7 TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
1
MUM’S LIST
Tonight, BBC2, 11pm
SINGE GREENE (Rafe Spall) and his wife Kate (Emilia Fox) live in bucolic North Somerset with their two sons, Reef (William Stagg) and Finn (Matthew Stagg). The family’s lives are turned upside down when Kate is diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. In this time of intense pain, the Greenes come together and make the most of the precious moments they have left. In her final days, Kate creates a list of thoughts and memories for her boys when she is gone, which she hopes Singe will use to ensure Reef and Finn have the best possible childhoods. Based on a true story, Mum’s List is a moving drama.
2
AMERICAN SNIPER
Tomorrow, ITV4, 10pm
CHRIS KYLE (Bradley Cooper, right) enlists in the US Navy and gains a reputation for sharp shooting. Chris meets Taya (Sienna Miller). They marry and she raises their family alone while he fights overseas. With each successive tour, Chris returns home unable to communicate with his loved ones. This is an impeccably crafted biopic of the most lethal marksman in US history.
3
DEADPOOL
Tuesday, Film4, 9pm
WADE WILSON (Ryan Reynolds) discovers he has inoperable cancer. A recruiter invites Wade to undergo a radical procedure, which attacks the cancer, but Ajax (Ed Skrein) tortures Wade, turning him into a mutant with the power of selfhealing. Reborn as Deadpool, right, Wade sets out to wreak revenge. Deadpool is lurid and unapologetically foul-mouthed fun.
4
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
TWELVE years have passed since the ALZ-113 virus ravaged the globe. Caesar (Andy Serkis), his wife Cornelia (Judy Greer) and their sons are living in exile. Colonel McCullough (Woody Harrelson) stages an assault on the apes and kills most of Caesar’s family. The grief-stricken leader orders the survivors to flee while he exacts revenge on the Colonel.
5
THE FIRST WIVES CLUB
Thursday, 5*, 7pm
REUNITED by the suicide of an old schoolfriend, brought on by her husband’s infidelity, three middle-aged women decide to seek revenge on the men who spurned them. Hollywood A-listers Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton and Better Midler, right, have immense fun as the trio of vengeful women in Hugh Wilson’s triumphant adaptation of the novel.
6
LOVE ACTUALLY
Friday, Channel 5, 10pm
NORMALLY a staple of the Christmas TV schedules, this is a welcome watch at any time. Richard Curtis’ film stitches together 10 separate stories of love, longing, camaraderie and failed relationships, among them Hugh Grant as a bachelor PM falling head over heels for a tea lady played by Martine McCutcheon, both right. Deliriously, gloriously romantic.
7
MALEFICENT
Saturday, BBC1, 5.15pm
ANGELINA JOLIE, right, is magnificent in the title role in this retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty fairy tale from the perspective of the evil fairy. Out for revenge on the king who stole her wings as a youngster, when his queen gives birth to a daughter Aurora, Maleficent curses the infant to prick her finger on her 16th birthday and fall into eternal slumber.