The best films on the box: Nov 4-10

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Film and television critic Philip Wakefield assesses the best movies on offer on the box this week, for Tuesday, November 4 to Monday, November 10.

Tuesday, November 4

Tears of the Sun
2003, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
It sounds like Die Hard In Africa: Bruce Willis plays a grizzled combat vet in charge of a US Navy Seals squad who breaks all the rules - and risks international fallout - to rescue an American doctor and her refugee patients from the jungles of darkest, bloodiest Nigeria before theyre massacred by rebels. But before you can say "Yippie-kay-ya!", Willis and director Antoine Fuqua eschew behind-enemy-lines bravado to shockingly convey the horrors of ethnic cleansing while indicting the politics of compromise and complacency that let it flourish. In the process they also deliver a seat-of-the-pants shoot-‘em-up that takes no prisoners.

Wednesday, November 5

Ghostbusters
1984, PGR, 8.30pm, Prime
If not for Bill Murray’s knockabout charisma, this comedy phenomenon would verge on a total bust. The video clip that cleverly marketed the Ivan Reitman movie was much funnier. Dan Aykroyd and Sigourney Weaver also star.

Thursday, November 6

Catch a Fire
2006, AO, 8.50pm, Sky Movies 2
Catch a Fire focuses on the flipside of terrorism, where the terrorist is the hero because of his stand against a system that crushes human rights. In this case, he’s South African oil refinery foreman Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke), whose mistreatment under apartheid (represented by cop Tim Robbins) turned him into a terrorist fighting for his country’s liberation in the 1980s. As well as being a gripping, multi-layered thriller, Catch a Fire is a powerful plea for reconciliation and forgiveness.

Friday, November 7

School of Rock
2003, PGR, 7.30pm, TV2
Jack Black’s knack for transcending hackneyed material continues with this pseudo-subversive feelgood comedy. He plays a dazed and confused guitarist with more ego than talent who impersonates a substitute teacher to make some quick cash - and then tries to win a Battle of the Bands contest using his pupils as backing musicians. Only a performer as wickedly charismatic as Black could enliven such corny, cliched shenanigans.

Saturday, November 8

Mission: Impossible
1996, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
IMF purists may self-destruct but lovers of tightly crafted, action-packed escapism will have no trouble accepting this Tom Cruise re-make as the best Mission yet. The twists and deceits along the way keep you hooked if a tad confused, and while there’s little room for character development, mostly it would have been inconsequential to the three supremely suspenseful setpieces that dwarf everything else. Emmanuelle Beart, Jean Reno and Jon Voight co-star; Brian De Palma directs.

Matrix Reloaded
2003, AO, 10.35pm, TV2
The hi-tech hodgepodge of kung-fu, sci-fi, spiritualism and spectacular f/x seems goofier second time around. It opens six months after the original, with the machine army marching on the last human city of Zion just as the visions-racked Neo (Keanu Reeves) is getting to grips with his Kryptonite-lite powers as "The Chosen One". But novelty soon gives way to nuttiness as laughably lame dialogue, insufferably chic heroics and overlong, over-the-top setpieces like the freeway free-for-all take their toll.

Sunday, November 9

Raising Helen
2004, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
More like razing Kate Hudson’s career. In this mawkish, dim romantic-comedy/drama, she plays a modelling agency boss who learns real life’s no catwalk when she becomes the surrogate mother of her orphaned nephew and nieces. Garry Marshall (Georgia Rule) directs with his typical sitcom aplomb.

Scream 3
2000, AO, 10.55pm, TV2
Creaky sequel that borders on being the kind of formulaic frightfest that the original skewered. Wes Craven again directs Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette but this was the first (and last) in the trilogy not to be written by Kevin Williamson.

Monday, November 10

Jarhead
2005, AO, 8.30pm, TV3
War is boring as hell. That’s the thrust of this true-life dramatisation of a rookie Marine’s first tour of duty, as a sniper in the first Gulf War who returns home without having fired a shot in action. It’s not an exciting, heroic account of courage under fire but a sombre, sobering, often brutal take on the dehumanisation of military life. Over-familiarity dogs Jarhead throughout yet it still affords a unique perspective that’s thought provoking if not profound. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jamie Foxx star; San Mendes (Road to Perdition, American Beauty) directs.

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