It's a Wonderful Life (U) Thursday December 15 7.30pm £4
Now perhaps the most beloved American film, It's a Wonderful Life was largely forgotten for years, due to a copyright quirk. Only in the late 1970s did it find its audience through repeated TV showings.
Frank Capra's masterwork deserves its status as a feel-good communal event, but it is also one of the most fascinating films in the American cinema, a multilayered work of Dickensian density. George Bailey (played superbly by James Stewart) grows up in the small town of Bedford Falls, dreaming dreams of adventure and travel, but circumstances conspire to keep him enslaved to his home turf. Frustrated by his life, and haunted by an impending scandal, George prepares to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. A heavenly messenger (Henry Travers) arrives to show him a vision: what the world would have been like if George had never been born.
The sequence is a vivid depiction of the American Dream gone bad, and probably the wildest thing Capra ever shot (the director's optimistic vision may have darkened during his experiences making military films in World War II). Capra's triumph is to acknowledge the difficulties and disappointments of life, while affirming--in the teary-eyed final reel--his cherished values of friendship and individual achievement. It's a Wonderful Life was not a big hit on its initial release, and it won no Oscars (Capra and Stewart were nominated); but it continues to weave a special magic, but all life
Stars James Stewart, Charles Lane, Charles Williams, Bob Scott, H.B. Warner
Director Frank Capra
Running time 130 mins
Country of Origin US
Genre Drama Family Fantasy
Original language English
Screenplay Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett and Frank Capra
BBC Earth Films bring the most astounding stories from the natural world to the big screen. Audiences are invited to join us on a journey of new discovery, meeting extraordinary characters and following their incredible adventures. The film combines great storytelling with awe-inspiring HD film footage and moving scores from the world's greatest composers to connect audiences with their planet.
Daniel Craig narrates this feature length documentary about survival in the natural world.
Raised by her aunt after her parents die of typhus, young Jane Eyre is shipped off to a stark boarding school as the result of her perceived insolence, and suffers greatly at the hands of the cold, unusually strict administration. Upon turning 18 and completing her education, Jane finds work as a governess for Adle Varens, the ward of Edward Fairfax Rochester), master of Thornfield Hall. It doesn't take long for the young Adle to warm to Jane, and upon returning home the charming Rochester, too, falls under the spell of his modest yet captivating governess. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of Jane's life, however, a scandalous secret is revealed, and the emotionally shattered governess takes flight.
Stars Michael Fassbender, Mia Wasikowska, Jamie Bell
A documentary about the life and career of the late Brazilian Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna who won the F1 world championship three times before his death at age 34. Spanning his years as a Formula One racing driver from 1984 to his untimely death a decade later, Senna explores the life and work of the triple world champion, his physical and spiritual achievements on the track, his quest for perfection and the mythical status he has since attained.
Stars Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Frank Williams
The Maltese Falcon (PG)
Thursday February 16 7.30pm £4
After two previous film versions of Dashiell Hammett's detective classic The Maltese Falcon, Warner Bros. finally got it right in 1941--or, rather, John Huston, a long-established screenwriter making his directorial debut, got it right, simply by adhering as closely as possible to the original. Humphrey Bogart achieved true stardom as Sam Spade, a hard-boiled San Francisco private eye who can be as unscrupulous as the next guy but also adheres to his own personal code of honour.
After one day together - July 15th, 1988, their college graduation - Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew begin a friendship that will last a lifetime. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, key moments of their relationship are experienced over several July 15ths in their lives. Together and apart, we see Dex and Em through their friendship and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. Somewhere along their journey, these two people realize that what they are searching and hoping for has been there for them all along. As the true meaning of that one day back in 1988 is revealed, they come to terms with the nature of love and life itself.
Stars Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess and Patricia Clarkson
It's 2003. Thirty-eight year old graphic artist Oliver Fields has just lost his father Hal Fields to cancer, after Oliver's mother Georgia Fields passed away five years earlier. Oliver is naturally a sullen man due to his growing up relationship with his parents (his mother who had a unique view on life) and watching his parents' cordial but somewhat distant relationship with each other, but is more so now because of his personal family loss. Oliver embarks on a relationship with Anna, a French actress. Oliver is hoping that his re-energized relationship with Hal following Georgia's death and Hal's new outlook on life during that time will show Oliver how to act in a loving relationship. After Georgia's death, Hal came out of the closet and began to live with a joie de vivre that did not exist before, which included an open relationship with a much younger man named Andy.
Stars Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Mélanie Laurent
We Need To Talk About Kevin (15)
Thursday March 8 7.30pm £4
A suspenseful and gripping psychological thriller, We Need to Talk About Kevin explores the factious relationship between a mother and her son. Tilda Swinton, in a bracing, tour-de-force performance, plays the mother, Eva, as she contends for 15 years with the increasing malevolence of her first-born child, Kevin. Based on the best-selling novel by Lionel Shriver of the same name, We Need to Talk About Kevin explores nature vs. nurture on a whole new level as Eva's own culpability is measured against Kevin's innate evilness. Ramsay's masterful storytelling simultaneously combines a provocative moral ambiguity with a satisfying and compelling narrative, which builds to a chilling, unforgettable climax.
Stars Tilda Swinton, John C. Reilly and Ezra Miller
Joseph is an unemployed widower with a drinking problem, a man crippled by his own volatile temperament and furious anger. Hannah is a Christian worker at a charity shop, a respectable woman who seems wholesome and happy. When circumstance brings the pair together, Hannah appears as Joseph's guardian angel, tempering his fury and offering him warmth, kindness and acceptance. As their relationship develops, Hannah's own secrets are revealed - her husband is violent and abusive - and Joseph emerges as her unlikely saviour. With striking performances and a deeply felt story, actor-turned-writer/director Paddy Considine's film is a stunning debut about the emergence of grace and redemption from the least likely of places
Stars Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan
The Guard is a comedic fish-out-of-water tale of murder, blackmail, drug trafficking and rural police corruption. Two policemen must join forces to take on an international drug- smuggling gang - one, an unorthodox Irish policeman and the other, a straitlaced FBI agent. Sergeant Gerry Boyle is an eccentric small-town cop with a confrontational and crass personality and a subversive sense of humour. A longtime policeman in County Galway, Boyle is a maverick with his own moral code. He has seen enough of the world to know there isn't much to it and has had plenty of time to think about it. When a fellow police officer disappears and Boyle's small town becomes key to a large drug trafficking investigation, he is forced to at least feign interest when dealing with the humorless FBI agent Wendell Everett assigned to the case
Stars Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle and Mark Strong
Midnight in Paris (12A)
Thursday March 29 7.30pm £4
Gil and Inez travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.
Stars Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Kathy Bates
