Pick of the week
Mufasa: The Lion King
The idea of photorealistic lions speaking English is a bit weird, but Disney’s remake juggernaut rolls on with a prequel to the reboot of the animated musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda takes over from Elton John in the song department, while Barry Jenkins, creator of Oscar-winning arthouse gem Moonlight, is an intriguing choice to direct this child-friendly origin story for Simba’s dad and evil uncle Scar – AKA Taka (Kelvin J Harrison). Young orphan Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre) is adopted by Taka’s pride but when a gang of white lions attack, the brothers flee. They encounter a lioness Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her possibly familiar mandrill and hornbill pals, with danger and betrayal on the cards. Simon Wardell
Wednesday 26 March, Disney+
***
The Prestige
In between his first two Batmans, Christopher Nolan conjured up this tantalising Victorian-era mystery, adapted from Christopher Priest’s novel. It tracks the rivalry between two magicians in London – the great showman Angier (Hugh Jackman) and the more talented but less crowd-pleasing Borden (Christian Bale). There are secrets aplenty to be uncovered as Angier tries to figure out how Borden’s astounding trick the Transported Man is done (including a visit to inventor Nikola Tesla – a nice cameo from David Bowie) in a wonderfully twisty tale.
Sunday 23 March, 10.30pm, BBC One
***
O’Dessa
Geremy Jasper’s new sci-fi film has similarities to the We Will Rock You musical in its simple morality and dressing-up-box punk aesthetic. In this dystopian world, there is a prophecy of “one who could stir souls … armed with a guitar”. That would be folksy farm girl O’Dessa (Stranger Things’s Sadie Sink), who follows her late father’s stolen guitar to Satylite City, a neon-lit tip whose inhabitants are in thrall to quasi-religious TV entertainer/dictator Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). Kelvin J Harrison is a standout as O’Dessa’s gender-fluid rock star love interest.
Out now, Disney+
***
Boxcar Bertha
Producer Roger Corman gave a leg up to many future stars of the movie business, including Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron. In 1972, he funded Martin Scorsese’s atypical second feature, a caper set in the deep south during the Great Depression about the adventures of crop-dusting pilot’s daughter Bertha (Barbara Hershey). While riding the trains, she joins up with a union man (David Carradine), her dad’s mechanic (Bernie Casey) and Barry Primus’s Yankee card sharp on a spree of bank robberies. A freewheeling yarn – violent, scrappy and sexy.
Sunday 23 March, 11.05pm, Sky Arts
***
Submarine
Richard Ayoade’s directorial debut is as quirky and unexpectedly touching as you’d expect from the comic actor. It’s a coming-of-age story with twin angles – 15-year-old, duffel-coated dreamer Oliver (Craig Roberts) experiences first love with the unforgiving Jordana (Yasmin Paige), while coming to understand the very middle-class relationship of his parents Lloyd and Jill (Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins). Paddy Considine pops up with a terrific cameo as a stage psychic old flame of Jill. SW
Monday 24 March, 1.50am, Film4
***
Holland
Mimi Cave’s comic mystery is set not in the Netherlands but Holland, Michigan, though it does boast tulips and a windmill. Nicole Kidman’s “life management” schoolteacher Nancy Vandergroot lives a chintzy, slightly suffocating life as a dutiful wife and mother. But her husband, optician and model railway enthusiast Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), is away at conferences a lot and Nancy suspects he is having an affair. She and her colleague Dave (Gael García Bernal) try their hand at amateur sleuthing in a story of humorous, if mild, peril – until an almighty twist throws everything out of whack.
Thursday 27 March, Prime Video
***
Jackie Chan’s Police Story
Arguably the Hong Kong star’s greatest action film starts with the near total destruction of a shanty town then a man v double decker bus chase. It barely lets up from there, as our cop hero pursues a drug lord while trying to protect Brigitte Lin’s witness. There is some slapstick content (cakes do feature), but this is a more serious affair than Chan’s subsequent screen persona would suggest. The climactic fight sequence in a shopping centre is a riot of smashed glass and battered bodies, with one stunt so impressive we see it three times.
Friday 28 March, 6.25am, 2.05am, Sky Cinema Greats
