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| Bad Times At The El Royale Photo: Kimberley French/Twentieth Century Fox |
Bad Times at the El Royale, 11.15pm, Film4, Monday, August 25
Regular readers of this column will probably have noticed I've got a soft spot for ensemble cast mystery thrillers that bring back memories of avidly watching Agatha Christie films with my mum, whose birthday it would have been today. So you'll forgive the indulgence if I start with Drew Goddard's satisfying little puzzle box this week. A group of seven strangers arrive at a rundown hotel with a dark past. The hotel is carved in two between California and Nevada and the action also unfolds across more than one time period - and some unexpected spaces. As secrets begin to be revealed the surprises keep coming and if the scripting is occasionally on the baggy side, you can only forgive Goddard for feeling that he didn't want to lose a minute with this cast, which includes Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Bridges and John Hamm and Chris Hemsworth. Erivo, in her big screen debut (the film was released a month before Widows), gets to showcase her excellent singing skills with a beautiful rendition of Unchained Melody.
The G, 9pm, Film4, Tuesday, August 26
Dale Dickey gives this revenge thriller plenty of extra kick as a gran who isn't going to take abuse lying down. When hard-nosed Ann Hunter (Dickey) and her frail husband Chip (Greg Ellwand) are targeted by a legal scam they find themselves locked in a care home under the instruction of a corrupt "guardian" (Bruce Ramsay). Soon Ann is calling on friends from the past and her own steely resolve to exact vengeance, while her granddaughter Emma (Romaine Denis) also starts to dig herself in deep in order to help her gran. Karl R Hearne takes a serious subject and spins it into a taut thriller that makes the most of Dickey's talents. Read what Karl R Hearne told us about the importance of having an older female character in the central role and our chat with Dale Dickey, who said: “You don't find those kinds of roles for women my age that are strong and forceful. It is a very interesting script."
Wheel Of Fortune and Fantasy, 1.40am, Film4, Wednesday, August 27
Mateusz Tarwacki writes: Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film consists of three film novels, which ironically point out the artificiality and awkwardness of interpersonal relationships. It fits perfectly into the time of the pandemic, in which contact between people has become more alien and social competences must be learned anew. Spinning the wheel of fate, it is as easy to find fortune, fantasy and chemistry as misunderstanding, conflict, regret and bad decisions – and once set in motion, it cannot be stopped. Hamaguchi is as sociologically sharp as Eric Rohmer, as ironic as Hong Sang-soo, and although he may sometimes lack essence, the richness of form undoubtedly makes up for it.
Summer Of Soul,11.35pm, Film4, Wednesday, August 27
Summer is the perfect time to watch this joyous celebration of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. The festival took place in the same year of Woodstock and was a free, six-week concert series that saw 300,000 attend. Questlove's film is packed with many of the electrifying performances, including everyone from Stevie Wonder and Mahala Jackson through to Gladys Knight and the Pips. It's edited with verve, celebrating the music but also clueing us in to the politics, news and cultural developments at the time. Beyond the joy of the music itself, the film also raises questions about how much of the world's history is still being allowed to languish uncelebrated due to long term male, white dominance in terms of selecting what we watch.
Hard Truths, Netflix, from Friday, August 29
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| Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Mike Leigh's Hard Truths Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival |
TiMER, streaming now for free on Plex.tv
One of those rom coms that somehow didn't do the box office it should have, this quirky debut from Jac Schaeffer (Agatha All Along) has a great premise and a charming cast. The story revolves around a tech implant that counts down the time to the exact moment when you meet The One. The catch is, it only works if your Mr or Mrs Right has an implant fitted too. Oona (Emma Caulfield) is so desperate to find her perfect match that she drags every potential mate down to the clinic for a TiMER while her sister Steph (Michelle Borth) is busy refusing to commit, having been told she won't meet her match until she's 43. Things do get a bit twisty and turny for their own good here but this is a charmer with a GSoH that you'll want to see again.
Megamind, streaming for free now on ITVX
Everyone knows the Devil gets all the best tunes and villains have a lot more personality than goodie-goodie heroes, especially in animation. After all, who wouldn’t take a night out with Dick Dastardly and Muttley over Peter Perfect and Penelope Pitstop? There's a complexity to Tom McGrath’s animation, however, that goes beyond hijinks and arguably makes it superior to the similarly themed Despicable Me. For all that he hates heroes blue bad guy Megamind (Will Ferrell) discovers it's tricky to be an evildoer if there's no superhero trying to stop you. Beyond a surprising amount of depth, there's solid slapstick gags on offer and the action has plenty of verve but it's the excellent voice cast - also featuring Jonah Hill and Tina Fey - and strong storytelling that really make it a winner.
You'll have to pop across to Vimeo to watch this week's short, which is Chuchotage. The Hungarian director Barnabás Tóth has also made features, including Those Who Remained.
