed off limits, in this adaptation of Alistair MacLean's novel. An all-star cast of researchers end up at the frozen, isolated research station, where they run into a series of mysterious accidents and murders. Could a fortune in buried Nazi gold provide a motive for the violence?
Director: Don Sharp
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Barbara Parkins, Lloyd Bridges
(Subtitles, 1980, PG, 2 Star)

13:20


Shane (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Alan Ladd plays the title role in George Stevens' epic Oscar-winning western as a drifter who joins farmer Joe Starrett's family at a homesteading community. But land baron Rufus Ryker wants them out and hires gunslinger Jack Wilson to pile on the pressure. For Shane, a past he thought he had left behind returns to haunt him.
Director: George Stevens
Starring: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon de Wilde, Jack Palance, Ben Johnson
(Subtitles, 1953, PG, 4 Star)

15:45


Reach for the Sky (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
World War Two drama based on the true story about a fighter polit Douglas Bader who lost both of his legs in a flying accident in 1931, but overcame adversity to become a leading combat pilot during the Second World War.
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Kenneth More, Muriel Pavlow, Lyndon Brook, Lee Patterson, Alexander Knox, Dorothy Alison
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1956, PG, 3 Star)

18:25


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan star in Oliver Stone's sequel to his 1987 blockbuster drama. The years have passed and Gordon Gekko has served his sentence for insider trading. Released from prison, he finds a world that has unequivocally turned from boom to bust. Now his two main aims are to establish himself as a writer and seek reconciliation with his daughter Winnie, who writes left of centre blogs and doesn't show too much warmth towards him. However, she's dating Jake Moore, a trader in ethical stocks. When a suspicious stock crash ruins Moore's mentor and forces Moore to work for the unscrupulous Bretton James, Gordon Gekko spies the opportunity he needs to make up with Winnie by helping her boyfriend. Edited for content.
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 12, 3 Star)

21:00


The American (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
George Clooney stars as a hitman in this thoughtful and stylish thriller from Dutch director Anton Corbijn. When his career suffers an unexpected and violent setback in Sweden, seemingly unemotional assassin Jack is ordered to hide himself at a safe house in the mountains of Abruzzo in Italy. The resultant peace and quiet - and his friendship with the local priest Father Benedetto and more with local prostitute Clara - make Jack question the nature of his business and begin to explore the possibility of quitting. But will this prospect of a new life be compromised when he's ordered to carry out one last job: to hand-build a rifle for a new contact, the glamorous Mathilde? First play on Film4.
Director: Anton Corbijn
Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Thekla Reuten, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen, Irina Björklund
(Premiere, Widescreen, In English and Italian with English Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 15, 3 Star)



23:05


Unfaithful (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne's steamy thriller, adapted from Claude Chabrol's La Femme Infidèle (1969), stars Richard Gere, Diane Lane and Olivier Martinez. One windy day in New York, Connie Sumner (Lane) literally bumps into Paul Martel (Martinez). She's happily married with a child, he's a dealer in rare books. When invited to his flat to repair the damage caused by their sidewalk collision, he makes a move on her, but she declines and leaves. However, she's now intrigued by him and it's not long before she returns to him and embarks on a passionate affair. But Connie's not the best liar in the world, and her businessman husband Ed (Gere), thinking her story doesn't stack up, hires a private investigator (Dominic Chianese) to keep tabs on her. When the detective's evidence confirms Ed's fears, it thrusts the three main players on the road to tragedy.
Director: Adrian Lyne
Starring: Diane Lane, Erik Per Sullivan, Richard Gere, Olivier Martinez, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Dominic Chianese
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2002, 18, 3 Star)

01:30


Funny Games (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Michael Haneke's American remake of his 1997 German thriller loses none of the terror or horror of the original in this translation. An all-American family - George, Ann and son Georgie - arrive at their summer cottage for a yachting holiday. Two polite young men, Paul and Peter introduce themselves as neighbours but suddenly and brutally instil a nihilistic, sadistic regime on the family, playing mind games and torturing them. Haneke famously makes the audience complicit to events, boldly breaking the fourth wall, and while the violence largely happens off screen it remains horribly audible throughout.
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart, Boyd Gaines
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2007, 18, 3 Star)

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Wednesday 4th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Wednesday 4th December

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11:00


The Tall Stranger (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Joel McCrea plays Ned Bannon, an American Civil War Union officer wounded in battle and left for dead. Rescued by a wagon train, he's nursed back to health and offers to guide the wagons west, but the Confederates among the passengers ostracise him. He finds solace with Ellen and acceptance when he thwarts an ambush engineered by land baron Hardy, his half-brother. Directed by Thomas Carr, a veteran of western films and TV series.
Director: Thomas Carr
Starring: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Barry Kelley, Michael Ansara, Whit Bissell, James Dobson
(Subtitles, 1957, 15, 3 Star)

12:40


Town on Trial (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Thrilling British whodunnit with a sharp twist, simmering social tension and a rare performance of coiled brutality from John Mills. He plays a scarred police superintendant investigating a spate of sexually related murders in a posh suburban community. When his aggressive tactics turn the town against him, only Elizabeth Fenner will lend him an ear, but their relationship is stymied when her father becomes the chief suspect.
Director: John Guillermin
Starring: Charles Coburn, John Mills, Barbara Bates, Derek Farr, Alec McCowen, Elizabeth Seal
(Subtitles, Black and White, 1957, U, 3 Star)

14:35


The 39 Steps (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Kenneth More stars as Richard Hannay in the second film adaptation of John Buchan's ripping espionage yarn. It's more than a simple remake of Alfred Hitchcock's original 1935 movie, played this time for light-hearted excitement rather than suspense. And it certainly fulfils its ambition, as Hannay gamely romps around the Scottish countryside in a 48-hour dash to save the day by cracking an international plot to smuggle defence plans out of Britain.
Director: Ralph L. Thomas
Starring: Kenneth More, Taina Elg, Brenda de Banzie, Barry Jones, Reginald Beckwith, Faith Brook
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 1959, U, 3 Star)

16:30


'Pimpernel' Smith (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
Leslie Howard directs and stars in this wartime morale booster based on Baroness Orczy's novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Howard plays mild-mannered archaeologist Horatio Smith who, while pretending that he's searching for Aryan artefacts near the Swiss border, smuggles refugees from the Nazis to safety. But his most dangerous rescue takes him to Berlin, to save a young girl who has been forced to help the Germans find information that will uncover Smith's organisation. Can he spirit her to safety from under the nose of his Gestapo adversary General Von Graum?
Director: Leslie Howard
Starring: Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, Mary Morris, Hugh McDermott, Raymond Huntley, Manning Whiley
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1941, U, 4 Star)

18:55


X-Men: The Last Stand (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
When a mutant called Leech produces an antibody that cures all mutants, billionaire Warren Worthington II, driven by shame of his mutant son, kidnaps Leech to manufacture the cure and rid the world of mutants. But while Professor Charles Xavier advises negotiation and understanding, Magneto favours using mutant force against Worthington. Caught in the middle is government advisor Dr Hank McCoy, aka Beast. As the mutants, including Wolverine, Storm, Phoenix and Juggernaut, take sides, the battle becomes the final stand for the X-Men.
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, 12, 4 Star)



21:00


Hitman (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Xavier Gens' action-thriller stars Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, a nameless assassin belonging to an amoral worldwide organisation that's happy to carry out the dirty work for many major powers. After an operation goes wrong, he goes on the run from both the Russian Secret Service and his own organisation, reluctantly allowing Nika Boronina to tag along. Spying on them both is Interpol agent Mike Whittier. The film is adapted from a computer game but rises above a simple shoot-'em-up level thanks to Agent 47's complicated personality and enigmatic nature.
Director: Xavier Gens
Starring: Timothy Olyphant, Dougray Scott, Olga Kurylenko, Robert Knepper, Ulrich Thomsen, Henry Ian Cusick
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2007, 15, 3 Star)

22:50


What Lies Beneath (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Supernatural thriller about a woman who uncovers a chilling secret in her husband's past when, recuperating from a serious road accident, she starts to see visions of a mysterious woman. The husband, a university research scientist, sends his wife to a therapist. Events take an even more ominous turn when her therapist suggests she make contact with the apparition.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer, Diana Scarwid, Joe Morton
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2000, 15, 3 Star)

01:20


Buffalo '66 (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Vincent Gallo wrote, cast and made his directorial debut with this bizarre, totally absorbing movie that runs the gamut from high comedy to dark drama. Gallo also stars as Billy Brown, a released con who kidnaps blonde micro-skirted Layla from her dance class and persuades her to pretend to be his wife for the benefit of his dysfunctional parents. Meanwhile, he plots revenge against the player for the American football team, the Buffalo Bills, whose miskick landed him in prison.
Director: Vincent Gallo
Starring: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Jan-Michael Vincent
(Subtitles, 1998, 15, 4 Star)

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Thursday 5th December
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Film4 Listings for Thursday 5th December

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11:00


Nostalgia for the Light (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
Chilean director Patricio Guzman's film is a poetic and moving documentary about searching for the past. It explores how the lofty altitude and arid conditions of Chile's Atacama Desert have seen the area, far from any light pollution, become a magnet for astronomers. But Guzman also weaves in to his narrative the region's inescapably dark recent past. The film's title is derived from that of a book by French scientist Michel Cass?, which reflects upon how, just as the Atacama was set to become a global centre for modern astronomy, a USA-backed coup brought General Augusto Pinochet to power and closed off the country from the rest of the world.
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Starring: Gaspar Galaz, Lautaro Núñez, Luís Henríquez, Miguel, Victor González, Vicky Saaveda
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Subtitled, In Spanish with English Subtitles, 2010, 12, 4 Star)

12:55


Conspiracy of Hearts (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
In 1943 in Italy, Mother Katharine and Sister Mitya are part of a group of nuns helping to smuggle orphaned Jewish children out of an internment camp. Initially, a sympathetic Italian major helps them, but when he's replaced by a Nazi colonel and a lieutenant, the nuns find themselves in much more danger.
Director: Ralph L. Thomas
Starring: Lilli Palmer, Sylvia Syms, Yvonne Mitchell, Ronald Lewis, Albert Lieven, Peter Arne
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1960, U, 3 Star)

15:10


The Riddle of the Sands (Film) Film icon U certificate
Tony Maylam's thriller is based on Erskine Childers' classic novel. Set in 1901, when Britannia ruled the waves, it stars Simon MacCorkindale as Arthur Davies who, while out sailing in the North Sea, has a run-in with a German captain, Dollmann. His suspicions aroused, Davies calls in his old friend Charles Carruthers of the Foreign Office and the two set sail again, only to find that the Germans are planning an invasion of Britain and they are the only two who can stop them. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Christopher Challis, this is a thoroughly enjoyable drama, based on one of the earliest spy novels.
Director: Tony Maylam
Starring: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Simon MacCorkindale
(Subtitles, 1979, U, 2 Star)

17:15


Carry on Abroad (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
The 'Carry On' regulars embark on a package holiday to the Spanish resort of Elsbels. The revellers find that the Palace Hotel hardly lives up to its name - not least because the builders haven't finished erecting the place. It's not all bad news though, particularly for Sid James, who catches Barbara Windsor in the shower!
Director: Gerald Thomas
Starring: Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Peter Butterworth, Kenneth Connor
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 1972, PG, 3 Star)

19:00


Letters to Juliet (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave star in Gary Winick's dreamy romantic drama. American magazine employee Sophie is on holiday in Italy with her husband-to-be Victor. In Verona, home of Shakespeare's star-cross'd lovers, she stumbles across a tradition whereby modern-day women cathartically leave notes about their love lives addressed to the fictional Juliet, and to which other modern-day women reply. The note that catches Sophie's eye is from an English woman, Claire, detailing her lost Italian love. Despite it languishing for decades, Sophie decides to respond to the note, little realising that she's just taken the first step on a romance-imbued journey of her own...Also starring Franco Nero and Christopher Egan. In English, and Italian and Spanish, with English subtitles.
Director: Gary Winick
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Marcia DeBonis, Gael García Bernal, Giordano Formenti, Paolo Arvedi, Dario Conti
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)



21:00


Transporter 3 (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Olivier Megaton takes the helm for the third instalment in the high-octane action thriller franchise. Jason Statham returns to his role as Frank Martin, the crook's courier of choice for legally dubious goods. In this outing he is employed by a group of environmental terrorists to drive across Europe with Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian government minister. To make their journey more 'interesting', the pair are fitted with bracelets which will explode if either strays too far from their car. They are, of course, also pursued by numerous brawny types intent on bringing Martin's continental jaunt to a violently abrupt conclusion. In English, French, Ukranian, Russian and Hungarian with English subtitles.
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, François Berléand, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbé, Alex Kobold
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2008, 15, 3 Star)

23:05


Babylon A.D. (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Mathieu Kassowitz's science fiction film is set in a dystopian future where corporations rule the cities. Mercenary Toorop is hired by Gorsky to pick up a 'package' from Russia and deliver it, via Alaska and Canada, to the high priestess of a new religion in New York. The package turns out to be a young woman, Aurora, accompanied by a nun, Sister Rebeka. But as the journey progresses, Aurora demonstrates other-worldly powers and, for Toorop, what was simply a job becomes a quest for redemption, as he tries to guard Aurora from the various factions that either wish her harm or want to claim her powers for their own use.
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Mélanie Thierry, Gérard Depardieu, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Strong
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2008, 12, 3 Star)

00:50


Fish Story (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Yoshihiro Nakamura's distinctly odd sci-fi comedy follows the trajectory of a song recorded by a Japanese punk band. Waxed in 1975, Fish Story not only got the musical jump on Britain and America's claims to have invented punk, but could also hold the key to saving Earth. Starring Atsushi Ito, Mirai Moriyama and Kengo Kora.
Director: Yoshihiro Nakamura
Starring: Vincent Giry, Gaku Hamada, Atsushi Itô, Kengo Kôra, Mirai Moriyama, Yoshihiro Nagata
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Subtitled, In Japanese with English Subtitles, 2009, 15, 4 Star)

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Friday 6th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Friday 6th December

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11:00


Broken Arrow (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Broken Arrow was one of the first westerns to depict Native Americans as real people rather than as tomahawk-wielding mass murderers. Tired of the repetitive reprisal killings between settlers and the indigenous locals in 1870s Arizona, gold prospector Tom Jeffords visits Apache leader Cochise to discuss a truce. But, after he's welcomed into the fold by Cochise and even marries the chief's daughter, old racial problems resurface.
Director: Delmer Daves
Starring: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer, Joyce Mackenzie
(Subtitles, 1950, 15, 4 Star)

12:50


Sailor Beware! (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Peggy Mount raises the decibel levels of this durable British farce, playing Emma Hornett, the formidable mother of delightful Shirley, scaring the daylights out of her daughter's naval fiancé Albert Tufnell. The romp features an abundance of music hall mirth, and a supporting cast that includes Gordon Jackson, Thora Hird and Cyril Smith.
Director: Gordon Parry
Starring: Peggy Mount, Cyril Smith, Shirley Eaton, Ronald Lewis, Esma Cannon, Joy Webster
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1957, U, 3 Star)

14:25


Pony Express (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Jerry Hopper's all-action western stars Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill Cody, and Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickock, who set up the legendary Pony Express mail route. But when Rance and Evelyn Hastings and stagecoach owner Joe Cooper plot to split California from the union, the two Bills are forced to intervene to save their new business.
Director: Jerry Hopper
Starring: Charlton Heston, Rhonda Fleming, Jan Sterling, Forrest Tucker, Michael Thomas Moore, Porter Hall
(Subtitles, 1953, U, 3 Star)

16:25


Hellfighters (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Andrew V McLaglen's firefighting action adventure stars John Wayne and is based on the work of famed real-life extinguisher of oil well fires Red Adair. Chance Buckman and his young colleague Greg Parker have established themselves as the people to phone whenever a major fire is burning out of control, and their perilous calling takes them around the globe to quell one dangerous conflagration after another. Complicating their lives are Buckman's relationship with his former wife Madelyn and Parker's spouse Tish, who is also Buckman's daughter.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Starring: John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Jim Hutton, Jay C. Flippen, Bruce Cabot, Edward Faulkner
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1969, PG, 2 Star)

18:45


Marley and Me (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
The Devil Wears Prada director David Frankel's light comedy-drama - based on a best-selling autobiography - stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston as two journalists who welcome an unruly dog into their lives. Relocating to Florida, newlyweds John and Jenny Grogan end up working for rival newspapers, with Jenny landing the more high-profile job. When she starts to get broody, one of John's colleagues suggests they see how they cope with a puppy before trying for a baby, so John picks a cute yellow Labrador retriever, Marley, as a gift for Jenny. Marley is a double-edged sword: he's an untrainably anarchic source of destruction; but he also gives John the material for a wry newspaper column, which improves his standing and the paper's circulation figures.
Director: David Frankel
Starring: Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Eric Dane, Kathleen Turner, Alan Arkin, Ann Dowd
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, PG, 4 Star)



21:00


Insidious (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star in this creepy, psychological horror about a series of inexplicable events that take place after a couple's young son falls into a coma. Renai and Josh Lambert have recently moved into a new home with their son Dalton. One day, Dalton is playing in the attic when he sees something that terrifies him - and the next day, Josh and Renai can't wake him up. They're told he's fallen into a sudden coma - but the cause is a mystery. Three months later, they move him back into the house, with Dalton still in the coma, and within days a number of strange happenings take place. A bloody handprint appears on Dalton's bedsheets. Renai is almost attacked by a man in Dalton's room - who then disappears. They move house, but the events continue. Desperate, they call in a medium - who tells them that the cause of these occurences isn't the house, but Dalton himself.... First play on Film4.
Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 15, 4 Star)

23:00


Pi (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Max is a reclusive mathematician who's built a supercomputer that will not only provide him with the key to cracking the stock market but may also reveal the true name of Jehovah, a discovery that could lead to the end of the world. But his search brings him to the attention of both Hassidic priests and Wall Street gurus. With Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman and Pamela Hart. Directed by Darren Aronofsky. First play on free Film4.
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Starring: Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis, Ben Shenkman, Pamela Hart, Stephen Pearlman, Samia Shoaib
(Black and White, Premiere, Subtitles, 1998, 15, 3 Star)

00:40


Parents (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Actor Bob Balaban made his directorial feature debut with this extraordinary and sinisterly subversive black comedy. The year is 1958 and young Michael Laemle and his family have moved to a small town in Indiana. His parents, defoliant expert Nick and Lily, who spends her days happily working in the kitchen, are aggressively fashionable and dedicated to keeping up appearances. But the youngster is becoming sure that they're hiding something from him. It's a concern that's increased when, half-asleep, he catches his parents in an embrace, which strangely troubles him. At school, he's befriended by another newcomer, Sheila Zellner whose claim to be an alien appeals to his creative imagination. But the heavy use of red crayons on a picture depicting his home life alarms his teacher, who calls in the school psychiatrist. Could his parents really have a darkly secret dual life? Is there really something suspicious about the quantity of red meat the Laemle's passionately consume?
Director: Bob Balaban
Starring: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky, London Juno, Kathryn Grody
(Premiere, Subtitles, 1989, 18, 3 Star)

02:20


Water Lilies (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Celine Sciamma's debut feature explores burgeoning teenage female sexuality in the world of synchronised swimming. During a sultry summer in a French suburb, Marie is desperate to join the local pool's synchronised swimming team. But is her interest solely for the sake of sport or for a chance to get close to Floriane, the bad girl of the team? Sciamma and the two leads capture the uncertainty of teenage sexuality with a sympathetic eye in this delicate drama about the angst of coming-of-age.
Director: Céline Sciamma
Starring: Pauline Acquart, Louise Blachère, Adele Haenel, Warren Jacquin, Christel Baras, Marie Gili-Pierre
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In French with English Subtitles, Widescreen, 2007, 15, 3 Star)

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Saturday 7th December
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Film4 Listings for Saturday 7th December

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11:00


The Last Mimzy (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Chris O'Neil and Rhiannon Leigh Wryn star as siblings Noah and Emma Wilder in Bob Shaye's intelligent family sci-fi adventure drama that doesn't talk down to children. While staying at their family beach house near Seattle, the two find a box of things that look like toys, but prove to be far more mysterious objects. Sent back in time, the 'toys' are trying to pass on a message about the future. And the more Noah and Emma play with the contents of the box, the more their intelligence grows. But one day Noah lines up the toys and accidentally activates a powerful force that creates a state-wide blackout. With her family under arrest by the FBI, Emma must make sense of the messages Mimzy, the toy rabbit, has been telepathically communicating to her.
Director: Robert Shaye
Starring: Chris O'Neil, Rhiannon Leigh Wryn, Joely Richardson, Timothy Hutton, Rainn Wilson, Kathryn Hahn
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2007, PG, 4 Star)

13:00


Bride and Prejudice: The Bollywood Musical (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
The determined Mrs. Bakshi sets out to find marriage matches for her four beautiful daughters while there's a lavish wedding party in town. Right away, the smart and headstrong Lalita announces she will only marry for love, giving her mother nightmares. Then Lalita meets wealthy American Will Darcy, and sparks immediately fly. But is it love or hate?
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Starring: Aishwarya Rai, Martin Henderson, Nadira Babbar, Anupam Kher, Naveen Andrews, Namrata Shirodkar
(Subtitles, 2004, 12, 3 Star)

15:25


Anna and the King (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Jodie Foster stars in Andy Tennant's drama - based on the true story that also inspired the hit musical The King and I - as Anna Leonowens, the prim English governess engaged by King Mongkut of Siam to educate his children in the 19th century. At first, the two cultures clash but as the pair get to know each other, romance begins to blossom, before a plot against the throne threatens their relationship. Edited for content.
Director: Andy Tennant
Starring: Jodie Foster, Yun-Fat Chow, Ling Bai, Tom Felton, Syed Alwi, Randall Duk Kim
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1999, 12, 3 Star)

18:25


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan star in Oliver Stone's sequel to his 1987 blockbuster drama. The years have passed and Gordon Gekko has served his sentence for insider trading. Released from prison, he finds a world that has unequivocally turned from boom to bust. Now his two main aims are to establish himself as a writer and seek reconciliation with his daughter Winnie, who writes left of centre blogs and doesn't show too much warmth towards him. However, she's dating Jake Moore, a trader in ethical stocks. When a suspicious stock crash ruins Moore's mentor and forces Moore to work for the unscrupulous Bretton James, Gordon Gekko spies the opportunity he needs to make up with Winnie by helping her boyfriend. Edited for content.
Director: Oliver Stone
Starring: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Carey Mulligan, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 12, 3 Star)

21:00


Trading Places (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
In John Landis's landmark, rip-roaring comedy, Dan Aykroyd plays Louis Winthorpe III, a rich, smug investment broker who is set up by brothers Randolph and Mortimer Duke in their experiment to prove that environment counts for more than breeding. He's stripped of his home, money, fiancé and job, and the homeless Billy Ray Valentine take his place. The only person interested in helping Winthorpe is hooker Ophelia. But when Louis, Billy Ray and Ophelia discover Randolph and Duke's plot, they plan to get even.
Director: John Landis
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Ralph Bellamy, Don Ameche, Denholm Elliott, Jamie Lee Curtis
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 1983, 15, 4 Star)



23:20


Monsters (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 12 certificate
British director Gareth Edwards' widely lauded ultra-low-budget sci-fi adventure-cum-romance stars Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy. Six years after a NASA space probe containing samples of alien life crash-landed in northern Mexico, the extraterrestrials have flourished, growing into huge, dangerous creatures, making the territory up to the US border their own.
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Whitney Able, Scoot McNairy
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 12, 3 Star)

01:10


Pan's Labyrinth (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
In 1940s Spain, a young girl escapes from the horrifying brutality of her sadistic stepfather's military endeavours into a mysterious netherworld of magic and monsters where she is set three tasks that will see her crowned as princess of this strange kingdom.
Director: Guillermo Del Toro
Starring: Ariadna Gil, Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, Álex Ángulo
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Subtitled, In Spanish with English Subtitles, 2006, 15, 4 Star)

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Sunday 8th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Sunday 8th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
In Robert Wise's classic science fiction film, a flying saucer piloted by alien Klaatu lands in Washington to warn Earth to change its warring ways or risk destruction. But along the way, Klaatu finds time to learn more about Earthlings' habits in the company of Helen Benson and her son.
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1951, U, 4 Star)

13:00


Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Leonard Nimoy directs and stars in the follow-up to The Search for Spock, as the reborn Spock. With the USS Enterprise destroyed, he, Kirk, Scotty and Dr McCoy have been in exile on Vulcan, awaiting trial for disobeying orders. However, as they approach Earth, a mysterious probe wreaks havoc with the planet's climate. The probe's message, interpreted by Spock, is meant for humpback whales only. But humpback whales have long been extinct, so the planet's only hope is for Spock and his team to travel back in time, in a stolen Klingon craft, to bring back a pair of whales. The script allows for a lot of fish-out-of-water jokes as the crew find themselves in 1980s San Francisco, with Spock's inability to master swearing a running gag, but there's also tension, as the clock ticks down in the future, with marine biologist Gillian Taylor their best hope of finding suitable whales to save a future Earth. Edited for content.
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1986, PG, 4 Star)

15:20


The Golden Child (Film) Film icon PG certificate
In Michael Ritchie's all-action comedy movie, Eddie Murphy plays Chandler Jarrell, a private eye specialising in missing children cases. Jarrell is called in when sinister agents kidnap the eponymous, world-saving infant from a Tibetan temple. The sleuth's search for the Golden Child takes him through countless adventures and escapades, as well as a romantic dalliance with the mysterious Kee Nang. Edited for content.
Director: Michael Ritchie
Starring: J.L. Reate, Eddie Murphy, Charles Dance, Charlotte Lewis, Victor Wong, Randall 'Tex' Cobb
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1986, PG, 2 Star)

17:05


The Brady Bunch Movie (Film) Film icon PG certificate
Betty Thomas directs this comedy about one of America's favourite TV families of the 70s. Except it's now the 90s and, while the world has moved on, they haven't. Parents Mike and Carol and their brood are now irritating anachronisms rather than the loved, slightly goofy family they once were. But worse, they've forgotten to pay their property taxes and their neighbour, Mr Dittmeyer, sees his chance to buy their home - orange Formica kitchen fittings and all - and raze it to the ground as part of a property development scheme. Can the family raise the necessary $20,000 to save their house in just one week? Watch out for cameo appearances from some of the original cast. Edited for content.
Director: Betty Thomas
Starring: Shelley Long, Gary Cole, Christine Taylor, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Jennifer Elise Cox, Paul Sutera
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1995, PG, 2 Star)

18:50


Mission: Impossible (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Brian De Palma took the helm for this first instalment of the action thriller franchise that rebooted the American TV series. Tom Cruise stars as agent Ethan Hunt, member of America's elite IMF team. Hunt and a group of colleagues are sent to Prague to both prevent a list of undercover agents' real identities from being disclosed, and to reveal who within the IMF has turned traitor. But things go disastrously wrong and all but one of the team are massacred. As the sole survivor, Hunt must now try to prove his innocence and discover the real betrayer before he is terminated by his own government. And thus begins a top-class, high-octane chase thriller, packed with jaw-dropping special effects and stunts. Also starring Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave, Jon Voight and Kristin Scott Thomas. Edited for content.
Director: Brian de Palma
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1996, PG, 4 Star)



21:00


Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Film) Film icon 5 star rating 18 certificate
Sci-fi sequel unfolding a life-and-death battle to avert a nuclear holocaust. A supercomputer that sought to destroy humankind sends a virtually indestructible, shape-shifting cyborg back to our time to kill the human resistance leader in his youth. Aided by another cyborg, the boy and his mother try to alter the events that led to the computer's creation and the nuclear war it triggered.
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, Earl Boen, Joe Morton
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1991, 18, 5 Star)

23:40


The King of Pigs (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Korean director Yeon Sang-ho's debut animation examines bullying within Korea's social hierarchies; a world away from the visual style of Japan's Studio Ghibli, it has the feel of a collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and the makers of King of the Hill. Erupting with brutal violence from the outset, The King of Pigs lets us in to the lives of Kyung-min and Jong-Suk. Both now struggling to make their way in the worlds of business and literature, they meet up to discuss their childhood. At school, the pair were designated as members of a nerdy underclass called the 'pigs' and relentlessly, viciously picked upon by a clique of tormentors known as the 'dogs'. Salvation, or at least survival, for the 'pigs' came in the form of the worryingly troubled, extremely bellicose Chul, a former classmate who, despite having dropped out of school, takes cruel satisfaction in gorily avenging the 'dogs' misdeeds. Film4 premiere.
Director: Sang-ho Yeon
Starring: Ik-Joon Yang, Jeong-se Oh, Hye-na Kim, Kkobbi Kim, Hee-von Park
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In Korean with English Subtitles, Premiere, Widescreen, 2011, 15, 3 Star)

01:35


Kiss the Girls (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Disturbing thriller about the hunt for a killer - known only as Casanova - who has kidnapped a number of women and murdered two of them. When a detective's niece goes missing, he is drawn into a complex and highly personal investigation. The local police are unappreciative of his efforts, but his niece manages to escape with valuable information about the killer.
Director: Gary Fleder
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Alex McArthur, Tony Goldwyn, Jay O. Sanders
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1997, 18, 3 Star)

[leostiinta]

Monday 9th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Monday 9th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


Reach for the Sky (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
World War Two drama based on the true story about a fighter polit Douglas Bader who lost both of his legs in a flying accident in 1931, but overcame adversity to become a leading combat pilot during the Second World War.
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Kenneth More, Muriel Pavlow, Lyndon Brook, Lee Patterson, Alexander Knox, Dorothy Alison
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1956, PG, 3 Star)

13:40


Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
For a brief period in the 1960s, there was a fad for madcap movies such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Monte Carlo or Bust!, The Great Race and Around the World in 80 Days; and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines is among those that worked. Newspaper publisher Lord Rawnsley puts up a £10,000 prize for the winner of a flight from London to Paris and soon his daughter Patricia, her would-be husband Richard, his rival for her hand and a motley collection of aviators are gathered, ready for the race to begin. Among them, of course, is the requisite villain, Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, aided by his put-upon servant Courtney.
Director: Ken Annakin
Starring: Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles, James Fox, Alberto Sordi, Robert Morley, Gert Fröbe
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1965, U, 3 Star)

16:20


Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
John Sturges' telling of the infamous battle in Tombstone stars Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday. When marshal Earp saves Holliday from a lynch mob, the pair form an unlikely friendship. After several scrapes, they end up in Tombstone, where Wyatt's cousin Virgil needs help with the troublesome Clanton family. Joined by brothers Morgan and Jimmy, the Earps and Holliday ride into history. Love interest comes in the shape of Laura Denbow, an independent lady who intrigues Wyatt, and Kate Fisher, Holliday's long-suffering girl.
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet, John Ireland, Lyle Bettger
(Subtitles, 1957, PG, 4 Star)

18:55


Letters to Juliet (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Amanda Seyfried and Vanessa Redgrave star in Gary Winick's dreamy romantic drama. American magazine employee Sophie is on holiday in Italy with her husband-to-be Victor. In Verona, home of Shakespeare's star-cross'd lovers, she stumbles across a tradition whereby modern-day women cathartically leave notes about their love lives addressed to the fictional Juliet, and to which other modern-day women reply. The note that catches Sophie's eye is from an English woman, Claire, detailing her lost Italian love. Despite it languishing for decades, Sophie decides to respond to the note, little realising that she's just taken the first step on a romance-imbued journey of her own... Also starring Franco Nero and Christopher Egan. In English, and Italian and Spanish, with English subtitles. Edited for content.
Director: Gary Winick
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Marcia DeBonis, Gael García Bernal, Giordano Formenti, Paolo Arvedi, Dario Conti
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, PG, 3 Star)

21:00


Battle: Los Angeles (Film) Film icon 12 certificate
Aaron Eckhart stars in this explosive action thriller about a group of soldiers caught up in the chaos when aliens invade Los Angeles. The world watches in awe as a bombardment of meteors rains down upon Earth from outer space. But when it's observed that these 'meteors' slow down before hitting their targets, it's clear they're anything but a natural phenomenom. Earth is under attack. Cue the arrival of Staff Sergeant Nantz - a grizzled war vet with a troubled combat history. Just days away from retirement, he's called in to help evacuate a group of civilians trapped within an alien-controlled area in Santa Monica beach. He leads a group of fellow soldiers into the combat zone, joining along the way a group of National Guard Soldiers. Can Nantz overcome his demons and lead the squad and the civilians to safety?
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Ramon Rodriguez, Will Rothhaar, Cory Hardrict, Jim Parrack, Gino Anthony Pesi
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 12)



23:15


Rising Sun (Film) Film icon 18 certificate
Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes star in Philip Kaufman's crime mystery, based on the Michael Crichton novel. When a call girl is found murdered in the Los Angeles offices of a huge Japanese corporation, Captain John Connor, a local police officer with extensive experience of Japan, is called in to take charge of the case. As Connor and his younger sidekick Lieutenant Webster Smith investigate, the cops uncover a murky world of violent, kinky sex, with links to politicians and Eddie Sakamura, the son of a wealthy businessman and a close friend of Connor's. But is everything as it seems?
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Kevin Anderson, Mako
(1993, 18, 2 Star)

01:50


Benda Bilili! (Documentary) 12 certificate
Renaud Barret and Florent de la Tullaye's inspirational documentary tells the story of Staff Benda Bilili, a band formed in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from an alliance of street kids and four older men left paraplegic after contracting poliomyelitis in their youth. From extremely humble beginnings in the chaos and criminality of one of the African continent's great musical hotbeds, the film follows the band members as they take their rousing, rootsy style of music, played partly on home-made instruments, from the backstreets of their home city to the enthusiastic audiences they encounter on their subsequent European tour.
(In Lingala and French with English Subtitles, Widescreen, 2011, 12)

[leostiinta]

Tuesday 10th December View listings for the following day
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Film4 Listings for Tuesday 10th December

Listings: all day morning afternoon evening late night

11:00


A Letter to Elia (Documentary) 12 certificate
Co-directors Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones pay tribute to Elia Kazan, the trailblazing director of such landmark American movies as A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and East of Eden. The inspirational director's career is traced from Broadway, where he was one of the founders of Method acting, to Hollywood, where he cemented Marlon Brando's screen reputation and helped to make James Dean a star. Scorsese and Jones' affection for their subject is clear, and this documentary is amply illustrated with clips from the three-time Oscar winner's films, as well as interview footage with Kazan himself.
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 12)

12:15


The Tall Stranger (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Joel McCrea plays Ned Bannon, an American Civil War Union officer wounded in battle and left for dead. Rescued by a wagon train, he's nursed back to health and offers to guide the wagons west, but the Confederates among the passengers ostracise him. He finds solace with Ellen and acceptance when he thwarts an ambush engineered by land baron Hardy, his half-brother. Directed by Thomas Carr, a veteran of western films and TV series.
Director: Thomas Carr
Starring: Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo, Barry Kelley, Michael Ansara, Whit Bissell, James Dobson
(Subtitles, 1957, 15, 3 Star)

13:55


'Pimpernel' Smith (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
Leslie Howard directs and stars in this wartime morale booster based on Baroness Orczy's novel The Scarlet Pimpernel. Howard plays mild-mannered archaeologist Horatio Smith who, while pretending that he's searching for Aryan artefacts near the Swiss border, smuggles refugees from the Nazis to safety. But his most dangerous rescue takes him to Berlin, to save a young girl who has been forced to help the Germans find information that will uncover Smith's organisation. Can he spirit her to safety from under the nose of his Gestapo adversary General Von Graum?
Director: Leslie Howard
Starring: Leslie Howard, Francis L. Sullivan, Mary Morris, Hugh McDermott, Raymond Huntley, Manning Whiley
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1941, U, 4 Star)

16:20


The Electric Horseman (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
Light comedy about a former champion rodeo rider hired to promote a breakfast cereal who takes off on the $12 million horse condemned to share his degrading assignment. What pushes him over the edge is the discovery that the animal is being pumped with dope to keep it calm. As he heads into the desert in protest, a female reporter hungry for a scoop gives chase.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, Valerie Perrine, Willie Nelson, John Saxon, Nicolas Coster
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1979, PG, 3 Star)

18:55


X-Men: The Last Stand (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 12 certificate
When a mutant called Leech produces an antibody that cures all mutants, billionaire Warren Worthington II, driven by shame of his mutant son, kidnaps Leech to manufacture the cure and rid the world of mutants. But while Professor Charles Xavier advises negotiation and understanding, Magneto favours using mutant force against Worthington. Caught in the middle is government advisor Dr Hank McCoy, aka Beast. As the mutants, including Wolverine, Storm, Phoenix and Juggernaut, take sides, the battle becomes the final stand for the X-Men.
Director: Brett Ratner
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Kelsey Grammer
(Subtitles, Audio Described, 2006, 12, 4 Star)



21:00


Transporter 3 (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Olivier Megaton takes the helm for the third instalment in the high-octane action thriller franchise. Jason Statham returns to his role as Frank Martin, the crook's courier of choice for legally dubious goods. In this outing he is employed by a group of environmental terrorists to drive across Europe with Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian government minister. To make their journey more 'interesting', the pair are fitted with bracelets which will explode if either strays too far from their car. They are, of course, also pursued by numerous brawny types intent on bringing Martin's continental jaunt to a violently abrupt conclusion. In English, French, Ukranian, Russian and Hungarian with English subtitles.
Director: Olivier Megaton
Starring: Jason Statham, Natalya Rudakova, François Berléand, Robert Knepper, Jeroen Krabbé, Alex Kobold
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2008, 15, 3 Star)

23:05


Compliance (Film) Film icon 15 certificate
Pat Healy, Ann Dowd and Dreama Walker star in writer-director Craig Zobel's extremely disturbing fact-based thriller that explores the power we invest in figures of authority. Middle-aged Sandra works for the ChickWich fast-food chain as a manager. One day, she takes a phone call from a man identifying himself as Officer Daniels. Daniels tells Sandra he has received a complaint that a blonde member of her staff has stolen money from a customer. He tells Sandra that, until the police arrive, she should isolate the culprit and await further instructions. Used to unquestioningly following her company's commands and instantly identifying her twentysomething colleague Becky as the only person fitting the description given by Daniels, Sandra complies.
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 15)

00:50


Perrier's Bounty (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Ian Fitzgibbon's comedy crime thriller starring Cillian Murphy, Jodie Whittaker and Jim Broadbent. Michael is left with a bounty on his head following his non-payment of a debt to - and a rather more serious misunderstanding with - some particularly nasty Dublin gangsters, led by Darren Perrier. Understandably, Michael isn't keen to hang around and let the mobsters claim their prize easily, so he goes on the run, taking along his neighbour Brenda and his father. But Brenda knows more than she's letting on, and Michael's father has been, well, rather erratic of late. Neither of these factors improves Michael's chances of survival. The cast also features Gabriel Byrne as the voice of the Grim Reaper.
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Michael McElhatton, Don Wycherley, Jodie Whittaker, Brendan Coyle
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2009, 15, 3 Star)

02:30


A Town Called Panic (Animation) PG certificate
A feature-length version of Belgian animators Vincent Patar and Stephane Aubier's kids' show Panique au village, which concerns the everyday adventures of three housemates living in a very small village. The principal characters are plastic toys called Cowboy and Indian, who share their home with a talking horse called... Horse. The 'human' duo don't possess the sharpest of intellects and spend most of their time squabbling, while Horse's days are largely spent homemaking and keeping the other two in line.
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In French with English Subtitles, Widescreen, PG)

[leostiinta]

Wednesday 11th December
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Film4 Listings for Wednesday 11th December

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11:00


Sailor Beware! (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Peggy Mount raises the decibel levels of this durable British farce, playing Emma Hornett, the formidable mother of delightful Shirley, scaring the daylights out of her daughter's naval fiancé Albert Tufnell. The romp features an abundance of music hall mirth, and a supporting cast that includes Gordon Jackson, Thora Hird and Cyril Smith.
Director: Gordon Parry
Starring: Peggy Mount, Cyril Smith, Shirley Eaton, Ronald Lewis, Esma Cannon, Joy Webster
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1957, U, 3 Star)

12:35


Doctor at Large (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Dirk Bogarde stars in Ralph Thomas's comedy as Dr Simon Sparrow, a medical practitioner who decides to branch out from St Swithin's Hospital to see what's available in the world at large and escape the clutches of Sir Lancelot Spratt. Joining a country practice, he soon finds the attentions of the partner's wife a little too... attentive. Next up is an equally unsuccessful stint with the arty Dr Potter-Shine, but when Sparrow discovers he is misusing an inheritance he returns to familiar turf, at St Swithin's, this time as a benefactor.
Director: Ralph L. Thomas
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice, Shirley Eaton, Derek Farr
(Subtitles, 1957, U, 3 Star)

14:30


The Riddle of the Sands (Film) Film icon U certificate
Tony Maylam's thriller is based on Erskine Childers' classic novel. Set in 1901, when Britannia ruled the waves, it stars Simon MacCorkindale as Arthur Davies who, while out sailing in the North Sea, has a run-in with a German captain, Dollmann. His suspicions aroused, Davies calls in his old friend Charles Carruthers of the Foreign Office and the two set sail again, only to find that the Germans are planning an invasion of Britain and they are the only two who can stop them. Beautifully shot by cinematographer Christopher Challis, this is a thoroughly enjoyable drama, based on one of the earliest spy novels.
Director: Tony Maylam
Starring: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Simon MacCorkindale
(Subtitles, 1979, U, 2 Star)

16:35


Rooster Cogburn (Film) Film icon 3 star rating U certificate
Rooster Cogburn is back in the saddle. This time he join forces with a vengeful spinster to search for and punish the outlaw who killed her father. Between chasing bandits and arguing, the two also find time to form a loving realtionship.
Director: Stuart Millar
Starring: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Jordan, John McIntire, Richard Romancito
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1974, U, 3 Star)

18:45


Romancing the Stone (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Fast-paced action comedy in which a dowdy romantic-adventure writer is hurled into a real-life adventure in the Colombian jungle in order to save her sister, who will be killed if a treasure map is not delivered to her captors. She is helped out by a brash mercenary, and together they search for the priceless gem located in the map. A non-stop mix of thrills, laughter and romance with energetic performances all round.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Zack Norman, Alfonso Arau, Manuel Ojeda
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1984, PG, 4 Star)



21:00


Insidious (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne star in this creepy, psychological horror about a series of inexplicable events that take place after a couple's young son falls into a coma. Renai and Josh Lambert have recently moved into a new home with their son Dalton. One day, Dalton is playing in the attic when he sees something that terrifies him - and the next day, Josh and Renai can't wake him up. They're told he's fallen into a sudden coma - but the cause is a mystery. Three months later, they move him back into the house, with Dalton still in the coma, and within days a number of strange happenings take place. A bloody handprint appears on Dalton's bedsheets. Renai is almost attacked by a man in Dalton's room - who then disappears. Desperate to escape the spooky threat, they move house. But the inexplicable events only continue.
Director: Leigh Whannell
Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Lin Shaye, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2010, 15, 4 Star)

23:00


Sex and the City (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 15 certificate
Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda return in this comedy drama set four years after the finale of the hugely successful TV series. All the key characters are present and correct in the first big-screen version of the franchise, directed by Michael Patrick King. Unsurprisingly, things have moved on for Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda. Samantha is living in LA to be close to her now-famous actor lover Smith, but she's far from happy. Miranda is juggling the competing demands on her day-to-day life, and her world is rocked when Steve makes a surprise confession. And, while out looking for a new apartment, Big pops the question to a surprised Carrie. But, this being Sex and the City, there are plenty of plot twists for each of the characters before the credits roll.
Director: Michael Patrick King
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth, Candice Bergen
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2008, 15, 3 Star)

01:45


My Neighbours the Yamadas (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
In the Japanese animation powerhouse's first all-digital work, director Isao Takahata eschews the standard Ghibli aesthetic, opting instead for a seemingly watercoloured strip-cartoon look. The animated comedy explores the lives of a modern Japanese family through a series of loosely connected episodes that delve into the family members' relationships and their everyday exploits.
Director: Isao Takahata
Starring: Hayato Isohata, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka, Akiko Yano
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Subtitled, In Japanese with English Subtitles, 1999, PG, 4 Star)

[leostiinta]

Thursday 12th December
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Film4 Listings for Thursday 12th December

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11:00


Patience (After Sebald) (Film) Film icon 12 certificate
Using the late WG Sebald's book The Rings of Saturn as its template, Grant Gee's wide-ranging documentary traces the immensely respected author's account of a walk through Suffolk; a tour which prompted tangential musings upon history, literature, life, death, decay and immortality. The writer was born in Bavaria in 1944 but moved to England in 1970, settling in Norwich, where he taught at the University of East Anglia until his death in a car crash in 1995. Gee's film, shot mainly in grainy black and white, journeys the same sections of Suffolk countryside, coastal margins and urban areas as Sebald's peregrination. The cinematography is accompanied by extracts from The Rings of Saturn, read by actor Jonathan Pryce, along with contributions from a few of the many people who knew or were influenced by the author and academic, including artist Tacita Dean, writer Robert Macfarlane, cultural historian Marina Warner, poet Andrew Motion and author Iain Sinclair. Film4 premiere.
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, 12)

12:45


Broken Arrow (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 15 certificate
Broken Arrow was one of the first westerns to depict Native Americans as real people rather than as tomahawk-wielding mass murderers. Tired of the repetitive reprisal killings between settlers and the indigenous locals in 1870s Arizona, gold prospector Tom Jeffords visits Apache leader Cochise to discuss a truce. But, after he's welcomed into the fold by Cochise and even marries the chief's daughter, old racial problems resurface.
Director: Delmer Daves
Starring: James Stewart, Jeff Chandler, Debra Paget, Basil Ruysdael, Will Geer, Joyce Mackenzie
(Subtitles, 1950, 15, 4 Star)

14:35


The Day the Earth Stood Still (Film) Film icon 4 star rating U certificate
In Robert Wise's classic science fiction film, a flying saucer piloted by alien Klaatu lands in Washington to warn Earth to change its warring ways or risk destruction. But along the way, Klaatu finds time to learn more about Earthlings' habits in the company of Helen Benson and her son.
Director: Robert Wise
Starring: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray, Frances Bavier
(Black and White, Subtitles, 1951, U, 4 Star)

16:25


The Sons of Katie Elder (Film) Film icon 3 star rating PG certificate
John Wayne stars in Henry Hathaway's tough western as John Elder, the eldest of four brothers gathered to mourn and avenge the violent death of their mother, Katie Elder. An outlaw, he can only join his siblings Tom, Matt and Bud in secret to fight back against the man who ordered her death: Morgan Hastings and his hired guns, Dave Hastings and Curley.
Director: Henry Hathaway
Starring: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr., Earl Holliman, Jeremy Slate
(Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 1965, PG, 3 Star)

18:50


Mission: Impossible (Film) Film icon 4 star rating PG certificate
Brian De Palma took the helm for this first instalment of the action thriller franchise that rebooted the American TV series. Tom Cruise stars as agent Ethan Hunt, member of America's elite IMF team. Hunt and a group of colleagues are sent to Prague to both prevent a list of undercover agents' real identities from being disclosed, and to reveal who within the IMF has turned traitor. But things go disastrously wrong and all but one of the team are massacred. As the sole survivor, Hunt must now try to prove his innocence and discover the real betrayer before he is terminated by his own government. And thus begins a top-class, high-octane chase thriller, packed with jaw-dropping special effects and stunts. Also starring Jean Reno, Vanessa Redgrave, Jon Voight and Kristin Scott Thomas. Edited for content.
Director: Brian de Palma
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 1996, PG, 4 Star)



21:00


The Dilemma (Film) Film icon 12 certificate
Vince Vaughn explores the grey areas of romantic relationships in director Ron Howard's darkly comedic look at the various secrets in two couples' lives. Best friends since college, Ronny and Nick run their own auto design company and have been invited to pitch to one of America's biggest car manufacturers. Nick is stressing about the meeting when Ronny sees Nick's wife Geneva kissing another man. Upset and unsure what to do, Ronny can't hide his agitation from long-term girlfriend Beth, who immediately assumes that his gambling addiction has returned. Misunderstandings ensue, including a misplaced intervention, and additional secrets are revealed, forcing both couples to find their way to the truth. With Channing Tatum and Queen Latifah. First play on Film4.
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Jennifer Connelly, Winona Ryder, Channing Tatum, Queen Latifah
(Premiere, Widescreen, Subtitles, Audio Described, 2011, 12, 2 Star)

23:10


Mr. Nice (Film) Film icon 3 star rating 18 certificate
Rhys Ifans stars as Britain's most notorious drug smuggler, Howard Marks, in this loosely factual biopic, based on Marks's 1996 autobiography, from director Bernard Rose. The narrative tracks the illicit career of Oxford graduate Marks from its early days in the 1970s, when he discovered his teacher training course was never likely to match the money and excitement that came from importing marijuana into the UK, through his bumbling rise to being the world's top dope runner, and on to its inevitable shuddering halt, thanks to the law. Along the way, his eclectic contacts include the IRA's Jim McCann, as well as MI6 operative Hamilton McMillan, who attempts to sign him up for the British secret services. The whirlwind ride features plenty of humour and also stars Chlo? Sevigny as Marks's long-suffering wife Judy, plus Omid Djalili and a cameo from the late director Ken Russell.
Director: Bernard Rose
Starring: Rhys Ifans, Chloë Sevigny, David Thewlis, Luis Tosar, Crispin Glover, Omid Djalili
(Widescreen, Subtitles, 2010, 18, 3 Star)

01:30


Oldboy (Film) Film icon 4 star rating 18 certificate
Chan-wook Park's visceral thriller begins when Dae-su Oh, an obnoxious drunk, is bailed from the police station yet again by a friend. But he's abducted from the street and wakes up in a cell where he remains for the next 15 years, drugged unconscious when human contact is unavoidable, otherwise with only the television as company. Then he is suddenly released and invited to track down his jailor. His path to revenge incorporates a superbly choreographed fight against multiple foes in which he is armed with just a hammer, and a scene which features the ingestion of a live octopus. It's not easy viewing but it's always compelling.
Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh, Byeong-ok Kim
(Subtitles, Subtitled, In Korean with English Subtitles, 2003, 18, 4 Star)