Best films on the box: September 1-7

Film and television critic Philip Wakefield assesses the best movies on offer on the box this week, for Tuesday, September 1 to Monday September 7.

Tuesday, September 1

Spider-Man 2
2004, PGR, 8,30pm, TV2
The geek gone good (Tobey Maguire) meets his tentacled nemesis, Doc Oc (Alfred Molina), a geek gone bad, in this terrific sequel. Outstanding CGI work and Molina’s multi-dimensional take on a comic-book cliché turns the misunderstood scientist who becomes a beast into an amazing villain. Sam Raimi (Drag Me to Hell) directs.

Wednesday, September 2

The Breakfast Club
1985, AO, 8.30pm, C4
Iconic Brat Pack comedy/drama about five high school students who moan and mope their way through Saturday detention. When it comes to talk, these are rebels without a pause. John Hughes stylishly directs his own pat screenplay; Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and Judd Nelson star.

Thursday, September 3

Species II
1998, AO, 8.30pm, Prime
Sequel that’s scarcely evolved from the original, starring Natasha Henstridge as the sexy ET who, hungry for a mate, finds one in an astronaut infected with alien DNA. Lots of slimy sex, sudden violence and gory effects ensue. Michael Madsen and CSI's Marg Helgenberger again co-star.

Friday, September 4

Jumper
2008, AO, 8.30pm, Sky Movies
Director Doug Liman’s post-Bourne Identity descent from the giddy genius of Swingers and Go to the hollow, high-concept heroics of Mr & Mrs Smith accelerates with this stinker of a sci-fi thriller. Shattered Glass’ Hayden Christensen plays a "jumper" who, inexplicably, can teleport himself to anywhere in the world while eluding globe-hopping assassin Samuel L Jackson. Jamie Bell also stars.

Saturday, September 5

Closer
2004, AO, 8.30pm, TV One
Director Mike Nichols updates his Carnal Knowledge with this absorbing, starkly adult drama about two obsessive couples whose intimacy - and bent for dangerous liaisons - pushes them further apart. The performances and dialogue are extraordinary while the fractured storytelling is surprisingly fluid and elegant. Yet for all its intensity, wit and artistry, Closer winds up being as much in limbo as its insecure, self-destructive characters. Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Jude Law and Natalie Portman star.

National Security
2003, AO, 10.30pm, TV2
Buddy-buddy action-comedy starring Martin Lawrence and Steve Zahn as ex-LAPD cops pounding the security beat. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan’s Dennis Dugan directs a sporadically funny but overfamiliar screenplay by David Ronn and Jay Scherick (Guess Who, Norbit).

The Gift
2001, AO, 8.30pm, TV3
Cate Blanchett’s psychic solo mum becomes the sceptical police’s last resort when the floozy fiancee (Katie Holmes) of her son’s teacher (Greg Kinnear) disappears and the prime suspect is the wife-beating husband (Keanu Reeves) of a client (Hilary Swank). If it sounds familiar, it’s because TV2 only aired it last weekend, albeit late night. Sam Raimi directs.

Dante's Peak
1996, AO, 10.30pm, TV3
Exciting, suspenseful but preposterous natural disaster thriller about a sleepy small town facing extinction at the foot of a dormant volcano. Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton manage to endure everything Mother Nature and Hollywood’s top special effects wizards hurl at them yet can’t triumph over the lame dialogue and corny contrivances. These are mere quibbles, however, given Dante’s Peak has no pretensions other than to be exhilarating escapism. Ex-pat Roger Donaldson directs.

Sunday, September 6

Stranger Than Fiction
2006, AO, 8.30pm, TV2
Harold Crick is confused: is his life a comedy or a tragedy? It turns out to be a sweet, goofy romance that rewards star Will Ferrell with his best role since Elf. He plays a tax auditor whose fate winds up in the hands of a reclusive novelist (Emma Thompson) narrating his regimented life - and pending death - as an internal monologue. Stranger Than Fiction is Charlie Kaufman-lite, with an ingenious, mind-games conceit that isn’t as elaborate as Adaptation or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind but is just as intriguing and engaging. Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace, The Kite Runner) directs; Maggie Gyllenhaal and Dustin Hoffman co-star.

Colors
1988, AO, 8.30pm, C4
Handsome, brutal, cynically predictable indictment of American law and order set against the backdrop of gang warfare. Caught in the middle are Robert Duvall and Sean Penn as odd-couple centurions: Duvall’s the blue knight vet who believes in peaceful arbitration, Penn the gung-ho greenhorn who thinks the only talk that counts comes from the barrel of a gun. The premise is cliched but Dennis Hopper’s unsensational direction makes for a restrained, thoughtful insight into a vexing social issue that also entertains as highly-charged drama.

The Grudge
2004, AO, 10.45pm, TV2
Like The Ring, The Grudge is a Japanese horror film re-made for American audiences. But unlike The Ring, the spirit of the original has been retained, along with the director, crew and setting. The biggest difference is the casting of Hollywood leads, with Sarah Michelle Gellar playing a caregiver in a house that would give even Buffy the Vampire Slayer nightmares. It’s a slim premise - an Amityville Horror of the Orient - that’s padded out with overlapping, intriguing storylines and languid pacing enlivened by spooky, sometimes startling effects. Ultimately, though, The Grudge is cursed by creaky haunted house clichés that undermine its impact.

Monday, September 7

United 93
2006, AO, 8.30pm, TV3
This fateful flight has been the subject of numerous documentaries and dramatisations since it took off from Newark Airport five years ago on September 11. Yet writer/director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Ultimatum) still manages to wring you dry of adrenalin and emotion as he charts in real time the escalating horror and heroism of what happened on board. Christian Clemenson, Trish Gates and David Alan Basche star.

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