Pick of the week

Is This Thing On?

Inspired by the true story of how John Bishop came to be a comedian, Bradley Cooper’s new film is a biting, witty drama of marriage and midlife crisis. Will Arnett plays New York financier Alex, separated from wife Tess (Laura Dern) and feeling lost and lonely. One evening, he signs up for a bar’s open-mic night to avoid the entrance fee – and is unexpectedly energised after going on stage to vent about his life. His joie de vivre as he pursues standup-as-therapy rubs off on ex-volleyball star Tess, who has lost her own drive after becoming a mother. As a dissection of a relationship, it’s satisfyingly messy and nuanced, while a host of real-life acts make the comedy club scenes zing.
Out now, Disney+

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War

The John Krasinski-led espionage thriller will always be stuck in the shadow of Mission: Impossible, but there is an endless appetite for tales of spycraft that this fun feature-length outing caters for pretty well. Krasinski’s CIA analyst Jack Ryan offers an interesting contrast to the haunted Cruise: a more relaxed spook, he has a sturdy moral compass and a nice line in rather British understatement. Here, Ryan teams up with Sienna Miller’s MI6 agent to pursue Max Beesley’s rogue black ops operative – Ethan Hunt if he’d gone to the dark side – from London to Dubai.
Out now, Prime Video

My Favourite Cake

Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, the directors of this glorious, surprising film, were given 14-month suspended sentences last year for obscene content and propaganda against the Iranian state. On the surface, the bittersweet story of a 70-year-old Tehran widow (Lili Farhadpour) and her encounter with an elderly taxi driver (Esmaeel Mehrabi) seems inoffensive. But it proved subversive in a country where women’s lives are severely circumscribed – and where the simple pleasures of a man and a woman talking, dancing and eating together become radical acts.
Saturday 23 May, 9pm, BBC Four

Sleep

In the spooky tradition of far east horror movies, but with a nod to The Exorcist, Jason Yu’s 2023 Korean film is an insomnia-inducing treat. Soo-jin (Jung Yu-mi) is expecting a baby any time now, but her actor husband, Hyun-soo (Lee Sun-kyun), has developed REM sleep behaviour disorder. This involves scratching his face, eating raw meat – and much, much worse. It’s a case of scientific rationality v supernatural faith, as Soo-jin becomes convinced he is possessed by a malevolent ghost. But are the psychological stresses of new motherhood at the root of her fears?
Saturday 23 May, 11.40pm, Film4

Robot Dreams

Earth, Wind & Fire’s September will never sound the same again after you’ve seen Pablo Berger’s poignant animation. In a 1980s New York populated solely by animals, a lonely dog buys a robot and finds the pal he needs for rollerskating in the park (to September) and trips to the seaside. But when his metal mate seizes up on the amusement park beach on the last day of the season, the canine has to abandon it. The ebbs and flows of friendship are played out in the robot’s musical fantasies as it rusts there.
Monday 25 May, 4.35pm, Film4

One to One: John & Yoko

Kevin Macdonald and Sam Rice-Edwards’s sign-of-the-times documentary covers 18 months in the lives of John Lennon and Yoko Ono after they moved to New York in 1971, and is a riveting snapshot of a febrile period in US history (Vietnam, Nixon etc). Pivoting round a benefit gig the ex-Beatle organised for institutionalised mentally ill children, it mixes home movies, contemporary TV footage and remarkable private phone calls to follow the couple as they dip their toes in political causes and fashion a new life away from Britain.
Thursday 28 May, 9pm, Sky Documentaries

Fuze

Two of the bookies’ favourites to be the next James Bond go head to head in David Mackenzie’s tense, rug-pulling thriller. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as no-nonsense army bomb disposal major Will Tranter, called to defuse a second world war bomb in central London. Meanwhile, a gang of robbers, including Theo James’s cocky South African criminal Karalis, are drilling into a bank nearby … Mackenzie is a skilled choreographer of events, so the many double-crosses and murky motivations keep the film ticking along entertainingly.
Friday 29 May, 6.15am, noon, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere