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BOX SETS AND ON DEMAND
Pieces Of A Woman (Netflix, from Thu)
Acclaimed Hungarian film-maker Kornel Mundruczo’s first English-language movie isn’t easy viewing, but it’s certainly compelling and brilliantly acted – and it’s executive produced by none other than Martin Scorsese. Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf star as Martha and Sean, a Boston-based couple looking forward to becoming parents for the first time. However, their dreams are shattered when, during a home birth attended by a flustered midwife, tragedy strikes. Over the course of the next year, Martha embarks on a remarkable odyssey during which she confronts her grief, deals with difficult relationships with her husband and domineering mother and prepares to face the vilified midwife in court.
Asphalt Burning
(Netflix, from Sat)
The third film in the Norwegian action comedy franchise sees Anders Baasmo Christiansen return as Roy, a drag racer who is about to embark on the most difficult challenge of his career. After making a drunken bet with rival Robin (Alexandra Maria Lara), he sets off on a crazy road trip that takes him from Norway through Sweden and Denmark to the famous Nurburgring in Germany. And if he doesn’t win, he stands to lose his fiancee Sylvia (Jenny Skavlan), who is also the apple of Robin’s eye. What Sylvia thinks of the situation is anybody’s guess. Unfortunately, success isn’t easy to come by thanks to numerous tough adversaries, the over-attentive police and a disappearing car. If you’re a fan of the Fast And The Furious movies, then this is for you.
The Stand (StarzPlay, from Mon)
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to see that Stephen King’s epic 1978 novel (the original runs a whopping 823 pages, while a revised publication released in
1990, has 1,152) has been turned into a mini-series at this precise time. We’re continuing to deal with the impact of coronavirus, and The Stand focuses on what happens when a pandemic caused by a weaponised strain of the flu wipes out almost everybody on the planet. But the shock is hat this adaptation was conceived and shot before Covid-19 struck –production was completed around the time the UK entered its first lockdown. Talk about serendipity... Whoopi Goldberg stars as a 108-year-old woman on whose shoulders rest the fate of mankind; Alexander Starksgard portrays the embodiment of everyone’s worst fears, the terrifying Randall Flagg.
Dickinson
(Apple TV+, from Fri)
On November 1, 2019, the debut series of Dickinson was one of the shows that helped launch Apple TV+. The historical comedy drama inspired by the life of 19th century poet Emily Dickinson was an instant hit; it’s basically a coming-of-age story exploring the constraints of society, gender and family, as seen through the eyes of a wannabe writer who doesn’t fit into the times in which she lives. It didn’t come as much of a surprise when a second run was immediately commissioned, and now it’s here at last. Hailee Steinfeld reprises her role as Emily, with Ayo Edebiri, Timothy Simons,
Will Pullen and Nick Kroll joining the wonderful anachronistic show’s cast. Fans will be thrilled to know that a third season is already being planned.