Pick of the weekRumours<\/p>\n
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\u2019t even the weirdest of the summer, because here is Rumours. With three writer-directors, including Guy Maddin, it\u2019s 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\u2019s not something you are likely to forget in a hurry. Stuart Heritage
Saturday 26 July, 1.15pm, 10.15pm, Sky Cinema Premiere<\/p>\n
Lyle, Lyle, CrocodileJaw dropping \u2026 Javier Bardem shines as Hector in Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile. Photograph: Jose Perez\/Bauer-Griffin\/REX\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
Last year\u2019s vaguely nightmarish Harold and the Purple Crayon is an example of the pitfalls of attempting to stretch a children\u2019s picture book to feature length. With that in mind, 2022\u2019s Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a miracle. Based on a slight 1965 kids\u2019 book, Will Speck and Josh Gordon\u2019s 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\u2019s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) genuinely good, but Javier Bardem gives one of the performances of his life as Lyle\u2019s unreliable owner, Hector. SH
Saturday 26 July, 2pm, BBC One<\/p>\n
Fallen LeavesFinnish point \u2026 Alma P\u00f6ysti and Jussi Vatanen star in Helsinki-set Fallen Leaves. Photograph: Malla Hukkanen\/Sputnik<\/p>\n
As is to be expected \u2013 nay required \u2013 from the master of dour, deadpan humour, in Aki Kaurism\u00e4ki\u2019s latest romantic comedy his two lonely, Helsinki-based central characters struggle to express their feelings. The potential match of Ansa (Alma P\u00f6ysti) 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\u2019s peculiarly Finnish world makes you wish the pair the best of an imperfect life. Simon Wardell
Saturday 26 July, 9.45pm, BBC Four<\/p>\n
BenjaminGrowing feelings \u2026 Phenix Brossard and Colin Morgan play Noah and Benjamin. Photograph: Laura Radford Photography Ltd<\/p>\n
Simon Amstell\u2019s 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\u2019s a tender, sharply observed film that makes you excited about the rest of Amstell\u2019s career. SH
Tuesday 29 July, 2.35am, Channel 4<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n ThreadsArmageddon \u2026 Rita May and David Brierly star as the Kemps in the 80s terror film Threads. Photograph: Bbc\/Allstar<\/p>\n For anyone who loves spending their summers being bummed out, Mick Jackson\u2019s real-world nuclear horrorshow is a must. A startling, ferocious depiction of the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Sheffield, the film\u2019s impact cannot be overstated. The terror doesn\u2019t 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\u2019t get here soon enough. SH My Oxford YearA fine romance \u2026 Jamie (Corey Mylchreest) and Anna (Sofia Carson) fall in love in My Oxford Year. Photograph: FlixPix\/Alamy<\/p>\n My Oxford Year comes with a terrific pedigree. Based on Julia Whelan\u2019s partly autobiographical novel and directed by The Inbetweeners\u2019 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 \u2013 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\u2019ll do wonders for the Oxford tourist board. SH Miracle on 34th StreetSelf-declared Santa \u2026 Richard Attenborough plays Kriss Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street. Photograph: 20 Century Fox\/Allstar<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 1994 remake \u2013 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\u2019s so remarkable is just how utterly festive the film is, despite being a courtroom drama about a potentially deluded old man. SH
Wednesday 30 July, 11.15pm, BBC Four<\/p>\n
Friday 1 August, Netflix<\/p>\n
Friday 1 August, 1.05pm, Film4<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekRumours A few weeks ago, Prime Video gave us Heads of State. A rollicking, deliberately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-290566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114913864834691244","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}