In the first week of Lent, it's obvious cable and DirecTV are not Catholic: they have not given up good programming. Today's also-rans include an excellent documentary about the most important black American artist since Jimi Hendrix (Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, 10.50 am Max) and Quentin Tarantino's homage to the Chinese kickup (Kill Bill Vol I, 3.40 pm MCP).
The work week also offers several films that could easily have been named the week's best, including the definitive war film between All Quiet on the Western Front and Apocalypse Now (The Big Red One, 5.55 pm Mon TCM), a top-notch Paul Newman anti-Western (Hombre, 4 pm Wed TCM), a great sci-fi allegory against prejudice (District 9, 9 pm Fri HBOC) and another against child abuse (Hard Candy, 7.15 pm Fri MaxW) and, for the second week running, the number six film in BC on TV's own Ten Best DVDs of 2012 (Anonymous, 6.45 pm Thurs HBO).
Today's best film:Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols/2011/ USA/Drama-Thriller/128 mins/R), 2.50 pm today and again 5.50 pm Wednesday Max. Watch this if you liked Melancholia, My Zinc Bed or Silver Linings Playbook. A serious film taking mental illness as its starting point, it includes magnificent performances from Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) and last week's Bafta-winning Jessica Chastain as well as a genuine thriller element in the slow, relentless build-up of tension as the leading man prepares for an impending epic storm that may or may not be completely in his mind.
Not for the Vin Diesel crowd at all but, for people with an O-level or two, this is a riveting portrayal of the cost paid by other family members of mental instability in a parent, child or sibling. One of those films that can cheer up people wrestling with what they come to realise is relatively minor depression.
Rest of the week:The Descendants (Alexander Payne/2011/ USA/Drama/115 mins/R for language including some sexual references), 9.55 pm Wednesday and again 7 and 10 pm Friday Movie City Premieres BEST FILM OF THE WEEK. Watch this if you liked Another Year, The Kids Are All Right or Please Give. The Sideways director delivers a powerful, touching drama, giving George Clooney his best role since O Brother Where Art Thou?
Apart from the possibly intermittently intrusive score, this is a nearly perfectly made film about loss, forgiveness and redemption. The last frame, in which the cast watch the audience, recalls The 400 Blows and approaches genius. Named by BC on TV as the third-best DVD release of 2013, it is an unmitigated delight for all but the moronic. After Hours (Martin Scorsese/1985/ USA/Black Comedy-Drama-Thriller /97 mins/R for a scene of sexuality), 10 pm Friday Turner Classic Movies. Watch this if you liked The Big Lebowski, The Square or Cool Hand Luke. Martin Scorsese's often overlooked, rarely screened gem features Griffin Dunne's best role, as the harried bachelor lost in New York City's "after hours" world doing his best to just get back home in one piece–and being frustrated at almost every turn; if Kafka had made The Warriors, it would have looked like this.
One of the great New York movies and a real treat for anyone who has acted on impulse and regretted it, which is to say, the whole world.Best of the rest: Mon: Kramer v Kramer 10 pm TCM; Tues: *Drive 10.55 pm MCP: Wed: Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid 10 pm TCM; Thurs: The Dirty Dozen 4 pm TCM; Fri: Invictus 10 pm MCP; Sat: *Manhattan 5.15 pm MCC. *Starred films have been chosen before. Scheduled Internet times often vary on the day.