7 TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
1 THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US
Tonight, Channel 4, 9pm
STORM clouds amass over Salt Lake City, grounding all commercial flights. Photojournalist Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is due to be married the following day in New York. She charters a two-person plane from avuncular pilot Walter (Beau Bridges), and offers the second seat to Dr Ben Bass (Idris Elba). During the flight, Walter suffers a stroke and the plane careens in the High Uintas Wilderness. Walter perishes; Ben suffers bruises and broken ribs, and Alex’s leg is injured. When she regains consciousness, the strangers confront the reality that Walter didn’t log a flight plan so they are alone in the sub-zero wilderness.
2 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Tomorrow, Film4, 9pm
SOLOMON NORTHUP (Chiwetel Ejiofor, pictured) lives with his family in 1841 Washington City. After a meeting with two seemingly respectable gentlemen, he is sold into slavery. Fate delivers Solomon to sadistic Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender), who spites his unfeeling wife (Sarah Paulson) by taking a shine to a slave girl (Lupita Nyong’o), and Solomon is caught in the crossfire.
3 FATAL ATTRACTION
Tuesday, 5STAR, 11.45pm
HAPPILY married Manhattan lawyer Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas) has a weekend fling with sexy advertising executive Alex Forrest (Glenn Close, pictured with Douglas). However, she turns out to be psychotic and proceeds to make his and his family’s life a living hell. Director Adrian Lyne’s suspense-filled thriller holds the attention, despite veering wildly out of control in the third act.
4 2 GUNS
Wednesday, Film4, 11.20pm
DRUG enforcement agent Bobby Trent (Denzel Washington, pictured) and navy officer Michael ‘Stig’ Stigman (Mark Wahlberg) work undercover to infiltrate a drug cartel – but neither of them know that the other is also working undercover. When their identities are discovered, Bobby and Stig fall out. Going alone doesn’t yield results however, so the pair work together to bring the cartel down.
5 HIGH-RISE
Thursday, Film4, 11.15pm
THIS adaptation of JG Ballard’s 1975 novel sees Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston, right) move into the 25th floor of a tower block. He is granted a private audience with the building’s architect, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons), who lives in the penthouse with his emotionally brittle wife (Keeley Hawes) but power outages to the lower floors, stoke resentment, eventually sparking a civil war.
6 ONE FINE DAY
Friday, Sony Movies, 6.50pm
MELANIE PARKER (Michelle Pfeiffer, pictured) and Jack Taylor (George Clooney) are over-worked professionals thrown together when their children miss a school trip. One thing leads to another and before you know it, the floppy-haired moppets are acting as Cupid for their hapless parents. It may lack the frisson of Clooney’s later outing Out of Sight, but the two stars manage to carry it through.
7 DR NO
Saturday, ITV, 8.30pm
SEAN CONNERY, right, makes a great James Bond in this first film outing for the spy. Agent 007 does battle against an eccentric scientist, Dr No, who is determined to ruin the US space programme. Bond journeys to Jamaica where the villian has his island headquarters. The film includes the iconic scene where Ursula Andress, as Honey Ryder, emerges from the sea in a white bikini.