Spy Kids (Robert Rodriguez, 2001)
3pm, 8pm, Sky Movies Premier
Rodriguez, who brought a fizzing inventiveness to genre movies such as Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn, does a similar job on the family film here. It's a spy spoof in which top (married) agents Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino) are kidnapped by the diabolical Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming) - a kids' TV show presenter-cum-megalomaniac.
Now the only people who can foil him are the Cortez children Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara). Rodriguez's script is packed with action, laughs and astute comments on family life; there are exuberant performances from old and young, and Cary White's astonishing sets are part Bond-movie, part Brothers Grimm. Pure fun from beginning to end.
The Flower of My Secret (Pedro Almodovar, 1995)
8pm, FilmFour
Nothing like the frenetic early comedies - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and all - with which Almodovar made his name; this heralds his mature period. It's the story of a romantic novelist, Leo (Marisa Paredes) who, spurned by her husband, struggles to write something more challenging.
Intelligent, warmly perceptive, packed with rich characters - her niggly mother and sister, Chus Lampreave and Rossy de Palma; her bosom buddy, Carmen Elias - and still funny.
The Parallax View (Alan J Pakula, 1974)
8pm, 1.30am, Sky Movies Cinema
Superb, convoluted thriller haunted by the political paranoia of Pakula's Klute and All the President's Men. Warren Beatty has a meaty role as journalist Joe Frady, who is investigating a series of assassinations that point to an enormous conspiracy, and to the mysterious Parallax Corporation. Aside from the bar-room brawling and sweaty chases, there is a nightmarish sense of the truth being just beyond the grasp, behind one more closed door.
Blow (Ted Demme, 2001)
10pm, Sky Movies Premier
The late Ted Demme's last film is the real-life story of George Jung, America's biggest drug-runner in the 70s. His life of crime begins in near-innocence, persuading air hostess girlfriends to smuggle Mexican marijuana to fund his hedonistic California lifestyle: but later partnership with the Medellin cocaine cartel is a much more serious business.
Unfortunately the film mirrors the decline, the vivid colours of the first half fading in a monotonous second. Still, it's an absorbing tale, with Johnny Depp - sporting hairstyles out of his Edward Scissorhands - convincing as Jung and strong support from Franka Potente and Penelope Cruz as the women in his life, Ray Liotta and Rachel Griffiths as his parents.
