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THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS
SATURDAY
The White Crow (2018) (BBC2, 9.30pm)
In 1961, Rudolf Nureyev (Oleg Ivenko) travels to Paris with members of the Kirov Ballet. It is the first time since the Cold War that the company has performed in the west and security is tight. Nureyev defies the edicts of his KGB handlers to savour the seductive delights of the capital in the company of French dancer Pierre Lacotte and his friend Clara Saint. By chance, Clara knows a French politician, who could oil bureaucratic cogs and facilitate a claim for political asylum.
Raging Bull (1980) (STV, 10.55pm)
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to be a boxing fan to watch Martin Scorsese’s extraordinary biopic of fighter Jake LaMotta. Anyone who loves movies should see it. An Oscar-winning Robert De Niro stars as LaMotta, who rises to fame as the world middleweight champion in the 1940s. Unfortunately, he doesn’t save his aggression for the ring, and LaMotta’s temper takes its toll on his career and family.
SUNDAY
The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018) (STV, 2pm)
Scaredy-cat 10-year-old Lewis Barnavelt (Owen Vaccaro) travels by bus to the sleepy 1950s community of Zebedee in Michigan to live with his estranged uncle Jonathan (Jack Black). The boy’s quixotic relative wears a kimono and lives in a creepy house full of ticking clocks. Lewis learns that the building used to belong to a deranged couple who concealed a Doomsday clock within the walls. Jonathan, a warlock, and his sharp-tongued neighbour Florence Zimmerman (Cate
own. Will the consultant realise he should trust the F2’s judgement? Finally, Leon has already made a big impression on the staff in the ED. And tonight, the plucky young paramedic learns a valuable lesson – that his loyal colleagues will always have his back.
Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel (BBC1, 8.30pm)
The structure of this game show can be a bit confusing to begin with (the contestants making an instant return to the centre of the Wheel straight after getting a question wrong doesn’t seem appropriate). However, the enthusiasm of the host and the quality of the celebrity ‘experts’ has made the programme a
stumbles upon a rowboat on the beach containing a dead man and a mewling baby girl, Isabel persuades him not to report the discovery so they can raise the child as their own. This seemingly harmless plan, born out of love, backfires when Tom learns that the man in the rowboat might have left behind a widow.
MONDAY
Stardust (2007) (Film4, 6.25pm)
Hapless shop assistant Tristan resolves to bring back a fallen
depends on this movement of water, from vast super-pods of dolphins and the flocks of gannets that follow them as they scour the oceans searching for a meal, to dazzling cuttlefish searching for a mate and blacktip sharks and trevally visiting the rich hunting grounds created by waves.
The Great (C4, 9pm)
The ladies of the court spread a rumour that Catherine was once intimate with a horse. Trying to win back their favour, she tries flattery and gift-buying – but nothing works. Their true power becomes clear during a tea dance that turns violent. Then, when the influential Patriarch of the church dies, Peter must choose star for the girl of his dreams (who agrees to marry him if he completes the task). His journey leads him into a magical, parallel world, where Tristan captures a beautiful woman and embarks on the journey to his own land. However, their progress is halted by an evil witch – among others.
All The Money in the World (2017) (Film4, 9pm)
Based on one version of events surrounding the 1973 kidnapping of 16-year-old John Paul Getty
III, Ridley Scott’s propulsive thriller sustains dramatic tension with aplomb as David Scarpa’s script ricochets between the gang holding the boy hostage and the dysfunctional Getty family. Michelle Williams teases out the steely resolve of the young Getty’s mother, who married into wealth and has to rely on the benevolence of others to save her son.
TUESDAY
His Girl Friday (1940) (Film4, 12.50pm)
Cary Grant stars as a scheming newspaper editor (some mistake, surely) who is shocked to discover that his ace reporter – and ex-wife Hildy (Rosalind Russell) – is planning to give up her career and remarry. So, he tries to tempt her into staying with one last big story. The sharp dialogue flies by so fast, you might have to record it to catch the jokes you missed.
American Animals (2018) (Film4, 9pm)
Art student Spencer Reinhard
(Barry Keoghan) believes the key to becoming a great painter is daubs of life experience, and he has none. After a tour of the special collections section of his university’s library,
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