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Entertainment

02nd Feb 2025

One of the best Western movies of recent years is on TV tonight

Stephen Porzio

Holding an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film stars four Oscar nominees.

Our TV movie pick for tonight (Sunday, 2 February) is The Sisters Brothers, the 2018 Western based on the beloved novel of the same name by Patrick deWitt.

The film stars Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Oscar-nominee John C. Reilly (Chicago) as the gunslinging assassin brothers Charlie and Eli Sisters in the 1850s American Northwest.

Hired to kill a gold prospector named Hermann Warm (Oscar-winner Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal), the brothers pursue Warm and the private detective (Oscar-nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain) he has formed an unexpected bond with over 1,000 miles.

Throughout the brothers’ journey, which is plagued by misfortune, Eli starts to have doubts about his chosen career – with Hermann possibly being able to offer a better alternative.

The English language debut of acclaimed French director Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Emilia Pérez), The Sisters Brothers was a box office bomb, grossing only around $15 million on a $38 million budget.

It’s a real shame because the movie is stunning to look at, perfectly capturing the wide-open vistas of classic Westerns.

This is as the movie’s screenplay – which is partly a buddy comedy, partly a portrait of dysfunctional brothers, but with a heap of existentialism and tragedy added in – fascinatingly subverts many of the genre’s tropes.

Holding an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score, The Sisters Brothers is airing on TV tonight at 11.30pm on BBC Two.

It is also available to stream on Apple TV, Google Play, Microsoft, Rakuten TV and the Sky Store.

Here are the other movies on TV tonight:

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – Film4 – 9pm

Harrison Ford’s second outing as archaeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones.

Meet the Parents – E4 – 9pm

Robert De Niro is the father-in-law from hell in this very funny Ben Stiller comedy.

As Good as It Gets – Comedy Central – 9pm

In this classic romantic comedy, a grumpy and reclusive author with OCD (Jack Nicholson) becomes drawn into the lives of his injured neighbour (Greg Kinnear) and a stressed-out single mother (Helen Hunt).

The Devil’s Own – Legend – 9pm

The poorly received ’90s thriller about the IRA starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford.

Belfast – BBC Two – 10pm

Writer-director Kenneth Branagh’s Oscar-winning coming-of-age drama from 2021 following a young boy’s childhood in the titular Northern Irish city at the beginning of The Troubles in 1969.

The Escapist – Legend – 10.55pm

In this very good thriller drama we’ve recommended before, a prisoner (Brian Cox) 14 years into a life sentence hatches a plan to escape upon receiving upsetting news about his daughter.

Death Line – Legend Xtra – 10.55pm

In this well-liked ’70s British horror, a police inspector (Donald Pleasence) investigates a series of disappearances around the London Underground.

The Vanishing – Film4 – 11.20pm

Gerard Butler drops his action man persona to play a lighthouse keeper in this critically acclaimed thriller from 2018.

Lust for a Vampire – Sky Arts – 11.50pm

The cult 1971 Hammer Horror film.

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