TV FILMS of the week
1 ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
Tonight, BBC2, 11.10pm
Made only two years after the events it depicts, All the President’s Men won four Oscars, including Best Screenplay for William Goldman. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, take the leads as Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein respectively who, in 1974, were reporters at the Washington Post. The pair were assigned to investigate a break-in at the Watergate Hotel, but ended up unearthing scandal and corruption at the White House which resulted in President Richard Nixon’s resignation. The film works because rather than going for a documentary feel, director Alan J Pakula shot it as a thriller.
2 THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
Tomorrow, Film4, 6.35pm
Sonny (Dev Patel, left) and Muriel (Maggie Smith) travel abroad to seek investment for a second hotel and return to India, mindful that funding is dependent on a review from a secret inspector. Lavinia (Tamsin Greig) and novelist Guy (Richard Gere) arrive and Sonny is convinced that Guy must be the inspector so he ignores Lavinia. It’s an entertaining if predictable sequel.
3 TRUE LIES
Tuesday, Channel 5, 10pm
Superspy Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) spends his days battling international terrorism, but his bored wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis, left with Arnie) believes he’s a computer salesman. She decides to spice up her life but ends up in the clutches of a gang who have stolen a nuclear weapon. It’s up to Harry to save her and, if he gets time, the rest of the world.
4 STAN & OLLIE
Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm
This is a handsomely crafted Valentine to a double-act, who earned legions of adoring fans with pratfalls and slapstick. Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Hardy (John C Reilly) demand a better deal from Hal Roach (Danny Huston), who has them under contract, and a subsequent wrangling for a bigger slice of the Hollywood pie creates a fissure in the duo’s relationship.
5 LIKE A BOSS
Thursday, Film4, 9pm
Mia Carter (Tiffany Haddish) and Mel Paige (Rose Byrne, left with Haddish) have been best friends since school and run a homemade cosmetics firm. When the business gets into debt, Mel persuades Mia to consider an investment from Claire Luna (Salma Hayek). The pair agree to give Claire a share but once the contract ink is dry, Claire plots to turn Mel and Mia against one another.
6 IRON MAN 3
Friday, BBC1, 10.35pm
Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, left, but we now find him to be a nervy insomniac. He does have Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) on hand to soothe him. It’s not long, though, before their domestic bliss is thwarted by a two-pronged attack. An improvement on Iron Man 2, this enjoyable sequel meets the high standards we’ve come to expect from Marvel.
7 THE FAVOURITE
Saturday, Channel 4, 9.15pm
in this comedy of cruel intentions, a frail Queen Anne (Olivia Colman, left, who won a Best Actress Oscar for the role) occupies the throne while
Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and servant Abigail (Emma Stone) fight to be “The Favourite” of their monarch. Sarah is Anne’s closest friend, but her absences from the Queen’s side give Abigail the chance to become the monarch’s new companion.