Your Ultimate Guide to This Week's Television Films
This week brings an exceptional selection of films to British television screens, offering everything from epic American tales to thrilling sci-fi adventures and classic crime dramas. With streaming services and traditional broadcast channels alike serving up cinematic treats, there's something for every taste appearing over the coming days.
Featured Film of the Week: Train Dreams
Clint Bentley's adaptation of Denis Johnson's novella arrives on Netflix this Friday, 21st November. This epic American story features Joel Edgerton as Robert, a railway worker and logger living in rural Idaho during the early 20th century. Robert's quiet, solitary existence transforms when he marries Gladys, played by Felicity Jones, and they build a life together including their own house and a child. This period of simple happiness proves tragically short-lived in what critics describe as a grief-infused narrative.
The film carries the distinctive spirit of Terrence Malick through its elegaic voiceover narration, episodic structure, and breathtaking imagery of the natural world. Edgerton delivers a perfectly measured performance as an ordinary man observing his country's development from the margins, never expecting much joy from life yet profoundly haunted when he loses the modest happiness he briefly experiences.
Major Franchise Finale and Classic Crime
Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker lands on ITV1 this Saturday, 15th November at 4pm. The final chapter in JJ Abrams's trilogy faced unexpected challenges following Carrie Fisher's untimely death before filming began. This loss meant the planned focus on Leia Organa had to be abandoned, disrupting what would have been a neat conclusion to the series that had previously centred on Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in episodes seven and eight.
Instead, the complex relationship between new Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) and reformed villain Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) carries the emotional weight amid spectacular planet-hopping quests and CGI marvels. Ian McDiarmid returns as the unexpectedly resurrected Emperor Palpatine in what critics suggest viewers should simply enjoy as a gleefully evil cameo rather than questioning the logistical details of his return.
The Untouchables brings 1987 period crime drama to BBC Two on Sunday, 16th November at 10pm. With credentials including a script by David Mamet, music by Ennio Morricone, and costumes by Giorgio Armani, this Brian De Palma film represents a class production in every aspect. The loosely factual story follows treasury agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) as he attempts to bring prohibition-era mafia boss Al Capone to justice.
Robert De Niro delivers a magnetically chilling performance as Capone, while Costner's Ness assembles a team of honest officers including Sean Connery as a wise beat cop – though viewers may need to overlook Connery's curiously Irish-by-way-of-Edinburgh accent. The film charts their efforts to take down Chicago's most notorious criminal while navigating widespread corruption within the city's institutions.
Gripping Dramas and Award-Winning Classics
'71 arrives on Channel 4 in the early hours of Sunday, 16th November at 1:15am. This thriller from director Yann Demange features Jack O'Connell as Gary, a British soldier deployed to Belfast during the height of the Troubles. Following a disastrous house raid, Gary becomes separated from his unit and finds himself alone in an unfamiliar city, hunted by IRA gunmen and struggling to comprehend the complex political situation.
Despite unfolding over just one day and night, the film manages to incorporate surprising nuance as the desperate soldier encounters individuals from across the spectrum of the conflict. This performance, following his acclaimed work in 2013's Starred Up, confirmed O'Connell as a major British acting talent.
A Thousand and One comes to BBC Two on Monday, 17th November at 11pm. Teyana Taylor, who recently impressed audiences with her scene-stealing cameo in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, takes centre stage in AV Rockwell's tough yet tender New York drama. She portrays Inez, a recently released prisoner determined to reclaim her son Terry from the care system.
Her desperate solution involves abducting the boy and establishing a new life under false pretences in what becomes a piercing exploration of shifting emotions, responsibilities, and the complexities of love.
Amadeus appears on Sky Cinema Greats on Thursday, 20th November at 11:50pm. Milos Forman's 1984 period drama sets a high benchmark for the upcoming Sky TV adaptation of Peter Shaffer's play, having won eight Academy Awards. The film explores the rivalry between Vienna court composer Antonio Salieri (F Murray Abraham) and the newly arrived musical prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce).
This joyous production excels dramatically, visually, and musically while offering the witty insight that genius doesn't necessarily correlate with good character, and that history isn't always written by the winners.
The Unholy Trinity streams on Paramount+ from Friday, 21st November. Richard Gray's solid western follows Henry (Brandon Lessard), a young man who arrives in the Montana settlement of Trinity in 1888 seeking revenge for his father's hanging. Upon arrival, he discovers his intended target – the sheriff – is already dead, leaving him stranded in a town full of secrets mostly connected to the new lawman Gabriel (Pierce Brosnan).
Samuel L Jackson enjoys a memorable role as St Christopher, an old associate of Henry's father, while the film delivers traditional western pleasures including posses, hidden gold, and morally ambiguous characters where everyone has their reasons.
