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Like Richard III and Romeo + Juliet before it, Ralph Fiennes’ directorial debut gives one of Shakespeare’s plays a modern spin. A tale of warmongering and politics  infused with imagery dragged straight from contemporary war zones, it makes for an arresting piece of cinema – even if it isn’t the most approachable of the Bard’s works.

I don’t normally shout at the TV, and if I do it’s only to encourage proponents of major sporting events, such as Foxy Boxing. It’s rarely an outburst at the factual information programme BBC News at Ten. But on the launch day of the BBC’s most forward-thinking initiative since iPlayer, the online arts platform The Space, I found myself in tooth-spitting form.

For all of its narrative flaws – not to mention its annoying title – there’s a lot to like about this assured debut feature from writer-director Sean Durkin. Not least is Elizabeth Olsen’s incredible central performance as a young woman who flees life in an abusive cult to take refuge with her sister.

Roger Vadim’s 1968 star vehicle for then wife Jane Fonda is an extremely odd movie. Based on a French comic book series, Barbarella wastes no time on such niceties as plot or characterisation. Instead, it’s all about a sultry babe playing dress-up and having a series of erotic encounters in outer space. It should, therefore, be absolute rubbish, but the tongue-in-cheek nature of the whole endeavour, coupled with Fonda’s brilliant central performance, lifts Barbarella to a higher plateau. Not necessarily a ‘good’ film in the traditional sense, but still a lot of fun.