SATURDAY

Race To Witch Mountain

TVNZ 2, 7pm

Starring Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb. This is a pretty standard reboot of the time-honoured Disney franchise – which followed the adventures of two alien visitors to Earth in the guise of children – but it benefits greatly from its talented and charming cast. However, it lacks the magic and intrigue of the original. ★★★

Emma’s Chance M ori TV, 7pm Starring Anna Elizabeth James. While doing community service at a horse rescue ranch for a high school misdemeanour, Emma forms a bond with an abused show horse which won’t let anyone ride him. Emma learns to face up to consequences and hatches a plan to redeem herself and, ultimately, save the ranch she’s grown to love. Not reviewed.

A Million Ways To Die In The West Three, 8.30pm Starring Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron. Rolling Stone called it Blazing Saddles for millennials, but this offering falls well short of the Mel Brooks classic. MacFarlane plays a cowardly sheep farmer who loses his girlfriend to the town’s high roller, but then meets a pistol-packing Theron. MacFarlane also wrote the screenplay, which plumbs depths of taste at times. ★★

Gemini Man Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Will Smith, once one of Hollywood’s hottest properties, has chosen some interesting and challenging characters along the way. However, his star is definitely fading as evidenced by this sci-fi thriller in which he plays a hitman who is targeted by a younger clone of himself while on the run from the government. The whole affair has a classic Western feel to it but there is simply too much Will Smith screen time. Director Ang Lee brings his stunning visual style to the film but seems to forget the use of digital technology is no substitute for plot and character development. ★★

The Final Destination

TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm

Starring Bobby Campo, Nick Zano. The fact that a fifth entry in the Final Destination film franchise was released two years after this one makes the seemingly definitive title of this fourth instalment a bit of a joke, but that is just one of many things wrong with this oh-so-predictable horror, the very concept of which means that viewers are treated to nothing more than a new batch of fresh-faced teens meeting their inevitable demise in a variety of novel and interesting ways. ★★

Notes On A Scandal M ori TV, 8.40pm Starring Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett, Bill Nighy. Dame Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett face off with heated performances in this compelling drama about the psychological power play between a veteran high school teacher and her young new colleague. Nominated for four Oscars, including best actress and best supporting actress. ★★★★

Starring John Cusack, Woody Harrelson. Cusack plays a down-on-his-luck writer who has a chance at redemption when the end of the world looms in this epic disaster movie. Woody Harrelson, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor and many others also feature, but the undoubted star is the terrific CGI, which will be a hard act to follow – even for the real thing. ★★★

Killer Night Shift Three, 10.45pm Starring Christine Burson. A pregnant woman gets help from two home care nurses. But one of them has a grudge and has her own plans for their baby. Not reviewed.

The Departed

TVNZ 2, midnight

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson. Legendary director Martin Scorsese’s ability to churn out excellent crime dramas is once again reinforced with this Boston-set, Irish-mafia gem The Departed. Arguably his best film since Goodfellas, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon as two imposters on opposite sides of the law. ★★★★

Constantine: City Of Demons

TVNZ 2, 2.45am (Sun)

Voices Matt Ryan, Laura Bailey. Animated horror featuring occult detective John Constantine who sets out to save a friend’s daughter from a demonically induced coma. Originally a web series. ★★★

Marine Aquarium hope a new dolphin saved after being beached will become a new companion to Winter, the tail-less dolphin from the original movie. Great family viewing. ★★★

Freaky Friday

TVNZ 2, noon

Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan. Genial screwball comedy remake with Curtis and Lohan as an uptight mum and her sullen teen daughter who swap bodies and get to experience life in each other’s shoes. ★★★

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

TVNZ 2, 7pm

Starring Eddie Redmayne, Colin Farrell. If you thought a return to the world of Harry Potter sounded like a wonderful idea, you’d be right. Director David Yates weaves his magic in this tale of the wizarding world of 1926 New York. Fun, charming but still utterly silly, it breathes new life into the Potter franchise, thanks to a star turn from Eddie Redmayne as author Newt Scamander, who becomes caught up in the wand wars when some of the beasts in his care are accidentally released. ★★★★

The Invention Of Lying Bravo, 7pm Starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner. British comic Ricky

Gervais plays Mark, a writer in an extremely dull alternate reality where lying is unheard of and everyone tells others exactly what they think of them. So retirement homes are called Sad Places Where Old People Come To Die, and Pepsi is advertised as being “For when you can’t get Coke”. Then Mark has a sudden brainstorm and starts telling this world’s very first lies – greatly changing his life and the lives of others in the process. It’s an outrageously funny comedy, sharpened with some thought-provoking satire. ★★★★

Bombshell Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman. Fascinating account of the shenanigans at Fox News after a group of women accused chief executive Roger Ailes and other executives of sexual harassment. Ailes, of course, was later an adviser to the Trump campaign which adds spice to the story, particularly in regards to one of the accusers, Megyn Kelly. She upset the then-presidential candidate with a question about his offensive comment towards women, and came under pressure both from Fox and Trump supporters, some of whom sent death threats. ★★★★

Daddy’s Home 2 Three, 8.30pm Starring Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg. What is for the most part a funny movie is let down by incredibly cliched writing and borderline misogyny. The original had a nice touch of whimsy; this is just two men struggling towards enlightenment with predictable results. Worth sitting through for one of the best cameos in years. ★★

The Duchess M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes. Keira Knightley seems tailormade for these period drama roles. Her performance as Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is as immaculately turned out as the 18th-century finery that adorns her frame, helping lift this a notch above your average costume drama. ★★★★

No Strings Attached Bravo, 9.10pm Starring Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher. Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher play best buddies who sleep together because they have commitment issues with other people. No strings attached supposedly – but what do you think? It’s exceedingly predictable, but also quite funny, while touching a nerve or two at the same time. ★★★

The Meg

TVNZ 2, 9.35pm

Starring Jason Statham, Li Bingbing. So you think Bruce was big? That’s the name of the great white in Jaws, in case you didn’t know. Well, he’s a minnow compared to the beast in The Meg, a 23m-long prehistoric shark believed to have been extinct for millions of years. A bit of a departure here for Statham who pairs up with Chinese starlet Li Bingbing for some good old fashioned B-movie mayhem. ★★★

The Mask Of Zorro

TVNZ Duke, 9.45pm

Starring Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones. Anthony Hopkins plays an ageing Zorro who passes on his legend to dead-beat protege Antonio Banderas. Catherine Zeta-Jones adds plenty of class as the love interest in this exquisite production, with heaps of clever sword-play and daring stunts, from New Zealand director Martin Campbell. ★★★★

Flatliners

TVNZ 2, 11.55pm

Starring Ellen Page, Diego Luna. The original version helped progress the careers of young stars such as Julia Roberts and Kevin Bacon. This pot-boiler remake likely won’t do the same for the likes of Ellen Page and Diego Luna, not least because the concept – getting heightened senses by stopping your heart briefly – has long been overtaken in the psychological horror stakes. It worked much better back in 1990 and the cast was better, too. ★★

Justice League Dark

TVNZ 2, 2am (Mon)

Voices Matt Ryan, Jason O’Mara. Animated movie merging the supernatural with superheroes. Demon hunter John Constantine joins forces with Batman et al to fight paranormal metahumans. Not bad at all if you can cope with animated superheroes. ★★★

Queen & Slim Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Jodie Turner-Smith. A Tinder date goes from awkward to catastrophic in this romantic drama. Queen, an African American lawyer, is being driven home by Slim after a so-so evening when they are pulled over by a white police officer, who shoots her in the leg. Slim tackles the officer, accidentally killing him, and the pair go on the run. They begin to bond as they evade authorities. The subtext is obvious, but it works as a love story, too. ★★★★

Cold Pursuit Prime, 8.30pm Starring Liam Neeson, Tom Bateman. Think revenge flick, think Liam Neeson. The stone-faced Irishman gives us yet another dose of vigilante justice here, playing a snow-plough driver who takes revenge on a drug cartel after his son dies from an overdose. Yes, we’ve heard and seen it all before but it is impeccably crafted and laced with devilish humour. ★★★

Living The Change M ori TV, 8.30pm Filmmakers Jordan Osmond and Antoinette Wilson explore solutions to global problems through the inspiring stories of people pioneering change in their own lives and their communities to live in a sustainable and regenerative way. Not reviewed.

Paycheck

TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm

Starring Ben Affleck, Aaron Eckhart. Slick effects help this sci-fi thriller when the story wanes. Ben Affleck is a computer programmer solving top-secret problems for companies on the proviso that his memory is wiped afterwards. But one job goes bad, leading to a Memento-style search for clues as to what really happened. ★★★

Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising Three, 8.40pm Starring Zac Efron, Seth Rogen. In the sequel to Bad Neighbours, a sorority (that’s a group of female university students) sets up next to a couple who are desperate to sell their house with the arrival of a new baby. The sorority proves to be way worse than the frat pack of the original. Rogen is a producer, a writer and a star, so you know what to expect. ★★★

Jay And Silent Bob Reboot Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes. In case you think you’ve seen it all before, writer, director and co-star Kevin Smith leaves us in no doubt: “It’s literally the same movie all over again”. Yep, there’s not a lot new in terms of character. Jay and Silent Bob are pretty much the same and, really, it’s little more than a nostalgia trip for the faithful. ★★★ comedy about a Chicago teenager who has perfected the art of playing hooky. Alan Ruck (of TV’s Spin City) is a scene stealer as hapless buddy Cameron who joins Ferris (Matthew Broderick) and girlfriend Shane (Mia Sara) for a trip to the big city in a borrowed Ferrari. ★★★★

Joker Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro. It’s one of the most controversial movies of all time, and a huge box-office hit. Joker tells the back story of the Batman villain, formerly Arthur Fleck, a delusional, lonely man who ekes out a miserable living as a party clown and aspiring stand-up comedian. It’s a clever film, brilliantly scripted and produced, and with a masterful performance from Joaquin Phoenix. Deep down though, it does raise unease over its dark, violent content, particularly in context of the 2012 massacre of 12 people during a screening of The Dark Knight Rises by a mentally disturbed man who had dyed his hair red. ★★★

Spider-Man 3 Three, 8.30pm Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst. While this franchise seemed to falter a little with its final offering, comic-book hero movies are always guaranteed a sizable fan-based audience, regardless of their actual content. This one certainly fulfils all the prerequisites – cool new villains, almost unbelievable special effects, and fast-paced action sequences – but somehow it’s not quite as good as the first two. ★★★

The Adjustment Bureau M ori TV, 8.30pm Starring Matt Damon, Emily Blunt. Based on a short story by Philip K. Dick, this romantically inclined sci-fi action thriller has such lofty ambitions that it doesn’t take long before you begin to wonder how on earth such a story can be satisfactorily concluded. Luckily, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt’s easy chemistry helps keep everything moving in the right direction and most viewers should be swept happily along by the intriguing and absorbing storyline. ★★★★

Coming To America

TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm

Starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall. Eddie Murphy and real-life pal Arsenio Hall team up in this slick comedy about an incognito African prince who wants an American bride. Watch out for some surprise cameos. ★★★