Ghosted to a Good Person: The seven best movies to watch on TV this week television and radio
Keeping the Faith… in a Good Person Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman. Photograph: Landmark Media/Image
Despite its lead character — Florence Pugh’s Allison — hooked on OxyContin, Zach Braff’s involving drama isn’t really about addiction. After a car accident in which she was the driver kills the sister of her fiancé Nathan, Allison loses herself in despair and drugs. But an unlikely encounter with Nathan’s father, Daniel (Morgan Freeman), who is taking care of his stillborn teenage daughter, offers hope. It is a story of forgiveness and redemption with Allison and Daniel – a recovering alcoholic – working through the collateral damage of their actions. Simon Wardell
Friday, 1.30pm, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
It turns out to be a Marvel reunion for romcom/spy caper star Chris Evans, adding celeb-spotting spice to the globe-trotting action with brief cameos from a couple of Avengers (and other MCU friends). Evans plays Cole, a farmer who meets art curator Sadie (Ana de Armas) at a market. A little flirting – and a lack of response to his many texts – leads her to London, she is kidnapped and he learns that she is a CIA agent. Director Dexter Fletcher keeps things light and brisk, while the leads make their way through a stunt-heavy plot.
Out Now, Apple TV+
Radha Michel as Dora in Blueback. Photograph: David Dare Parker
A clear environmental message is never far from the surface in Robert Connolly’s coming-of-age drama. Mia Wasikowska anchors the film as marine scientist Abby, who returns to her Australian coastal home to care for her ailing mother. Childhood memories (played as a teenager by Ilsa Fogg), her no-nonsense eco-campaign mother (Radha Michele) and her encounters with a blue grouper along with the dangers of the ocean from development and the climate crisis. Despite raising issues, it is a film of optimism as well as joy on the beauty of nature.
Saturday, 7.50am, 6pm, Sky Cinema Premiere
Pirates! In an adventure with scientists!
Pirates! In an adventure with scientists! Photograph: Aardman Animations / Allstar
Ahead of the Chicken Run sequel arriving this autumn, here’s one Aardman made first. It’s a thrilling, very British adventure about a pirate captain (Hugh Grant) and his quest to amass enough booty to win Pirate of the Year. A meeting with Charles Darwin (David Tennant) – who discovers that the ship’s parrot Polly is the last surviving dodo – offers the Buccaneer the promise of vast riches. Throw in Queen Victoria, a Gromit-like chimpanzee and fabulous incidental details, and you have another animated hit.
Saturday, 5.05pm, ITV2
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Brian Keith and Ginger Rogers in a tight spot. Photograph: Alamy
Musical star Ginger Rogers doesn’t sing, and there’s only a little dancing, in this 1955 crime drama. She plays Sherry, a criminal who is moved from prison to a downtown hotel in the hopes that she will testify against a mob boss she knows. Edward G. Robinson is solid as the American attorney patiently trying to talk him down, while Brian Keith’s police bodyguard seems more ambivalent about him. But they are only supporting acts for Rogers—a flirty, wise-cracking, and quick-witted presence.
Sunday, 7PM, Talking Pictures TV
Vlad Ivanov in The Whistler. Photograph: Vlad Cioplia / Cannes Film Festival
In Corneliu Porumboiu’s Romanian thriller, sullen, corrupt Bucharest cop Christi (Vlad Ivanov) finds himself in an unusual, and increasingly dangerous, situation. He is taken by gangsters to a cannery to learn a secret vernacular based on bird-like whistles, but struggles to balance his legitimate and illegal sides. It’s a delightfully offbeat setup in an otherwise bland story, as shifting loyalties around him — and an attraction to his criminal paymaster’s girlfriend Gilda (Catrinel Marlon in femme fatale mode) — make his existence precarious.
Monday, 1.15 PM, Movie 4
Magdalena Kolesnik in sweats. Photograph: RFS/Capital Pictures
A closeup Polish drama that picks up on the uneasy interdependence between social media celebrities and their followers. Aerobics influencer Sylvia (a badly injured Magdalena Kolesnik) finds loneliness, parenting issues and the fragility of her high-vis persona exposed by a stalker. Constantly posting her personal thoughts online, Sylvia is waiting for a breakdown, her self-esteem tied up in factors beyond her control. The camera in your hand functions as a selfie, exposing the pressure cooker of its existence.
Thursday, 1.50pm, Channel 4
