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Movies & TV

11th Jun 2024

One of the best sports movies of recent years is on TV tonight

Stephen Porzio

From one of the writers of Paddington 2, the crowd-pleasing film has an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Our TV movie pick for tonight (Tuesday, 11 June) is The Phantom of the Open, the acclaimed 2021 sports comedy.

Based on true events, the film tells the story of Maurice Flitcroft (Oscar-winner Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies), a humble crane operator who managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship qualifying in 1976, despite never playing a round of the sport before.

“He shot the worst round in Open history and drew the ire of the golfing elite, but became a folk hero in the process and, more importantly, showed his family the importance of pursuing your dreams,” the plot synopsis reads.

Written by comedian Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2, Wonka) and co-starring Oscar-nominee Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water) and Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill), The Phantom of the Open holds an impressive 86% critics score and 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In particular, the sports flick earned praise for Rylance’s likeable lead performance, the film’s humour and its crowd-pleasing underdog story.

The Phantom of the Open is airing tonight on BBC Two NI at 11.05pm. It is also available to buy on Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft, Rakuten TV and the Sky Store.

You can check out the movie’s trailer right here:

Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:

Hulk – ITV4 – 8pm

Director Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Life of Pi) helms this very serious and emotional superhero flick that has aged very well.

Scream 4 – Comedy Central – 9pm

The fun fourth entry in the very solid slasher franchise.

Monster Hunter – Film4 – 9pm

This 2020 monster flick starring Milla Jovovich is based on the video game series of the same name and is good dumb fun.

A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die – Legend – 9pm

A ’70s spaghetti Western with James Coburn, Bud Spencer and Telly Savalas.

Solider Blue – Legend – 10.50pm

The notoriously violent ’70s revisionist Western with Candice Bergen, Peter Strauss and Donald Pleasance.

The Big Man – Film4 – 11.05pm

In this 1990 sports drama, Liam Neeson plays a former prisoner forced into bare-knuckle boxing to make ends meet.

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