Top films to watch on TV this week
WEDNESDAY
American Hustle (2013) More4, 9p.m. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence reunite with Silver Linings Playbook director David O Russell for this acclaimed dark crime comedy about a hare-brained scheme to expose corruption within the corridors of political power.
Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is a brilliant con man, who is trapped in a loveless marriage with a harridan wife, Rosalyn (Lawrence). So Irving throws himself into his illegal work, recruiting an inexperienced sidekick Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who poses as a rich English aristocrat in order to secure funds from gullible businessmen.
Irving and Sydney are arrested by ambitious FBI agent, Richie DiMaso (Cooper), who forces them to put their dubious talents to good use by entrapping Mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner) and his associates in the underworld.
In Bruges (2008) Film4, 11p.m.
Professional killers Ray (Colin Farrell, never better) and Ken (the excellent Brendan Gleeson) are ordered to lie low in Belgium when an assignment goes wrong in this splendid, dark comedy drama from writer-director Martin McDonagh, who would go on to make the Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (see below).
Instructed to pose as tourists, the pair are drawn into an increasingly surreal series of misadventures involving a dwarf actor and a drug dealer while they await orders from their boss (a hilarious Ralph Fiennes).
One of the best films of the noughties, In Bruges has a terrific premise, razor-sharp dialogue and performances from three actors at the very peak of their powers.
THURSDAY
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Film4, 9p.m.
Hell hath no fury like a grief-stricken mother scorned in writer-director Martin McDonagh’s blackly comic drama. It has been seven months since Angela Hayes was abducted, raped and murdered on her way home. The dead girl’s stoic mother Mildred (Oscar-winner Frances McDormand) is infuriated by the lack of progress under police chief Bill Willoughby ( Woody Harrelson).
So, she rents three advertising hoardings on the outskirts of town and emblazons each billboard with a message aimed directly at the man responsible for apprehending the culprits. However, bigoted officer Jason Dixon (Sam Rockwell,
who also won an Oscar) reacts violently to Mildred’s public spat with his station.
Impeccably scripted and blessed with a blistering lead performance from McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is a truly remarkable film.
FRIDAY
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) BBC4, 7.30p.m.
It could have been a cheap cash-in, but instead Richard Lester’s 1964 comedy adventure, purporting to show a typical day in the life of The Beatles, is a sharp, quotable delight from start to finish.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr play versions of themselves in this madcap musical comedy, braving yet another day of personal appearances and the high-decibel screams of the thousands of fans who follow them around London.
Wilfrid Brambell (better remembered in his role as Albert Steptoe) plays Paul’s meddling and cantankerous grandfather who lands himself (and the band) in all sorts of trouble, including a brief spell in custody at the police station; Victor Spinetti is the highly stressed TV director staring unemployment in the face when his star act goes missing just minutes before a live broadcast.
SATURDAY
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) Channel 4, 9p.m.
Impossible Missions Force operative Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is sprung from a Russian jail by fellow agents Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). They are ordered to break
into the Kremlin to steal intelligence files that reveal the identity of a terrorist codenamed Cobalt.
The mission turns sour when madman Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) detonates a bomb inside the iconic building to cover up the theft of Russian nuclear launch codes. Disavowed by the US government, Ethan, Jane, Benji and top analyst William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) must operate outside official channels to apprehend Hendricks and avert nuclear Armageddon.
Brad Bird’s film is truly exhilarating, boasting ingenious gadgets, bone-crunching fights and death-defying acrobatics.
Raging Bull (1980) ITV, 11p.m.
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, if only to find out why it regularly makes those ‘greatest films’ lists.
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 LaMottta’s temper takes its toll on his career and family.
De Niro looks convincing in the fight scenes, and famously piled on 60 pounds to play the older La Motta, but it’s not just the weight gain that makes his performance unforgettable. There’s also strong support from Joe Pesci and a never-better Cathy Moriarty.
SUNDAY
Get Out (2017) Channel 4, 10.55p.m. Gifted African-American photographer Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is nervous about a road trip to meet the parents of his white girlfriend Rose (Allison Williams). When he arrives at her parents’ pristine community, he is warmly welcomed by Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford) and his psychiatrist wife, Missy (Catherine Keener).
But something about the neighbourhood feels out of kilter and Chris is unnerved by the passive behaviour of the Armitages’ black groundkeeper Walter (Marcus Henderson) and maid Georgina (Betty Gabriel).
Get Out is a razor-sharp satire, which draws inspiration from the creeping dread of The Stepford Wives to take a scalpel to simmering racial tensions in present day America. Jordan Peele’s slickly engineered horror prescribes shocking violence and laughter in equal measures.