Spoiled for choice.
It’s the last Friday before Christmas, meaning we’ve officially entered a phase where movies will dominate the TV schedule more than at any time of the year.
And we’re all for it.
Tonight’s selections are an eclectic mix, with plenty of laughs, no shortage of action and a bit of tomfoolery from Will, Simon, Jay and Neil to bring you into the early hours of Saturday morning.
The Naked Gun: from the Files of Police Squad! – Universal TV – 20:00
Few could dispute that Leslie Nielsen is the best exponent of deadpan comedy in the history of Hollywood and he’s on top form here as Frank Drebin in the first big screen venture for the bumbling detective.
The Enrico Pallazzo cameo gets us every time.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – Sky One – 21:00
Clark Griswold is just trying to have a nice Christmas, bless him, but disaster awaits at every corner. Randy Quaid is the best of a strong supporting cast in one of the better National Lampoon offerings.
Captain America: The First Avenger – Film 4 – 21:00
The fifth entry in the MCU sees Chris Evans’ Captain America try to stop the Red Skull, a supervillain hell bent on world domination. Very decent.
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – ITV2 – 21:05
Didn’t quite live up to the original remake starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, but a perfectly watchable offering all the same.
Under Siege – ITV4 – 21:05
You had us at Steven Seagal fighting bad guys on a battleship.
Rocky IV – RTÉ 2 – 21:30
If the critics on Rotten Tomatoes are to be believed (the audience begged to differ), Rocky IV is the second worst of the Rocky movies; only the terrible Rocky V is ranked lower. Critical indifference didn’t affect its huge popularity worldwide, however and the presence of Ivan Drago is enough for us to side with the audience on this one.
The Inbetweeners Movie – Channel 4 – 23:00
Our four heroes head to Malia for loads of the type of antics you’d expect of a gang of young fellas on a sun holiday, but as well as laughs, there’s plenty of heart that made the potentially risky move to the big screen very much worthwhile.
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