Film choice

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)

COMEDY CENTRAL, 9.00PM ★★★

Will Ferrell fans will need little encouragement to lap up this affectionate send-up of Nascar racing, redneck culture and male bonding. Ferrell pays a Nascar speed-demon who is challenged by a gay, French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen), to see who is the ultimate racer. It’s a full throttle comedy that plays to Ferrell’s strengths.

The Hills Have Eyes (2006)

HORROR CHANNEL, 9.00PM ★★★

French director Alexandre Aja makes his Hollywood debut with this grim but gripping remake of Wes Craven’s semi-cult horror film about a family battling a brood of mutants in the New Mexico desert. Aja ups the visceral violence, and the characters – including Ted Levine and Kathleen Quinlan as the parents – are sufficiently well-drawn to make the outcome shocking.

The Ghost (2010)

ITV4, 9.00PM ★★★★

Ewan Mcgregor plays a talented ghost writer, who lands a lucrative contract to edit the memoirs of Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), the former UK Prime Minister, in this Roman Polanski adaptation of the Robert Harris novel. Soon after, Lang is accused of committing a war crime and the Ghost finds himself drawn into a world of dangerous secrets that put his life at risk. This is a deeply unsettling thriller.