PHANTOM THREAD (Cert 15, 125 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Drama/Romance/Thriller, available from June 4 on Amazon Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from June 18 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99/4K Ultra HD Blu-ray £34.99)
REYNOLDS Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) is the creative dynamo of a luxury fashion house in 1950s London, which regularly welcomes the upper echelons of society including Countess Henrietta Harding (Gina McKee) and Belgian princess Mona Braganza (Lujza Richter).
His sister Cyril (Lesley Manville) presides over the seamstresses and also manages Reynolds's romantic vacillations, ridding the household of his bothersome companion Johanna (Camilla Rutherford).
During a seaside break between commissions, "confirmed bachelor" Reynolds embarks on a whirlwind affair with sweet-natured waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps).
"I feel as if I've been looking for you for a very long time," he coos to his new muse.
Alma's swift introduction to Reynolds's life in the capital puts her on a collision course with Cyril and her lover's impossibly demanding nature.
Phantom Thread is an artfully stitched and slow-burning study of competing obsessions. Day-Lewis delivers his final screen performance before self-imposed retirement.
It is another flawless embodiment of the emotionally crippled male psyche, deliciously complicated by ambiguous sexuality and a softly spoken fastidiousness that doesn't extend to personal relationships... except for an uncomfortably close bond to his ferocious, purse-lipped sister, played with scorching intensity by Oscar nominee Manville.
RATING: ****
FIFTY SHADES FREED (Cert 18, 101 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Thriller/Romance, available from June 4 on Amazon Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from June 18 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)
ANASTASIA Steele (Dakota Johnson) walks down the aisle to her riding crop-wielding beau - buff billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan).
The happy couple look forward to building a new life together in a luxurious home designed by flirtatious architect Gia Matteo (Arielle Kebbel) but the return of lecherous fiction editor Jack Hyde (Eric Johnson) puts both Ana and Christian in jeopardy.
They rely on bodyguards Jason Taylor (Max Martini) and Luke Sawyer (Brant Daugherty) to keep them safe but other members of the Grey clan such as Christian's sister Mia (Rita Ora), older brother Elliot (Luke Grimes) and mother Grace (Marcia Gay Harden) are easy targets for a mad man like Jack.
Meanwhile, Ana has unfinished business with Elena Lincoln (Kim Basinger), the woman who seduced Christian when he was 15 and refuses to let him go.
It's time for Mrs Steele-Grey (ho ho!) to stand by her man.
Fifty Shades Freed brings the rump and pump of EL James' literary threesome to a headboard-thumping climax under the direction of James Foley.
Adapted for the screen by Kelly Marcel and the author's husband Niall Leonard, the concluding chapter in the tawdry trilogy punctuates a flimsy and convoluted revenge thriller with the usual miasma of soft-core scenes of domination and submission that demand unabashed nudity from the leading lady but slightly less from Dornan.
A car chase sequence fails to accelerate out of first gear and some lines of dialogue provoke unintentional hilarity.
There's risible entertainment beneath the moaning and groaning but you have to delve deep to find it.
RATING: **
GET SHORTY (10 episodes, streaming from June 6 exclusively on NOW TV, Comedy/Drama/Romance)
IN 1995, Barry Sonnenfeld directed a film adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Get Shorty, starring John Travolta and Danny DeVito. More than two decades later, Chris O'Dowd and Ray Romano headline this 10-part TV series on Sky Atlantic which draws inspiration from Leonard's comical caper to explore the head-on collision of crime and celebrity in modern-day Hollywood.
Muscle man Miles Daly (O'Dowd) agrees to turn his back on the criminal underworld for the sake of his daughter Emma (Carolyn Daly).
He decides to launder money in the guise of a film producer and aligns himself with washed-up Hollywood insider Rick Moreweather (Romano), who still has a few contacts in the movie business.
Together, they attempt to take Tinseltown by storm, aided by Miles' associate Louis (Sean Bridgers).
Unfortunately, the past shadows Miles to the bright lights of California in the form of powerful kingpin Amara (Lidia Porto) and her deranged nephew Yago (Goya Robles).
LOVELESS (Cert 15, 127 mins, Altitude Releasing, available from June 4 on Amazon Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, also available from June 4 on DVD £15.99/Blu-ray £17.99, Drama)
IN 2003, Russian film-maker Andrey Zvyagintsev directed one of the best films of that particular year, The Return. The beautifully crafted story focused on two boys reconnecting with the estranged father, who abandoned them for 12 years.
Parenthood and shattered childhood dreams are also key motifs of Loveless, which was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards.
Shot on location in Moscow, the film centres on Boris (Aleksey Rozin) and his wife Zhenya (Maryana Spivak), who are in the throes of an acrimonious and bitter break-up.
They are oblivious to the damage wrought on their 12-year-old son Alexey (Matvey Novikov). One day, Alexey fails to return home from school and the parents are momentarily united in concern for their missing son.
They contact the police, who fully expect Alexey to materialise a few hours later.
Unfortunately, the boy doesn't return and the desperate search for Alexey spreads out across the Russian capital.
As friends and family join the hunt, Boris and Zhenya are confronted with the uncomfortable truth about the blame they share for their son's distress.
NOVEMBER 13 (3 episodes, streaming and available to download from June 1 exclusively on Netflix, Documentary)
ON NOVEMBER 13 2015, the eyes of the world turned to Paris as a series of co-ordinated attacks on the French capital left more than 100 people dead and many more injured.
The horror began with a suicide bomber attempting to gain access to the Stade de France stadium, where the national team was playing a friendly against Germany.
News reports followed of more explosions and shootings around Paris at Le Carillon bar, Le Petit Cambodge restaurant and the Bataclan hall where Californian band Eagles Of Death Metal were playing a concert.
This three-part documentary, co-directed by Jules and Gedeon Naudet who made the series 9/11, relives the events of that fateful day in chronological order, sharing harrowing testimonies of the survivors, emergency services and politicians.
