The best films on the box this week
FRIDAY THE Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) (Film4, 6.55pm)
SENSITIVE teenager Charlie (Logan Lerman) is haunted by the suicide of his close friend. His parents hope Charlie will blossom in high school but their boy remains on the sidelines – until he plucks up the courage to chat to gay classmate Patrick (Ezra Miller), who introduces him to his free-spirited stepsister Sam (Emma Watson). Set in early 1990s Pittsburgh, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a bittersweet anthem to emotionally damaged youth.
SATURDAY SUPER 8 (2011) (C4, 9pm)
FROM director JJ Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg, Super 8 is a rollicking adventure set in 1970s rural America that pays homage to ET with echoes of The Goonies. In a sleepy Ohio industrial town, teenager Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) is making a low-budget zombie film with his friends. One night, the gang witness a truck derail a freight train. As they flee, the teens are oblivious to a monstrous creature crawling from the wreckage...
SUNDAY FORSAKEN (2015) (Sky Cinema Premiere, 1.05pm & 9.45pm) Premiere
FATHER-AND-SON actors Kiefer and Donald Sutherland star in this likeably old-fashioned Western. Kiefer plays John Henry Clayton, a gunslinger who returns to his hometown to make peace with his preacher father (Donald). However, leaving his past behind proves hard when the town comes under threat from a ruthless property developer (Brian Cox).
MONDAY THE Ladykillers (1955) (Film4, 12.45pm)
A criminal mastermind and his accomplices rent rooms from an elderly woman in order to plan their latest heist. The landlady doesn’t suspect a thing – she thinks they are a string quintet – but the gang fear she poses a threat to their scheming and decide to kill her. However, that proves more difficult than expected. Classic Ealing comedy, starring Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom and Katie Johnson.
TUESDAY THE Equalizer (2014) (5STAR, 9pm)
WIDOWER Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) has turned his back on his past as a covert government operative and enjoys an unremarkable life in suburbia. He befriends a prostitute called Teri (Chloe Grace Moretz) – but when she is beaten up by her Russian pimp (David Meunier), McCall exacts revenge. Memories of Edward Woodward’s refined approach to crimefighting in the TV version of The Equalizer are blown to smithereens as director Antoine Fuqua seizes every opportunity for wanton carnage.
WEDNESDAY DON’T Be Afraid of the Dark (2010) (C4, 1.30am)
NINE-YEAR-OLD Sally Hurst (Bailee Madison) is sent to live with her architect father Alex (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes) at the mansion they are restoring. Despite the warnings of caretaker Mr Harris (Jack Thompson), the Hursts press ahead with the renovations, unleashing goblin-like creatures from the basement. Co-written by Guillermo del Toro, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a slick remake of a 1973 telefilm.
THURSDAY GOOD Kill (2014) (Film4, 9pm) Premiere
IN THE Nevada desert, commanding officer Jack Johns (Bruce Greenwood) heads an outfit of Air Force drone pilots. Major Tom Egan (Ethan Hawke) – one of the few men at the base who has actually flown – hankers for a return to the cockpit. The arrival of co-pilot Vera Suarez (Zoe Kravitz) has a profound impact on Tom as he wrestles with his conscience and the repercussions of his actions. Good Kill is a clinical thriller, which reflects on the morality of modern warfare.