| 121 |
Adam Curtis: Bitter Lake (2015) #942
DOCUMENTARY
Main
137 mins. BBC. Politicians used to have the confidence to tell us stories that made sense of the chaos of world events. But now there are no big stories and politicians react randomly to every new crisis - leaving us bewildered and disorientated. Bitter Lake is an adventurous and epic film by Adam Curtis that explains why the big stories that politicians tell us have become so simplified that we can’t really see the world any longer. The narrative goes all over the world, America, Britain, Russia and Saudi Arabia - but the country at the heart of it is Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan is the place that has confronted our politicians with the terrible truth - that they cannot understand what is going on any longer. The film reveals the forces that over the past thirty years rose up and undermined the confidence of politics to understand the world. And it shows the strange, dark role that Saudi Arabia has played in this. But Bitter Lake is also experimental. Curtis has taken the unedited rushes of everything that the BBC has ever shot in Afghanistan - and used them in new and radical ways. He has tried to build a different and more emotional way of depicting what really happened in Afghanistan. A counterpoint to the thin, narrow and increasingly destructive stories told by those in power today. |
| 122 |
The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale (2015) #1060
FILM
Main
Directed by Hoon-jung Park. With Min-sik Choi, Man-sik Jeong, Seok-won Jeong, Hong-pa Kim. While the Kingdom of Korea is under occupation by the Japanese, an old and experienced hunter is challenged by the hunt of the last tiger. aka Daeho |
| 123 |
Elser (2015) #1082
FILM
Main
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. With Christian Friedel, Katharina Schüttler, Burghart Klaußner, Johann von Bülow. In November 1939, Georg Elser's attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler fails, and he is arrested. During his confinement, he recalls the events leading up to his plot and his reasons for deciding to take such drastic action. aka 13 minutes |
| 124 |
Spotlight (2015) #1133
FILM
Main
Directed by Tom McCarthy. With Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber. The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core. |
| 125 |
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) #1249
FILM
Main
Directed by Jeffrey Abrams. With Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson. Three decades after the Empire's defeat, a new threat arises in the militant First Order. Defected stormtrooper Finn and the scavenger Rey are caught up in the Resistance's search for the missing Luke Skywalker. |
| 126 |
Brooklyn (2015) #1339
FILM
Main
Directed by John Crowley. With Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Jim Broadbent. An Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn, where she quickly falls into a romance with a local. When her past catches up with her, however, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within. |
| 127 |
Land of Mine (2015) #1355
FILM
Main
Directed by Martin Zandvliet. With Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann, Joel Basman, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard. In post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight. |
| 128 |
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) #233
FILM
Main
Directed by Marc Webb. With Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti. When New York is put under siege by Oscorp, it is up to Spider-Man to save the city he swore to protect as well as his loved ones. |
| 129 |
That Day We Sang (2014) #235
FILM
Main
Directed by Victoria Wood. With Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton, Christopher Jordan, Conleth Hill. Musical set in 1969, with flashbacks to 1929. A middle-aged couple find love after meeting on a TV programme about a choir they both sang in as children. |
| 130 |
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) #237
FILM
Main
Directed by Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. With Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Redford. As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world, he teams up with a fellow Avenger and S.H.I.E.L.D agent, Black Widow, to battle a new threat from history: an assassin known as the Winter Soldier. |
| 131 |
Big Hero 6 (2014) #434
FILM
Main
Directed by Don Hall, Chris Williams. With Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung, T.J. Miller. The special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. Disney |
| 132 |
Jersey Boys (2014) #495
FILM
Main
Directed by Clint Eastwood. With John Lloyd Young, Erich Bergen, Michael Lomenda, Vincent Piazza. The story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. |
| 133 |
How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) #497
FILM-ANIMATION
Main
Directed by Dean DeBlois. With Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson. When Hiccup and Toothless discover an ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. |
| 134 |
W1A (2014) #559
COMEDY
Main
With Hugh Bonneville, Monica Dolan, Jessica Hynes, Sarah Parish. Ian Fletcher, formerly the Head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission, has taken up the position of Head of Values at the BBC. 4x30min |
| 135 |
Mozart: Don Giovanni (2014) #647
MUSIC
Main
The Royal Opera. Mozart’s sublime tragic comedy offers boundless scope for directors, and Kasper Holten has chosen it to follow his directorial debut of Eugene Onegin. He wanted to shift the emphasis from Don Giovanni’s sex life into a darker place, showing Giovanni’s womanizing as an attempt to stave off his own mortality. Each woman he seduces represents a life he could have had. Though it is a dark piece, Holten handles it with a light touch and works with a superb cast – Mariusz Kwiecień, one of the world’s leading Don Giovannis, Alex Esposito, a fresh, vigorous Leporello, and acclaimed French soprano Véronique Gens. Spectacular designs by Es Devlin (Les Troyens) make innovative use of projections by acclaimed video designer Luke Halls. Nicola Luisotti conducts. |
| 136 |
Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain: Britannia at Bay (2014) #673
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. The final film in Andrew Marr's epic six-part series is a vivid account of Britain in the Second World War. Marr's story of 'the people's war' begins with the defeat that came to define modern Britain's national spirit: Dunkirk. In 1940, Britain stood alone against the might of the German war machine. Churchill produced the words that stirred the Blitz spirit, but a Nazi invasion seemed inevitable. How could Britain fight on? The 'Dad's Army' of the Home Guard was hastily assembled and Britain was forced to pull together in ways it never had before. Andrew Marr finds some surprising twists to legendary stories; the Battle of Britain was not simply a story of reckless bravery, but also a one of lethally efficient command and control. The Blitz was a devastating attack from the air that everyone had dreaded, yet it didn't break the spirit of the people or dim their humour. This was also the boffins' war, and Churchill understood the importance of science. He was prepared to give away Britain's most highly classified scientific and military secrets to help bring the Americans into the conflict. This wooing would help bring victory. But it came at a price: a bankrupt nation, a crumbling empire and a US cultural invasion that defines modern Britain to this day. |
| 137 |
Closer to the Moon (2014) #812
FILM
Main
Directed by Nae Caranfil. With Vera Farmiga, Mark Strong, Harry Lloyd, Anton Lesser. A Romanian police officer teams up with a small crew of old friends from the World War II Jewish Resistance to pull off a heist by convincing everyone at the scene of the crime that they are only filming a movie. |
| 138 |
Congo Calling: An African Orchestra in Britain (2014) #842
DOCUMENTARY
Main
1 hour. BBC. Documentary following the inspirational Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste and choir as they make their debut visit to the UK. It captures the latest step in an extraordinary odyssey for the world's first all-black orchestra, formed 20 years ago from a group of self-taught church musicians in Kinshasa, the capital city of the turbulent DRC. From the moment the 100-strong party led by conductor Armand Diangienda touches down at Manchester Airport, we follow them night and day as they work side by side with the Halle orchestra and choir and later at the Southbank in London with members of the National Youth Orchestra, BBC orchestras, Southbank Sinfonia and more. Amongst the hectic schedule of instrument repairs, seminars, rehearsals and performances, they still find time for a visit to Manchester United's Old Trafford ground, and down south take a trip to the Proms and a flight on the London Eye that turns into a joyous spontaneous singalong. The climax is a concert at London's Royal Festival Hall, with a programme embracing the rousing ode to brotherhood of Beethoven's 9th, along with a symphony written by members of the orchestra. From the inside out, Congo Calling charts the pride and the passion - and the joie de vivre - of an orchestral community abroad. It is an eye-opening exchange of experience and ideas between European and African musicians, between seasoned professionals and ever-passionate amateurs. |
| 139 |
The Art of Gothic: Britain's Midnight Hour (2014) #845
DOCUMENTARY
Main
3x1hour episodes. BBC. Andrew Graham-Dixon explores how a group of 19th-century architects and artists spurned the modern age and turned to Britain's medieval past to create iconic works and buildings. 1/3 Liberty Diversity Depravity. How the Gothic revival came to influence popular art, architecture and literature. 2/3 The City and the Soul. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley warned of the dangers of science getting out of control. 3/3 Blood for Sale: Gothic Goes Global. How the language of Gothic increasingly came to encapsulate the 20th century's horrors. |
| 140 |
Castles in the Sky (2014) #846
TV DRAMA
Main
Directed by Gillies MacKinnon. With Eddie Izzard, Laura Fraser, Arran Tulloch, Lesley Harcourt. It is the mid-1930s and the storm clouds of WWII are forming in Germany. This film charts the work of Robert Watson Watt, the pioneer of Radar, and his hand-picked team of eccentric yet brilliant meteorologists as they struggle to turn the concept of Radar into a workable reality. Hamstrung by a tiny budget, seemingly insurmountable technical problems and even a spy in the camp. 90 mins. BBC. This is the remarkable human drama behind the invention that was to prove pivotal in the Battle of Britain. It is also the thrilling story of the tenacity and courage of a most unlikely group of British heroes. |
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