TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
1 IRON MAN 3 Tonight, BBC1, 7.25pm
Robert Downey Jr, right, returns as the billionaire-inventor-superhero
Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, but we now find him to be a nervy insomniac prone to panic attacks. He does at least have Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, above) on hand to soothe him. It’s not long, though, before their domestic bliss is thwarted by attack – the arrival of biologically advanced super-powered humans and the mysterious figurehead of a terror group who is known as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). A definite improvement on Iron Man 2, this enjoyable superhero sequel meets the high standards we’ve come to expect from Marvel.
2 WIND RIVER Tomorrow, Channel 4, 11.10pm
Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner, left) works as a tracker for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Cory stumbles upon the frozen body of an 18-year-old girl. She has been sexually assaulted and rookie FBI agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) arrives soon after from the Las Vegas office to take charge of the investigation. An impeccably crafted survival thriller of the fittest.
3 THUNDER ROAD Monday, Film4, 10.50pm
Jim Cummings, left, directs, writes and stars in this quirky comedy drama. Police officer Jim Arnaud (Cummings) has a breakdown when his mother dies. An unconventional eulogy goes viral, forcing Jim’s captain to recommend that he takes time off. Instead, Jim throws himself into his work. Jim’s wife files for divorce, but he begins to lose sight of the people and things that matter.
4 THE SHALLOWS Tuesday, E4, 9.pm
Nancy (Blake Lively, left) has dropped out of medical school following the death of her mother. She heads to the same beach in Mexico where her pregnant mum surfed before she was born. Nancy strays close to the carcass of a whale which has been attacked by a shark. The shark then attacks her. The Shallows thrashes about in the wake of Jaws with surprising success.
5 GET OUT Wednesday, Film4, 9pm
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya, left) 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. A razor-sharp satire.
6 SILENCE Thursday, BBC4, 10.05pm
Father Valignano (Ciaran Hinds) receives a letter, which suggests Father Ferreira (Liam Neeson) has denounced God. Priests Sebastiao (Andrew Garfield, left) and Francisco (Adam Driver), persuade Fr Valignano to allow them to seek out their mentor and disprove the rumours. Martin Scorsese’s passion project is a sprawling sermon on faith and the endurance of the human spirit.
7 CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER Friday, BBC1, 10.35pm
In his heroic guise as Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) leads a daring rescue mission at sea, flanked by Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson, left). Soon after, SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) shows Rogers the state-of-the-art heli-carriers which will extinguish threats to global peace. The Russo brothers’ sequel is a bombastic extravaganza.