NEW YEAR’S EVE

Surf’s Up

TVNZ 2, 7am

Voices Shia LaBeouf, Jeff Bridges. Like Happy Feet on a wave, this superbly animated family film is more than funny enough to hold the interest of those who would rather build sandcastles than go surfing. ★★★

Beaches

TVNZ 2, noon

Starring Idina Menzel, Nia Long. So-so remake of the so-so 1988 movie starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey, detailing the friendship of a singer and lawyer who met as children. ★★

Unwanted Guest Three, noon Starring Beth Littleford. Drama about a guest who wreaks havoc after she is invited to stay for the holidays. Not reviewed.

You Again

TVNZ 2, 1.40pm

Starring Kristen Bell. With its highly appealing inter-generational female cast, which includes Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell and Betty White, this comedy about a young woman whose brother is set to marry her high school bully should have been better. ★★

Consumed Three, 1.55pm Starring Zoe Lister-Jones. A woman whose son has developed a mysterious illness researches genetically modified food in this TV movie. Not reviewed.

The Book Of Life Three, 4pm Voice Channing Tatum. The story of a bullfighter who tricks La Muerte (or Lady of the Shadows in English) into sending him to the afterlife to be reunited with his girlfriend. ★★★★

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Prime, 7.30pm Voices Bill Hader, Anna Faris. Hapless inventor Flint Lockwood finally does something right and creates a machine which turns water into food, only for things to get quickly out of hand. This could have been a one-joke show, but the script’s sheer silliness keeps the laughs coming. ★★★★

Tad, The Lost Explorer Choice, 7.30pm Voices Cheech Marin, Kerry Shale. OK Spanish animated adventure about a construction worker who is mistaken for a real archaeologist. ★★★ What We Did On Our Holiday

TVNZ 1, 8pm

Starring David Tennant, Rosamund Pike. A couple with a marriage teetering on the brink go on a road trip with their three children to the Scottish Highlands to visit the husband’s dying father (Billy Connolly). A comedy but with some serious themes. ★★★

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets Sky Premiere, 8.30pm Starring Dane DeHaan. A futuristic sci-fi based on a French comic book, it centres on two agents who are sent to protect a multi-racial city threatened by an unknown source. ★★

Moonstruck Bravo, 8.30pm Starring Cher, Nicolas Cage. A widow finds herself with a romantic dilemma when she falls for the younger brother of the man she’s about to marry. It’s 30 years old, but still has the goods. Cher is superb, and Nicolas Cage smoulders as Ronny Cammareri. ★★★★

Cast Away Three, 8.35pm Starring Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks does a thoughtful, solo turn as a marooned plane crash survivor barely subsisting on a remote island. Hanks’ scenes alone on the island are

extremely engaging, but the last third of the movie seems like a different film. ★★★★

Dirty Dancing

TVNZ 2, 8.50pm

Starring Patrick Swayze. Despite a certain amount of 80s cheesiness and dialogue that might make you wince, this romantic drama remains a classic. ★★★★

I, Frankenstein Prime, 9.30pm Starring Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy. Two centuries after the original story, Frankenstein’s creature is now an angel’s sidekick, battling demons who want to take over the world. It worked as a graphic novel, but doesn’t quite make it as a movie. ★★

The Cobbler Choice, 9.30pm Starring Adam Sandler, Dan Stevens. It is tempting to say this film about a shoe maker, who finds an heirloom that enables him to see the world through other people's eyes, is a load of old cobblers. But it is better than expected. ★★★

The Bodyguard

TVNZ 1, 10pm

Starring Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston. Pretty average thriller and the chemistry between the two leads is debatable, but there are odd moments when sparks fly and the music is memorable. ★★★

Poseidon

TVNZ 2, 12.05am (Tuesday)

Starring Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell. Decent disaster movie remake in which the survivors of a capsized luxury liner fight for their lives as the ship goes down. Fantastic effects more than make up for a poor script. ★★★

Jersey Boys

TVNZ 1, 12.25am (Tuesday)

Starring John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza. Clint Eastwood’s version of the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys tells the story of the Four Seasons, from petty crooks with Mafia connections to Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. It is a great 60s snapshot, enriched with the group’s hits such as Sherry, Walk Like A Man and Big Girls Don’t Cry, which have withstood the test of time. ★★★★