The best films on the box this week
FRIDAY BOY (2010) (Film4, 10.50pm) Premiere
BEFORE he made What We Do in the Shadows or Thor: Ragnarok, director Taika Waititi set New Zealand box office records with this comingof-age comedy. Set in the 1980s, it stars James Rolleston as an 11-yearold Maori who lives with his brother and grandmother after the death of his mother. He romanticises about his absent father and is thrilled when his dad returns – but he isn’t quite the hero that his son imagined.
SATURDAY FIFTY SHADES DARKER: UNMASKED EDITION (2017) (Sky Cinema Premiere, 9pm) Premiere
ANASTASIA Steele (Dakota Johnson) has turned her back on billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) to clamber the career ladder. It’s not long before crestfallen Christian pleads his case, and Ana acquiesces. Soon after, at a masquerade ball, Ana encounters Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger), who seduced Christian aged 15, while one of his former submissives (Bella Heathcote) stalks her former master with malevolent intent.
SUNDAY PADDINGTON (2014) (C4, 5.15pm)
PADDINGTON Bear (voiced by Ben Whishaw) is raised in darkest Peru by his aunt and uncle. When tragedy strikes, the young bear is sent to London, where Mrs Brown (Sally Hawkins) and her son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) take pity on the furry loner. They convince Mr Brown (Hugh Bonneville) and moody teenage daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) to let him stay – but the bear also attracts the attention of taxidermist Millicent (Nicole Kidman).
MONDAY MOMMY (2014) (C4, 1.50am) Premiere
FRENCH-CANADIAN director Xavier Dolan dissects the bonds between a single mother and her troubled teenage son. Diane (Anne Dorval) is woefully unprepared to take care of her son Steve (Antoine Olivier Pilon), who has been discharged from a care facility with ADHD. Miraculously, schoolteacher neighbour Kyla (Suzanne Clement) takes a shine to Steve and agrees to help the lad.
TUESDAY 07/11/17 DEATH SENTENCE (2007) (5STAR, 11pm)
INSURANCE executive Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) and his family are on their way home from a hockey game when thugs burst into the petrol station where the family has stopped, fatally injuring one of Hume’s sons. As they flee, Nick unmasks one of the killers, whom he subsequently identifies in a police line-up. When the justice system fails Nick and his family, the businessman takes matters into his own hands, igniting a war with gang leader Billy (Garrett Hedlund).
WEDNESDAY A.C.O.D (2013) (Film4, 10.55pm) Premiere
THE title stands for Adult Children of Divorce, which describes the family status of Carter (Adam Scott), who learns his younger brother Trey (Clark Duke) is getting married – and that their parents (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara) both refuse to attend if the other is invited. As Carter tries to make peace between his mum and dad, he discovers that as a child he was secretly used as a psychological case study on the effects of divorce on kids.
THURSDAY THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY (1947) (BBC Two, 12pm)
THE original 1947 take on James Thurber’s daydreaming anti-hero. Treated with disdain by everyone he knows, the eponymous bumbling dreamer (Danny Kaye) retreats into a fantasy world, until an encounter with a mysterious woman sweeps him up into a real-life adventure and gives him the courage to change his life. Also starringBoris Karloff as the sinister bad guy and Virginia Mayo as Mitty’s dream woman.