The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

(EriveltonMoraes) #1

28 November 2021 67


THE BEST TV FROM MUBI AND BEYOND... FRIDAY 3 DECEMBER


tptvencore.co.uk
Thanks to its nostalgia-
inducing line-up of old films
and television shows, Talking
Pictures TV has lately become
one of Britain’s most popular
independent channels — good
going for a company based in
a family home in a village near
Watford. And now its fans
can turn back the clock in a
different sense. TPTV Encore
(launched on Wednesday
this week) is a free catch-up
website full of previously
broadcast content. This
includes not only the vintage
stuff, but also the channel’s
own shows, such as The Cellar
Club, a run of introductions
to cult movies. Christmas
programming (including the
1951 classic Scrooge, with
Alastair Sim) will be abundant
in December — and many
viewers will regard the site
itself as a welcome gift.
Edward Porter

Godzilla vs Kong
(Sky Cinema Premiere,
10.15am/8pm)
Following a precedent set
by King Kong vs Godzilla in
1962, Adam Wingard’s film
pits those two giant creatures
against each other. This
showdown — which serves as
the climax to a recent series
of films that featured the ape
and the reptile separately —
may not be a popcorn-movie
classic, but it provides likable
hokum in a monster-sized
dose. As well as letting the
two antagonists smash most
of Hong Kong, the film adds
a more fanciful backdrop by
taking the story to the centre
of the Earth. (2021)

Elizabeth — The Golden
Age (Sky Cinema Greats,
7.50am/4.10am)
Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to
his 1998 film Elizabeth brings
back Cate Blanchett to play
the Virgin Queen and gives
us a traditional account of
her heyday: a lavish pageant
that reaches its climax with
the Spanish Armada. (2007)
Edward Porter

Marli Su, Otto Farrant (IMDb TV) Blanchett (SCG, 7.50am/4.10am)


FILM CHOICE


ON DEMAND


Freakscene —


The Story Of Dinosaur Jr


(Buy as stream/download)


“I’m bad at remembering what


I felt like in the past,” says


J Mascis, the inscrutable


frontman for alternative rock


godheads Dinosaur Jr since



  1. It’s true, and director


Philipp Reichenheim struggles


Angel Of Death
(Walter Presents on All 4)
Poland likes its crime dramas
bleak and gritty, with lashings
of existential dread. So even if
this is a story about a duo of
mismatched cops (Aleksandra
Poplawska and Bartosz Gelner
working nicely) tracking down
a middle-class serial killer
(an expertly unpleasant Maciej
Stuhr), the dank noir lends it
an extra narrative richness.
Andrew Male

General Election Results
(BBC iPlayer)
Just type election for six historic
films documenting BBC general
election results coverage from
1955 to 1997. Each viewer will
have their own reasons to
watch Conservative or Labour
victories but the aesthetic
triumph is surely 1970, shot
in colour, presented by the
peerless Cliff Mitchelmore and
with computer technology just
beginning to play a role.

Wildland
(Buy as stream/download)
After her mother dies, this
Danish drama’s heroine
(Sandra Guldberg Kampp)
goes to live with her aunt
and learns she is a crime
boss. Sidse Babett Knudsen
is terrific as the matriarchal
mobster and the film steadily
draws you in as you wait to
see how the teenager adapts
to her new home. Dir: Jeanette
Nordahl (2020) EP

to winnow anything revealing
from the monosyllabic indie
guitar magus for this soup-
to-nuts biography. Luckily, his
long-suffering bandmates Lou
Barlow and Murph are more
than happy to delve deep
into the passive-aggressive
“karma pain” and destructive
personal relationships that
surrounded the band, and
their moments of honest
self-analysis are surprisingly
heartfelt and moving.

Curator Jon and Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson’s Spitfire Mk1 (C5, 7pm)


Secrets Of The Imperial
War Museum (C5, 7pm)
The Imperial War Museum
has more than 33 million
items in its collections, from
one of Winston Churchill’s
signature “siren suits” to
a battlefield ambulance that
was bombed in Basra in 2007.
While viewers of this series
will be granted exciting close-
up access to these objects —
one volunteer is dusting a
Vietnam War-era helicopter
— it is also a chance for the
museum to showcase some
of the less tangible work
it does in preserving the
history of conflict before it
slips from living memory.
Here, for example, curators
record the testimony of
90-year-old Kitty Baxter,
her memories of the
sound of the Blitz soon
to be transformed into the
stuff of a new exhibition.
Victoria Segal

Alex Rider


(IMDb TV on Amazon)


Based on Anthony Horowitz’s


novel Eagle Strike, series


two pits his schoolboy spy


against tech billionaire


Damian Cray (Toby Stephens),


whose latest video game


is part of a grandiose plot.


But first, in a familiar thriller


device, our hero is forced to


resume spying after retiring:


Alex (played by Otto Farrant,


who, ahem, is now 25) visits


a shrink and goes on a surfing


holiday, but in both London


and Cornwall he is sure


that someone is shadowing


him — in other words, he


can’t escape the espionage


world. Vicky McClure and


Stephen Dillane, as his MI6


handlers, are only glimpsed


in the final scene.


John Dugdale


Biffy Clyro — A Celebration
Of Endings (BBC4, 7.05pm)
As an act of generosity to their
fans, as well as creatives made
unemployed by lockdown,
the Glaswegian rockers took
over the famous Barrowland
Ballroom in August last year
for a streamed performance
of their recent album. Clever
staging and lighting filled the
1,900-capacity venue.

The Thames At Night
(C5, 8pm)
Tony Robinson’s jaunt on the
river starts after dark with a
visit to the Royal Observatory
at Greenwich (shown round
by day workers, which is quite
the cheat) before he heads
back to the manly bosom of
the wholesalers of Borough
Market and window washers
of St Thomas’s Hospital.

In My Skin (BBC1, 11.25pm;
Scotland, 12.55am)
Anyone who has watched
episode one of this stunning
drama will already have
binged all five, so this is
more a reminder to those
yet to catch up. This is a
must-watch, doing for 1990s
teenagers what It’s a Sin did to
illuminate gay life in the 1980s.
Helen Stewart

CRITICS’ CHOICE


Coming to a small


screen near you

Free download pdf