Pick of the week
Young Adult
Charlize Theron’s underused talent for comedy is seen to full effect in Jason Reitman’s cutting 2011 film. Her YA author, Mavis, returns to her childhood Minnesota town with the half-baked notion of seducing ex-teenage sweetheart Buddy (Patrick Wilson) away from his wife and baby. Reluctantly abetted by ex-schoolmate Matt (a touching Patton Oswalt), she puts her plan into action by playing her old college rock mixtapes, drinking too much and acting like the “psychobitch prom queen” she once was. Grass-is-greener delusions and the debilitating effect of youthful trauma reverberate as Theron storms through suburbia, a magnificent car crash of a character.
Friday 7 January, 11.25pm, BBC One
***
The Sound of Music
Sneaking into the festive schedule in time for the dregs of the mulled wine, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s nun-on-the-run musical makes its welcome, perennial appearance. Julie Andrews, coming off the back of Mary Poppins, is a natural as Maria, the novice governess whose real calling is turning the seven Von Trapp children into a happy family of choristers. Christopher Plummer has more gravitas than charm as the stern father, and the looming Nazi peril is at a family-friendly level, but the songs are the clincher – Edelweiss still wrings out a quiet tear.
Saturday 1 January, 2.20pm, BBC One
***
Cast Away
There are few actors who could carry an entire film by themselves – and then make you want more of them – but Tom Hanks is that guy in Robert Zemeckis’s 2000 drama. His FedEx executive, Chuck, is stranded on a desert island in the remote Pacific Ocean after his cargo plane crashes, with only a volleyball for company (which he names Wilson and personalises with a bloody handprint for a face). Chuck’s initial mishaps and despair give way to practicality and acceptance – the seven stages of grief, in effect – all orchestrated deftly by Zemeckis.
Sunday 2 January, 6.05pm, Channel 5
***
The Peanut Butter Falcon
Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz’s 2019 film is an engaging adventure with more than a touch of the Huckleberry Finns about it. But the most impressive thing about it is the agency it gives its co-lead character, would-be wrestler Zak (Zack Gottsagen), who has Down’s syndrome. Stuck in an old people’s home because there’s nowhere else to put him, Zak makes his escape and hooks up with Shia LeBeouf’s dodgy fisherman, Tyler. Yes, their river trip together is a learning experience for Tyler but it is equally so for Zak, who grabs his newly won independence with both hands.
Monday 3 January, 10pm, BBC Two
***
Starred Up
The title refers to the procedure where a juvenile offender is moved to an adult prison. Jack O’Connell’s cocky Eric has that dubious honour due to his violent behaviour, but his new home also contains his dad (Ben Mendelsohn) who is a lifer. O’Connell is a livewire presence here, holding his own against Mendelsohn’s hardman act. David Mackenzie’s edgy drama reveals the powder keg that a prison run on rules both legal and illegal can be, fuelled by a fractious father-son relationship.
Monday 3 January, 11.15pm, Film4
***
A Quiet Place Part II
Here’s more of the same horror from director John Krasinski and star Emily Blunt – but the first film’s triumph of nerve-tingling tension is worth repeating. After a flashback to the origins of the alien invasion, we take up with Blunt’s newly widowed Evelyn and her children, Regan (Millicent Simmonds), Marcus (Noah Jupe) and that crying baby. Cillian Murphy’s lone wolf Emmett mixes up the family dynamic a bit, but silence is still golden – and deaf Regan the key to survival – as the group discover signs of human life amid the sound-sensitive ETs.
Friday 7 January, 12.40pm, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
The Trial
A convincing adaptation by Orson Welles of Franz Kafka’s novel, about an office worker accused of an unnamed offence who becomes lost in a nightmare of bureaucracy as he tries to clear his name. Anthony Perkins brings the nervous energy of Norman Bates to the role of Josef K, and Welles uses his usual limited budget to great effect (not least by dubbing most of the actors himself), throwing Perkins into a disconcerting world of pan-European architecture and people – Jeanne Moreau and Romy Schneider among them. SW
Friday 7 January, 10.50pm, Talking Pictures TV
