At the cinema: Fast & Furious 7
You’ll probably remember that when Paul Walker died in a car crash in 2013, he was on a filming break mid-shoot for Fast & Furious 7. His untimely death is the reason for the delay of the movie from 2014 to 2015, as the filmmakers scrambled to tweak the script, shoot additional scenes, and used clever digital technology to fix missing sequences. The result: you’d never guess that one of the film’s two lead actors had died before completion of shooting. I won’t waste words explaining the storyline, which is basically an excuse to have yet more crazy action sequences and vehicular mayhem, this time in downtown Los Angeles, a forested mountain range in Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Towers. The film honours Paul’s contribution to the series, with sendoff for his character that should have you wiping your eyes. Yes, it’s true: they’ve made a Fast & Furious film that’s a tearjerker.
On DVD: Interstellar
After Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, many were expecting Chris Nolan’s Interstellar to deliver the biggest and best blockbuster of 2014. Some would say that he succeeded at the latter. As for the former, after an explosive start, the film fell away at the box-office. Nolan fans rushed out to see it, but some of the broader audiences that saw those other Nolan hits stayed away, put off by a concept (time travel through worm holes in space) that sounded a bit complicated. The film’s epic length (169 minutes) may also have been a challenge. If you didn’t make it to the cinema, now is your chance to catch up with a beautiful and brainy sci-fi film that reaches for greater emotional impact than we’ve seen so far from Nolan. And if there’s any bit that confuses – hey, pause, step back, and play again! With Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, but you knew that.
On TV: Son Of Rambow (Easter Sunday, BBC1, 11.30pm)
One of the great joys of taking a passionate interest in film is following the careers of actors: spotting them in their early roles, watching them develop, and sometimes witnessing them break through to significant stardom. When Son Of Rambow appeared in cinemas seven years ago, Will Poulter was 15 years old. Winning the BAFTA Rising Star Award, and big Hollywood breaks like We’re The Millers and The Maze Runner lay ahead of him. In the film, he played schoolboy Lee, who persuades fellow pupil Will (Bill Milner) to be his fearless actor in a home-video tribute to his favourite movie character, Rambo. It’s a very funny and charming film from Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy). Also in the cast: future Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick, who plays Lee’s elder brother.