SATURDAY

Ratchet & Clank TVNZ 2, 7pm

Voices James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye. The video games were great but this movie spin-off doesn’t quite get its gears into sync. Ratchet, a mechanic and rejected space ranger, teams up with an eccentric robot named Clank to stop the evil Chairman Drek from smashing up the galaxy’s inhabited planets. It worked well as a swept-up platform game, but the movie doesn’t have enough rocket fuel to appeal to anything but a young audience. Great voice cast, though, which includes Sylvester Stallone and John Goodman. ★★

Back To The Future Part II Three, 7.55pm Starring Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson. Picking up where the original left off, Marty McFly and Doc head into the future to avert a McFly family crisis. While a darker tone than the original brings it down slightly, this sequel is still plenty of fun – especially when seeing what moviemakers thought the future would look like 30-odd years ago. Look out for drones, flat-screen TVs and tablet computers. ★★★ The Last Word Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried. Lots of warm fuzzies in this tale about a dying woman who wants to ensure her life story is told the way she wants it. She hires a young reporter and during the search for the truth of the woman’s life, the two of them forge a real friendship. Fun at times, but MacLaine deserves a better plotline. ★★★

Calvary M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd. Drama about an Irish priest who receives a death threat while giving confession. Gleeson is superb in this intelligent, disturbing and, at times, darkly funny crystallisation of issues facing modern Ireland. A lot of the credit must go to writer/director John Michael McDonagh who manages to combine humour and deep spiritual issues into a thought-provoking tale. ★★★★

Love Ranch Choice, 8.30pm Starring Helen Mirren, Joe Pesci. Fact-based story about Charlie and Grace Bontempo, who opened America’s first legal brothel, the Mustang Ranch in Nevada. It all went badly wrong after Charlie became the de facto manager of heavyweight boxer Armando Bruza. Mirren and Pesci are class acts but the problem here is that the real story is much more interesting. ★★★

Ghost Rider TVNZ 2, 8.45pm

Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Sam Elliott. Fun and glossy comic-book adaptation with Nicolas Cage as motorbike stunt rider Johnny Blaze, who is tricked into selling his soul and becoming the Devil’s bounty hunter. It’s not Oscar-winning material, but the special effects and great supporting cast make it worth a look. ★★★

A Fish Called Wanda Three, 10.05pm Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, John Cleese, Kevin Kline. Hilarious partially Monty Python-staffed comedy in which prissy English barrister Archie Leach – played by the inimitable John Cleese – becomes mixed up with an oddly assorted gang of jewel thieves. Littered with in-jokes and sly references – movie trivia enthusiasts will probably recognise Cleese’s character’s moniker as Cary Grant’s real name – A Fish Called Wanda is a fast-paced, tightly scripted comedic farce of the highest calibre. ★★★★★

Run All Night TVNZ 2, 10.55pm

Starring Liam Neeson, Ed Harris. Liam Neeson is in fine form as mob hitman Jimmy ‘The Gravedigger’ Conlon in this tale of revenge and redemption. It is an action film that is competently made, but don’t expect anything exceptional. ★★★