MONDAY Freeview & films
Television MONDAY
MONDAY 13 MAY
FILM REVIEWS
FILM OF THE DAY
Cowboys & Aliens ★★★★
6.30-9.00pm Film4 12
SCI-FI Cowboy Daniel Craig must join forces with cattle baron Harrison Ford to take a stand against a fistful of giant mole monsters from outer space in this surprisingly successful hybrid of The Searchers and Independence Day. Iron Man director Jon Favreau’s solid adaptation of a popular graphic novel is a rousing winner, remaining true to both the western and sci-fi genres, and gains enormous appeal from being played completely straight. It boasts plenty of genuine surprises and scary jolts, while the teaming of Craig and Ford works like a charm. ALAN JONES (US 2011, edited for content, HD)
Penny Serenade ★★★★ 8.45-11.00am Talking Pictures TV U
MELODRAMA In this heartbreaking romantic film, Irene Dunne looks back over the highs and lows of her marriage to Cary Grant as they prepare to part. It’s all expertly controlled by director George Stevens, although some may find the theme of child mortality too distressing. Grant is brilliant, giving a subtly shaded portrayal that keeps sentimentality at bay.
TONY SLOMAN (US 1941, BW)
The 300 Spartans ★★★
11.00am-1.15pm Film4 PG
ADVENTURE At a time when the sword-and-sandal epic was flourishing in Italy, 20th Century-Fox went to Greece to shoot this lively movie about the defence of Thermopylae in 480 BC. Director Rudolph Maté stages the battle sequences well, but the wooden dialogue leaves star Richard Egan looking like an animated statue. DAVID PARKINSON (US 1962, some violence, HD)
Night Passage ★★ 12 noon-1.55pm 5 Action U
WESTERN James Stewart stars here as a former railroad man who is pitted against his own train-robbing brother, Audie Murphy, when he’s hired to deliver a payroll. Though beautifully shot, it rather dawdles along, indulging Stewart’s singing and accordion-playing skills before climaxing with a decently staged shoot-out.
ADRIAN TURNER (US 1957)
The Boys ★★ 4.00-6.30pm Talking Pictures TV 12
DRAMA This 1960s British courtroom drama proves that some things never change, as Jess Conrad, Dudley Sutton and their pals find themselves suspected of murder simply because they’re young and rebellious. With Richard Todd as the canny lawyer championing the lads’ cause, the cast is a strong one, but Sidney J Furie’s movie does feel rather dated. DP (UK 1961, BW)
The Dark Tower ★★ 9.00- 10.55pm Great Movies 12
FANTASY A pick-and-mix bag of ideas culled from Stephen King’s book series, this stars Tom Taylor as a youngster plagued by visions of another world inhabited by a dastardly sorcerer (Matthew McConaughey) and a disaffected gunslinger (Idris Elba). Favouring spectacle and exposition over characterisation, the film hastens to its depressi
