 |
| Kubo And The Two Strings Photo: Laika |
We've recently highlighted some of the foreign and indie films that are worth catching on ITV's free streaming service ITVX and it's worth noting that there's also some great films for kids on there. Among them is this entertaining and original stop-motion adventure with plenty of heart. It marked the directorial debut of Travis Knight - who is currently on pre-production for a film version of The Six Billion Dollar Man as well as another animation, Wildwood. This is the absorbing tale of a young boy (Art Parkinson) who goes on a dangerous quest with his talking monkey (Charlize Theron on no-nonsense vocals) and a samurai who is stuck in a bug outfit (Matthew McConnaughey). Using origami as inspiration for the animation, every inch of the film is a visual feast built around memorable characters and a plot that is inventive from beginning to last. Funny, scary and heartfelt in all the right places, it's a family treat.
Jaws, 9pm, ITV4, Monday, April 24
Sometimes stories built on simple ideas - in this case a deadly shark terrorising a seaside town - are the best. Forget sharks that arrive on tornados, tunnel through sand or ski over mountains - what you really want to know is, is it safe to go back in the water? Yes, Bruce, the animatronic shark here may show signs of age, but Steven Spielberg's film is still a masterclass of tension underpinned by John Williams' iconic score and given its staying power by its well drawn trio of central characters, played with intensity by Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw.
Red 2, 10.01pm, Great Movies, Monday, April 24 and 10.01pm on Sunday, April 30
Sometimes actors' enthusiasm for a project can prove infectious and so it is with this spy comedy sequel that is bursting at the seams with famous names, including Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, Antony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta Jones. The plot is secondary to the general banter as retired CIA agent Frank (Willis) and his now-girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) find themselves on a mission to thwart a nuclear bomb scheme. Along for the ride is Frank's old pal Marvin (Malkovich). Every time the action threatens to slacken another famous face pops in. Dean Parisot - who previously made Galaxy Quest - gets away with a lot by never taking things too seriously, while still keeping the well-oiled action sequences coming.
The Whistlers, 1.15am, Tuesday, April 25
The middle of the night is rather late for a network premiere but Corneliu Porumboiu's is well worth staying up for. The Romanian director doesn't like to get stuck in a single genre, with his back catalogue including everything from police procedural (Police Adjective (with which this film shares some DNA) to dark comedy (12:08, East of Bucharest) and documentary (Infinite Football). His most recent film is a noir-inflected tale of cross and double cross, with its complicated but satisfying plot involving money laundering, police corruption and a whistling language used on the Canary Island of La Gomera, from which the film takes its title. Pacy and twisty, with the odd nod to the likes of Hitchcock, this is a neat noir that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Nelly & Nadine, 10pm, BBC4, Tuesday, April 25
There have been a number of excellent archive documentaries in recent years and Magnus Gertten's exploration of a concentration camp love story is up there with the best. His film was triggered by a photo of camp survivors as they arrived in Sweden. Among them was the face of Nadine Wang, the daughter of a Chinese ambassador, who unexpectedly found love with Belgian-born opera singer Nelly Mousset-Vos, while the pair were being held at Ravensbrück concentration camp. Gertten's film is a conversation between the past and the present as Nadine's granddaughter Sylvie Bianchi finds the emotional strength to tackle her relative's archive thanks to the filmmaker. A story both of a hidden history and its surprising ongoing impact.
Locke, 11.05pm, Film4, Tuesday, April 25
It's the second week on the run we've had Tom Hardy in this column and he puts in a very different type of intense performance in this indie film from Steven Knight than he did in the Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson. This taut drama, which took home a BIFA for best screenplay in 2013, makes a virtue of its limitations, focusing on a single drive by its leading character Ivan (Hardy) as he makes a series of phone calls from the wheel. As the stresses for his character mount - including work and home pressures - Hardy might be on his own but he never lets the tension slip for a moment.
Sweat, 1.50am, Channel 4, Friday, April 27
The interior world of a social media influencer bends and flexes beneath the surface of Magnus von Horn's determinedly ambiguous satire. You might ask who exactly is influencing whom after spending three days in the fastidiously documented world of Sylwia (Magalena Kolesnik). She documents every inch of her day for her 600,000 followers but she finds herself emotionally rocked after a video goes viral. This is a film that questions where performances like this begin and end and to what extent laying your life out for the world paradoxically means battening your emotions in. Magalena Kolesnik is pitch perfect in the central role keeping her character's warring feelings within touching distance.
You'll have to pop over to Vimeo and log in to watch this week's short selection. Adam Stafford's elegiac No Hope For Men Below documents the Redding Pit disaster.
