13 February 2022 35
THE BEST TV FROM PRIME VIDEO AND BEYOND... MONDAY 14 FEBRUARY
Happy Valentine’s Day
Whether you are snuggling
up with a companion or
hoping to fill an emotional
gap, the array of romantic
films on streaming sites
and movie channels gives
plenty of options. Film4 this
evening has four lovestruck
movies, including A Room
With A View (6.45pm) and
Jerry Maguire (9pm); and
the Sky Cinema Valentine
channel continues all week
(making up for the fact that
its primetime offering today
is the cheesy all-star romcom
Valentine’s Day, at 8pm).
Mubi’s newly added films
provide French kinkiness,
in L’Amant Double, and
old Hollywood charm, in
the wonderful 1939 classic
Love Affair. And many other
works of cinematic seduction
can be found in the BFI
Player’s Love collection.
Edward PorterSpeed (Sky Cinema
Greats, 1.55pm/8pm)
Devising stories for action
thrillers is all about keeping
things moving, so you have to
admire the brazen simplicity
of this film’s key idea: a
criminal (Dennis Hopper) rigs
a Los Angeles bus to explode
if its rate of motion falls below
50mph. With Keanu Reeves as
an on-board cop and Sandra
Bullock as the bus’s stand-in
driver, Jan de Bont’s movie
whizzes through a series of
good stunts. The switch to
another mode of transport
for the finale is a touch
anticlimactic, but the ride as
a whole is terrific, however
many times you take it. (1994)Mean Girls (Sky Cinema
Comedy, 1pm/8pm)
A funny script by Tina Fey
ensures that this high-school
movie imparts memorable
lessons. The story of a 16-year-
old (Lindsay Lohan) who falls
in with a snobby clique, Mark
Waters’s film is a sensible
guide to dealing with teenage
peer pressure. (2004)
Edward PorterKing of the road: Stafford (C4, 9pm) That’s the ticket (SCG, 8pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
Raising Dion (Netflix)
For an unemployed black
single mum (played by
Alisha Wainwright), raising a
seven-year-old ( Ja’Siah Young)
with ADHD in a racist white
suburb of Atlanta would be
challenge enough, but what if
that kid was also a superhero,
with powers he couldn’t
Der Pass (Sky/Now)
A body found on the German-
Austrian border promps a
joint investigation from by-the-
book German detective Ellie
( Julia Jentsch) and cynical
Austrian cop Gedeon (Nicholas
Ofczarek). Yes, it’s another
remake of The Bridge, but a
good one, especially if you
felt the original was a little
light on apocalyptic dread
and images of pagan horror.
Andrew MaleThe Afterparty (Apple TV+)
Structured as a showcase for
its exceptional comic cast, with
episodes devoted to specific
performers, Christopher
Miller’s burlesque whodunnit
is also a visual and narrative
delight. Its instalments are shot
in the styles (romcom, horror,
action movie, animation)
that best suit the individual
suspects and the narrative
remembers to be quirkily
inventive and darkly funny.Fast Five
(Amazon Prime Video)
All of the first six movies in
the car-crazed Fast & Furious
series recently went on offer
to Amazon Prime members,
but you might want to race
straight to the fifth instalment.
It was here that the franchise
entered its triumphant phase.
The action scenes grew bigger,
sillier and more varied, and
Dwayne Johnson joined the
cast. Dir: Justin Lin (2011) EPcontrol? That’s the premise of
Carol Barbee’s uncanny family
drama, which aims for the
domestic spookery of Stranger
Things but ends somewhere
far more charming and
unsettling. Season two is
arguably more playful in tone,
but if your children like dark
and scary fantasy dramas that
treat them like grown-ups, we
can strongly recommend. This
is junior Stephen King in the
best possible way.Come to dust: Jo Joyner and Mark Benton have a digital engagement (BBC1, 2.15pm)
Shakespeare & Hathaway
— Private Investigators
(BBC1, 2.15pm)
Exactly two years to the day
after Stratford-upon-Avon’s
most on-the-nose-named
duo last solved a case, they
return with a fourth series
and another murder most
foul, here written by Matt
Cooke and Vincent Lund. A
tech start-up is the scene of
the crime, and Shakespeare
( Jo Joyner) and Hathaway
(Mark Benton) are exposed
to the clichés of digital office
culture, one scene involving
Swiss balls (the writers may
have watched Vexed in 2010)
capitalising on their easy
chemistry and comedic flair.
Inadvertently, however, the
drama exposes the limits of
the Bard’s imagination: he
never got around to writing
a homicide that involved a
robot vacuum cleaner.
Toby EarleRise Of The Nazis —
Dictators At War
(BBC2, 9pm)
The 2019 mini-series Rise of
the Nazis really was about
their rise, ending in 1934,
but retaining the name for this
three-part follow-up about a
war seven years later belies
an equally engrossing series
that begins by chronicling the
build-up to Germany’s 1941
invasion of the Soviet Union.
There is also a strand devoted
to anti-Nazi spies in Berlin
who fed the Russians the
plans for Operation
Barbarossa. The use of actors
in glimpses of Hitler, Stalin
and others is better than just
having talking heads, but as
they are always shown silent
it is frustrating if you are
hoping for a bit of drama.
John Dugdale
The Big Design Challenge
(Sky Arts, 8pm)
Lauren Laverne presents a
design show with a familiar
competition format, albeit
elevated by its intake of
professional creatives rather
than amateurs. Tonight, at the
behest of judge Konnie Huq,
two teams create a sculpture
for children. Slight problem:
none of them have kids.60 Days With The Gypsies
(C4, 9pm)
Interesting viewing in light
of Jimmy Carr’s comments
about travellers. The second
and final part of Ed Stafford’s
film finds him visiting the
Appleby Horse Fair, where he
is frustrated at the arbitrarily
cruel restrictions placed on
some of the people who
welcome him into their lives.Imagine (BBC1, 10.35pm)
Alan Yentob asks the singer
and musician Labi Siffre to
reminisce about his long
career and a British arts scene
for which he was arguably
too talented, too black and
certainly too gay. This is a film
of rare beauty, a love song to
widower Siffre’s two husbands
and a life well lived.
Helen StewartCRITICS’ CHOICE
Say I love you
with a film