Film choice

Babe (1995) ITV2, 10.15AM ★★★★

 Made when the integration of CGI with live-action with any degree of subtlety was still something of a wonder, this adorable tale of a piglet (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh) who longs to be a sheepdog brought back a magical quality to children’s films that hadn’t been seen since Disney’s heyday. James Cromwell is the gentle farmer who enters his talented piglet for the National Sheepdog Trials.

Jack Reacher (2012) SKY ONE, 9.00PM ★★

 Tom Cruise has become a treat to watch when he’s mocking his own vainglory, in Rock of Ages, say. Playing the 6ft 5in, 18-stone blonde-haired protagonist of Lee Child’s novels, it may be that irony has abandoned him. The film starts with a bang as a sniper guns down five innocents, and Reacher is teamed up with young defence lawyer (Rosamund Pike) to solve the case. Werner Herzog and David Oyelowo also star.

Still Alice (2014) FILM4, 11.00PM ★★★★★

 Julianne Moore gives one of her best performances, playing a professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in this gorgeous, piercing drama. The most intrepid scene is between Moore and herself when she finds a video on her laptop. Beyond memory loss, it’s a film whose subject is words – their function and everything they give away about the brain and its rebellions.