23 hours ago
4
Pick of the week
Rumours
A few weeks ago, Prime Video gave us Heads of State. A rollicking, deliberately dumb action movie about the US president and the British prime minister, Heads of State looked as if it was going to be the weirdest political film of the year. Turns out it wasn’t even the weirdest of the summer, because here is Rumours. With three writer-directors, including Guy Maddin, it’s a film about a G7 summit that finds itself being terrorised by marauding bog-zombies and, odder still, a giant brain. The fact that Cate Blanchett plays the German chancellor and Charles Dance the US president makes it stranger still. Highly silly and very funny, it’s not something you are likely to forget in a hurry. Stuart Heritage
Saturday 26 July, 1.15pm, 10.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
Last year’s vaguely nightmarish Harold and the Purple Crayon is an example of the pitfalls of attempting to stretch a children’s picture book to feature length. With that in mind, 2022’s Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a miracle. Based on a slight 1965 kids’ book, Will Speck and Josh Gordon’s film is an unexpected delight. There is a crocodile, he can sing, and all hell breaks loose. Not only are the songs (by The Greatest Showman’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) genuinely good, but Javier Bardem gives one of the performances of his life as Lyle’s unreliable owner, Hector. SH
Saturday 26 July, 2pm, BBC One
Fallen Leaves
As is to be expected – nay required – from the master of dour, deadpan humour, in Aki Kaurismäki’s latest romantic comedy his two lonely, Helsinki-based central characters struggle to express their feelings. The potential match of Ansa (Alma Pöysti) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) is further stymied by him losing her number, his struggles with alcoholism and their shared inability to hold on to a job. Not a laugh-a-minute plot description, admittedly, but being immersed in the director’s peculiarly Finnish world makes you wish the pair the best of an imperfect life. Simon Wardell
Saturday 26 July, 9.45pm, BBC Four
Benjamin
Simon Amstell’s first film, Carnage, was a heavy-handed satire about the generational guilt of eating meat, but he really found his footing a year later with Benjamin. A sweet love story between an aspiring film-maker and a French musician, it feels as if it often leans into autobiography. Like Amstell, the lead character (played by Colin Morgan) finds it hard to move on after early success, and repeatedly second-guesses his way out of potential connections. It’s a tender, sharply observed film that makes you excited about the rest of Amstell’s career. SH
Tuesday 29 July, 2.35am, Channel 4
after newsletter promotion
Threads
For anyone who loves spending their summers being bummed out, Mick Jackson’s real-world nuclear horrorshow is a must. A startling, ferocious depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Sheffield, the film’s impact cannot be overstated. The terror doesn’t just come from the initial firestorm, but the illnesses and societal breakdown that follow. Threads put the fear of God into people right when it needed to the most and, quite frankly, the upcoming remake can’t get here soon enough. SH
Wednesday 30 July, 11.15pm, BBC Four
My Oxford Year
My Oxford Year comes with a terrific pedigree. Based on Julia Whelan’s partly autobiographical novel and directed by The Inbetweeners’ Iain Morris, this is a romantic comedy drama about a pretty American who moves to the UK to study at Oxford, and finds herself being swept up by a handsome Brit. But what will derail their love first – her moving back home or his dark, tragic secret? Starring Sofia Carson and Corey Mylchreest, the film is a slightly generic but admirably sincere exploration of relationships that come with expiration dates. And it’ll do wonders for the Oxford tourist board. SH
Friday 1 August, Netflix
Miracle on 34th Street
Since Christmas in July is becoming more and more mainstream, it only makes sense that Film4 should get in on the act. A Christmas Carol is on today, as is Jingle All the Way, but the real gold lies in Les Mayfield’s 1994 remake – which is charm personified. Co-written by John Hughes, the star attraction is Richard Attenborough at his twinkliest as Kriss Kringle, a man dragged into a court case after declaring himself to be Santa. What’s so remarkable is just how utterly festive the film is, despite being a courtroom drama about a potentially deluded old man. SH
Friday 1 August, 1.05pm, Film4
English (US)