Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
FILMS OF THE WEEK
ATOMIC BLONDE
(2017) 15 ◆ Saturday, 9pm, Ch4 ★★★
Based on a graphic novel, this enjoyably over-the-top, violent action movie is a stylish affair. Charlize Theron is MI6 agent Lorraine Broughton (above), a glamorous, bleached blonde killing machine who soothes her battered body in ice baths (that’s how tough she is). The film is set in 1989 during the Cold War and the plot concerns the search for a missing list of every active agent on both sides of the Berlin Wall. Of course, the plot is secondary to the outrageous action, and to Theron’s lead performance. Her Lorraine is hard to read and even harder to kill. In punky designer 1980s outfits and heels, she kicks and punches with the best of them. James Mcavoy also stars as the eccentric US agent helping Lorraine in East Berlin.
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
(1966) U ● Tuesday, 3.10pm, Sony Movies Classic ★★★★
Among the golden oldies showing on this new movie channel (see page 61) is this British biopic about the final years of Thomas More. Paul Scofield reprises the role of More from Robert Bolt’s 1960 stage play, on which this film is based, with Robert Shaw as Henry VIII (above, with Scofield), the King whom More would defy. A devout Catholic, More was a scholar, lawyer and member of the Privy Council when Henry sought to divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. Appointed Lord Chancellor, More continued to oppose the King’s divorce, standing by his principles and the Pope, while Henry, goaded by Thomas Cromwell, desperately sought More’s approval – a stalemate that would make More a martyr.