It’s Friday.
It’s stormy.
It’s cold.
It’s still technically winter.
Stay in and watch some movies, why not?
Here’s how it looks on the box on Friday, 18 February…
City Slickers – Film4 – 6.45pm
Billy Crystal saddles up for a holiday that quickly turns into a wild and dangerous adventure.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day – ITV4 – 9pm
To this day, one of the greatest sci-fi / action movies ever made.
Arnie vs the T-1000. What more do you want?
Den of Thieves – Film4 – 9pm
Gerard Butler devours the scenery in an actually perfectly entertaining Heat knock-off.
Production is due to start on a Europe-set sequel soon and this writer is very much on board.
We Own the Night – Turner Classic Movies – 9pm
Stylish thriller in which two brothers – Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg – on opposite sides of the law must find common ground when their family comes under threat.
Identity Thief – ITV2 – 9pm
Melissa McCarthy in ‘wacky comedy’ shocker.
Run All Night – Virgin Media One – 9pm
Liam Neeson runs all night in a bid to save his son from vengeful gangsters.
Deadpool – Film4 – 9pm
The first proper big-screen outing for the Merc with a Mouth.
The Vault – Horror Channel – 9pm
A gang of thieves enact a bank heist in search of cold hard cash, only to discover something more sinister lurking beneath the surface.
Heaven with a Gun – TG4 – 10pm
TG4’s ‘western on a Friday night’ tradition continues as a gunfighter-turned-priest gets involved in a deadly dispute.
27 Dresses – RTÉ 2 – 10pm
Katherine Heigl does the ‘always the bridesmaid’ thing.
Videodrome – Horror Channel – 10.50pm
Highly influential sci-fi horror in which James Woods discovers and subsequently becomes hypnotised by a terrifying broadcast signal.
Dare to Be Wild – RTÉ One – 11.15pm
Based on the story of Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds, who competed at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2002.
“A compost of cliché,” snarked The Guardian upon the film’s release in 2016.
A Nightmare on Elm Street – Turner Classic Movies – 11.30pm
The original and probably the best.
Conan the Barbarian – Film4 – 11.45pm
Jason Momoa edition.
Dude, Where’s My Car? – Channel 4 – 12.05am
Hey kids, remember Dude, Where’s My Car?
Considered by many a viewer – and critic, given the 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes – to be one of the most joyless and irritating comedies in history, DWMC? ‘boasts’ the motor-mouthed talents of Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott as two dim-witted friends who – wait for it – can’t find their car.
That’s it. That’s the movie. And it’s our lead choice for you tonight because, quite frankly, we like a challenge. Enjoy.
Casablanca – Turner Classic Movies – 1.20am
You could do a lot worse at twenty past one in the morning.
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