Best films on the box: October 13-19

POWER HOUSE: Christian Bale and Heath Ledger star in the darkest Batman movie so far, The Dark Knight.

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OPINION: Film and television critic Philip Wakefield assesses the best movies on offer on the box this week, for Tuesday, October 6 to Monday, October 12.

Tuesday, October 13

The Italian Job
2003, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
Not so much a remake of the Michael Caine classic as a brand new model that preserves the original's icons - heists, armoured vans, gold, Mini Coopers - but not its character or class. The leaden Mark Wahlberg heads a team of slick, hi-tech crooks whose daring theft of gold bullion in Venice leads to their being double- crossed. Eighteen months later they wreak revenge in an elaborate heist that jams LA traffic above and below ground. The over-the-top stunts are spectacular, and all the more impressive because they're not computer-generated, but this is mechanical escapism at best with suspense taking a back seat.

Thursday, October 15

The Dark Knight
2008, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies
The darkest Batman movie so far is the best Knight's entertainment yet. True, the strung together plot about The Joker terrorising Gotham is riddled with holes bigger than the entrance to the Batcave. But visually and stylistically, it nails the grit of the graphic novel while maximising cinematic spectacle and intensity. Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart star.

Friday, October 16

The Ruins
2008, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies
Scott B Smith, who was Oscar- nominated for his A Simple Plan screenplay, adapted his own novel for this horror hoot about a Mexican holiday from hell. It concerns four young Americans and a German tourist whose exploration of an ancient Mayan ruin leads to their being trapped at the top of it beset by starvation and terror. What ensues is grisly and gruelling but good fun. Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone and Shawn Ashmore star.

Saturday, October 17

Cars
2006, G, 7.30pm, TV2
More than just kids will get their kicks from this animated ode to Route 66. Owen Wilson voices Lightning McQueen, a rookie racing car stranded at a pit stop in the middle of nowhere while en route to the biggest race of his life. Forced to slow down and smell the radiator hoses, he learns it's the journey, not the destination, that counts in life. It's hard to warm up to the talking car conceit of what was Toy Story 2 director John Lasseter's first movie in seven years but once into top gear, it delights as a dazzling, state-of-the-art showcase for the animation industry. Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt and John Ratzenberger also lend their voices.

King Arthur
2004, AO, 8.30pm, TV One
Gladiator scribe David Franzoni explores the origins of King Arthur and his men in this bloody, derivative exercise in Camelot revisionism, turning them from Rome's roundtable knights into Merlin's freedom fighters, with Guinevere their warrior princess. Antoine Fuqua directs Clive Owen, Kiera Knightley, Ioan Gruffudd and Ray Winstone.

Lethal Weapon 4
1998, AO, 9.55pm, TV2
Less a movie than a slew of spectacular action sequences aimlessly in search of a screenplay. The overcrowded plot mixes in everything from the Triads, slave labour and counterfeiting to Riggs (Mel Gibson) becoming a dad and Murtagh (Danny Glover) a grandfather. Outrageous stunts, such as Gibson being dragged along a motorway on a coffee table, don't disappoint but fans deserved a better finale.

Alfie
2004, AO, 10.30pm, TV3
The signature line isn't uttered until the innovative closing credits of this redundant remake but by then you won't give a toss about Alfie. As played by Jude Law, and relocated to Manhattan, the Vespa-riding womaniser is a Son of Alfie cliche stranded in a much more sophisticated sea of sexual politics. Omar Epps, Marisa Tomei and Susan Sarandon co- star; Charles Shyer directs.

Sunday, October 18

Monster-In-Law
2005, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
Why would double-Oscar winner Jane Fonda choose a romantic- comedy this monstrous for her screen comeback? The former wife of CNN founder Ted Turner plays a dumped talk show queen who tries to thwart the marriage of her son, a doctor (Michael Vartan), to an office temp-cum- dog walker (Jennifer Lopez). Think Mommie Dearest meets Bridezilla but with the kind of banter that makes every mother-in-law joke you've heard sound like an Oscar Wilde witticism.

The Fly
1986, AO, 8.30pm, C4
Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis star in this Kafka-esque hokum about a man's metamorphosis into a fly. Whereas the 1958 original suffered from an excess of guffaws, this one's undoing is excessive gore. If as much money had gone into the script as the special effects, it could have been quite a flight of fancy. David Cronenberg directs.

Underworld: Evolution
2006, AO, 10.30pm, TV2
The centuries-old feud between aristocratic vampires and barbaric werewolves continues in a sequel that's as much a snoozefest as a bloodfest. The original director Len Wiseman (Die Hard 4.0) reunites with stars Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman and Bill Nighy.

Monday, October 19

Cypher
2003, AO, 12.35am, TV2
From Cube director Vincenzo Natali comes another mind-bender that doesn't disappoint with its denouement. Originally called Company Man, it stars Jeremy Northam as a corporate spy whose empowerment by deception leads to the spook without a past double-crossing himself into a corner from which there seems no escape. Cypher is extraordinarily well written and showcases a production design that's as minimalist as it is mesmerising.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2007, PGR, 8.30pm, TV3
Dopey but diverting sequel in which the freakish superheroes team with their nemesis, Dr Doom, try to save the world from extra-terrestrial extermination. It's not as much fun as the cheesy original, although the liberties it takes with comic book conventions are entertaining and enterprising. But given the CVs of screenwriters Mark Frost (The Greatest Game Ever Played, Twin Peaks) and Don Payne (The Simpsons, My Super Ex- Girlfriend), more could have been expected by way of wit than Fantastic 4 creator Stan Lee being refused entry to the wedding of Mr Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans star.

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