Bugonia: A Wild Black Comedy with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons
A scruffy conspiracy theorist played by Jesse Plemons and a CEO-maybe-alien portrayed by Emma Stone face off in this wild black comedy. Plemons is Teddy Gatz, a warehouse worker and beekeeper, distraught about the damage done by corporations such as the one Michelle Fuller (Stone) heads up. Teddy's internet research has convinced him Fuller is an Andromedan colonist intent on enslaving humanity, so along with his autistic cousin Don (Aidan Delbis), Teddy plans to kidnap her and negotiate Earth's liberation.
Technically, Bugonia is a remake of a Korean film, but the mischievous mood comes unmistakably from Yorgos Lanthimos, the lauded film-maker behind Poor Things and The Favourite. Catch it Saturday 4 July at 10.25am and 8pm on Sky Cinema Premiere.
Tombstone: A Western Classic with Val Kilmer's Scene-Stealing Turn
This tough-talking 1990s western is one of several movies to retell events surrounding the legendary Gunfight at the OK Corral, when Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his deputised lawmen attempted to disarm a gang of cattle rustlers in the saloon town of Tombstone, Arizona. What sets this version apart from all the others is a scene-stealing turn from Val Kilmer as sickly souse Doc Holliday, a brief-but-brilliant voiceover narration from the great Robert Mitchum, and several of the most tremendous moustaches this side of the Rio Grande. Airs Sunday 5 July at 9pm on Film4.
Blade Runner: Ridley Scott's Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Los Angeles, 2019. The permanent neo-noir night. It's the job of cop turned bounty hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) to track down and retire rogue replicants. But what if Rick can't tell the humans from their bioengineered counterparts? Ridley Scott's 1982 film was a relative flop on first release, but is now widely considered among the greatest sci-fi films of all time. This 2007-issued final cut blends influences as disparate as German expressionism, Italian futurism and Hong Kong on a very bad day into a visually iconic whole. Airs Sunday 5 July at 10pm on BBC Two.
My Summer of Love: Emily Blunt's Magnificent Debut
Emily Blunt's big-screen debut boded well for the magnificent career to follow. She plays Tamsin, an alluring posh girl who hooks up with tomboy Mona (Natalie Press) over one sultry season in West Yorkshire's Calder valley. Paddy Considine is Phil, Mona's ex-convict brother, whose recent religious conversion seems to conceal a simmering propensity for violence. All in all it's the modern-day, lesbian Wuthering Heights of our dreams, with Bafta-winning direction from Paweł Pawlikowski, who just picked up his second best director award at this year's Cannes. Airs Wednesday 8 July at 12.05am on BBC Two.
Wicked: For Good – The Vibrant Conclusion
Does pink complement green – or does it clash? This concluding part to the Broadway musical adaptation inspired by The Wizard of Oz is an impressive feat of tonal blending. At its heart is the fraught bond between Glinda the Good (Ariana Grande) and Elphaba, AKA the Wicked Witch of the West (Cynthia Erivo), but there are other vibrant strands woven in, including backstories for familiar characters such as the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and Dorothy herself. Airs Friday 10 July at 7.25am and 6pm on Sky Cinema Premiere.
Leave Her to Heaven: A Noir-Melodrama Classic
Demonic daddy's girl Ellen (Gene Tierney) creates havoc of all sorts in this 1945 noir-melodrama, cited by Martin Scorsese as an all-time favourite. Cornel Wilde is Richard, the unsuspecting novelist who falls for a beautiful Boston socialite on the train to Jacinto, but soon lives to regret his impulsivity. Leon Shamroy's sumptuous Technicolor cinematography won that year's Academy award and director John M Stahl has fun bringing in allusions to the great femme fatales of Greek mythology, including Hippolyta, Medea and the sirens who lure men to a watery grave. Airs Friday 10 July at 11am on Film4.
The Bodyguard: A Timeless Tribute to Ballads and Interracial Romance
Once intended as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross, The Bodyguard had a 20-year journey to the screen before finally materialising in 1992 as Whitney Houston's film-acting debut. She plays a famous actor and singer who, despite being threatened by a stalker, resists the restrictions placed upon her by her new head of security, Frank (Kevin Costner). Until, of course, the two get intimate. While initially dismissed as hokey by critics, The Bodyguard now stands as a timeless tribute to the power of soaring ballads and interracial romance. Airs Friday 10 July at 8pm on Sky Cinema Greats.
