Movies, mirth, and more await you tonight.
Celebrity MasterChef
8:00pm, BBC One
It's another week of dicing and derring-do as author and broadcaster Dawn O'Porter, presenter Chris Hughes, singer Jaki Graham, actor Jamie Lomas, and singer Michelle Heaton compete to impress judges Grace Dent and John Torode with a place in the quarter-final up for grabs. We're cheering on O'Porter, who is married to Roscommon actor Chris O'Dowd. "It felt weird to walk into the MasterChef kitchen for the first time, because I've watched the show a lot, and there's a lot of tension and drama in the show, so I kept imagining that being me!" she told the BBC. "Also, I don't think I've been in a position like this since I was at school, where I've had to produce a piece of work and have a one-on-one critique. I wasn't very good at school, and so that makes me feel very nervous."
Train Dreams
Netflix
Dreamers, loners, and lovers of the great outdoors, this film is for you. Adapted from the Denis Johnson (1949-2017) novella of the same name, Train Dreams follows logger Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) from the late 1800s through to the late 1960s as we bear witness to the days - happy, hard, random, and heartbreaking - that make up a life. Clint Bentley, who directed the acclaimed Jockey and co-wrote the Oscar-nominated Sing Sing, mines the powerful ecological message from author Johnson's source material - the novella is described as "beloved", and many will feel the same way about this film. Anyone who has lost themselves in the likes of Days of Heaven, Into the Wild, and Wild will find a place in their heart for Train Dreams. It's slow-moving but works wonders on the soul. After watching, you'll be itching to switch off the box and go for a walk.
Billy Connolly: Big Banana Feet
10:40pm, BBC One
Here's your chance to watch a "long-lost" film of Billy Connolly's 1975 Irish tour, beautifully restored by the British Film Institute. Big Banana Feet is billed as "a fascinating and hilarious record" of the comedy legend just as he was about to hit the big time - and the somewhat risqué trailer gives a flavour of what's in store. "Inspired by the fly-on-the-wall style of D.A. Pennebaker's 1967 Bob Dylan documentary Don't Look Back, director Murray Grigor and cinematographer David Peat capture Connolly at his beguiling best as he charms the audience in Dublin and at his famous engagement at the ABC Cinema in Belfast during the Troubles," says the BFI. Featuring iconic stand-up material and songs, there are also behind-the-scenes glimpses of 'the Big Yin' on the road with his crew, relaxing backstage, and meeting the press."
The Holdovers
Netflix
What do you mean you haven't seen it?! With impeccable scheduling, a new Christmas classic arrived in Irish cinemas at the tail end of January 2024 as Sideways director Alexander Payne and star Paul Giamatti finally reunited. Indeed, the two-decade wait proved to be a blessing, as soon-to-be-Oscar-winner Da'Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa - a teen and infant, respectively, when Sideways came out - joined Payne and Giamatti to complete a magic line-up for a gem of a film. Set in 1970, this bittersweet story of a curmudgeonly teacher (Giamatti), a rebellious student (Sessa), and a grieving cook (Randolph) stuck together in a boarding school over the holidays deserves a place among the best movies from that decade - it's that special. A snow globe plays a key part in the plot, and you'll feel like you're in one as writer David Hemingson's beautiful script unfolds. It can't be stressed enough: the best of company is guaranteed here. Try to have the same beside you while watching.
Trap
Sky Cinema
A smiling, dad-dancing serial killer is not the first role you'd have in your head for Josh Hartnett - and that's exactly the reason why he should do it. Mission accepted, Hartnett makes the character of Cooper aka The Butcher his own in writer-director M Night Shyamalan's 2024 battle of wits, billed as "Purple Rain meets The Silence of the Lambs". Shyamalan is one of those directors where you know what you're getting and don't know what you're getting, and fans of his work will more than likely get a kick out of Trap. It moves fast, keeps you hooked, and, cannily, has a 12A cert, so not only will a new generation discover the work of Shyamalan, they get to hear his daughter Saleka's music too - she stars in and wrote an original soundtrack for the arena-set thriller. Sure, Trap is far-fetched, but it's also a fun popcorn movie and pulls off the greatest escape of the lot: the one where you forget all about the world for 90 minutes.
