THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS

SATURDAY

STANLEY Kubrick’s epic about Roman slaves in revolt won four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Peter Ustinov. He joins an all-star cast led by Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Jean Simmons. The slave Spartacus (Douglas) is spared from a death sentence by the wily Batiatus (Ustinov), who trains the condemned man at his academy as a gladiator, to fight to the death for the entertainment of the rich and the powerful such as Gracchus (Laughton) and his scheming successor Crassus (Olivier). Enraged by how little the Empire values human life, Spartacus leads an uprising with Antoninus (Tony Curtis) at his side but the valiant slaves are no match for Crassus, who desires Spartacus’s wife Varinia (Simmons).

Thor: The Dark World (2013) (BBC One, 10.20pm)

The Dark Elves of Svartalfheim led by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) intend to unleash a fluid called the Aether, which will plunge the Nine Realms into eternal darkness. Throwing a spanner in the works, astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has been exposed to the swirling gelatinous goo. Thus, Malekith and his henchelves launch an assault on Asgard, where Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has concealed Jane in the hope that his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins) can extract the Aether from his sweetheart. When that glimmer of hope is snuffed out, the crown prince of Asgard turns to his nefarious adoptive brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston), for help. Thor: The Dark World is as big and muscular as its titular hammerswinging

Renee Zellweger continues her tug-of-love in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason on

Channel 5 on Tuesday

the series of books on which the film was based, famously rebuffed Walt Disney’s efforts to purchase the rights for more than 20 years. That infamous tug-of-war between the writer and mogul is recreated here, in an elegant comedy with by tourde-force performances by Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.

MONDAY

Jason Bourne (2016) (Film4, 9pm)

Director Paul Greengrass breathed new life into the spy thriller genre when he made The Bourne Supremacy in 2004. Three years later he re-teamed with Matt Damon for The Bourne Ultimatum, what many believed to be the closing chapter. While Jeremy Renner did a good job with spin-off The Bourne Legacy, fans were desperate for Damon’s Bourne and Greengrass to reunite. They finally did in 2016 for this slick, explosive thriller which never outstays its welcome. Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and Julia Stiles also star.

TUESDAY

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) (Channel 5, 10.05pm)