DARK COMEDY OF THE WEEK

Shallow Grave (1994) (Film4, Thursday, 10.45pm)

Three flatmates try to find a fourth person to share their spacious Edinburgh apartment, but their chosen lodger dies of an overdose, leaving behind a suitcase full of cash. The trio decide to keep quiet about

Do the Right Thing (1989) (BBC2, 11.15pm)

Director Spike Lee’s powerful, provocative drama grabs you from the opening titles which feature Rosie Perez, in her electrifying film debut, dancing to Public Enemy’s Fight the Power - and never lets go. It centres on a Brooklyn pizzeria, where the Italian-American owner (Danny Aiello) is involved in an apparently minor dispute with his predominately Black customers. However, as the temperature rises on the hottest day of the year, the simmering racial tensions in the neighbourhood reach boiling point and explode into violence. Do the Right Thing still feels shockingly timely, while the Academy’s failure to even nominate it for Best Picture - it instead gave the Oscar to Driving Miss Daisy - only seems more baffling with each passing year.

TUESDAY

Alien: Covenant (2017) (Film4, 9pm) Set approximately 10 years after the 2012 his death and hang on to the money, but disposing of the body has a traumatic effect on one of them, and the presence of all that loot - not to mention a dogged detective - soon has the friends turning on each other. First-time director Danny Boyle would go on to make the even more prequel Prometheus, Alien: Covenant joins the dots to the original trilogy with strong echoes of Sigourney Weaver’s exploits as Ripley, somewhat meekly mimicked here by Katherine Waterston. The Weyland-Yutani Corporation vessel Covenant is bound for a remote planet with 15 crew and 2,000 colonists in cryogenic stasis. Synthetic android Walter (a scene-stealing Michael Fassbender, who takes a dual role) keeps watch until a neutrino burst from a star causes a “destructive event” that prematurely wakes the crew. They stumble upon a distress signal broadcast from a nearby planet that sensors reveal would make an idyllic new home and set out to investigate. But they are not alone on this new world...

Vice (2018) (BBC2, 11.15pm)

In 1963 Wyoming, a young Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) works on the power lines and drinks to excess. He is a crushing disappointment to 21-year-old sweetheart Lynne (Amy Adams), whose father also lives successful Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire, and his promise is very apparent in this slick, gripping and blackly funny thriller. There’s also plenty of talent in front of the camera too, with Kerry Fox, Ewan McGregor and Christopher Eccleston playing the flatmates. by the bottle. In response, Dick secures an internment at the White House, where he assiduously aligns himself with Republican Congressman Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell). By playing the waiting game on Capitol Hill, Dick manoeuvres himself into the position of running mate to George W. Bush (Sam Rockwell) during the 2000 US presidential election. Written and directed by Adam McKay, Vice is a briskly paced and engrossing portrait of ambition, which nervously prowls the corridors of power in Washington DC to satirise a true story of malicious meddling and unabashed selfinterest.

WEDNESDAY

Fight Club (1999) (Film4, 10.55pm)

An insomniac office worker (Edward Norton) is tired of his boring day job and spends his evenings crashing support groups for illnesses he doesn’t have. However, when he meets mysterious soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) on a plane back from one of his business trips, they establish a very different kind of club where similarly frustrated men come to vent their anger in the form of bare-knuckle fighting. With a star-studded cast, including Helena Bonham Carter in what was then seen as a huge departure from her period movie roles, director David Fincher’s pitch-black comedy became an instant cult classic. In fact, author Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the book on which Fight Club is based, has even said that he thinks the film is an improvement on his novel.

THURSDAY

The Color Purple (1985) (BBC4, 9.30pm)

Steven Spielberg wasn’t the obvious choice to bring Alice Walker’s acclaimed 1982 novel to the big screen, especially in 1985 when he was just coming off Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. However, it’s the movie that proved he could do more than make summer blockbusters. The Color Purple also gave Whoopi Goldberg an extraordinary breakthrough role as Celie, a young AfricanAmerican woman in early 20th-century Georgia, who is abused by her father (Leonard Jackson) and then married off to a man (Danny Glover) who also mistreats her. There’s strong support from Margaret Avery and

Oprah Winfrey, who were both Oscarnominated along with Goldberg.

FRIDAY

Eighth Grade (2018) (BBC3, 9pm)

Thirteen-year-old Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher) is in the final stretch of solitude at Miles Grove Middle School. She stands awkwardly on the precipice of a more formidable challenge high school - without any emotional support except for her father (Josh Hamilton). Unexpectedly, Kayla receives an invitation to a pool party thrown by classmate Kennedy Graves (Catherine Oliviere). Kennedy only extended the invitation under parental duress but Kayla attends nevertheless, hoping to bump into her unrequited crush, Aiden (Luke Prael). Directed by comedian Bo Burnham, Eighth Grade joins an elite class of cinematic coming-of-age stories which candidly reflect a pivotal moment when hormones rage, bodies develop at an alarming rate and every heartbreak is amplified beyond rational thought to the end of days.

Fast & Furious 7 (2015) (STV, 10.45pm)

The seventh instalment of The Fast and the Furious franchise begins directly after the events of Fast & Furious 6 with corrupt British soldier Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) on life support in a London hospital. Owen’s older brother Deckard (Jason Statham) seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and their crew. Deckard hacks into the computer of federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) to ascertain the whereabouts of the team and doles out a near fatal pummelling to Hobbs in the process. Meanwhile, Dominic’s crew prepare for war. Fast & Furious 7 is dedicated to the memory of Walker, who died midway through production, and a heartfelt coda provides Diesel with an opportunity to publicly say farewell to his cinematic brother in arms.