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Films to Watch on TG4 this Christmas

25.11.20

Irish-Themed Films:

Ryan’s Daughter – December 20th 10:35pm
(1970, Drama) Starring Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard and John Mills. Directed by David Lean. Set in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, a married woman in a small Irish village has an affair with a troubled British officer.
 

Dancing at Lughnasa – Christmas Day 6pm
(1998, Romance) Starring Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon and Gerard McSorley. Directed by Pat O’Connor. Five unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.
 

Into The West – St.Stephen’s Day 5pm
(1992, Adventure, Fantasy) Starring Gabriel Byrne, Ellen Barkin and Ciarán Fitzgearld. Directed by Mike Newell. Grandpa Ward gives a horse he found to his grandchildren, who keep it in their tower-block flat in Dublin. The horse is stolen from them, and the two young boys set out to find it and flee on it.
 
 

Primetime Movies:

Lorenzo’s Oil – Saturday December 19th 10:25pm
Oscar®-nominated director George Miller delivers a sweeping, powerful, and tear-jerking drama based on the true story of a family who discovers their 5-year-old son is dying of an incurable, mysterious brain disease. Oscar®-nominee Nick Nolte and Oscar®-winner Susan Sarandon play the intrepid parents who ignore doctors and research the disease to find a cure themselves. Through their devotion and love they turn the medical world upside-down in an effort to save their child. Sarandon and Nolte are joined by Oscar®-nominee Laura Linney in this superb and touching story about family, perseverance, and hope.
 

Chaplin – December 21st 9:30pm
(1992, Biography) Starring Robert Downey Jr., Geraldine Chaplin and Paul Rhys. Directed by Richard Attenborough. The biography of Charlie Chaplin, filmmaker extraordinaire. From his formative years in England to his highest successes in America, Charlie’s life, work, and loves are followed. While his screen characters were extremely hilarious, the man behind “The Little Tramp” was constantly haunted by a sense of loss.
 

Burn after Reading December 23rd 10:30pm
(2008, Comedy) Starring Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand and George Clooney. Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. A disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous gym employees who attempt to sell it.
 

Dirty Dancing Christmas Eve 10:15pm
(1987, Music, Romance) Starring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Jerry Orbach. Directed by Emile Ardolino. In the summer of 1963, 17-year-old Baby is vacationing with her family at a mountain resort when she is drawn to the staff quarters by stirring music. There she meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and they fall in love despite everyone’s warnings.
 

When Harry met Sally – Christmas Day 11:30pm
(1989, Comedy) Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher. Directed by Rob Reiner. Will sex ruin a perfect relationship between a man and a woman? That’s what Harry Burns and Sally Albright debate while sharing a drive from Chicago to New York. Eleven years of friendship later, they’re still no closer to finding the answer. Will these two best friends ever accept that they’re a perfect match…or will they continue to deny the attraction that exists between them?
 

Whitnail & I – St. Stephen’s Day 11:30pm
(1987, Comedy) Starring Richard E. Grant, Paul McGann and Richard Griffiths. Directed by Bruce Robinson. In 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous.
 

Mystic River – December 28th 9:15pm
(2003, Drama ) Starring Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. Directed by Clint Eastwood. The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.
 

Little Voice – December 29th 10:20pm
(1998, Comedy) Starring Brenda Blethyn, Jane Horrocks and Michael Caine. Directed by Mark Herman. A shy reclusive lady is convinced by an invisible entity to sing. Subsequently, she finds herself noticed by a sleazy talent agent and her talent being showcased on-stage. She also meets a kind but nervous man who becomes her best friend.
 

Inside Llewyn Davis – December 30th 10:30pm
(2013, Comedy, Drama) Starring Oscar Isacc, Carey Mulligan and John Goodman. Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
 

Cine4: Finky – New Year’s Day 9:20pm (TV Premiere)
A Cine4 film. (2019) Starring Dara Devaney, Ned Dennehy, Diarmuid de Faoite. Director by Dathaí Keane. Micí Finky, a musician and puppeteer looking to escape his past, steals an envelope full of cash and runs off to Scotland with his childhood friend Tom Tom. On their first night in Glasgow, Finky suffers a horrible accident and is left paralysed from the waist down. He hits rock bottom but is given a chance at redemption when recruited by Carnival Chaotica. Finky embarks on a twisted odyssey that brings him over the rainbow but, as his journey becomes increasingly hellish, Finky realises that he must confront his tormented past.
 
 

Films for the Family:

Shrek – December 20th 5:20pm (English Version) & Christmas Eve 5:25pm (Irish-Language version)
(2001, Animation) Starring Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. Directed by Andre Adamson and Vicky Jenson. A mean lord exiles fairytale creatures to the swamp of a grumpy ogre, who must go on a quest and rescue a princess for the lord in order to get his land back.
 

Marmaduke – December 22nd 5:20pm
(2010, Comedy) Starring Owen Wilson, Judy Greer and Lee Pace. Directed by Tom Dey. A suburban family moves to a new neighbourhood with their large yet lovable Great Dane, who has a tendency to wreak havoc in his own oblivious way.
 

A Dennis the Menace Christmas – December 23rd 5:20pm
(2007, Comedy) Starring Maxwell Perry Cotto, Robert Wagner and Louise Fletcher. Directed by Ron Oliver. To make sure that his beloved neighbour, Mr Wilson, has the perfect Christmas, the neighbourhood’s lively six-year-old, Dennis Mitchell, makes a long list of things one needs to make it work; however, will the old man ever change?
 

Lego Ninjago Movie – Christmas Day 11:30am (Irish Language Version), Lego Ninjago Movie – 30th December 5pm (English version)
(2017, Animation) Starring Jackie Chan, Dave Franco and Fred Armisen. Directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan. Six young ninjas: Lloyd, Jay, Kai, Cole, Zane and Nya, must protect the city of Ninjago from the evil Lord Garmadon.
 

Harriet the Spy – December 27th 5pm
(1996, Comedy) Starring Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O’Donnell and Gregory Smith. Directed by Bronwen Hughes. Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. But when her friends find her secret notebook the tables are turned on her. Can she win her friends back and still keep on going with the spy business?
 

The Adventures of Tintin – December 28th 5pm
(2011, Animation, Action, Adventure) Starring Jamie Bell, Andy Serkis and Daniel Craig. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Fearless reporter Tintin and Captain Haddock set off on a treasure hunt for a sunken ship commanded by Haddock’s ancestor.
 

Marley & Me – December 29th 4:50pm
(2008, Comedy) Starring Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston and Eric Dane. Directed by David Frankel. A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.
 

Finding Neverland – New Year’s Eve 5pm
(2004, Biography) Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Julie Christie. Directed by Marc Forster. The story of Sir J.M. Barrie’s friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.
 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – New Year’s Day 4:50pm
(2005, Adventure) Starringg Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore and David Kelly. Directed by Tim Burton. A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world’s most unusual candy maker.
 
 

Classic Films:

Meet me in St Louis – December 23rd 1pm
(1945, Comedy, Drama) Starring Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien and Mary Astor. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. The tale of the emotional trauma a St. Louis family experiences in the early 20th century when they learn their father has been transferred and the family will be moving to New York.
 

The Nutcracker – Christmas Eve 1pm
(1993, Fantasy) Starring Darci Kistler, Damian Woetzel and Kyra Nichols. Directed by Emile Ardolino On Christmas Eve, a little girl named Marie falls asleep after a party at her home and dreams herself (or does she?) into a fantastic world where toys become larger than life. Her beloved Nutcracker comes to life and defends her from the Mouse King, then is turned into a Prince after Marie saves his life.
 

High Society – Christmas Day 1:10pm
(1956, Comedy) Starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Directed by Charles Walters. C.K. Dexter-Haven, a successful popular jazz musician, lives in a mansion near his ex-wife’s Tracy Lord’s family estate. She is on the verge of marrying a man blander and safer than Dex, who tries to win Tracy’s heart again. Mike Connor, an undercover tabloid reporter, also falls for Tracy while covering the nuptials for Spy magazine. Tracy must choose between the three men as she discovers that “safe” can mean “deadly dull” when it comes to husbands and life.
 

A Streetcar named Desire – December 29th 10am
(1951, Drama) Starring Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter. Directed by Elia Kazan. Disturbed Blanche DuBois moves in with her sister in New Orleans and is tormented by her brutish brother-in-law while her reality crumbles around her.
 

Guys and Dolls – New Year’s Eve 1pm
(1955, Comedy) Starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons and Frank Sinatra. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. In New York, a gambler is challenged to take a cold female missionary to Havana, but they fall for each other, and the bet has a hidden motive to finance a crap game.