If it had not been chosen recently, the only film that could have beaten today’s top pick for the BEST FILM OF THE DAY would surely have been chosen, though in the second spot (**Arrival, 9pm HBOP).

Today’s Number One Film:

Locke 10.35am Cinemax BEST FILM OF THE DAY. Watch this if you liked Unfriended, Snowpiercer or the original Michael Caine/Laurence Olivier Sleuth. The best film comparison to represent Steven “Eastern Promises” Knight’s wonderful, and wonderfully tense, film is probably 12 Angry Men, the classic film of conflict set in a murder trial jury room. Locke is even more claustrophobic: apart from a very few establishing shots, the entire film takes place in the front seat of a BMW driving from Birmingham to London. The full cast numbers 12 – like the Angry Men – but you see only Tom Hardy as the titular Locke at the wheel of the Bima; all the others are just voices coming in on the car’s mobile phone. Out of that ultraminimalist setup, Steven Knight – and Tom Hardy and the 11 voice co-stars – craft a superbly watchable film that will have you on edge for almost all its runtime; and nothing really happens. Simply wonderful. One of the best films ever shot, but clearly not for the Fast & Furious crowd, who would just consider it a waste of a firetrucking BMW…Directed by Steven Knight/ 2013/ Drama-Thriller/ UK-USA/ 85 mins/ R for language throughout.

Also watch:

Shutter Island, 1.45pm Fox Movies. Watch this if you liked Inception, Memento or The Matrix. A contender for Best American Film of 2010, and almost certainly the Most Imaginative, this is the film Martin Scorsese should have got the Oscar for, not The Departed; you spend the first four reels thinking, “WTF?” and the last reel going, “Wow!” Almost unbelievably, in the 300-plus weeks this incarnation of BC on TV has been running, this film has been chosen only twice before, a reflection, not of its quality, but of how relatively rarely it screens on cable and DirecTV. Directed by Martin Scorsese/ 2010/ USA/ Thriller-Mystery-Fantasy/ 138 mins/ R for disturbing violent content, language and some nudity.

Colossal, 7.10pm Fox Movies. Watch this if you liked Shutter Island, Ginger Snaps or The Illusionist. One of the best surprises of 2016, Spanish writer-director Nacho Vigalondo makes a seamless blend of relationship drama and creature horror as easily as the story itself straddles two continents, America and Asia.Using Japanese creature horror as its literal jumping off point – the first scene could have come from Godzilla – this very clever, immaculately directed film stretches its possibilities so easily, it looks more like it’s just flexing its muscles. The less said about the plot, the greater the viewer enjoyment, though it is definitely not a film for those that like their stories to be linear. Directed by Nacho Vigalondo/ 2016/ USA-Korea-Spain / Comedy-Creature Horror-Fantasy-Sci-fi / 109 mins/ Rated R for language.

Just Nosed Out:

**Arrival (sci-fi), 9pm HBOP; Training Day (action-crime), 10am HBO; Coraline (animated-family), 10.40am CnCl; **Paddington (animated-adventure-family), 10am & 10pm HBOF; Shall We Dance? 1.50pm FoxCom;;

Also Ran:

Action/Adventure: Doctor Strange (superhero), 11.45am MaxP & 9pm Max.

Animated/Family: *The Karate Kid (Ralph Macchio), 1.25pm Edge.

Arthouse/Independent/Cult: Jayne Mansfield’s Car (Robert Duvall), 6.45pm Sund.

Biography/Documentary: The Beatles: Eight Days a Week (music), 8.50am FoxMov; Fair Game (docudrama-thriller), 10am Prmt.

Classic: The Mosquito Coast (adventure-drama), 12.55 midday, Sund.

Comedy: Clear History, 9.45am HBOP.

Drama: Macbeth (Michael Fassbender), 12.05 midday Max.

Horror: Interview with the Vampire, 10pm TCM.

Sci-fi/Fantasy: *Mad Max: Fury Road, 11.40am HBOP.

Thriller: Girl on the Train, 9.30pm Max.

Western: The Ox-Bow Incident, 8.30am FoxClas.

*Starred films have been picked in the last year.**Double-starred films have been picked in the last two months.***Triple-starred films were picked last week.

Particularly strong Also Ran films are bolded.

Please verify times.Advance Internet scheduled times can be wrong, especially at month-end.