Top films to watch on TV this week
WEDNESDAY
Bridge of Spies (2015) More4, 9p.m. James Donovan, a lawyer in 1950s New York, is hired to represent Rudolf Abel, a Soviet spy in a showcase trial designed to demonstrate the fairness of the US justice system.
In the face of public condemnation, he argues against the death penalty, a stance that years later leads to his involvement in an exchange of prisoners in East Germany.
Steven Spielberg rarely puts a foot wrong with this superb fact-based Cold War drama which features a terrific performance from Tom Hanks as Donovan. However, it’s a Bafta and Oscar-winning Mark Rylance who steals the show with a stunning turn as Abel; he also has the best line of the movie: “Would it help?” Great support comes from Alan Alda and Amy Ryan.
THURSDAY
Suffragette (2015) Film4, 6.50p.m. In 1912 London, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) works long hours in a laundry with her husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw). Women earn less than men and are denied the vote, which rankles some of the workforce including the outspoken Violet Miller (Anne-Marie Duff ). She encourages Maud to join the suffragette movement and speak up against this injustice at a parliamentary panel.
Alas, MPs refuse to honour a voting-rights bill amendment, so Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) stirs her troops into direct action. Maud becomes heavily involved in the uprising and risks her relationship with Sonny and young son George (Adam Michael Dodd).
Historical fact and impassioned dramatic licence sometimes make awkward bedfellows in this period drama, but Mulligan bares her soul with a gut-wrenching performance.
FRIDAY
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) Film4, 9p.m.
Tearaway Gary Unwin (Taron Egerton), who is known to friends as Eggsy, lets off steam by joyriding with friends and ends up in a police cell.
Dapper secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) secures Eggsy’s release because he believes the young man has untapped potential as a crime-fighter. Hart enrols his protege in a gruelling training
programme for an elite secret service, where Eggsy shines brighter than the supposed creme de la crème. So, when technological wizard Valentine (Samuel L Jackson) threatens mankind, Eggsy puts his training to the test.
Directed at full pelt by Matthew Vaughn, Kingsman: The Secret Service is an outrageous and hugely entertaining James Bond-esque caper. Let’s hope the prequel, The King’s Man, released this month, keeps up the quality.
SATURDAY
Memento (2000) BBC2, 9.45p.m. The film which set director Christopher Nolan on the road to stardom is a compelling thriller starring Guy Pearce. He plays former insurance investigator Leonard Shelby, who suffers from a rare, untreatable form of memory loss, which prevents him remembering what happened 15 minutes ago.
The condition has plagued Leonard since he discovered a masked assailant brutally assaulting his beautiful young wife (Jorja Fox) and he was knocked unconscious in the ensuing struggle. Ever since,
Leonard has spent every waking minute in the pursuit of vengeance. For Leonard, the past is a vast blank canvas. The time has come to fill in the missing details.
A fiendishly clever and ambitious thriller, recounting Leonard’s story in alternating parallel time-frames. Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano provide solid support.
SUNDAY
Casablanca (1942) BBC2, 4.20p.m. Even as the Second World War rages, Rick (Humphrey Bogart), the American owner of a popular Moroccan nightclub, prides himself on not getting involved with politics. However, his cynicism is put to the test when his old flame Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) needs his assistance to get her Czech resistance leader husband (Paul Henreid) out of Casablanca.
There’s a reason this is routinely hailed as one of the greatest films of all time – it really does have it all, including a gripping storyline, a moving romance, an endlessly quotable script and some great songs.
The chemistry between Bogart and Bergman sizzles, but let’s also hear it for the incredible supporting cast, especially Claude Rains as the cheerfully corrupt Captain Renault.
MONDAY
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) Film4, 9p.m.
When Jake’s grandfather, Abe, dies under mysterious circumstances, the youngster remembers the bizarre stories Abe told of his childhood during the Second World War, which he spent at a home on a small Welsh island run by Miss Peregrine.
His father takes him to the island. But when Jake enters the apparently ruined house, which was bombed in 1943, he discovers that Miss Peregrine saved the children using a time loop, which maintains everything as it was 24 hours before the house was bombed.
Tim Burton’s gloriously dark fantasy adventure based on Ransom Riggs’ bestselling novel. It features a great cast, including Asa Butterfield, Eva Green, Samuel L Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett and Allison Janney.