Mufasa: The Lion King to O'Dessa – the seven best films to watch on TV this week
The idea of photorealistic lions speaking English is a bit weird, but Disney's remake juggernaut rolls on with a prequel to the reboot of the animated musical. Lin-Manuel Miranda takes over from Elton John in the song department, while Barry Jenkins, creator of Oscar-winning arthouse gem Moonlight, is an intriguing choice to direct this child-friendly origin story for Simba's dad and evil uncle Scar – AKA Taka (Kelvin J Harrison). Young orphan Mufasa (voiced by Aaron Pierre) is adopted by Taka's pride but when a gang of white lions attack, the brothers flee. They encounter a lioness Sarabi (Tiffany Boone) and her possibly familiar mandrill and hornbill pals, with danger and betrayal on the cards. Simon Wardell
Wednesday 26 March, Disney+
In between his first two Batmans, Christopher Nolan conjured up this tantalising Victorian-era mystery, adapted from Christopher Priest's novel. It tracks the rivalry between two magicians in London – the great showman Angier (Hugh Jackman) and the more talented but less crowd-pleasing Borden (Christian Bale). There are secrets aplenty to be uncovered as Angier tries to figure out how Borden's astounding trick the Transported Man is done (including a visit to inventor Nikola Tesla – a nice cameo from David Bowie) in a wonderfully twisty tale.
Sunday 23 March, 10.30pm, BBC One
Geremy Jasper's new sci-fi film has similarities to the We Will Rock You musical in its simple morality and dressing-up-box punk aesthetic. In this dystopian world, there is a prophecy of 'one who could stir souls … armed with a guitar'. That would be folksy farm girl O'Dessa (Stranger Things's Sadie Sink), who follows her late father's stolen guitar to Satylite City, a neon-lit tip whose inhabitants are in thrall to quasi-religious TV entertainer/dictator Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). Kelvin J Harrison is a standout as O'Dessa's gender-fluid rock star love interest.
Out now, Disney+
Producer Roger Corman gave a leg up to many future stars of the movie business, including Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron. In 1972, he funded Martin Scorsese's atypical second feature, a caper set in the deep south during the Great Depression about the adventures of crop-dusting pilot's daughter Bertha (Barbara Hershey). While riding the trains, she joins up with a union man (David Carradine), her dad's mechanic (Bernie Casey) and Barry Primus's Yankee card sharp on a spree of bank robberies. A freewheeling yarn – violent, scrappy and sexy. Sunday 23 March, 11.05pm, Sky Arts
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Richard Ayoade's directorial debut is as quirky and unexpectedly touching as you'd expect from the comic actor. It's a coming-of-age story with twin angles – 15-year-old, duffel-coated dreamer Oliver (Craig Roberts) experiences first love with the unforgiving Jordana (Yasmin Paige), while coming to understand the very middle-class relationship of his parents Lloyd and Jill (Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins). Paddy Considine pops up with a terrific cameo as a stage psychic old flame of Jill. SW
Monday 24 March, 1.50am, Film4
Mimi Cave's comic mystery is set not in the Netherlands but Holland, Michigan, though it does boast tulips and a windmill. Nicole Kidman's 'life management' schoolteacher Nancy Vandergroot lives a chintzy, slightly suffocating life as a dutiful wife and mother. But her husband, optician and model railway enthusiast Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), is away at conferences a lot and Nancy suspects he is having an affair. She and her colleague Dave (Gael García Bernal) try their hand at amateur sleuthing in a story of humorous, if mild, peril – until an almighty twist throws everything out of whack.
Thursday 27 March, Prime Video
Arguably the Hong Kong star's greatest action film starts with the near total destruction of a shanty town then a man v double decker bus chase. It barely lets up from there, as our cop hero pursues a drug lord while trying to protect Brigitte Lin's witness. There is some slapstick content (cakes do feature), but this is a more serious affair than Chan's subsequent screen persona would suggest. The climactic fight sequence in a shopping centre is a riot of smashed glass and battered bodies, with one stunt so impressive we see it three times.
Friday 28 March, 6.25am, 2.05am, Sky Cinema Greats
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