Pick of the week
Avatar: Fire and Ash<\/p>\n
James Cameron\u2019s bold, blue-tinged fantasy epic returns for a third outing. This one has a similar feel to The Way of Water: regular bouts of stupendous aerial and aquatic action; plenty of dastardly human behaviour; and \u2013 underlying the whole enterprise\u00a0\u2013 warnings about colonisation and the ignorant exploitation of the natural world. Sam Worthington, Zoe Salda\u00f1a and Sigourney Weaver are back as our favourite human-Na\u2019vi blended family, still defending their way of life. The new element is the Mangkwan, a clan living next to a volcano led by the\u00a0ambitious Varang (a lip-curling Oona Chaplin), who sees a collaboration with the gun-toting Earth forces as a route to power.
Wednesday 24 June, Disney+<\/p>\n
Project Hail MaryShooting star \u2026 Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary. Photograph: Landmark Media\/Alamy<\/p>\n
It may not hit the heights of Ridley Scott\u2019s The Martian (also based on an Andy Weir novel), but Phil Lord and Christopher Miller\u2019s sci-fi comedy shares its jolly DIY-in-space shtick and lovable lead. Ryan Gosling channels all his diffident charm into Ryland Grace, a biology teacher who finds himself alone on a mission to a distant star to discover what is sucking the energy from our sun. His encounter with a cute, rock-like alien (not a million miles from the directors\u2019 Lego Movie characters) turns the film into a buddy movie as the odd couple try to solve the mystery.
Out now, MGM+ on Prime Video<\/p>\n
Billy & Molly: An Otter Love StoryShore thing \u2026 Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story. Photograph: Charlie Hamilton James<\/p>\n
Molly, a young otter, was found by middle-aged couple Billy and Susan outside their remote Shetland home, hungry and possibly orphaned. Charlie Hamilton James\u2019s delightful documentary follows a year in their lives as Billy brings her back to health. It\u2019s proper comfort viewing, as lovely aerial shots of Molly out and about along the coast are blended with footage of Billy caring for the playful, lovable creature. And Billy and Susan\u2019s often wry narration highlights the mental health benefit close proximity to nature can have.
Sunday 21 June, 4.25pm, Channel 4<\/p>\n
The Lost BoysEnjoying the ride \u2026 Kiefer Sutherland and Jami Gertz in The Lost Boys. Photograph: Warner Bros\/Allstar<\/p>\n
A key work from the John Hughes era of US teen movies, Joel Schumacher\u2019s undead horror\/biker flick blends a Goonies-like caper with barely suppressed adolescent lust. Jason Patric is all black leather and attitude as Michael, the new kid in town drawn to Jami Gertz\u2019s mystery girl, who in turn is in thrall to rebel\/vampire Kiefer Sutherland. Corey Haim drives the plot forward as Michael\u2019s brother Sam who, with the grownups awol, leads the fight back by way of holy water pistols, chunks of garlic and tips from a comic book.
Sunday 21 June, 9.40pm, Sky Cinema Greats<\/p>\n
The Welcome TableDisaster movie \u2026 The Welcome Table. Photograph: HBO Max<\/p>\n
This incandescent climate crisis documentary from Josh Fox should probably have a trigger warning attached, such is the traumatic prognosis he gives for the planet. Through testimony from people affected by global warming-related fires, flooding and drought from Kenya to Brazil and the US, he shows the devastation now being caused, the colonial roots of much of it, and the mass migration that will follow. The only ray of hope comes from the survivors themselves \u2013 beacons of community and collaboration.
Wednesday 24 June, HBO Max<\/p>\n
Rob RoyCeltic manner \u2026 Liam Neeson as Rob Roy. Photograph: Cinetext\/United Artists\/Allstar<\/p>\n
It had the misfortune to be released in cinemas in the same year as Braveheart, but Michael Caton-Jones\u2019s rousing historical drama about Scotland\u2019s folk hero has the edge in terms of peaty authenticity. Liam Neeson is as Scottish as Mel Gibson but at least there\u2019s a Celtic tinge to his steely eyed performance as the titular clan chief. Cheated by John Hurt\u2019s Marquess of Montrose, he\u2019s then harried by the lord\u2019s relative, the gleefully immoral \u201cbastard abroad\u201d Archibald Cunningham (a grandstanding Tim Roth). But the honourable Robert Roy MacGregor proves that nobility isn\u2019t a matter of birth.
Wednesday 24 June, 10pm, Great! Action<\/p>\n
Escape from PretoriaOn the run \u2026 Daniel Radcliffe in Escape from Pretoria. Photograph: Amer Ghazzal\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Although it\u2019s still oddly difficult to accept Daniel \u201cPotter\u201d Radcliffe as a fully grown adult, he does make a convincing ANC prisoner in Francis Annan\u2019s tense, fact-based drama, set in late 70s apartheid South Africa. In the absence of any major Black characters to bring wider political context, the film doubles down on its jail-break thriller angle. Sentenced to 12 years for distributing leaflets, Radcliffe\u2019s Tim Jenkin is bent on escape. Luckily, he\u2019s a persistent problem solver, with locked doors just a temporary obstacle when you have an unlimited supply of wood.
Thursday 25 June, 9pm, Film4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekAvatar: Fire and Ash James Cameron\u2019s bold, blue-tinged fantasy epic returns for a third outing.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}