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SATURDAY Effie Gray

(2014) 12 9PM, BBC2

Genteel dramatisation of a Victorian conundrum – the unconsummated marriage of art critic John Ruskin (Greg Wise) and Euphemia Gray (Dakota Fanning), a beauty by any standard. Effie longs to escape the cage of her marriage, especially when she meets artist John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge).

Terminator Genisys

(2015) 12 9PM, CH4 See The Big Movie (right).

The World’s End

(2013) 15

9PM, FILM4

The third and supposedly final film in Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s so-called ‘Cornetto trilogy’, after Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz. Here, Pegg (above) is the man-child realising that it’s time to grow up when robots from outer space try to take over the world.

Private Peaceful

(2012) 12

11.25PM, BBC2

Released soon after Steven Spielberg’s epic version of War Horse (see Sunday, 2pm, BBC1), another acclaimed Michael Morpurgo First World War story gets a screen outing. George MacKay is Tommo, the lad reminiscing about his soldier brother, Charlie (Jack O’Connell).

GI Joe: Retaliation

(2013) 12

11.30PM, CH4

Pumped full of hot air, watchable Channing Tatum and Dwayne Johnson go for broke in this macho action sequel. As for the story, it’s merely a shoddy excuse to get angry, fire guns and take out some racy female ninjas (above).

Three Fugitives

(1989) 12

12 MIDNIGHT, BBC1

Martin Short and Nick Nolte (right) star as a fall guy and a straight guy tangled up in a bungled robbery – along with the villain’s young daughter. The farce thrives on the two leads.

SUNDAY War Horse

(2011) 12 2PM, BBC1

Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel (and its West End reworking) is thoroughly entertaining. Jeremy Irvine (above) is the farmer’s son heading for the battlefield during the First World War to save the beloved horse that used to be his.

Men In Black

(1997) PG

4.45PM, CH4

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have great chemistry in this enjoyable sci-fi comedy. Smith is the NYPD cop who joins a special unit tasked with policing the many aliens who live among us. Smart suits, cool shades, even cooler gadgets – and rather a lot of icky ooze.

Jack The Giant Slayer

(2013) 12

5.50PM, ITV2

Nicholas Hoult stars as the unassuming hero with a princess to rescue (Eleanor Tomlinson, above) in this Hollywood take on the classic fairytale. It wasn’t a big hit, but there’s enough wit and style to make it work, with fine support from the likes of Bill Nighy and Ewan McGregor.

Quantum Of Solace

(2008) 12

8PM, ITV2

Compared to Skyfall, which followed, Daniel Craig’s second Bond outing feels pretty average. The villain (Mathieu Amalric) is an ecoterrorist causing big trouble in little Bolivia.

Chicago

(2002) 12 11.10PM, ITV3

Catherine Zeta-Jones dons the flapper wig as Velma Kelly to Renee Zellweger’s Roxie Hart in this film version of Kander and Ebb’s musical. It’s a roaring success in its staging of short skits, sewn together to make a coherent whole, while the casting is swell.

Life On The Limit

(2013) 12 12.45AM, CH4 Narrated by Michael Fassbender, this documentary on the history of Formula One looks at the glamour, but also takes seriously the safety concerns that have plagued motor sport and cost lives.

MONDAY The Three Musketeers

(1973) U

9.30AM, MORE4

This film adaptation of the classic adventure by Alexandre Dumas is great fun. Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay and Richard Chamberlain are the Musketeers, with Michael York as the whippersnapper D’Artagnan.

Man With The Gun

(1955) PG

1.10PM, 5SPIKE

Robert Mitchum (below) stars as a hired gun asked to restore law and order to a town, but behaving worse than the thugs he runs out. Mitchum’s westerns were underrated, but this is a fine example from the genre’s darker side.

Man In The Moon

(1960) PG

2PM, TALKING PICTURES TV

Wonderfully wacky British sci-fi comedy, directed by Basil Dearden. The race is on to find a man to be the first to land on the moon. Kenneth More’s remarkable immune system makes him a candidate, even if he lacks many of the other necessary skills. (Freeview HD 81, Freesat 306, Sky 343, Virgin 445)

The Fifth Element

(1997) PG

8PM, 5STAR

French writer-director Luc Besson’s loopy sci-fi fantasy is, essentially, an epic battle between good and evil. Milla Jovovich is Leeloo, the seminaked, orange-haired mystery woman who falls from the sky on to Bruce Willis’s cab, and leads him far into the stars to fulfil her destiny.

Knowing

(2009) 15

9PM, HORROR

Nicolas Cage (left) plays a numbers game, fearing signs that seem to add up to the end of the world. He’s a scientist who deduces that his son – and other children – are predicting catastrophes, with the biggest one yet to come. Entertaining, effects-led apocalyptic fantasy. (Freeview 70, Freesat 138, Sky 319, Virgin 149)

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

(1986) 15 9PM, SONY MOVIE CHANNEL

This Cold War spy comedy has a silly, rather predictable plot, but star Whoopi Goldberg (right) is the big draw. She zips through the chaos and danger with her customary bemused class. (Freeview 32,

Sky 323, Virgin 425)

TUESDAY Carry On Cabby

(1963) PG

10AM, MORE4

One of the better earlier forays from the Carry On gang, minus Kenneth Williams. Hattie Jacques and Sid James (above, with Charles Hawtrey and Amanda Barrie) run rival taxi firms – with plenty of jolly japes on the meter.

Distant Drums

(1951) U

2.55PM, 5SPIKE

Western set in mid-19th-century Florida, where the Seminole are on the warpath. Gary Cooper is the Army man heading into the Everglades to escape the Indians, but finding himself confronted by even greater danger…

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

(2010) 12 6.20PM, FILM4

Oliver Stone’s sequel to his 1987 hit finds no redemption in the world of banking. Michael Douglas returns as reptilian Gordon Gekko, with Shia LaBeouf as a young banker dating Gekko’s daughter (Carey Mulligan, below, with Douglas).

The Expendables 2

(2012) 15 11PM, 5STAR The battle-hardened veteran action stars – led by agelessly beefy Sylvester Stallone – reunite for an enjoyable sequel set first in Nepal, and then in Albania. They take on rival mercenaries, led by the aptly named Jean Vilain (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme).

Phase IV

(1974) PG

11.40PM, FILM4

Ants are on the rampage, and have developed a hive-mind intelligence and superior construction skills, in this inventive cult sci-fi chiller. It’s directed by designer Saul Bass, better-known for his Hitchcock title sequences.

Finding Fanny

(2014) 12 2AM, CH4 Romantic Bollywood comedy in which a raggle-taggle group take off on a colourful road trip in Goa to reunite Ferdie (Naseeruddin Shah) with his long-lost true love, Fanny. Along the way, all manner of mishaps befall the group, as well as revelations and reconciliations.

WEDNESDAY Thunder Bay

(1953) U

9.30AM, MORE4

Anthony Mann directs James Stewart, not as a cowboy, but as an offshore oilman. Stewart and his partner, Dan Duryea, hit black gold in the bay – at the expense of local fishermen, whose livelihoods are put at risk by their success.

Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

(2011)

12 9PM, E4

A significant reboot of the sci-fi franchise, this follows scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) as he tries to cure Alzheimer’s, with the help of some test chimps and a drug that raises the intelligence of ape Caesar – a gripping motioncapture performance from Andy Serkis (below).

Exodus: Gods And Kings

(2014) 12 9PM, FILM4 Inspired by an Old Testament story worthy of director Ridley Scott’s typically grand ideas, this has an epic visual effects budget to match. Christian Bale stars as Moses, here a military man, who leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and on to freedom, via the Red Sea.

Thinner

(1996) 15 9PM, HORROR

Stephen King is a hot property again after the success of It in cinemas, as well as the current tide of new TV and film adaptations. This lesser-known tale has all the King hallmarks, and stars Robert John Burke as an obese lawyer who is cursed to suffer a horrifying short cut to weight loss after falling foul of gypsies.

Red Dawn

(2012) 12

11PM, 5STAR

The 1984 film (starring the likes of Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen) is something of a cult classic, but it’s unlikely that this reboot will inspire the same affection. Here, Chris Hemsworth (left) and Josh Hutcherson are among the citizens fighting dirty when the US is invaded by a foreign foe.

To The Wonder

(2012) 12

2.20AM, CH4

A complex tale of love and romance from Terrence Malick. Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams (left) star in a drama that shows love and life in all its unpredictable, epic glory.

THURSDAY Master Of the World

(1961) U

9.30AM, MORE4

Based on two novels by Jules Verne, this stars Vincent Price (above) as a man called Robur, a man with an air of Nemo about him. Steering an airship with fierce fire power, Robur sets about enforcing world peace in ironic style.

The Return Of The Pink Panther

(1975)

PG 2.05PM, SONY MOVIE CH

The fourth film in a series that would continue to grow, in number if not quality. Peter Sellers and director Blake Edwards are back – having skipped out on the previous, largely forgotten entry – as the film magnificently returns to the winning formula of innocently absurd slapstick.

Fail-Safe

(1964) PG

2.45PM, 5SPIKE

See Classic Film Choice (right).

Kingsman: The Secret Service

(2015) 9PM, FILM4

Style, manners and street smarts take on a tech-maniac intent on world domination in this smart action adventure. Colin Firth (left) is Harry Hart, a secret agent who puts his faith in yob Eggsy (Taron Egerton), and nominates him for the elite Kingsman training programme.

The Bounty Hunter

(2010) 12

11PM, 5STAR

Convoluted and woefully hackneyed comedy caper not worthy of its stars, Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler, who work hard for very little pay-off. They play a pair on opposite sides of the law, forced to go on the run together.

The Grandmaster

(2013) 15

11.35PM, FILM4

This biopic of the legendary Chinese martial arts master Ip Man is a visually breathtaking action drama from revered Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai (In The Mood For Love). Tony Leung stars as Ip Man, a master of wing chun (kung fu) in a story that provides plenty of excuses for close combat.

The Guard

(2011) 15

1.45AM, FILM4

The set-up is standard chalk-and-cheese buddy-cop, but the sharp execution and the boldness of the characters – Brendan Gleeson’s boisterous Irish garda and

Don Cheadle’s straight-up FBI man – make this crime thriller a cut above.

FRIDAY The War Wagon

(1967) U

9.30AM, MORE4

Kirk Douglas and John Wayne team up for this western, which sees Wayne’s rancher hiring Douglas’s gunslinger to rob the land baron who wronged him. But first, they must face the armoured war wagon and its deadly Gatling gun.

Robin Hood

(2010) 12

7.55PM, MORE4

Ridley Scott reworks the classic tale in the image of Gladiator, casting that film’s star, Russell Crowe, with Cate Blanchett (below, with Crowe) as a very capable Maid Marion.

The Great Wall

(2016) 12

8PM, SKY PREMIERE

A Chinese-American co-production, this fantasy has ambition and stunning visuals, but is sorely underpowered. Matt Damon joins up to defend China’s Great Wall from monsters.

The Bourne Legacy

(2012) 12

9PM, E4

A sidestep rather than a full reboot. Jeremy Renner takes over from Matt Damon as a superagent on the run, with Rachel Weisz (below, with Renner) dragged along for the ride. It’s held together by writer-director Tony Gilroy.

The Chronicles Of Riddick

(2004) 15 10.40PM, ITV Mystifyingly random follow-up to the rather decent Pitch Black – also directed by David Twohy, and starring Vin Diesel. It’s a sci-fi thriller with Lord Of The Rings ambitions, but scant plot, confused action and a frankly bizarre appearance by the venerable Judi Dench.

Your Highness

(2011) 15

1.05AM, CH4

Misfiring medieval-styled comic fantasy, starring Danny McBride and James Franco as loser brothers who quite like the idea of being heroes, but are just too lazy. Natalie Portman (left) plays the real hero, with a strong bow arm.