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| Elizabeth |
Machete, 9pm, Great! Action, Monday, September 15
A star-studded cast of villains mess with the wrong Mexican in this pseudo-grindhouse comedy from Robert Rodriguez, with the inimitable Danny Trejo in the starring role. A gutsy indictment of the political corruption around control of the southern US border, it follows a former federale on a mission of revenge against the cartel boss who murdered his family and the political agent who set him up. Expect inventive fight scenes, cheesy dialogue, cheesier sex scenes, tacos, motorbikes, explosions and a parade of iconic characters, any one of whom could carry a film on their own. It’s a blast.
Elizabeth, 9pm, Film4, Tuesday, September 16
Elizabeth I of England has been the subject of more films that most monarchs who ever lived, but Shekhar Kapur’s film is unusual in presenting her as a girl and, even as it progresses, showing her vulnerability. Here she is not the unfailingly confident heroine of legend, but a young woman with many enemies who must play a complex game just to stay alive, yet alone to accede to the throne. Cate Blanchett approaches the role with delicacy and care, illustrating the way that her intelligence, as much as her will, was the key to her success – and revealing the price that she paid as she was forced to set aside all personal considerations, never fully able to be herself.
Birth/Rebirth, Netflix, Wednesday, September 17
Overlooked on release, this is a small independent horror film which tackles big themes. It revolves around the complex relationship between two women: a bereaved mother (Judy Reyes) who happens to be a nurse, and the doctor (Marin Ireland) who steals the corpse of her little girl in order to try to bring her back to life. Resisting the moral directives of the conventional Frankenstein story, just as it resists conventional assumptions about rivalry between women, it benefits from remarkable performances, including from the child. Read what director Laura Moss had to say about it.
The Remains Of The Day, 6.20pm, Film4, Thursday, September 18
A classic of the heritage film genre, this film has suffered in recent years from people missing its critical tone and getting nostalgic about a way of life it gently pries apart. Anthony Hopkins is the devoted butler who is nearing the end of his working life when he meets and develops a bond with Emma Thompson’s sharp-witted housekeeper. It isn’t so much the possibility of romance that drives the film as the butler’s consequent realisation that he is entering the final stage of his life and he has given almost all of it to somebody else, gaining nothing in the process. meanwhile, the arrival of a wealthy US businessman (Christopher Reeve) who plans to buy the stately home signals a change in a system whose authority derived in part rom its endurance.
Selma, 11pm, BBC2, Friday, September 19
Screening on the US holiday Juneteenth, which celebrates the civil rights struggle, Ava DuVernay’s take on Martin Luther King’s campaign seems more vital than ever. Watching it now, 11 years after its release, it is perhaps easier to understand how dangerous that struggle was, but the film will nevertheless put you on edge in all the right ways – making, as it were, good trouble. David Oyelowo plays the man himself, capturing not just his political concerns but also – albeit rather discreetly – the impact of pressures in his private life, contextualising his personal sacrifice. It functions as a history lesson but reminds viewers that history happens to, and is shaped by, ordinary human beings.
The Devil Wears Prada, 7.45pm, Film4, Saturday, September 20
Meryl Streep has enjoyed a much more diverse set of roles in her time than most actors, but never has she had the opportunity to let rip with the viciousness that she does as a thinly disguised version of Anna Wintour, New York fashion editor extraordinaire. Anne Hathaway plays timid young assistant Andy, who dreams of making it in journalism herself but all too often incurs the ire of the boss. There’s a romantic comedy plot thrown in there but it never really dominates, with the focus more on Andy learning to assert herself, and with Streep stealing every scene.
The Croods, 2.55pm, ITV2, Sunday, September 21
Looking for something to keep the little ones entertained at the weekend? If they’re the nervous sort, you’ll need to sit with them through parts of this prehistoric animated adventure, in which Nicolas Cage provides the voice of a father so terrified for his little ones that he doesn’t want them to leave their cave. When circumstances force the whole family to do so, however, he is forced to realise that they’re not all as little as they once were, and that everybody has to be allowed to contribute if the group is to make it to a safe new home. Whilst this isn’t the most original of films, its bright colours and cheery animation will please kids not yet equipped to spot the clichés.
