CATCH UP WITH TV CLASSICS
In the fourth of our essential series, the most UNMISSABLE MOVIES available on demand
ALL this week in our must-have guides, the Mail’s TV critic Christopher Stevens and Weekend magazine film critic Simone Andrews are rounding up the best TV available through streaming and catch-up channels to help you and your family through the coming weeks. We’ve already had riotous comedy, brilliant drama and fascinating factual shows, while tomorrow it’s the best family entertainment. Today, it’s the most unmissable movies. GRIPPING DRAMAS Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool (2017, 15) iPLAYER
Soft-hearted, fact-based romance starring Annette Bening as Hollywood star Gloria Grahame who, in 1979, was in the twilight of her career but still full of energy. Performing on stage in London, she meets and embarks on a relationship with Peter Turner (Jamie Bell), a young aspiring actor from Liverpool. Julie Walters and Vanessa Redgrave also star.
Foxcatcher (2014, 12) iPLAYER
Sporting biopic following the incredible strange-but-true story of two wrestler brothers (Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo) and a wealthy sponsor (Steve Carell). With excellent performances, it’s a fascinating, twisted character study.
Burton & Taylor (2013, 15) iPLAYER
One of Hollywood’s most glamorous and volatile couples, twice-divorced Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter) are reunited in New York in 1983 for a stage performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives. Sparks fly and hard spirits flow, but really the couple are still rather fond of each other.
Made In Dagenham (2010, 15) iPLAYER
The true story of the Ford car plant sewing machinists, whose strike in 1968 paved the way for equal pay for women. It’s told with a light touch and features an endearing cast that includes Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins and Geraldine James.
Wonder Boys (2000, 15) iPLAYER
Michael Douglas is the dope-smoking English professor finding it impossible to complete his second novel, which now runs to thousands of pages. His lack of direction extends to all areas of his life which, in Curtis Hanson’s darkly comic drama, slowly unravels before his eyes. Tobey Maguire is his troubled but brilliant student.
The Cruel Sea (1953, PG) iPLAYER
From a novel by Nicholas Monsarrat who served in World War II, this tense film follows the men of the Royal Navy convoys as they face U-boats, and nature’s wrath, on the Atlantic. Jack Hawkins and Donald Sinden star.
Suffragette (2015, 12) ALL4
The fight of the suffrage movement in Britain is brought vividly to life. Carey Mulligan plays a working-class mum empowered by the drudge of her menial work to stand up for her rights, with Meryl Streep as Emmeline Pankhurst.
All The Way Home (1981, PG) MY5
An adaptation of James Agee’s novel A Death In The Family, with Sally Field as the Tennessee widow raising her children alone in 1915. William Hurt and Ned Beatty also star. If you’re missing the theatre, this was filmed as a live stage production.
The Mirror Crack’d (1980, PG) BRITBOX/MY5
Angela Lansbury is Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, who finds her sleepy village of St Mary Mead a swirl of excitement when a film crew arrive to shoot a costume drama. Elizabeth Taylor and Kim Novak play two stars with a poisonous rivalry.
The Favourite (2018, 15) NOWTV/SKY
Intoxicating drama with Olivia Colman as Queen Anne in a performance that won her an Oscar. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos’s vision of British history is unlike any you’ve ever seen.
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018, 15) NOWTV/SKY
Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant make quite a double act in this fact-based drama about a struggling writer who makes money from literary forgeries. McCarthy is cat-loving Lee Israel, with Grant as her drinking buddy Jack Hock.
Mary Queen Of Scots (2018, 15) N0WTV/SKY
Saoirse Ronan stars as Mary Stuart, with Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I, in this sumptuous historical drama charting the cousins’ rivalry and the bitter politics that powered it.