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SATURDAY

The Third Man (1949) PG

2.15PM, BBC2

First-class suspense from the pen of Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed. Writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) arrives in Vienna expecting to meet an old friend, but instead attends his funeral. The cinematography by Robert Krasker takes it to another level. Ted 2

(2015) 15 9PM, CH4

PREMIERE Walking, talking teddy bear Ted might be a slacker, with a potty mouth and a stomach for lager, but he’s also a loyal friend to Mark Wahlberg’s John Bennett (below, with Ted). In this sequel, Ted hopes to be a dad.

The American

(2010) 15

9PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

George Clooney is a man of few words as an assassin hiding out in a tiny Italian hill town. A beautiful-looking, meditative thriller from music video man turned director Anton Corbijn. (Freeview 32, Sky 323, Virgin 425) There’s Something About Mary

(1998)

15 10.30PM, CH5

It’s all done in the worst possible taste, but this Farrelly brothers comedy can be forgiven its yuckier moments. Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller are the boy and girl who might get together… Young Frankenstein

(1974) PG

11.15PM, BBC2

See Classic Film Choice (right).

Dracula Untold (2014) 15

11.15PM, CH4

An origin story for the vampire made famous by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Luke Evans (above) is Vlad Tepes, the Transylvanian prince who is offered a despicable bargain – by Charles Dance’s cave-dwelling immortal creature. The Voices

(2014) 15 1.25AM, FILM4

PREMIERE Ryan Reynolds talks to the animals in this black comedy horror. He plays a mentally unwell loner whose pets – dog Bosco and cat Mr Whiskers – are his best pals. But if he’d kept taking his pills, the whole sorry, bloody mess could have been avoided.

SUNDAY

The Nun’s Story (1959) PG

10.35AM, ITV3

A flawless adaptation of Kathryn Hulme’s novel, with Audrey Hepburn as the spirited young woman (above) struggling with her calling as she enters a convent. Hepburn is beguiling, and also something of a revelation. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out Of Water (2015) U 2.55PM, CH4

PREMIERE Eleven years after his big-screen debut, the boisterous sponge is back. Carrying the characters through their enjoyably wacky and slapstick adventures is a plot involving a rival burger joint, run by Antonio Banderas.

Rio 2

(2014) U

4.45PM, CH4

This sequel is every bit as vibrant and exotic as the first animated avian adventure. Domesticated blue macaw Blu (left, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) and his bedazzling mate, Jewel (Anne Hathaway), flee the city to raise their chicks in the Amazon, alongside their own kind. Nemesis Nigel isn’t far behind.

Sleeping With The Enemy

(1991) 15

9PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

Julia Roberts stars in this sub-Hitchcock thriller as the abused wife who goes on the run from her nasty husband (Patrick Bergin – who recently popped up as a dangerous ex-husband in EastEnders). Unfortunately, faking her own death isn’t enough to fool him.

In Order Of Disappearance

(2014) 15

10PM, BBC4

PREMIERE Snowbound thriller from Norway, with the odd satisfying drift into black humour. Stellan Skarsgard is a bereaved father and upstanding citizen being pulled to the dark (and violent) side to avenge his son’s death. Our Kind Of Traitor (2016) 15

10.15PM, CH4

PREMIERE See The Big Movie (right). Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967) PG 12.05AM, BBC2

Recent Oscar-nominated horror hit Get Out has similar, updated, themes to this comedy drama. Sidney Poitier is the boyfriend who is brought home to meet his girlfriend’s parents.

They – played by Katharine

Hepburn and Spencer Tracy – find their liberal values being tested.

MONDAY

Babe

(1995) U 10.15AM, ITV2

Charming Aussie family comedy about an orphaned little piglet who, raised by sheepdogs, wants to herd the flock himself. All the animals of the farmyard come adorably to life.

Exodus

(1960) PG

12.55PM, 5SPIKE

Otto Preminger’s epic drama is the story of the formation of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Paul Newman stars as a captain of the British Army’s Jewish Brigade, who helps to smuggle Holocaust survivors into Palestine.

All That Heaven Allows (1955) U

1.05PM, FILM4

One of Douglas Sirk’s best-known and most influential romantic dramas. Jane Wyman is the wealthy widow who falls for her younger gardener (Rock Hudson, above, with Wyman). Approval from her peers is in short supply.

Elephant Walk

(1954) PG

4.30PM, FILM4

Angry elephants and a cholera epidemic make the jungles of Ceylon a dangerous place for Elizabeth Taylor’s Englishwoman. She’s the new wife of Peter Finch’s tea plantation owner, but her head is turned by Dana Andrews.

The Expendables 3 (2014) 12

10.05PM, 5STAR

The Expendables posse have made themselves indispensable at the box office, with a franchise that will conclude this year at four. Sylvester Stallone (above) heads up a mercenary team who prove the value of age and experience. Still Alice

(2014) 12 11PM, FILM4 PREMIERE Adapted from a novel by neuroscientist Lisa Genova, this is a credible and deeply moving depiction of the slings and arrows of early onset Alzheimer’s. The subject is undoubtedly difficult to watch, but an Oscar-winning performance from Julianne Moore (left) makes it impossible to look away.

TUESDAY

The Misfits

(1961) PG

3.45PM, FILM4

They bowed out in style. The last film of stars Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe (above) is a soaring nouveau western, directed by John Huston and written by Monroe’s soonto-be ex-husband, Arthur Miller. Bleak and beautiful, it’s also full of poignant moments.

Golden Salamander

(1949) U

6PM, TALKING PICTURES TV

British thriller set in Tunisia, where Trevor Howard’s archaeologist, David Redfern, is due to inspect and catalogue exotic artefacts. His journey is interrupted by bad weather, smugglers and a beautiful woman (Anouk Aimee) – leaving David with a moral dilemma.

Ex Machina

(2015) 15 9PM, FILM4

Stylish, intriguing sci-fi thriller from writerdirector Alex Garland. Domhnall Gleeson is Caleb, a programmer brought to the secret, isolated facility of Oscar Isaac’s obscenely wealthy tech mogul. Caleb’s job is to test robot Ava (Alicia Vikander, left) to establish whether or not she is conscious.

The Taking Of Pelham 123

(2009) 15

11PM, 5SPIKE

Remaking Joseph Sargent’s understated 1974 subway hostage caper was a tall order, but Tony Scott rises to the challenge. Denzel Washington stars as a New York City train dispatcher dealing with a dastardly ransom demand.

That’s My Boy

(2012) 15

12 MIDNIGHT, 5STAR

Father and son clash disastrously in this dismal comedy. Adam Sandler’s dodgy, lazy slacker is father to Andy Samberg’s successful businessman. With a tax bill to pay, father sees son as the answer to his financial woes.

Damsels In Distress

(2011) 12

1.25AM, FILM4

Greta Gerwig – Oscar-tipped for her solo directing debut, Lady Bird – stars in this pleasingly offbeat comedy from writer-director Whit Stillman. She’s Violet (right), one of a trio of female students working out of a suicide prevention centre to bring mental wellbeing to their university campus.

WEDNESDAY

In A Lonely Place (1950) PG

11AM, FILM4

A cracking film noir from the great Nicholas Ray, set in the Hollywood movie-making world. Humphrey Bogart stars as boozy screenwriter Dix Steele, who is accused of murdering a hat-check girl. Gloria Grahame co-stars as the woman who can help him out of a hole.

The Iron Lady

(2011) 12

6.55PM, FILM4

Acclaimed film and TV writer Abi Morgan takes a difficult subject and turns it into an almost even-handed drama. Meryl Streep (below) won an Oscar for her performance as the oftimitated Margaret Thatcher, a determined woman rising to the top in a man’s world.

Cop Land

(1997) 18 9PM, 5SPIKE

In this gritty crime drama, Sylvester Stallone heads up a fabulous cast, which includes Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Harvey Keitel. Stallone plays a suburban sheriff working on the edge of New York City, who becomes embroiled in a dangerous game of police corruption.

The Equalizer

(2014) 15

9.55PM, 5STAR

Murky, with shades of Taxi Driver, this reboot of the TV series stars Denzel Washington – a reliable watch in just about anything. He plays a retired black-ops soldier who comes out of retirement to help a teen (Chloe Grace Moretz) who’s in too deep with the Russian mob.

Fair Game

(2010) 12 1.25AM, CH4 Compelling, fact-based thriller about Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts, above), a CIA operative whose cover was apparently blown in a dirty tricks campaign after her ex-diplomat husband (Sean Penn) fell out with the government.

The Second Mother

(2015) 15

1.40AM, FILM4

Glorious Brazilian comedy examining the country’s class divide in exuberant style. Val (Regina Case) works as a live-in housekeeper for a wealthy family in Sao Paulo. Accepted as part of the family, Val still knows her place – a part that her teen daughter is less willing to play.

THURSDAY

The Turning Point (1952) PG

3.10PM, FILM4

Set at a time of typewriters and cigarettes, this stars William Holden (above) as the reporter joining an Eliot Ness-style anti-organised crime task force, led by Edmond O’Brien’s prosecutor.

The Mask Of Zorro

(1998) PG

3.25PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

Old-style swashbuckler, with Antonio Banderas inheriting the sword from Anthony Hopkins. Catherine Zeta-Jones is on hand to see the boys don’t hog all the action. The sequel follows.

Just My Luck

(1957) U

6PM, TALKING PICTURES TV

Norman Wisdom makes a killing at the races in an oafish comedy that predates his hapless Norman Pitkin character, but is cut from the same cloth as the later films. Jill Dixon is the window-dresser whose love he hopes to win.

Lone Survivor (2013) 15

9PM, FILM4

A fact-based, heavily ‘Hollywoodised’ account of an ill-fated Navy Seals mission sent into Afghanistan in 2005. Mark Wahlberg, Eric Bana, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch (above) and Ben Foster form the unit tasked with killing Taliban-allied militia leader Ahmad Shah.

Date Movie

(2006) 12 11PM, 5STAR Written by two of the men behind Scary Movie (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer), this parody of all things romcom did good box office, but is pretty crude and repetitious. Alyson Hannigan and Adam Campbell star.

Happy-Go-Lucky

(2008) 15

11.20PM, FILM4

Director Mike Leigh’s infectious comedy stars Sally Hawkins as irrepressible ray of sunshine Poppy (right), a north London schoolteacher who remains buoyant even when people try to drag her down. Sadly for Poppy, not everyone is happy to accept her naturally upbeat outlook on life...

FRIDAY

How Do You Know

(2010) 12

3.40PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

Written by James L. Brooks, this romantic comedy stars Reese Witherspoon as a woman drifting through life and love. Despite this, she ends up with two suitors – Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson – neither of whom seems a catch.

X-Men: First Class

(2011) 12

9PM, E4

Prequel for the Marvel Comics mutant tale, set at a time when Professor X (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) are still on speaking terms – but only just. Kevin Bacon is a camp villain, with dastardly links to Magneto. While We’re Young (2014) 15 11.05PM, BBC2 Adam Driver, the memorably conflicted villain of the new Star Wars movies, stars as a young filmmaker (above) who, with his girlfriend, cosies up to Ben Stiller’s documentarist and his wife (Naomi Watts). The generational clash for both couples is as invigorating as it is maddening.

Need For Speed

(2014) 12

11.05PM, 5STAR

Graduating from Breaking Bad to the big screen, Aaron Paul stars in this stunt-pumped action flick. It’s based on a video game and the pace is relentless, which helps you to avoid stopping to think how predictable it all is. Dominic Cooper is the rich-kid bad guy with the pimped-up ride.

Diabolik

(1968) 12 11.20PM, FILM4 Screamingly Swinging Sixties thriller, based on an Italian comic strip. Like Barbarella without the sci-fi, it has gadgets, fast cars and short skirts. John Phillip Law is the leather-clad master criminal, with Marisa Mell clamped to his side (above) and Terry-Thomas hot on his tail.

Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans

(2009) 18 12.05AM, CH4

It’s fun watching Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen hamming it up in this B-movie horror, the third in the continuing vampires versus werewolves franchise. Films by Simone Andrews