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Pick of the week
Unstoppable
It may largely hew to the sports movie template of underdog triumphing over adversity, but William Goldenberg’s biopic of one-legged US wrestler Anthony Robles certainly gets under your skin. Jharrel Jerome (I’m a Virgo) plays the Arizona high-schooler who is supremely talented but has to fight to prove himself when he goes to college. His mother, Judy (a spirited Jennifer Lopez), backs him but has her own troubles with an abusive husband, Rich (Bobby Cannavale), and money worries. It’s an inspirational, tear-stained tale, with plenty of clammy grappling (Robles himself is Jerome’s stunt double) and family bonding, building to a tense college championship climax.
Thursday 16 January, Prime Video
12 Angry Men
Sidney Lumet’s exceptional legal drama takes the idea of a bunch of ordinary people judging the actions of another person and shows up its fallibility in the face of prejudice, lack of empathy and plain stupidity. A calm but stalwart Henry Fonda is the lone juror unconvinced that an 18-year-old boy accused of killing his father is guilty. In an increasingly sweaty jury room, he picks apart the evidence and opinions of the other men (the source play was written before women were allowed to be jurors) in an astute exploration of the concept of reasonable doubt.
Saturday 11 January, 1.30pm, Sky Arts
Get Away
Producer, writer and star Nick Frost brings us a blood-soaked horror comedy that tries to splice Midsommar and Inside No 9. He plays a British man going on holiday with wife Aisling Bea and their two teenage kids to a small Swedish island, which is about to celebrate a festival commemorating a plague-inspired quarantine and subsequent cannibalism 200 years earlier. The residents are typically hostile – chanting, wearing masks, chucking dead animals around – however not everyone is who they appear to be.
Saturday 11 January, 10.10pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Slumdog Millionaire
It is easy to forget it won eight Oscars back in 2009, but Danny Boyle’s zippy film is still a terrific watch. Dev Patel’s teenager Jamal appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and looks set to win the 20m-rupee top prize, despite being an uneducated kid from a Mumbai slum. A series of flashbacks around each question in the quiz reveal how he knows the answer – a contrived but clever structure to Jamal’s backstory. And the film never sugar-coats the things he does or witnesses, from anti-Muslim riots to begging gangs and sexual exploitation.
Saturday 11 January, 1.15am, Film4
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Patti Cake$
Danielle Macdonald, late of The Tourist, is the compelling central figure in Geremy Jasper’s 8 Mile-adjacent tale of an aspiring New Jersey rapper. Patti to her failed rock singer mum (Bridget Everett), Killer P to Siddharth Dhananjay’s bandmate Jheri, Dumbo to her dismissive peers, she veers from hip-hop braggadocio to real-world despair as she dreams of escaping a life of bar-tending and waitressing. Could an anarchist beats-maker called Basterd (Mamoudou Athie) be the solution?
Monday 13 January, 1.30am, Film4
A League of Their Own
Top marks in the Bechdel test for Penny Marshall’s 1992 period drama. It tells the tale of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, set up in the second world war while the men were away fighting. Geena Davis stars as farming wife/catcher Dottie who, with younger sister/pitcher Kit, joins the nascent set-up and rises above the prevalent sexism to make the sport a thrilling spectacle. With Tom Hanks as a grumpy coach and Madonna being Madonna as a flirty fellow player, it’s more enjoyable – and occupies less time – than the game itself.
Tuesday 14 January, 5.50pm, Sky Cinema Greats
Alien: Romulus
The latest attempt to refresh the xenomorph saga keeps many of the best elements of its forebears – jump scares in dark corridors, acid for blood, gruesome metamorphoses – while opting for a more youthful angle: YAlien, if you will. Cailee Spaeny is the new Ripley, young orphan Rain, who plans to salvage an abandoned spaceship with android brother Andy (a well-cast David Jonsson) and friends. Sadly, the salivating aliens are already in situ. Cue running, screaming and terrible decision-making, in a sci-fi thriller that fills a hole but doesn’t quite hit the spot.
Wednesday 15 January, Disney+
