Top films to watch on TV this week
WEDNESDAY
Rough Night (2017) Film4, 10.45pm
When Jess (Scarlett Johansson) is taken off to party in Florida, it seems like the ideal chance for four friends to re-bond after a decade apart. However, in the midst of the drinking and drunken selfies comes the accidental death of a stripper. Instead of doing the right thing and calling the cops, Jess and her friends soon make a series of bad decisions. Lucia Aniello, who also worked on the TV series Broad City, co-wrote and directed this Hangover-style comedy with Paul Downs, who can be seen as Johansson’s fiance, Peter. The supporting cast includes Zoe Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell and Demi Moore.
THURSDAY
The Blues Brothers (1980) ITV4, 9.00pm
Everybody needs somebody in John Landis’s classic 1980 action comedy, based on characters created by actors John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd on the TV series Saturday Night Live. When Jake Blues (Belushi) is released from prison, he and brother Elwood (Aykroyd) pay a visit to the orphanage where they grew up, and learn the building is under threat of closure due to non-payment of taxes. So the siblings concoct a hare-brained scheme to raise the money by reuniting their old band and staging a concert. En route, they cross paths with a deranged bandleader (Charles Napier), the cops, and a host of famous faces in cameo roles including James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. The plot unfolds at breakneck speed, reaching a crescendo with one of cinema’s greatest car chases.
FRIDAY
The Shining (1980) BBC1, 10.50pm
Aspiring author Jack Torrance takes a job as a caretaker at a remote hotel which has been closed for the winter, believing it’s the perfect spot to write. But while the Overlook is supposed to be deserted, it’s actually home to a collection of evil spirits – and their plans for Jack and his family don’t include him working on his debut novel. Author Stephen King, who wrote the book on which it’s based, wasn’t impressed, but for most film buffs, The Shining is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Director Stanley Kubrick imbues the film with a powerful sense of dread – even the scenes of young Danny Lloyd exploring the hotel’s halls are oddly unsettling. And Jack Nicholson’s brilliantly over-the-top performance as Jack just adds to the fear factor. With Shelley Duvall and Scatman Crothers.
SATURDAY
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Channel 4, 9.15pm
Writer-director Martin McDonagh’s blackly comic thriller pits one vigilante parent against her local police force in a fictional midwestern town. Impeccably scripted and blessed with a blistering lead performance from Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a near perfect film. McDonagh’s explosive morality tale is fuelled by the righteous anger of a spirited woman, who believes her concerns are being ignored by men in power and will not rest until all lines of inquiry has been exhausted in the pursuit of justice. Her rebel yell sparks sickening violence that may divide audiences, including one scene in a dentist’s surgery that leaves jaws truly dropped, but brutality always serves the lean, muscular narrative. Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell also star.
SUNDAY
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) Channel 4, 10.00pm
In a dystopian 2023, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his kin, including Magneto (Ian McKellen) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), stand on the precipice of extinction. The Sentinel programme, conceived by scientist Dr Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), has almost wiped out the mutant population and any human sympathisers using an army of highly skilled automatons attuned to mutant DNA. One glimmer of hope remains: if Kitty Pryde (Ellen Page) can harness her abilities and propel Wolverine’s consciousness back to 1973, they might be able to stop alluring shape-shifter Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from assassinating Trask. X-Men: Days of Future Past is a solid and highly enjoyable chapter in the long-running mutant saga that doesn’t get too bogged down in bamboozling science.
MONDAY
Crimson Tide (1995) ITV4, 9.00pm
A Russian nuclear missile base falls into ultra-nationalist hands, and a US strategic submarine is ordered to prepare for a pre-emptive strike if the rebels begin fuelling their weapons. With the world poised on the brink of war, tensions are running high, and the vessel’s veteran captain clashes with his new by-the-book first mate over what course of action to take when they can’t confirm their attack orders. Tony Scott’s claustrophobic thriller has so much tension you could cut it with a knife. Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington are superb as the US Navy officers whose difference of opinion leads to mutiny and a life-or-death battle of wills over the crew. Hans Zimmer’s electronic orchestration takes the tense atmosphere to a whole new level. With Matt Craven, George Dzundza and Viggo Mortensen.