FOUR TO SEE
Run out of shows to watch at home? We round up the best streaming and DVD releases of the week
THE MIDNIGHT SKY (12)
IN FEBRUARY 2049, three weeks after a global catastrophe, scientist Augustine Lofthouse (George Clooney) lives out his final days alone at the Barbeau Observatory in the Arctic Circle, one of the few places yet to be choked by dangerously high levels of radiation. He performs blood transfusions to counter the cancer ravaging his body and awaits the inevitable, until he stumbles upon a young girl, Iris (Caoilinn Springall), left behind in the evacuation. They form an unlikely double act as Augustine prepares to contact a returning spacecraft, under the control of Commander Tom Adewole (David Oyelowo), who are unaware of the devastation.
Available on Netflix from December 23.
JIU JITSU (15)
AS a comet snakes across the sky over Burma, the concussed body of Jake Barnes (Alain Moussi) is scooped from the ocean and delivered into the care of US soldiers. Soon after, a robed figure named Keung (Tony Jaa) infiltrates the American stronghold and orders Jake to follow him. It transpires that Jake is a skilled Jiu Jitsu fighter, who has been chosen to face an extra-terrestrial predator named Brax (Ryan Tarran) as part of a ceremonial hunt that takes place on Earth every six years. Jake prepares for close combat to the death.
Jiu Jitsu is a retread of Predator, which delivers far less of the titular martial arts than you’d expect.
Download/stream from December 21 and on DVD/Blu-ray from January 4.
AFTER WE COLLIDED (15)
IN 2019, Jenny Gage directed romantic drama After, based on the popular online novel written by Anna Todd, which charts the romance of 18-year-old college freshman Tessa Young (Josephine Langford) and brooding British student Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin).
After We Collided continues the story as Tessa comes to terms with everything she has sacrificed to be with Hardin. The closer she looks into the past of her enigmatic beau, the more concerned Tessa becomes that she has made the wrong decision. Hardin must prove her wrong by confronting his past and changing his ways.
Available on Amazon Prime Video from December 22.
TIM BURTON’S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (PG)
IT’S been more than 25 years since director Henry Selick channelled the Gothic grandeur and grotesquerie of Tim Burton’s macabre mind into a spooky stop motion fantasy. THE Nightmare Before Christmas has effortlessly defied the ravages of time.
Chris Sarandon provides the dulcet tones of Jack Skellington, the cause celebré of Hallowe’en Town, who gatecrashes Christmas Town and hatches a dastardly scheme to replace Santa Claus as the figurehead of the festive season. Meanwhile, Jack’s rag doll sweetheart Sally (Catherine O’Hara) plots her escape from the mansion of her mad scientist father, Dr Finkelstein (William Hickey).
Streaming on Disney+