If you have 90 minutes
The Critic — Rent or buy from Apple TV +
Ian McKellen has a hugely enjoyable, bitchy old time playing a London theatre critic who co-opts a young actress into a nasty blackmail scheme in this melodramatic but enjoyable period thriller.
If you have 2-and-a-half hours
Nickel Boys — Prime Video
Director RaMell Ross’s startlingly original feature film debut tackles Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel with ingenuity, intelligence and visual aplomb as it follows the tragic story of two young black men in 1960s Florida whose lives are dealt a vicious blow when they find themselves thrown into a reform school.
If you have 3 hours
A Very Royal Scandal — Showmax
The infamous Newsnight interview between Emily Maitlis and non-sweater Prince Andrew gets a second limited series treatment. This time, master impersonator Michael Sheen takes on the role of the dodgy royal while Ruth Wilson plays Maitlis in a well-acted, tense dramatisation.
If you have 3 hours
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden — Netflix
After investigations of the Boston Bombers and OJ Simpson, the American Manhunt docuseries focuses on the 21st century’s most notorious manhunt — the search for and eventual killing of the Al-Qaeda leader following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
If you have 6 hours
The Leopard — Netflix
Giuseppe Lampedusa’s acclaimed, posthumously published 1958 novel about the changes experienced by an aristocratic Sicilian family during the unification of Italy in the 19th century already enjoys cinematic legend status thanks to master director Luchino Visconti’s epic, lavish 1963 adaptation. Now writers Richard Worlow and Benji Walters bring this equally lush, location shot, Italian language, extended adaptation to life for Netflix.
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