A pianist, a player (and a couple of magicians...)

All the good films out at the cinema this week are Certificate 15 or above, so most of you will not be able to see them until they come out on DVD. Click on the film to view a trailer:

• Black Snake Moan (15) - the new Samuel L. Jackson film, set in the deep south of the USA, and all passion and god-fearing...
• Magicians (15) - a british comedy starring Mitchell and Webb (from TV comedies Peep Show and That Mitchell And Webb Look, and also from the new PC v. Mac adverts) all about two rival magicians.
• Zodiac (15) - disturbing thriller from David Fincher, director of seminal movies Fight Club and Se7en, all about an infamous serial killer in 1970s San Francisco.

Not so many good films on terrestrial TV this week (apart from cult British gangster movie, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - Thu 10pm Channel 4). But, if you've got Freeview, you can catch the following:

• Vera Drake (Today, 9pm, Film4) - heavy, depressing but brilliant study of one woman's fight to help young women in desperate need to have an abortion.
• The Pianist (Sunday, 10.15pm, ITV3) - inspiring, harrowing, Oscar-winning film about the redemptive power of music, set against the backdrop of the Nazi holocaust of Polish Jews.
• Manon des Sources (Wednesday, 6.50pm, Film4) - beautiful sequel to French film, Jean de Florette, about a rural community torn apart by a battle over a precious water supply.
• Four Weddings and a Funeral (Wednesday, 9.00pm, Film4) and Notting Hill (Wednesday, 11.15pm, Film4) - two classic British romantic comedies which made a star of Hugh Grant and developed the comedic talents of writer, Richard Curtis (Blackadder and Love Actually)
• The Player (Friday, 11.10pm, Film4) - important, epic satire of Hollywood, interweaving numerous storylines to show tinseltown in all its cruelty, ugliness and duplicity

And also on television:

• Indian School (Wednesday, 8.30pm, BBC4) - fascinating series about the Indian education system, eye-opening and educative
• Reader, I married him... (Tuesday, 11.20pm, BBC2) - Documentary exploring the tradition of the romantic novel, from the classics through to the present day.
• Balderdash & Piffle (Friday, 10.00pm, BBC2) - study of language and how it develops, focusing this week on euphemisms (and how they end up in the dictionary!)
  

And out on DVD this week:

• Babel (15) - one of the most extraordinary films I have ever seen, this looks at just how rubbish human beings are at really communicating with each other, and the dire consequences it can have, all shot through the mesmerising lens of filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu. WARNING: I will be showing this in FILM CLUB in June, so avoid it until then if you are a film club member!