This week sees literary adaptations for both the whole family and for adults only (!), as well as two very different versions of Gotham City’s iconic Caped Crusader. Happy viewing.
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Lady Chatterley’s Lover (Netflix)
Category: Drama
The classic DH Lawrence novel - once banned for being too steamy - gets yet another adaptation, this time with The Crown’s Emma Corrin as the noble and frustrated Constance Reid, aka Lady Chatterley. Trapped in a cold marriage, Constance looks to her gamekeeper Mellors (Jack O’Connell) to satisfy her more physical needs, leading to many illicit meetings in the woods. It’s packed with passion, as you’d expect, and there’s a refreshing lack of cosy nostalgia that you don’t often find with costume dramas. Even after all these years (the novel was written in the late 1920s) this is still bold stuff.
WATCH: Lady Chatterley's Lover trailer
The Batman (Sky Cinema)
Category: Action
R Pattz becomes R Battz in this latest incarnation of the Caped Crusader legend. The story sees Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) two years into his secret life as the saviour of Gotham City - a time when the streets are overrun with criminals, most notably a masked murderer known as The Riddler (Paul Dano).
There’s also Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Colin Farrell unrecognisable as a portly Penguin and the great Jeffrey Wright as Gotham’s Lieutenant Gordon. But is it any good? Well, if you’re after something brilliantly bleak then this is right up your (dark and spooky) alley. It’s three hours of intensity and misery, not a million miles away from the grungey nineties thriller Se7en in its mood. If, on the other hand, you’re looking for sweetness and light, stay well away.
DC League of Super-Pets (buy/rent on all major platforms)
Category: Family
Dwayne Johnson is Krypto the Super-Dog - Superman’s inseparable canine companion - in this fun animated comic book movie that sees a scruffy bunch of animals tasked with saving the legendary Justice League. It’s a remarkable voice cast too. Kevin Hart is boxer dog Ace, Olivia Wilde plays Lois Lane, Jameela Jamil is Wonder Woman whilst actual Keanu Reeves lends his vocals to Bruce Wayne aka Batman - and he’s certainly not as moody as Robert Pattinson! Perfect Christmas holiday entertainment for the whole family.
White Noise (cinemas)
Category: Drama
Based on the bestselling book, White Noise shows a modern American family's attempts to deal with both their personal issues and an extraordinary local disaster, grappling with all the usual big questions along the way: love, death and the possibility of happiness in an uncertain world. Intrigued? You should be. White Noise won’t give you easy answers but with Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig and Don Cheadle in lead roles, head-scratching is rarely this entertaining.
The Outfit (Sky Cinema)
Category: Thriller
Elegantly made drama starring the great Mark Rylance as Leonard Burling, a tailor in 1950s Chicago whose main customers are Irish Gangsters. Whilst that situation is hardly ideal, Leonard keeps himself to himself - until one night when he finds himself unwillingly drawn into the city’s underworld feuds.
Rylance has already been superb in two films this year: The Phantom of the Open (also on Sky Cinema) and Bones and All (at cinemas now). With The Outfit he makes it a hat-trick. This is one smart, stylish and classy thriller. Co-starring Johnny Flynn and Zoey Deutch.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Disney+)
Category: Family
Do you remember the version of this story from 2011? Well, ten years is a long time in Hollywood so Jeff Kinney’s mega-selling Wimpy Kid series has now been given a major reboot courtesy of Disney+, turning the hilarious coming-of-age tales of unlucky Greg Heffley into an animation. The result - written by Kinney himself - retains all the charm of the original movies, with Greg’s life once more at the mercy of his brash big brother Rodrick. And there’s more good news for Wimpy Kid fans: Kinney has announced that Disney plans to adapt plenty more of his books too.
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The Muppet Christmas Carol (cinemas and Disney+)
Category: Family
To celebrate its 30th birthday, one of the best-loved Christmas films of all time gets a well-deserved big screen re-release as well as also being available to watch at home courtesy of Disney+. Why has it lasted so well? It’s simple: The Muppet Christmas Carol is a joy from start to finish, from the gags (“light the lamp, not the rat!) to the sets to the songs by the legendary Paul Williams. And then there’s Michael Caine as Scrooge - a pitch perfect performance that’s played wonderfully straight, never with a knowing wink. It’s certainly the best Muppet film, maybe even the best movie version of the Dickens’ classic story full stop.
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