The Queen grows into her clothes
The Crown, Season 2 10 episodes, available Friday
Unlike other shows, it might be said that we know how The Crown will play out. We have lived through much of the story of Elizabeth’s reign, so surprises, even in a fictionalised version, will be scant.
None of this seems to matter, however, as writer Peter Morgan expertly humanises the monarch and her family, by stripping back the pomp and artifice and portraying the ordinary aspirations and hopes that these gilded people share with you and me. We left the wonderful John Lithgow (who played Churchill) behind forever in season one — he does not reappear — but season two is still full of intrigue as it spans the period between the Suez Crisis (1956) and the Profumo Affair (1963). Claire Foy as the Queen grows wonderfully into character (“those clothes used to wear you, now you wear them,” Philip tells her). The series also serves as a sort of origin story for Prince Philip and depicts brilliantly the caged-bird existence of Princess Margaret. And they actually make Charles quite likeable, which must be unusual for a British production.
El Camino Christmas (2017) Available now
Tim Allen is, of course, no stranger to Christmas films, as the star of the Santa Clause franchise, but here he plays an anti-Yule sourpuss who is one of a group of people who end up barricaded in a wine shop with five other people on Christmas Eve. The plot follows a young man (Luke Grimes) who goes on a search for his long-lost father in a rural American town, but things go very wrong when he’s mistaken for a drug dealer by a dim-witted cop (Vincent D’Onofrio). He winds up in a wine shop holding five people hostage, with touching and sometimes comic results.
Given the schmaltzy tone of so many seasonal films the caper-like quality to this is refreshing and the movie’s pressure-cooker scenario might end up serving as a metaphor for what Christmas is like for much of its audience: being dropped into close quarters with family members (some of whom we barely know) and being forced to come face-to-face with differences in opinion.
Les Miserables (2012) Available now
The author David Bellos released a book last year about Victor Hugo and Les Miserables entitled The Novel Of The Century. Whatever about that claim, this adaptation of Hugo’s epic could not be called film of the century, but it has its charms. Set in early 19th-century France, it is the story of a French peasant, and his quest for redemption after serving 19 years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child. After beginning his life again, the peasant is swept up into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists make their last stand at a street barricade. Like the original Claude-Michel Schonberg musical the film is ‘sung through’, which in some ways is more realistic than characters suddenly breaking into song, but can at times be a little relentless. However, the only real guillotine offence here is Russell Crowe’s singing voice, which has to be the greatest crime against a musical score since Madonna tried Evita. Between that and Crowe’s rather abrasive persona, Les Miserables’ Best Picture chances hit the rails but it did clear up more generally in the awards season and won notably good reviews (a Telegraph walkout aside) so this might be worth a look.
DreamWorks Home For The Holidays (2017) Available from Friday
If you were traumatised by the horrible Jodie Foster film Home for the Holidays, you can exhale, we would never suggest you inflict that on children. This, by contrast, is something of a delight. It stars the voice talent of pop idol Kelly Clarkson and is based on the original Netflix animated series, Home: Adventures with Tip and Oh. Oh is in the process of experiencing his first Christmas on Earth, while Tip is doing her best to explain human traditions in a way that also makes them clear to younger viewers. Clarkson plays an animated version of herself, performing Christmas is a Feeling. The colourful animation is top notch and the burbling trill of the voiceovers promises to be catnip to younger ears.