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| Wake Up Dead Man Photo: Netflix © 2025 |
It seems weird, I know, to be keying off this week’s Stay-at-Home with a Netflix title, given the news that the streamer is poised to acquire Warner Bros, which is almost certainly not a good thing for cinemas. So, to be clear, although I enjoy writing these little capsules every week and, hopefully, letting you find some joys on the small screen, I still implore you to go to the cinema. In fact, this very week you can finally see the little indie hug of festive joy that is Christmas, Again on the big screen. Details of where to find that screening are here. But, back to the subject in hand, which is the latest murder mystery from Rian Johnson. In short, I think your mileage may vary with what amounts to a “locked room” mystery with major shades of Father Brown, after a fire and brimstone priest (Josh Brolin) drops dead just as he’s clashing with boxer-turned-devout-priest Father Jud Duplenticy (“Like duplicity with that extra oomph, you sense someone suggesting in a development meeting). It’s all well and good – and elevated by a hell of an ensemble cast, including Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner and of course, Daniel Craig returning as Benoit Blanc – but the level of ‘knowing’ humour begins to grate after a while, not to mention the convoluted twists and turns of the plot. Above all things it is worth watching for O’Connor’s finely calibrated performance, he’s come a hell of a long way since God’s Own Country, and, lest we forget, he was damn good then.
Psycho, 11pm, BBC2, Monday, December 8
Jennie Kermode writes: There's an underlying theme in Hitchcock's famous thriller which concerns people doing monstrous things because of the strain placed on them by the disapproval of others. Heroine Marion (Janet Leigh) just wants to be able to live with the man she loves, but the attitudes of the time mean they would need to marry, and that would require money, and he isn't earning much. The only way she can see to make a new life for them is to steal a large sum of money temporarily left in the care of her employer. The plan goes awry when, during her subsequent flight, she stops off at the Bates Motel, where a conversation with the manager, Norman (Anthony Perkins) – who also longs for a new life, beyond the control of his mother – alters her perspective. As it turns out, she never gets to return the money, nor to tell her boyfriend why she took the action she did, because of an incident in the shower which you're probably already familiar with, but alongside the horror that made this film famous is wistful speculation on what might have been.
BlackKklansman, 11.40pm, BBC1, Tuesday, December 9
This Cannes Grand Prix winner was inspired by the unlikely true tale of an African American police officer (John David Washington) who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s, with the help of his white Jewish colleague (Adam Driver). This isn't just a period satire but a commentary on the racism that still exists in society. Lee's message may be delivered with humour but it's no less of a stinging indictment on the state of the world for that. “This rightwing bullshit is going on all over the world. We have to wake up and we cannot be silent. It is everybody, not white, black or brown” Spike Lee said, when he spoke about the film in Cannes.
The Sting, 1pm, Legend, Thursday, December 11
They'd already proved a tough double-header to beat in director George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and the twin wattage of Robert Redford and Paul Newman at the top of their game shines just as brightly in this slick comedy drama from the same director, this time written by David S Ward. The pair play con artists Henry (Newman) and Johnny (Redford) who hatch an elaborate sting to liberate a load of cash from mobster Doyle (Robert Shaw). Everything has the click of satisfaction in this film, from the mechanic of the sting itself to the Depression-era production design and the piano score from Scott Joplin – something the Academy acknowledged with seven Oscars, including Best Film.
Pulp Fiction, 9pm, Great Movies, Friday, December 12
The deliberately pulpy plotlines that intersect in Quentin Tarantino’s Palme d’Or winner feature a pair of petty criminals (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth), a boxer (Bruce Willis) and, of course, killer duo Vincent and Jules (John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson). The hitmen’s boss (Ving Rhames) and his wife (Uma Thurman) and also thrown into Tarantino’s heady mix of comedy and violence. The running time might look long on paper but this moves at a pace and is fuelled by adrenaline, in more ways than one.
Get Carter, 11pm, BBC2, Friday, December 12
The grimy world of gangsters is to the fore in Mike Hodges feature debut, the tale of a man on a mission of vengeance in Newcastle. Michael Caine feels as sharp and raw as a jagged knife edge in the role of enforcer Jack Carter, who is determined to get to the bottom of his brother's death. Unashamedly brutal in its approach to violence - including the memorable dispatching of Corrie regular Brian Mosley - matched with snappy dialogue and Caine's dry delivery, this is gangland with all the grit that offers a time capsule of a Seventies underworld long paved over.
Wildlife, Plex, streaming for free now
Anne-Katrin Titze writes: An avid observer, Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould), the 14-year-old protagonist of Wildlife is our eyes and ears. We behold the world through him and with him - which is not the same. It is 1960. His family recently moved to a small town in Montana, where his father Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) works at a golf course. His mother Jeanette (Carey Mulligan), a former substitute teacher is, by the father's decision mostly it seems, a housewife and mother now. Joe has been given such a bland first name by his parents so that he could go anywhere and be anybody. Feeling trapped, going places, struggling for survival and retaining dignity are the marrow of Paul Dano's impressive, devastatingly piercing directorial début, which he adapted together with Zoe Kazan from Richard Ford's novel. Landscape and music and everyday objects are used to splendid effect. A moody pink sky is accompanied by a soundtrack that echoes a far-away train and a flute. The kitchen rubber gloves are pale green and foreshadow what Jeanette calls her "desperation dress," a taffeta creation in the same hue with the most beautifully cut back. Gyllenhaal makes this angry, proud, disappointed, loving man fully come alive with all his explosive tenderness.
It’s fair to say that we at Eye For Film are fans of Selina Wagner’s Blobina Animations, which is why it came as a surprise to me that I hadn’t included the lovely Spindrift before as a short selection (although my memory is not what it was). You can read more about Blobina on the official site.
