THIS WEEK’S BEST FILMS

SATURDAY Central Intelligence (2016) (Channel 4, 9pm)

CALVIN Joyner (Kevin Hart) is a humble accountant who is reluctant to attend his 20-year high-school reunion because he doesn’t feel he has delivered on the promise of his formative years. Out of the blue, old classmate Robbie Weirdicht (Dwayne Johnson) reconnects with Calvin by social media and the two men bond over a couple of drinks. It transpires that Robbie is a CIA agent who may or may not be in possession of valuable missile launch codes. A team of rival agents try to recruit Calvin because they believe Robbie is a terrorist known as the Black Badger.

Manchester by the Sea (2016) (BBC2, 9.45pm)

LEE Chandler (an Oscar-winning Casey Affleck) works as a janitor in a small block of flats in Chicago when he receives a telephone call to say his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) has suffered a heart attack. By the time Lee arrives at the hospital, Joe has passed away and the younger sibling must break the tragic news to his truculent 16-year-old nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). A meeting with family lawyer Wes (Josh Hamilton) reveals that Joe named Lee as Patrick’s legal guardian. Set in and around the titular coastal community, Manchester by the Sea is an elegiac drama which eloquently explores universal themes of grief, guilt and sexual awakening through the eyes of a 40-year-old handyman.

SUNDAY The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018) (BBC4, 9pm)

DIRECTOR, writer and actor Orson Welles seized 1940s Hollywood by the scruff of the neck with his debut feature Citizen Kane. Nominated for nine Academy Awards, the film eventually collected a golden statuette for best original screenplay, which Welles shared with Herman J Mankiewicz. Movie critic and filmmaker Mark Cousins exposes a Oscar winner Casey Affleck in elegiac drama Manchester by the Sea

previously unseen side of Welles in this documentary, which has been granted exclusive access to hundreds of his private paintings and drawings.

Through these works of art, the film reflects the politics and passions of the Hollywood titan in his own brushstrokes and sketches, drawing parallels between the America of the past and concerns of the present day under the leadership of Donald Trump.

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) (Channel 4, 1am)

FOLK musician Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is struggling to come to terms with

the suicide of his singing partner. He ricochets between gigs in Sixties Greenwich Village and begs for temporary refuge on the couches of friends. He inadvertently repays them by losing their cat, but his plight is about to get even bleaker when fellow singer Jean (Carey Mulligan) delivers a bombshell of her own. Interspersed with musical performances by the cast (with co-star Adam Driver joining Justin Timberlake on a song about the pitfalls of space travel), Inside Llewyn Davis is another compelling, offbeat character study from Joel and Ethan Coen.

MONDAY Rings (2017) (Film4, 9pm)

IN 1998, Japanese director Hideo Nakata sent a chill down audience’s spines with Ring, a horror thriller about a notorious videotape which supposedly kills the viewer seven days after it is played. A decent Hollywood remake starring Naomi Watts followed in 2002. Spanish director Javier Gutierrez hoped to resuscitate the idea with this hi-tech reboot, set 13 years after Samara Morgan (Bonnie Morgan) crawled out of her first American TV screen. Julia (Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz) is concerned by her boyfriend Holt’s (Alex Roe) fascination with the urban myth of a killer videotape.

Layer Cake (2004) (5Star, 9pm)

DANIEL Craig stars as a drug dealer whose ambition is to earn as much money as possible with the least amount of hassle. The film opens with the nameless businessman explaining how his complicated deals take place and how he’s planning an early retirement. However, as we enter his murky world, we learn the peaceful existence he loves is about to be shattered when his boss Jimmy hands him an assignment to track down the daughter of crime kingpin Eddie Temple. Craig is excellent as the ice-cool lead in this superb thriller, while good support comes from the rest of the cast, which includes Sienna Miller, Michael Gambon and Colm Meaney.

TUESDAY Belle (2013) (Film4, 6.55pm)

CAPTAIN Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) brings his illegitimate, mixed-race daughter Dido (Lauren Julien-Box) to England and entrusts the child to his aristocratic uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson). He permits Dido to stay, allowing his great-niece to become a companion to her cousin Elizabeth (Cara Jenkins). As Dido (now played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw) reaches adulthood, she is