Four to watch this week
Napoleon (15, 158 mins, streaming from March 1 exclusively on Apple TV+)
Following the inglorious end of Marie-Antoinette (Catherine Walker), Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) operates as the blunt-force instrument of ambitious politician Paul Barras (Tahar Rahim).
Napoleon is a sweeping biopic, which charts the tyrant’s rise and fall until his final exile on Saint Helena. Rigorous historical accuracy is trampled beneath hooves in breathtaking battle sequences with an emphasis on full-blooded, thrilling spectacle. Director Ridley Scott reunites with Polish cinematographer Dariusz Wolski to capture the guts and glory of pulse-quickening skirmishes with trademark virtuosity, allowing us to get up close to weary legions locked in gruelling hand-to-hand combat.
Few living directors could attempt practical film-making on this dizzying scale with multiple cameras and hundreds of extras. Phoenix’s mesmerising embodiment of a brutish trailblazer is matched by Kirby’s hypnotic portrayal of Josephine.
Spaceman ( 15, 107 mins, streaming from March 1 exclusively on Netflix)
On day 189 of a solo Euro Space Programme mission to gather particle samples from the Chopra cloud, Czech astronaut Jakub Prochazka (Adam Sandler) is in a melancholic mood. His heavily pregnant wife Lenka (Carey Mulligan) refuses to accept his video calls back on terra firma, a clear indication that their marriage is on a final countdown to dissolution through his neglect.
Jakub’s technician at mission control, Peter (Kunal Nayyar), raises the alarm about the astronaut’s fragile mental state and the programme’s director, Commissioner Tuma (Isabella Rossellini), secretly pleads with Lenka for compassion.
Meanwhile, on the edge of our solar system, Jakub discovers an ancient spider-like creature hiding in the bowels of his spacecraft and fears the extraterrestrial is a hallucination.
Death And Other Details (10 episodes, starts streaming from March 5 exclusively on Disney+)
Eighteen years after the violent death of her mother and an unsuccessful attempt by famed private detective Rufus Cotesworth (Mandy Patinkin) to solve the crime, Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) is a ward of her mother’s obscenely wealthy employer, Lawrence Collier (David Marshall Grant), and his wife Katherine (Jayne Atkinson).
The family board a luxury ocean liner, SS Varuna, owned by Sunil Bhandari (Rahul Kohli) for an exclusive cruise around the Mediterranean in the company of the rich and famous.