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| Fire Will Come Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival |
Oliver Laxe's slowbuild Gallician-set drama may be quite light on plotting but it crackles with emotion. The film is largely constructed of shared moments between Amador (Amador Arias) - an arsonist who is newly released from prison - and his elderly mother Benedicta (Benedicta Sánchez). Almost everything here feels ambivalent - Amador's relationship with the local townsfolk and the natural environment, not to mention the effect that vet Elena (Elena Mar Fernández) may have on his life. The nature of humanity, as a power for construction or destruction is considered as we wait for that fire to come. Read our full review.
Gravity, 8.35pm, BBC1, Tuesday, July 13
Although the big screen is best for Alfonso Cuarón's spectacularly shot space drama, the small screen adds something to the intensity of Sandra Bullock's central performance as Dr Ryan Stone, who is making her first space walk alongside veteran Matt Kowalksi (George Clooney), who in a neat piece of mirroring, is making is last. When the pair of them are caught in a debris storm, cutting them off from NASA, they find themselves battling the infinite 'nothingness' of space. "I feel like a chihuahua in a tumble dryer," Ryan tells Matt as she heads out for that walk and, for the first 20 minutes of this film, that's pretty much how the viewer feels too, struck by the vertiginous sight of earth as a twirl in the distance as Emmanuel Lubezki's camera roves around between the characters and their craft. The script is spare but powerful and the end result is the perfect combination of tension and technical achievement, gripping from first to last. Read our full review.
Dunkirk, 9pm, BBC1, Saturday, July 19
Christopher Nolan's consideration of the World War II battle and rescue is another masterclass in tension - visceral and immediate, plunging us into the experience of the soldiers on the frontline. The story is told through a trio of perspectives - the land tale of soldiers stuck on the ground (including Fionn Whitehead, Harry Styles and Aneurin Barnard), the sea-based story of the small boats sent to rescue them (Mark Rylance and Barry Keoghan on point) and an air-based narrative about a pair of fighter pilots (Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden) - which gradually coalesce to reveal the big picture. Gripping from the off, Nolan captures the horrors of war not just in the heat of battle but in its weary, fearful silences as the lives of the servicemen hang in the balance. If you aren't shaken by the visuals then the sound design and Hans Zimmer's hefty score will certainly do the trick. Read our full review.
Amy, All4 on Demand
This Oscar-winning portrait of singing sensation Amy Winehouse who died tragically young, at just 27, is a detailed an intimate portrait. Asif Kapadia - who had previously shown he knew his way around an extensive archive with Senna - tracks Amy from her younger years through to the height of her fame. As one of those from the first generation for whom video was almost always readily to hand, there's plenty of contributions from Amy herself, poignant in her own observations about her self-destructive streak but also fully celebrating her energy and talent. Read our full review.
The Bourne Supremacy, 9pm, ITV, Monday, July 13
Paul Greengrass's sequel thriller about Matt Damon's amnesiac ex-CIA agent is arguably more gripping than Doug Liman's first instalment - largely by following Liman's unfussy, pacy lead - as Bourne finds himself dragged back into trouble after he is framed for murder. The action feels crunching without being overly glossy and Damon has the sort of steely, no-nonsense determination fuelled by righteousness that most action heroes only dream of. All this, plus a terrific supporting cast, including Brian Cox, Franka Potente and Joan Allen make it a rare sequel success story. Read our full review.
Godzilla, 9pm, Great! Movies Wednesday, July 15
It's fair to say that director Roland Emmerich's go big or go home attitude has accrued him as many detractors as it has fans, but I'm personally quite fond of this loud-and-proud-about-it creature feature from 1998. There's a tacit acknowledgement of how silly some of this as Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno take on the many-storeyed lizard as it crashes about New York - but then it's quite hard to play this sort of monster mayhem entirely straight without becoming an unfortunate casualty. Sometimes, it's nice to just sit back and enjoy things being exploded, crushed and generally marmalised with impressive technical skill - and if that's what you're in the mood for then this is for you. Read our full review.
Bridget Jones's Baby, 10.55pm, ITV, July 17
The continuing saga of the hapless singleton stands up well in this third instalment, directed by Sharon Maguire and adapted from Helen Fielding's book by the author herself alongside the equally sharp Dan Mazer (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) and Emma Thompson. They bring plenty of sparkle to the script that is further polished by impeccable comic timing from Renee Zellweger alongside Colin Firth as Mark Darcy as our Bridge finds herself expecting and unsure of who the dad is. The comedy broad sides us with its broad side but it's hard not to fall for Bridget's accident-prone charms all over again. Read our full review.
We're stepping back in time for this week's short selection, with Maya Deren's avant-garde classic At Land, originally produced without music, you might want to watch it on mute.
