TV | Freeview Flicks of the Week – Rush Hour, Mr and Mrs Smith and The Breakfast Club

Our weekly LSi best freeview flicks picks are here! This week we get caught in rush hour traffic, rob a bank with some oddball criminals and take part in some dirty politics.

MONDAY – Rush Hour (5* 21:00)

Who would have thought that the combination of martial arts king Jackie Chan and American funny man Chris Tucker would have worked so well? Their 1998 action comedy Rush Hour proved so popular that a fourth installment is currently in development. Get ready to revel in the jaw dropping stunts of Chan and the hilarious jokes of Tucker!

TUESDAY – Rust and Bone (Film4 23:10)

France is well known for being the country of love and romance, so if there is one thing they should be good at, it’s making romantic dramas, something proved by the 2012 hit Rust and Bone. A unique love story that follows the relationship between a killer whale trainer who suffers a terrible accident (Marion Cotillard) and a lost man who is looking for work to support his young son (Matthias Schoenaerts). Visually stunning with a great story and intriguing characters, you will soon get lost in Rust and Bone.

WEDNESDAY – The Ladykillers (Channel 4 02:30)

Something worth taping this week is classic black comedy The Ladykillers, and we mean the 1955 classic British film rather than the awful 2004 Coen brothers remake. Between 1947 and 1957, Ealing Studios made a series of comedy films that dominated the British film market. Amongst Kind Hearts and Coronets and The Lavendar Hill Mob is The Ladykillers, a film that follows five oddball criminals in their attempt to rob a bank. Witty, smart, funny and, most importantly, incredibly British, it is a great classic that has stood the test of time.

THURSDAY – Mr and Mrs Smith (5*4 21:00)

Mr and Mrs Smith may have started ‘Brangelina’, but it is a great action romantic-comedy. Following a bored married couple who learn that they are, in fact, both assassins, it is a fun romp that makes for great light entertainment. Funny, silly with good action sequences, hopefully Brangelina’s next film together, By The Sea, will be just as good.

FRIDAY – The Breakfast Club (ITV3 00:45)

You can’t call yourself a university student until you have sat down and watched The Breakfast Club, a quintessential coming-of-age film from 1985. A simple story, five students from different cliques spend a Saturday together in detention. Everyone will have their favourite character and their favourite moment, with many iconic scenes to choose from. A feel-good flick it is an essential watch.

SATURDAY – The Ides of March (BBC2 21:15)

A political thriller about a presidential campaign. With a dream cast that consists of Clooney, Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei and Paul Giamatti amongst others, it is packed full of fantastic performances alongside a smart script and story. A classic tale of dirty politics and governmental scandal, it is a tense and dramatic watch.

SUNDAY – RED (Film4 21:00)

Film adaptations of comic books seem to be the ‘in’ thing of the current decade, with Marvel and DC Comics making millions off their franchises. Every now and again, you get an oddball comic book adaptation of varying degrees of success, of which RED in one of the most popular. Following a group of special agents and assassins, it is an action-comedy with a difference – all these agents are all retired and aging. With a stellar cast that includes Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, who are unafraid to laugh at themselves and take part in the silly action, it is quite good fun.

Emily Murray

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