Must-see movies on Sky Cinema's Women In Film channel

Tuesday 10 March 2020 by Matt Maynard  Features

To celebrate the remarkable roles of women in movies, Sky has released a Women In Film channel, which is showing some of the most popular movies starring women in leading roles. All these films are also available on demand and on NOW TV’s highlight selection through the Sky Cinema Pass. 

Below is a list of what we believe are some of the best films available on Women In Film that are well worth a watch. 

Widows

Starring Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Erivo, Widows follows the wives of criminals who were planning to execute a robbery, but were killed in a police shootout before they had the chance to go through with it. Together, the wives agree to carry out the robbery that their late husbands were planning in this gripping thriller directed by Steve McQueen. 

Can You Ever Forgive Me

Can You Ever Forgive Me is a biographical film that follows the life of ex-celebrity biographer, Lee Israel, who makes an attempt at rekindling her failing writing career by forging letters from dead playwrights and authors to make ends meet. 

The film is based on her confessional autobiography of the same name, which she subheaders, “Memoirs of a Literary Forger.” Within, Lee Israel spills all to do with her transformation from writer to professional forger for monetary gain, and even includes within copies of letters she wrote in her sincere and honest account of the tale. 

Zero Dark Thirty 

Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatisation of the near ten-year-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, and is directed by The Hurt Locker's Oscar-Winning director Kathryn Bigelow.

The story follows CIA analyst Maya and her search for the al-Qaeda leader, from 2003 all the way up to 2011. You’ll be with her every step of the way in this long and intense depiction of the manhunt for one of the most notorious terrorists the world has ever known. It’s both entertaining and educational. 

What They Had

Bridget returns to her home in Chicago after her mother suffering from Alzheimer’s wanders off during a blizzard, and along with her brother’s help, has to convince their father to put her in a nursing home 

What’s so special about this movie is that the story follows Elizabeth Chomko’s own experience - the film’s director and screenwriter - and she considers it a “love poem” to her family. 

"I would say it's definitely a fictionalized account, a dramatized account of what I observed in my family and other families that were going through similar experiences," Chomko said, and although she says none of the characters in the movie ‘are’ herself, she “identifies with a piece of all of them.”

What They Had is a deeply moving film about a very real struggle families are put through on a daily basis. 

Galveston 

Elle Fanning stars as imprisoned escort, Rocky, who is rescued by Ben Foster’s criminal mob hit man, Roy, after he kills the men his boss sent after him. While trying to get himself and Rocky to safety, Roy must come up with a plan to thwart his boss’s pursuers while also trying to outrun his past. 

The movie is based on the novel of the same name, written by Nic Pizzolatto, the name behind the hit US television series True Detective and is directed by French director Mélanie Laurent in her English-language film debut. 

A Star is Born 

The movie that ever so famously put Lady Gaga’s name in headlines around the world is on this list for that very reason. Her tremendous performance as aspiring singer, Ally, along with her mesmerising song ‘Shallow’, saw her win Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures at the 2019 Academy Awards.   

Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) is a rockstar whose career is slowly crumbling around him due to his relentless battle against alcohol addiction. One night he enters the bar Ally sings at and is completely blown away by her voice, and convinces her to follow her dream as a singer when she was ready to give up on it. As Ally’s career takes off, Jack’s struggle with alcohol and his own demons slowly begins to take its toll. 

Eternal Love (After Everything)

Eternal Love is a drama about Elliot, a young New Yorker who is diagnosed with cancer, falling in love with a girl named Mia, who stays by his side through all the hard times he faces battling the illness. 

Despite the diagnosis of cancer, Eternal Love is a romantic comedy that follows Elliot and Mia’s love journey, as they get matching tattoos and go through radiation therapy together. It’s a very matter-of-fact film that steers its focus away from the illness and more on how a young couple falls in love amidst the inevitability of such a devastating disease. 

Blue My Mind

If you were looking for a film that’ll leave you in shock as the end credits roll, look no further than Blue My Mind - the double entendre title isn’t just for effect. 

The story follows troubled teenager, Mia, and her quest to belong to the popular social clique at her new school, while her body begins to make changes she can only assume is due her hormonal development. Mia embarks on a reckless road littered with numerous drugs, alcohol, rebellion, sexual competitiveness and, at some parts, it is suggested, attraction towards the other girls. All in all it’s an ambitious German fantasy drama that combines the complications of teenage life and the completely unexpected.  

Watch with NOW TV

If you don't have Sky Cinema through a Sky TV package, you can create a NOW TV account and purchase a monthly Sky Cinema Pass for £11.99 a month after an initial 7-day free trial. 

The Sky Cinema Pass through NOW TV gives you access to everything a regular Sky customer with a Sky Cinema package would have. You can choose to watch the movies on demand via genre or the 'Highlights' section that is regularly updated, but customers can also choose to watch the films live. 

If you're eager to watch the films listed above but don't have Sky, you can access them in the 'Women In Film' highlight section with a NOW TV Sky Cinema Pass via the NOW TV app.