New to download and or buy on DVD, including The Captain

The Captain ****

(Cert 15, 118 mins)

IN the final weeks of the Second World War before the collapse of Hitler's troops, army deserter Willi Herold (Max Hubacher) goes on the run for his life.

An end to the conflict cannot come soon enough for Willi and he does everything within his power to avoid detection.

Unfortunately, Willi is compelled to kill a farmhand during the theft of eggs for food.

Subsequently, the terrified young man finds an abandoned car and a full military uniform, which fits him snugly.

Willi boldly decides to pass himself off as a captain and he recruits Private Walter Freytag (Milan Peschel) as his driver.

He convinces locals of his high station by shooting a looter.

As Willi's confidence grows and he adopts the arrogance and cool detachment befitting the uniform he wears, he marches into an army detention camp and boldly claims that he has been sent by Hitler to spearhead a secret mission.

Based on a remarkable true story, The Captain is a compelling drama shot in striking black and white, which explores the corrosive effects of power.

German director Robert Schwentke pulls no punches in his depiction of brutality and barbarism during one of the most turbulent periods in recent European history.

He is aided by a mesmerising lead performance from Hubacher as an opportunistic anti-hero, who is warped into a monster by the clothes on his back.

The monochrome cinematography is stunning and on DVD, viewers can also enjoy the film in colour.

Rating: ****

That Good Night***

(Cert 12, 91 mins)

MISANTHROPIC screenwriter Ralph Maitland (Sir John Hurt) is facing terminal illness on his own terms at the sun-kissed Portuguese villa he shares with his long-suffering wife, Anna (Sofia Helin).

He hires an enigmatic stranger (Charles Dance) to end his life by lethal injection but Ralph cannot slip away quietly without first orchestrating a reunion with his estranged son Michael (Max Brown) over the Easter weekend.

Reconciliation is tempered with flashes of anger and resentment.

Ralph berates his son for squandering his talent and clashes with Michael's spunky fiancee Cassie (Erin Richards), who is no simpering pushover.

While Cassie weathers a barrage of sneering, sexist remarks from Ralph, Michael tries in vain to protect the woman he loves and the family he intends to raise.

By the time Ralph is ready to face the final curtain, burnt bridges are still smouldering piles of ash.

That Good Night is an elegiac meditation on reconciliation and assisted death, adapted from NJ Crisp's 1996 stage play.

Director Eric Styles' maudlin picture will only be remembered as the final screen appearance of Hurt.

His death in January 2017 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer lends an air of poignancy to Ralph's slow and steady march into death's cold embrace.

Charles Savage's script paints the lead character as a tyrant and propels him past the point of redemption so when Ralph's mood mellows, our sympathy has already evaporated.

Supporting cast are little more than background detail, but Dance imposes himself in his scenes, verbally sparring with one of cinema's true greats.

Operation Finale

(Cert 15, 122 mins. Streaming and available to download from October 3 exclusively on Netflix)

Directed by Chris Weitz (About A Boy), Operation Finale is a 1960s-set thriller based on the true story of a secret Israeli mission to capture Adolf Eichmann, one of the chief architects of the Holocaust, and bring him to justice.

Israel's intelligence agency Mossad discovers that Eichmann (Sir Ben Kingsley) isn't dead as reported following the end of the Second World War.

He is living in a suburb of Buenos Aires under an assumed name with his wife Vera (Greta Scacchi) and two sons.

Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaac) and other members of Israel's security agency Shin Bet arrive in Argentina with a plan to abduct Eichmann at night during his walk home and smuggle their target back to Israel to stand trial for his crimes.

The extraction doesn't unfold entirely as planned and Peter finds himself at odds with his colleagues Hanna Elian (Melanie Laurent), Moshe Tabor (Greg Hill), Rafi Eitan (Nick Kroll) and Zvi Aharoni (Michael Aronov).

Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father - Season 2 (6 episodes, streaming and available to download from September 28 exclusively on Netflix, Documentary/Comedy)

One year after award-winning stand-up comedian Jack Whitehall traipsed around south east Asia in the company of his father Michael, the two generations embark on another six-part road trip with cameras capturing every hiccup and social faux pas.

This series, Michael asks Jack to accompany him on an educational foray around Europe so he can share his love of art, history and tradition with his boy.

Unsurprisingly, Jack has other ideas and the two men encounter marching clowns in Ukraine and gun-toting Cossacks as they slalom between breath-taking locations including the bustling bazaars of Istanbul and the snow-capped peaks of the Bavarian Alps.

Damon Smith