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tv films^ 14-20 Oct 2017^ guide^46

A Bridge Too Far

(Richard Attenborough,

1977)

5.40pm, Channel 5

Attenborough’s epic

recreation of the

Arnhem debacle: the

plan to parachute into

the Netherlands and

take six bridges would

have shortened the war

considerably but it all

went horribly wrong. The

battle scenes are highly

eff ective and everyone

is on parade for this

one: Bogarde, Hackman,

Connery, Caine, Hopkins,

Redford, Olivier and all.

Non-Stop

(Jaume Collet-Serra, 2014)

9pm, Channel 4

Fasten your seatbelts,

we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Liam Neeson stars in

one of those action-man

psychiatrist’s leaf

wandering if there’s

more to life than

being a worker ant.

There is: romance with

Princess Bala (Sharon

Stone), while war with

the termites is just

around the corner. The

subterranean colouring is

a little grungy, but with

Sly Stallone as a soldier

ant, it’s inspired fun.

Cuban Fury

(James Griffi ths, 2014)

11.15pm, Film4

Nick Frost is offi ce worker

Bruce Garrett, seeking

redemption on the

dancefl oor. He tucked

away his sequins years

ago after being bullied

at school, but dusts them

down when the new

boss (Rashida Jones) he’s

fallen for turns out to be

a salsa fan. Frost doesn’t

quite convince as a

dancer but he’s a nimble

comedian, and there’s

plenty of support from

a vibrant cast.

Possession

(Neil LaBute, 2002)

11.30pm, BBC1

Like The French

Lieutenant’s Woman

this is a time-travelling

romance, with two

modern-day academics.

Gung-ho American Aaron

Eckhart and cool Brit

Gwyneth Paltrow delve

into the secret lives of a

Victorian poet (Jennifer

Ehle) and her married

lover (Jeremy Northam).

The modern tale is a

fl imsy thing compared

to the beautifully

performed period

piece in a fl awed but

interesting adaptation of

AS Byatt’s 1990 Booker

prize-winning novel.

Saturday 14

October

Split

(M Night Shyamalan,

2016)

12noon, 8pm, Sky Cinema

Premiere

A thoroughly creepy and

eff ective thriller from

the famous director of

underwhelming horrors.

Teenager Casey (Anya

Taylor-Joy) gets a lift

home with two other

girls; all three are

kidnapped by James

McAvoy’s smiling weirdo

and imprisoned in his

basement for some

unspecifi ed ritual. But

the weirdest thing about

their captive is that he

suff ers from dissociative

identity disorder, and has

23 troubled personalities

raging inside him.

roles he’s now forsaken:

he’s an air marshal with

personal baggage that’s

way over the limit,

dealing with a mysterious

killer on his New York

to London fl ight who is

murdering a passenger

every 20 minutes. It

doesn’t have the edgy

suspense of Wes Craven’s

Red Eye, but for angsty

close-quarters combat,

Liam’s your man.

Sunday 15 October

Antz

(Eric Darnell, Tim

Johnson, 1998)

2.30pm, Channel 4

This DreamWorks

animated blockbuster

starts hilariously, with

the Woody Allen-

voiced Z-4195 on the

(Jean-Marc Vallée, 2014) Saturday, 9pm, Film4

Reese Witherspoon’s gritty performance makes this tale of a 1,000-mile

trek along the Pacifi c Crest Trail a compelling journey. Skilfully adapted

by Nick Hornby from Cheryl Strayed’s angsty 2012 memoir, it follows

Witherspoon’s Cheryl on her lone, blistery path of self-discovery. Along

the way we dip into her troubled past, when she turned to heroin and

casual sex after the death of her mother. Cheryl’s haunted memories

and physical exhaustion combine to haunting, dreamlike eff ect.

tv films

Pick of the week Wild

FOX SEARCHLIGHT; EVERETT/ALAMY