Pick of the week
The Alto Knights
Barry Levinson has history with the American mafia, having told the tale of Bugsy Siegel back in 1991. Here’s another chapter in the bloody saga, scripted by Goodfellas writer Nicholas Pileggi. It traces the falling out between “the prime minister of the underworld”, Frank Costello, and his childhood buddy – and previous capo di capi – Vito Genovese in 1950s New York. The mob life is endlessly fascinating, with its twisted codes of honour, rules and power plays, while Robert De Niro does a fine job in dual roles as the thoughtful Frank and the hair-trigger Vito – whose railing against his loss of power threatens to bring down their nationwide crime network.
Sunday 7 December, 2.30pm, 9.45pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
***
Under the Stars
Travel writer/romance author/general milksop Ian (Alex Pettyfer) finds out his girlfriend has cheated on him so jets off to a farmstay in idyllic Puglia, Italy, to clear his head. There he finds Eva De Dominici’s Arianna, the owner’s possibly available daughter. This picture-postcard romdram would be a so-so parade of beauty if it weren’t for Toni Collette as Ian’s more successful novelist aunt. She brings wisdom, vivacity and humour to proceedings, and even has a more interesting potential match: Arianna’s father – a slyly flirtatious Andy Garcia.
Sunday 7 December, Prime Video
***
My Fair Lady
It should have been Julie Andrews – who originated the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway – but Audrey Hepburn acquits herself well in George Cukor’s colourful, consciously stagey take on the Lerner and Loewe musical. Dubbed by Marni Nixon for the tunes, she plays the London flower seller taken in by sexist phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), who bets he can pass her off as a duchess in upper-class society. An intriguing amalgam of Greek myth, Cinderella and Frankenstein, plus an array of cracking songs. Luverly.
Sunday 7 December, 4pm, Sky Arts
***
True Romance
It’s a Tony Scott film, so comes with his glossy action movie sheen, but the script is by Quentin Tarantino. So in this violent crime caper, we get loving references to martial arts films and Terrence Malick’s Badlands, plus witty monologues and (sadly) a weakness for the N-word. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette have great chemistry as lovers on the run with a bag of cocaine, while cameos from Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis) and Dennis Hopper add oomph.
Monday 8 December, 12.20am, Sky Cinema Greats
***
All the King’s Men
Cynicism oozes out of Robert Rossen’s compelling 1949 drama as it traces the rise of Broderick Crawford’s Willie Stark from honest small-town lawyer to demagogic governor. John Ireland’s disaffected journalist Jack Burden is our guide to the ways power can corrupt those who have it – and also those, like him, who come within its orbit. Crawford is superb, plotting his character’s shift from dull but earnest to magnetic and bullying, a small-scale Citizen Kane for whom the ends justify the means.
Tuesday 9 December, 4.30pm, Film4
***
Ride the High Country
Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott, both veterans of the Hollywood western, show the benefits of familiarity with the genre in Sam Peckinpah’s satisfying 1962 adventure. They play former partners who join forces again, alongside a naive cowboy, to transport gold from a mine to the bank. There’s an easy charm to their relationship as they reminisce and rib each other en route to the mountain encampment. However, with motivations not as clear cut as they seem at first, there’s room for fisticuffs and gunplay, as the young buck and old-timers have to decide between right and wrong.
Tuesday 9 December, 2.05pm, 5Action
***
Lost in Translation
Despite its sometimes stereotypical treatment of Japan, Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film is a sweet romantic drama tinged with melancholy. Film star Bob (Bill Murray) is in Tokyo to shoot a whiskey commercial; Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) is idling by herself while her photographer husband works. Meeting in their hotel bar, they recognise kindred lost souls and team up to immerse themselves in a civilisation largely alien to them. Basically, it’s Brief Encounter with added karaoke, sushi and miscommunication.
Wednesday 10 December, 10am, Sky Cinema Greats
