The theme of "World War 2" continues on this week's Film Club with 1962's "The Longest Day". Retelling the events of 1944 when the U.S. Army and Allied forces began their invasion landing in Normandy, France, the Film follows a General who travels with his men onto Omaha Beach. Stars (among others) John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Rod Steiger, George Segal, Robert Wagner, Curt Jurgens and Paul Anka. The film had 5 directors, 3 were credited and 2 were left uncredited.  

Chris returns this week to helm the Film Club once again, this Monday he sets the theme for the next few episodes as "World War 2.", strarting today with "Dunkirk". Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the film details the real life events of May 1940, when Allied troops were methodically evacuated from Dunkirk beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated. The cast features Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy and Kenneth Branagh.  

Tonight Chris was back in the hot seat for the first time in months. And by 'hot seat', I mean writing this blog post. I don't mean actually presenting the Film Guide, that's very much Simon's job, and we call that the 'damp seat', for reasons known only Simon, Danny, Chris, and that terrified possum. We all know that the person writing the blog post is the most important person in any situation (or so bloggers have been attempting to tell people since the advent of the internet) because they are the one in control of the story. They can bend the narrative of history to their will. So be nice to Chris, or else. Ok, that was a lie, but Simon was in the studio to talk about the UK box office, new releases in the cinema, and his pick of films on TV for the coming week. Friday The Last Picture Show 1.20am – 4.ooam Film4 Saturday Cowboys & Aliens 9.00pm – 11.20pm Channel 4 Sunday The Dambusters 3.15pm – 5.55pm ITV Monday Horns 11.25pm – 1.45am Film4 Tuesday Ghost 11.40pm – 2.10am Film4 Wednesday Django Unchained 10.00pm – 1.20am 5STAR Thursday In a Lonely Place 1.05pm – 2.55pm Film

And the second "Bad Film" to round off this week is 1993's "The Three Musketeers". In this action film, D'Artagnan travels to Paris hoping to become a musketeer, one of the French king's elite bodyguards, only to discover that the corps has been disbanded by conniving Cardinal Richelieu. Fortunately, Athos, Porthos and Aramis have refused to lay down their weapons and continue to protect their king. D'Artagnan joins with the rogues to expose Richelieu's plot against the crown. Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt star as the titular characters, with Chris O'Donnell  as D'Artagnan and Tim Curry as the antagonistic Richelieu.

Moving on from the two "recent good ones" on this weeks film club, Chris now looks at two "old bad 'uns", the first being "Lost in Space". This 1998 space adventure sees the space family Robinson on a journey to Alpha Prime in the hopes of establishing a colony, thereby saving humanity from extinction. Their plans are foiled by the evil Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman) and they find themselves curiously enough, lost in space. William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham and Matt LeBlanc also star.

Chris' next choice for a recent good film is "Baby Driver", released this summer! Directed by Edgar Wright, it stars Ansel Elgort as Baby, a young getaway driver for bank robbers, who wants to just do one last job and leave the life behind, but it ain’t that simple. Also stars Lily James, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, and Eiza Gonzalez.

Chris returns to helm the Film Club this week, setting the theme today as "Two Recent Good ‘Uns, Two Old Bad ‘Uns", starting with 2017 release "Atomic Blonde". This action thriller stars Charlize Theron as Lorraine Broughton, an MI6 spy sent to Berlin at the end of the Cold War, to track down a stolen list which contains the identities of thousands of spies. Directed by David Leitch, who co-directed John Wick, the film also stars James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones, Sofia Boutella, and Eddie Marsan.

Rounding off a week of simply the best of '80s Action' is 'Lethal Weapon 2' from 1989. A year after the events of the first Lethal Weapon, Martin Riggs (Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Glover) are taken off an extremely sensitive case involving a number of South African criminals due to their diplomatic immunity. Instead being placed on protecting federal witness Leo Getz (Joe Pesci), an assassination attempt causes them to realise the two cases are closely linked. Note: Basically the best film ever, everyone should watch it.  

Our next 80s Action Film this week is another 1989 release, Timothy Dalton's second James Bond flick 'Licence to Kill'. After the assault and murder of his newly married friend Felix and his wife, James Bond (Dalton) turns renegade and goes on the run from the British government as he chases drug Lord Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) to the Caribbean, where he teams up with ex cia pilot Pam Bouvier(Carey Lowell). Look out for a young Benicio del Toro as one of Sanchez’ henchmen!

Max's week of '80s Action' on the Film Club continues today with another 1989 release (turns out they all are!) 'Tango & Cash". Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell star as ace cops and narcotic experts Tango and Cash, who while on the trail of druglord Yves Perret (Jack Palance) find themselves framed for murder and forced into jail. Following an action packed escape sequence, they team up with Cash’s sister Katherine (Teri Hatcher) to clear their records and take the drug empire down.