If BC on TV could be sure of English subtitles, two French films would have taken the top spots, a powerful, touching drama that only incidentally features explicit sex (Blue is the Warmest Colour BEST FILM OF THE DAY, 4.55pm Max) and a wonderful film about inclusion and separation within families (La Famille Belier, 12.50 midday CnCl). All the sequels to the original William Shatner Star Trek movies but, weirdly, not the first one, can be seen on Paramount from12.40 midday.

Today’s number one film:

And Justice for All (Norman Jewison/ 1979/ USA/ Drama-Crime-Thriller/ 119 mins/R) 12.10 midday Max Prime. Watch this if you liked Michael Clayton, The Verdict or Gone Baby Gone. The versatile director of Moonstruck, Rollerball and Jesus Christ Superstar put a hand towards the courtroom drama in 1979 but had the sense to add a good bit of comedy and to cast Al Pacino, who was somehow denied the Oscar in favour of Dustin Hoffman in, ironically, Kramer vs Kramer, the divorce film. Many would think this – or perhaps Dog Day Afternoon – was his best role outside of the Godfather. Most lawyers will object that everything in the film couldn’t possibly have happened to any one lawyer, but few would deny it all has already happened to many different ones.

Also watch:

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie/ 1999/ Black Comedy-Crime-Thriller-Caper/ 107 mins/ R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexuality and drug content) 10pm Turner Classic Movies. Watch this if you liked Snatch, Layercake or RocknRolla. Even if you don’t stay up for the whole thing – and you will – you don’t want to miss the opening sequences of Guy “Mr Maddona” Ritchie’s lavish, stylish, hilarious, thrilling and thoroughly satisfying London gangster flick, Yes, criticisms abound: there is no exploration of the underlying social causes of East End violence, which is treated as pure entertainment, and there’s precious little attempt to explain the psychoses of lynchpin characters. So what? With camerawork as exciting as the script is tight, there are few stronger debuts; it’s almost Pulp Fiction in London; and serves up more double crosses than a Catholic bakery on Easter weekend.

Snatch (Guy Ritchie/ UK-USA/Thriller-Crime-Drama/103 mins/ Rated R for strong language, violence and some nudity), 11.20am Fox Action. Watch this if you liked Lucky Number Slevin, Reservoir Dogs or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The second blast from Guy “Mr Madonna” Ritchie’s action-loaded shotgun, Snatch was for many an improvement on Lock, Stock, making allowances for marginally less originality in concept; certainly it reveals he had more flair for the London mob heist flick than making the Missus look sexy in a classic film remake (his Swept Away should have been tossed away). Exhilarating from start to end and with fine performances from all, particularly Benicio Del Torro and Brad Pitt, this might be the most fun you could ever have with murder and armed robbery.

JUST NOSED OUT:

*Quiz Show (Fact-based Drama-Thriller), 8.40am Max;**Quick Change (Dark Comedy), 8.15am MaxP; **Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Horror-Musical), 10.10am MaxP; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Animated-Family), 2.50pm CnCl; *The Hangover (Stoner Comedy-Thriller), 5.25pm MaxP; The Dark Knight Returns Part II (Animated-Action), 10.39am Max; *Ant-Man (Superhero), 11.45am & 10pm HBOP; *Everest (Adventure-Thriller), 3.22pm HBO; District 9 (Sci-fi-Thriller), 2.54pm Edge.

ALSO RAN:

Action/Adventure: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, 3.20pm MaxU; Batman Returns, 8am MaxP

Art House/Independent: Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, 10.50am ISat

Biography: American Sniper, 12 midday HBOC; Invictus (Sports), 6.12pm Max

Children/Family: Cinderella (Cate Blanchett, Lily James) (Faimily-Fantasy), 5.25pm MaxU;

Classic: Mississippi Burning (Fact-based Drama-Thriller), 6.50pm FoxClas;

Comedy: Shallow Hal, 9pm FoxFam

Drama: 5 Flights Up, 9.30am F+1; Hemingway & Gellhorn, 12.17 midday HBOS

Horror: Bram Stoker’s Dracula, 9pm FoxClas

Sci-fi-Fantasy: Chappie, 5.45pm MaxP; Edward Scissorshands, 10.40am FoxClas; Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 10.05am Prmt

Thriller: Michael Clayton (Drama-Thriller), 9.20am FoxAct;

War: Fury, 9.50am MaxP

Western: Mackenna’s Gold, 4.35pm FoxClas

*Starred films have been chosen in the last two years. ** Double-starred films have been chosen in the last two months. Particularly strong Also Ran choices are bolded.

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