Film choice

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) SKY CINEMA PREMIERE, 8.00PM ★★★

Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Agatha Christie’s popular Poirot novel has an all-star cast: Branagh, Judi Dench, Johnny Depp, Olivia Colman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penélope Cruz, etc, but still fails to thrill. While this Orient Express does clatter handsomely along – it’s easy to wish it had the nerve to jump the rails and add a touch more playfulness, as it would have gone a long way.

Sleepy Hollow (1999) SKY ONE, 10.00PM ★★★★

Tim Burton’s artistic vision triumphs once again in this creepy retelling of the short story by Washington Irving. Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is an 18th-century policeman sent to a village to investigate three decapitations and the mystery of a headless horseman tormenting locals. Christina Ricci, whose bug-eyed beauty fits perfectly with Burton’s warped visuals, excels as the romantic interest.

Green Room (2015) FILM4, 10.50PM ★★★

Writer and director Jeremy Saulnier’s follow-up to his revered revenge film Blue Ruin is just as grim: a pulverising piece of Seventies-style grindhouse exploitation, stitched together from the body parts of John Boorman’s classic Deliverance and John Carpenter’s siege thriller Assault on Precinct 13. Patrick Stewart stars as the owner of a dingy, whitesupremacist club where a gruesome murder takes place.