Films of the day
What’s on the small screen this week
GLADIATOR 10.35PM, ITV
Director Ridley Scott collected five Oscars for this gore-laden epic. Maximus (Russell Crowe) is ordered to be executed by the dead emperor’s son Commodus (Joaquin Pheonix). The hero escapes with his life and trains as a gladiator. (2000)
BRAVE 3.10PM, BBC1
The digital wizards at Disney Pixar strike a perfect balance between laughter and tears, conjuring excitement and heart-warming sentiment out of the ether as plucky clansman’s daughter Merida (Kelly Macdonald) defies her parents’ wishes to plough her own path. Sweeping landscapes, action-packed chases and colourful supporting characters. (2012) ****
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE 6.15PM, FILM4,
Ten years have passed since the cataclysmic events of X-Men: Days of Future Past. It’s now the early 1980s and the very first mutant, En Sabah Nur (Oscar Isaac), reawakens and resolves to create a new world order with his four devoted horsemen of the apocalypse. Professor X and Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) assemble a team of young X-Men to avert Armageddon. (2016) ***
RANSOM 10PM, ITV4
Mel Gibson stars in this nail-biting thriller about an airline tycoon whose son is kidnapped for a $2million ransom. Encouraged by his wife (Rene Russo) and an FBI agent (Delroy Lindo), Tom prepares to pay but the ransom drop goes awry. Enraged, Tom turns the tables on the kidnappers by making the ransom a bounty on their heads, which he announces on national television. (1996) ****
WILD ROSE 9PM, FILM4
Premiere. Rose-Lynn Harlan (Jessie Buckley) is released from prison with a security tag on her ankle. She returns home to Glasgow to rebuild the shattered trust of her young children. Rose-Lynn’s purse-lipped mother Marion (Julie Walters) fears her daughter will abandon the kids again to chase impossible dreams of becoming a country music singer in Nashville. (2019) ****
JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK 9PM, FILM4
Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise), a former major in the Military Police Corps, is living off grid. He discovers his successor, Major Susan Turner (Cobie Smulders), has been accused of espionage. When associates of Turner are slain before they can testify, Reacher realises he has stumbled upon a wider conspiracy involving overseas shipments of weaponry. (2016) ***
THE GRADUATE 11.35PM, BBC1
Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is a college graduate who embarks on an affair with sexy neighbour Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft), although it’s her daughter who holds the key to his heart. Romantic tale really stands the test of time. (1967)