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| The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water |
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, 11am, Film4, Wednesday, April 9
Looking for some midweek anarchy? Then Bikini Bottom is definitely the right place. Its residents have always been cheerfully unhinged and Stephen Hillenburg's creations stepped up surprisingly well from television to film. This enjoyably surreal sequel carries on that fine tradition with a plot concerning the theft of the secret Krabby Patty recipe by a pirate (Antonio Banderas, having even more fun than usual) but that's really just something to hang the general mayhem on as SpongeBob takes a slapstick swim through time and space and the jokes arrive in waves. If you get a hankering to soak up a bit more SpongeBob, the fifth spin-off film, Plankton: The Movie, was recently added to Netflix.
Fantastic Planet, 10.45pm, Sky Arts, Thursday, April 10
Jennie Kermode writes: Made in the Seventies yet peculiar even for its time, René Laloux's blend of allegorical French futurism and Czech animation was designed to be served with a sizeable quantity of lysergic acid diethylamide, but whether or not you choose to indulge in that regard, it's an experience you won't forget in a hurry. Enchantingly strange artwork illuminates a dystopian narrative largely built around Biblical narratives but infused with the counterculture politics of the time, as the small, human-like Oms rebel against their giant blue gods, the Draags. The synth-heavy soundtrack is accompanied by wayward philosophical musings, there's prophecy and meditation, and all in all you won't be surprised to hear that this was an instant cult hit, despite being very hard to get hold of for most of the past 50 years. Enjoy it now you can - there's really very little like it.
Radical, 11.40pm, Film4, Thursday, April 10
One of the better ‘inspirational teacher’ stories in recent years, is based on a true story from Mexico, where a toxic mix of poverty and crime make the latest gig for teacher Sergio Juarez Correa (Eugenio Derbez) a tough one. Tackling a class of 12-year-olds is never easy but he decides to ditch the text books in favour of more unorthodox teaching to help the kids reach their true potential and encourage them to think outside of the box. Christopher Zalla crafts a warm-hearted charmer that handles some of its more difficult themes with a light touch.
No Country For Old Men, streaming now on ITVX
Cormac McCarthy's source material and the Coen Brothers’ dry wit prove a perfect match in this stripped back cat-and-mouse thriller that plays out against the arid empty landscapes of Texas in 1980. A man (Josh Brolin) finds a suitcase of cash tough to resist and is soon on the run from a psychopathic killer (Javier Bardem, never better than here), while the murderer is, in turn, being chased by a sheriff (Tommy Lee Jones) and a bounty hunter (Woody Harrelson). Playing around with archetypes - the saint, the abject sinner and someone hovering in between - this is a tense and blackly comic ride. Props too to Kelly Macdonald and Garret Dillahunt putting in small but excellent supporting turns.
Mona Lisa, 11.20pm, Film4, Friday, April 11
London gangland dramas are ten a penny but Neil Jordan's tale of a driver who gets involved with a high-class call girl is up with the best of them. Bob Hoskins stars as George, the chauffeur in question, who is ferrying around Simone (Cathy Tyson) and who begins to find himself drawn to her. Hoskins won the most silverware for the film, but he's matched step for step by Tyson (who did take home a BAFTA), alongside Michael Caine bringing his darker side to a mob boss role.
American Animals, 1.25am, Film4, Saturday, April 12
Director Bart Layton goes one step further than the usual 'based on a true story' routine for his second feature, which was an early entry in the documentary/fiction hybrids that have become increasingly popular in recent years. Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), Chas Allen (Blake Jenner), Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan) and Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) were the men with the plan - and Layton dovetails interviews with the real-life perpetrators with his re-enactment of a college library heist. What starts as a thrill ride becomes a much more interesting examination of toxic masculinity and the nature of memory that doesn't let anyone off the hook. Read our interview with Bart Layton and the cast, including Barry Keoghan, who told us he "never broke" his American accent for eight weeks in order to stay in character. Layton’s latest film Crime 101 is due in cinemas later this year and stars Keoghan along with other heavy hitters including Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry and Nick Nolte.
Top Gun, 6.40pm, Great Movies, Sunday, April 13
With the news that Val Kilmer has left us breaking this week, this is a timely showing for one of the roles that cemented his heartthrob status. He plays Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, whose rivalry with Tom Cruise’s Pete "Maverick" Mitchell helps fuel the film. Admittedly quite a lot of this, from a distance, has not dated well, in particular Maverick's over-egged romance with instructor Charlie (Kelly McGillis) - but visually it retains some magic. Tony Scott was a director who knew what to do with an action set-piece and the dog fight aerial sequences get the blood pumping if nothing else does. Plus, it’s a chance to see Kilmer and Cruise in their pomp and who doesn't like a nice slice of cheesy soft metal now and again?
You’ll have to pop over to Vimeo to see this week’s short selection. Hibernation, directed by John Williams, is a darkly comic tale about a pair of young boys’ experiment.
