Entertainment

New to stream or buy on DVD and Blu-ray: The Father, Land, Only Murders in The Building, See and more...

The Father: Olivia Colman as Anne and Anthony Hopkins as Anthony
The Father: Olivia Colman as Anne and Anthony Hopkins as Anthony The Father: Olivia Colman as Anne and Anthony Hopkins as Anthony

THE FATHER (Cert 12, 97 mins, Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK Ltd, Drama/Romance, available from August 27 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from August 30 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99)

Starring: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman, Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams.

OCTOGENARIAN patriarch Anthony (Sir Anthony Hopkins) lives in a plush apartment in Maida Vale with an elevated view of bustling life in the capital. He is visited daily by his doting daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), who is preparing to move to Paris with her husband Paul (Rufus Sewell).

"The rats are leaving the ship," Anthony mutters to himself, shortly before a new carer called Laura (Imogen Poots) cheerfully enters the fray.

Anthony repeatedly misplaces a treasured wristwatch and becomes agitated when a different woman (Olivia Williams) enters the flat claiming to be Anne.

"There is something funny going on," he correctly surmises.

The Father is a classy adaptation of director Florian Zeller's award-winning stage play, co-written for the screen by Christopher Hampton, which slowly unpicks the seams of Anthony's reality and questions the reliability of his muddied memory.

Peter Francis's ingenious production design ramps up the unease. As Anthony's fragile consciousness fractures before our tear-filled eyes, the furniture, fixtures and colour schemes of eight rooms linked by a central hallway subtly change to heighten the disorientation and sow seeds of doubt about everything we see and hear.

Hopkins deservedly won a second Oscar for his mesmerising performance. Zeller's picture unfolds from his clouded perspective and the Welsh actor is truly astonishing at conveying the see-sawing emotions of someone who can't quite articulate that sense of slipping away ("I feel as if I'm losing all my leaves").

Co-star Colman reacts beautifully to this cascading turmoil with a supporting performance of aching vulnerability, sorrow and guilt.

Rating: 4/5

Land: Demian Bichir as Miguel and Robin Wright as Edee
Land: Demian Bichir as Miguel and Robin Wright as Edee Land: Demian Bichir as Miguel and Robin Wright as Edee

LAND (Cert 12, 89 mins, Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Drama/Romance, available from September 1 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services)

Starring: Robin Wright, Demian Bichir, Sarah Dawn Pledge, Kim Dickens, Warren Christie, Finlay Wojtak-Hissong.

EDEE (Robin Wright) is haunted by beautiful phantoms of her husband Adam (Warren Christie) and young son Drew (Finlay Wojtak-Hissong) after their untimely deaths.

She openly discusses the pointlessness of life with her sister Emma (Kim Dickens), who pleads with Edee to battle through the darkness: "Don't hurt yourself… for me."

Edee entrusts her fate to Mother Nature in a ramshackle cabin in the snow-capped Rocky Mountains with a wood-burning hearth. She is ill-prepared for the invasion of a hungry bear.

As the cold and starvation take a vicelike grip, Edee prepares to join Adam and Drew, until a kindly hunter called Miguel (Demian Bichir) and his nurse friend Alawa (Sarah Dawn Pledge) intervene in the nick of time.

Directed by its star, Land is a handsomely photographed but emotionally light drama of self-healing, which trades heavily in the breathtaking vistas of Alberta, Canada, as a stand-in for the script's vast canvas of untamed Wyoming.

Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski savours every fiery, ombre sunset and dripping icicle, hanging like a glistening dagger from the cabin's roof.

Screenwriters Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam aren't afraid of extended periods of silence, when Wright has to carry the crushing weight of her character's sadness with wordless anguish and determination.

Those interactions between leading lady and an unforgiving environment are the most compelling aspects of Land.

When characters disgorge their inner turmoil, it sometimes feels dramatically necessary rather than natural and running jokes involving Star Wars and the Tears For Fears pop rock anthem Everybody Wants To Rule The World skirt perilously close to cute contrivance.

Rating: 3/5

Only Murders In The Building: Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin)
Only Murders In The Building: Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin) Only Murders In The Building: Mabel (Selena Gomez), Oliver (Martin Short), and Charles (Steve Martin)

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (8 episodes, starts streaming from August 31 exclusively on Disney+, Comedy/Drama/Thriller/Romance)

STEVE Martin returns to the screen as star and co-writer of an eight-part comedic murder mystery.

Charles (Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) live in the same exclusive Upper West Side apartment building but are strangers to each another. They share a fascination with true crime podcasts so when a grisly murder happens uncomfortably close to home, the unlikely trio join forces to unmask a killer potentially living among them.

Charles, Oliver and Mabel record their own podcast, documenting efforts to solve the case. In the process, they unearth dark secrets stretching back years and find their fledgling friendship strained by their own white lies.

See – Season 2: Jason Momoa as Baba Voss
See – Season 2: Jason Momoa as Baba Voss See – Season 2: Jason Momoa as Baba Voss

SEE – SEASON 2 (8 episodes, streaming from August 27 exclusively on Apple TV+, Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Adventure/Romance)

WORDS are more powerful than swords in the second series of the Apple TV+ sci-fi fantasy featuring cast and crew, who are blind or have low vision to ensure an authentic vision of a grim future in which a deadly virus has robbed mankind of sight.

Fearsome warrior Baba Voss (Jason Momoa) continues to lead the Alkenny tribe and raise his adopted children, daughter Haniwa (Nesta Cooper) and son Kofun (Archie Madekwe), who are both blessed with the power of vision.

Aided by tribal shaman Paris (Alfre Woodard), Baba Voss makes good on his promise to rescue Haniwa from the Trivantian tribe while fending off attacks from the Witchfinder Army.

However, he faces a dangerous new adversary in Edo Voss (Dave Bautista), who will kill anyone standing in his way.

Kevin Can F**K Himself: Annie Murphy as Allison McRoberts
Kevin Can F**K Himself: Annie Murphy as Allison McRoberts Kevin Can F**K Himself: Annie Murphy as Allison McRoberts

KEVIN CAN F**K HIMSELF (8 episodes, streaming from August 27 exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, Comedy/Drama)

EMMY Award-winning Schitt's Creek star Annie Murphy headlines an eight-part black comedy created by Valerie Armstrong, which unpicks a seemingly perfect marriage at the seams to reveal bitterness and disappointment simmering beneath the surface.

Allison Devine-McRoberts (Murphy) is a picture-perfect wife in Worcester, Massachusetts, with a loutish and rude husband Kevin (Eric Petersen), who doesn't appreciate her.

After years of suffering at the expense of Kevin's insensitive jokes, Allison takes a stand and takes charge of her life, supported by her no-nonsense beautician neighbour Patty (Mary Hollis Inboden).

This rebellion re-invigorates Allison and she confronts unresolved feelings for her married high school friend, Sam (Raymond Lee), who owns the local diner and still holds a torch for her.

Code 404 – Season 2: Stephen Graham as Carver and Daniel Mays as Major
Code 404 – Season 2: Stephen Graham as Carver and Daniel Mays as Major Code 404 – Season 2: Stephen Graham as Carver and Daniel Mays as Major

CODE 404 – SEASON 2 (6 episodes, streaming from September 1 exclusively on NOW TV, Comedy/Drama/Romance)

THE futuristic comedy drama written by Daniel Peak about the introduction of state-of-the-art technology to Britain's police force walks the beat on Sky Comedy for its second series and streams exclusively on NOW TV.

At the end of the first series, the experimental artificial intelligence project to re-animate Metropolitan Police DI John Major (Daniel Mays) was deemed a success after he and partner DI Roy Carver (Stephen Graham) cracked The Juggler case.

In these six episodes, Major must come to terms with impending divorce from his wife Kelly (Anna Maxwell Martin), who is now romantically involved with Carver.

More troubling, his AI is malfunctioning, causing behavioural glitches that undermine the reliability of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU).