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9 hours ago
5
Pick of the week
Gladiator II
Considering the success of the original, it’s a surprise it has taken 24 years for Ridley Scott to return to the Colosseum. But there’s still a lot of familiarity in his ancient Roman sequel – from returning characters to elaborate fight scenes and animal antics. Paul Mescal stars as Lucius, the son of Russell Crowe’s Maximus, who is living a quiet life in north Africa until an invading Roman army take him into slavery. From there, it’s a short hop to becoming a gladiator and reviving his father’s rebel stance, while his owner, Macrinus (a lip-smacking Denzel Washington), plots to overthrow the unstable twin emperors. Mescal is more of a brooder than Crowe, which lends the film an elegaic, end-of-an-era feel.
Monday 12 May, Paramount+
Speed
There is a bomb on a Los Angeles bus that will detonate if it drops below 50mph. Enter Keanu Reeves. His Swat team officer Jack jumps on board to help passenger turned driver Annie (Sandra Bullock) thwart the extortionist (Dennis Hopper at his unhinged best) who put the device on there. Reeves’s potential as an action hero had been unearthed in Point Break a few years earlier and is enhanced in Jan de Bont’s brilliantly tense thriller, aided by his great chemistry with Bullock. Top-notch stunt work rounds out a perfect popcorn flick.
Saturday 10 May, 11.10pm, ITV1
Johnny Guitar
Nicholas Ray’s western is one of the great misnamed films. Sterling Hayden’s titular gunslinger does kick the plot off, but it’s his old flame, saloon owner Vienna (a fierce, forceful Joan Crawford), who is the drama’s blazing heart. With a railroad being built nearby, she faces opposition from townsfolk who fear change – and blame her for it, not least Mercedes McCambridge’s Emma. But in this classic of queer coding, does Emma’s wrath hide a secret desire for Vienna? Check out Crawford’s costume changes for a sign of who wears the trousers round here.
Sunday 11 May, 12pm, Great! Action
Rodeo
The subculture of urban dirt-bike riding in France is a fruitful milieu for Lola Quivoron’s involving drama. Julie Ledru plays Julia, a motocross devotee who edges her way into an all-male group of riders through her skill at stealing bikes. Her tentative friendship with the imprisoned gang leader’s neglected wife and son gives this outsider a sense of belonging, but her independent attitude – and gender – cause hostility from some of the guys. Ledru, continuously on screen, is compelling as a woman who knows she’ll only get what she wants in life by taking it.
Sunday 11 May, 1am, Channel 4
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Garbo: Where Did You Go?
Lorna Tucker, who directed Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, delves into the life of another grand cultural figure in this beguiling documentary. From a childhood in a Stockholm slum to becoming the most famous female star in Hollywood, Greta Garbo’s upward trajectory was giddy – but the film suggests that she lost a part of her soul along the way. Using her own letters, plus contemporary news stories and interviews, a picture emerges of a reluctant celebrity who really did just want to be alone.
Wednesday 14 May, 9pm, Sky Arts
Five Easy Pieces
A set text in any discussion about the New American Cinema, Bob Rafelson’s zeitgeisty 1970 drama stars Jack Nicholson as Bob, who works on a California oil rig and is in a relationship with waitress Rayette (Karen Black) – but is noticeably disaffected by both. He’s also hiding a past as the classically trained pianist son of a middle-class musical family. On a road trip back home to Washington state to see his ailing father, his rootlessness comes to the fore – but is he running away from boredom, failure, commitment or just the difficult business of living an ordinary life?
Friday 16 May, 6am, Sky Cinema Greats
Bodies Bodies Bodies
Posing as a generic “cabin in the woods” horror in the vein of And Then There Were None (though it’s actually set in a mansion), Halina Reijn’s film soon develops into a sly, brutally funny takedown of entitled generation Zers. A group of friends (the on-point cast includes Amandla Stenberg, Myha’la and Rachel Sennott) prepare to party in a big, dark house, but storm-related power cuts and a bloody death precipitate a breakdown of order. Bitchy, indiscreet and jealous, the pals turn out to be hilariously incapable of staying united with a possible killer on the loose.
Friday 16 May, 11.30pm, BBC One
