SATURDAY James And The Giant Peach The Spiderwick Chronicles Ocean’s Eleven Perfect Stranger Cop Out

TVNZ 2, 5.30pm

Starring Paul Terry, Joanna Lumley. Dazzlingly weird and wonderful digitally animated tale (from the Nightmare Before Christmas team) adapted from the Roald Dahl story. Orphan James escapes the cruelty of his wicked aunts in the company of cute creepie-crawlies. ★★★★ TVNZ 2, 7pm

Starring Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker. Movies adapted from children’s fantasy novels are everywhere these days, but this entertaining adventure in which three siblings are pulled into an alternate world of faeries, goblins and other fantastical creatures rises above the dross by virtue of its talented cast and a healthy dose of imagination. ★★★

Gifted Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace. The uncle and guardian of a gifted child tries to keep her ambitious grandmother from getting custody so she can turn the girl into a maths prodigy. While the movie touches on one of science’s most complex equations, the Navier-Stokes problem, at heart it is a simple enough affair, about the overwhelming importance of love and family. Well worth watching. ★★★★

I Wish M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Koki Maeda, Oshiro Maeda. A Japanese take on how divorce affects children. Real-life brothers Koki and Oshiro Maeda play two brothers who live in different cities – one with their father, the other with their mother. Then one brother hears a rumour that the energy released by Japan’s bullet trains can grant wishes, and he formulates a plot to reunite them. Absorbing, if a little slow. ★★★

Wish I Was Here Choice, 8.30pm Starring Zach Braff, Kate Hudson. Braff also co-wrote and directed this underwhelming comedy about a Jewish 30-something who examines his life when his father becomes gravely ill. It is genuine and heart-warming but lacks substance. ★★ TVNZ 2, 9pm

Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt. George Clooney is the epitome of cool in this glossy, big-budget heist flick, a loose remake of the 1960 Rat Pack movie of the same name. As career criminal Danny Ocean, he assembles a stellar cast of associates to help him rob the super-secure vaults of a Las Vegas casino tycoon. ★★★★ TVNZ Duke, 9.30pm

Starring Bruce Willis, Halle Berry. An investigative reporter goes undercover at a big advertising agency in this vehicle for the talents of Bruce Willis and Halle Berry. It gets a bit steamy but the many twists and turns don’t lead in any real direction. ★★ TVNZ 2, 11pm

Starring Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan. There’s too much of director Kevin Smith’s dominant style in this lacklustre cop comedy caper, with a running gag that parodies movie culture complicating the proceedings unnecessarily. Bruce Willis appears to be merely going through the motions. ★★

SUNDAY

Spectre Three, 8.30pm Starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz. Daniel Craig cements his position as arguably

the best Bond ever in his fourth outing as the British spy. Fast, thrilling – although possibly a little convoluted – Spectre is a return to form for the franchise after the disappointing storytelling of Skyfall. Ralph Fiennes proves he is a more than worthy successor to Judi Dench’s M. ★★★★

Captain America: Civil War

TVNZ 2, 8.30pm

Starring Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. Joe and Anthony Russo weave a multi-layered plot with a well balanced cast bringing both humour, heartbreak and action. This time round Captain America and Iron Man are at odds after a mission involving a team of Avengers causes an international incident which questions the meaning of friendship and the willingness to inflict collateral damage. A mix of a comic-book nerd’s dream and thoughtful film-making, this is a movie that understands its audience, is never pretentious but is also respectful of its fans. ★★★★★

Logan Lucky Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig. Director Steven Soderbergh brings some Oceans II magic to this story of two brothers who decide to overcome a family curse by staging a robbery at one of the biggest Nascar races of the year. Jam-packed with quirky moments, fast-paced scenes and a sing-along soundtrack, this is a heist movie where everyone has fun. A rare, perfectly cast piece of cinema with Daniel Craig, just, stealing the show as convicted safecracker Joe Bang. ★★★★★

Midnight In Paris M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams. Typical Woody Allen fare – romantic whimsy interleaved with an attempt at philosophical insight. It tells the tale of a creatively unfulfilled Hollywood screenwriter with an overly materialistic fiancee who finds himself transported back in time to the Paris of Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein and F Scott Fitzgerald. It received Oscars nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and won Best Original Screenplay. ★★★★

The Oranges Choice, 8.30pm Starring Hugh Laurie, Leighton Meester. Provocatively plotted but inadequately scripted dramedy in which two members of two different families who are close friends take their closeness to inappropriate levels – much to the chagrin of most of the other family members. Hugh Laurie, though, is always worth a look. ★★

Scream 3

TVNZ 2, 11.50pm

Starring Neve Campbell, David Arquette. Director Wes Craven returns once too often with this disappointing

third instalment in the clever tongue-in-cheek horror series. Although there are flashes of the old magic, with plenty of in-jokes and some fun cameos, there are now so many characters for the plot’s movie-within-a-movie structure that you almost need a reference book to stay with it. ★★★

MONDAY

Keeping Up With The Joneses Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Jon Hamm, Zach Galifianakis. Suburban spy comedy which squanders the talents of its two male leads. It centres around a suburban couple who discover their new neighbours are espionage agents. Trite, toothless and poorly directed, even its over-the-top action sequences fail to raise a smile. ★

Showdown In Little Tokyo Prime, 9.45pm Starring Dolph Lundgren, Brandon Lee. Two LA cops – one an American raised in Japan and the other a Japanese-American – combine their martial arts skills to take on the Yakuza, the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia, in this violent and lurid tale which is long enough at 80 minutes. ★★ Gangs Of New York

TVNZ Duke, 9pm

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis. Filled with remarkable cinematic set-pieces and backed up by incredibly impressive production design, this is a seamless look at the vicious and unforgiving melting pot that would eventually give birth to New York City as it is known today. ★★★★★

TUESDAY

The Great Wall Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Matt Damon, Jing Tian. A mediaeval mercenary is imprisoned within China’s Great Wall and joins forces with a secretive military sect after a seemingly unstoppable horde of mysterious and ferocious beasts threatens to overrun the nation. It was a hit in China but bombed elsewhere. ★★

WEDNESDAY

You May Now Kill The Bride Three, 1pm Not reviewed.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Three, 7.30pm Starring Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor. First prequel instalment to the Star Wars trilogy laced with special effects but lacking the feel and depth of the first release. However, sufficient premise is given to the storylines and characters later espoused. Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi-wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) are sent to help a young queen (Natalie Portman) in her battle with the avaricious Trade Federation. After war breaks out, they flee with her to the desert planet of Tattooine, discovering a slave boy, Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), is powerful in ways of the Force. ★★★★

The Book Of Love Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Maisie Williams, Jason Sudeikis. Williams, best known as Arya Stark from Game Of Thrones, is undoubtedly a rising star. But she probably won’t look back at this chapter with much affection. She plays Millie, a young runaway befriended by an architect whose wife has died. Incredulously, the two of them build a raft so that Millie can sail across the Atlantic to look for her missing father. But everything goes off course, including the movie. ★★

THURSDAY

Lost in Love Three, 1pm Not reviewed.

S.W.A.T. Three, 8.30pm Starring Colin Farrell, Samuel L Jackson. It’s by-the-numbers action and cliches aplenty in this update of a popular 70s TV series. Colin Farrell is a rule-breaking member of LA’s Special Weapons And Tactics unit who must escort a brutal druglord to prison, with chaos and confusion along the way. ★★

FRIDAY

Negative Three, 1pm Not reviewed.

Berlin Syndrome Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Teresa Palmer, Max Riemelt. Australian-German collaboration about a woman backpacking in Berlin who is held hostage by a psychopath after a one-night stand. It is a taut psychological horror film centred around Australian actress Teresa Palmer’s stand-out performance. The title is a reference to the condition known as Stockholm Syndrome, where victims form an affinity with their captors. ★★★★

District 9 M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Sharlto Copley, Nathalie Boltt. Produced by Peter Jackson and using virtually unknown actors, this innovative sci-fi thriller delivers an intriguing new spin on the aliens-come-to-Earth premise. The setting of Johannesburg and the theme of social segregation were inspired by real events in Cape Town’s District Six during South Africa’s apartheid era. ★★★★

Steel Magnolias Bravo, 8.30pm Starring Julia Roberts, Sally Field. This melodrama is a showcase for some high-profile actresses to have a ball playing Southern eccentrics who forge close bonds over the years. It may play out like a movie-length soapie, but the talent on show and its life-affirming character have made it an enduring favourite. ★★★

Everybody Wants Some TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm

Starring Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch. Richard Linklater, the master of the coming-of-age comedy, returns to direct the spiritual successor to Dazed And Confused. All young male camaraderie, it is a subtle affair where, pretty much nothing happens – apart from an endless round of partying, casual racism, late nights and early mornings. But underneath the swagger, there is a freshness which makes the result deeply satisfying. ★★★★