GETAWAY - NINE, 5.30pm
They say a change is as good as a holiday, which is a great thing if you're a fan of the travels of the Getaway crew. Returning with a new season to Saturday evenings, the show will probably pick up some fresh fans who find themselves at a loose end on the weekend. Today, Natalie soaks up the sun on the stunning island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Catriona, who has had the enviable job of travelling for the series since 1996, begins a four-week journey through the United States, kicking off in the place where it all happens, the Big Apple. Meanwhile, Jules doesn't need his board or boardies for his adventure, jungle surfing in Far North Queensland.
BONDI VET - TEN, 7.30pm
Dr Chris Brown is back, curing injured and ill animals while also winning us over with his megawatt smile. The vet's special brand of TLC has been missed on Saturday evenings, and he is going to need an extra dose of it tonight, with the Bondi Vet team checking up on the welfare of animals affected by the recent Blue Mountains bush fires. The show is often a double-edged sword - while it's heartwarming to see sick creatures receive the care they need, it can also be distressing for the softies out there, who can't help but spring a few tears at the sight of any creature in pain or discomfort. It's a doco for some, a weepie for others.
NATURE'S CLASSROOM: An AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK ADVENTURE - SBS ONE, 7.30pm
Tune in to live vicariously through the inspiring Marescot family. Tired of working long hours away from his family, nature filmmaker Luc made the decision - after convincing biologist wife Myriam, of course - to pull the kids out of school to embark on the road trip of a lifetime. Nature and the world become the classroom for lucky kids Esther, 13, and Myrdhim, 9, as the family goes on a seven-month journey from Africa to Australia. Determined not to miss out on any of their children's milestones again, the couple hope their combined skills, knowledge and travel will prove richer education than any school could offer.
GREASE (1978) - SEVEN, 7.00pm
John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing, Frankie Avalon. Following his success in Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta was a man in demand - and the perfect choice for the role of greaser Danny Zuko for the cinematic adaptation of Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's stage musical. Danny indulges in some "summer lovin'" with Sandy (Olivia Newton-John), but when the two find themselves classmates after summer, the "butter wouldn't melt in her mouth" Sandy is not cool enough for our Danny and his group of cronies. Full of song, dance, car races and, of course, a moral message, this classic musical can be watched over and over again. It's not necessarily of the highest calibre, but "Grease" is definitely the word.
MURDER BY NUMBERS (2002) - NINE, midnight (AV15+)
Sandra Bullock, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling. Succeeding against type, Sandra Bullock plays a beer-swigging, tough-as-nails detective who treats men like objects in this murder thriller from director Barbet Schroeder. Bullock locks horns with a couple of high-schoolers (Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt) who dare to dream up the perfect homicide and outsmart the authorities. Her strong showing is matched by the red-leather-clad Gosling (Drive), whose Jimmy Dean-like charisma is strangely alluring. That said, the plot just doesn't pack enough heat - it's not much better than an episode of CSI or, for that matter, Murder, She Wrote.
SHAME (2011) - SBS ONE, 9.30pm (MA15+)
Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale. British artist Steve McQueen (who directed the gripping 2008 drama Hunger) again teams with actor Michael Fassbender for a story more about first-world problems than the sort of political strife of his first feature. With looks and a lifestyle that conjure thoughts of Christian Bale in American Psycho, Fassbender plays an affluent New Yorker whose debauched existence is interrupted by his visiting sister (Carey Mulligan). McQueen has a poetic, but fiercely honest taste for realism, which in this case means explicit sex scenes - but the flesh is never used to titillate, only to punctuate this powerful depiction of modern malaise.
HUNGER (2008) - SBS ONE, 11.20pm (AV15+)
Michael Fassbender, Stuart Graham, Laine Megawm. The history of the Troubles in Northern Ireland can be shocking to revisit in earnest. In 1981, a number of Irish prisoners went on a hunger strike in protest at the British Government's refusal to classify them as political prisoners. Hunger, the first feature film from Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen, depicts the final six weeks in the life of Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), the first of 10 hunger strikers to die that year. An incredibly bleak and raw piece of work - it is more a film about human suffering than political propaganda. Difficult but essential viewing.
THE DINNER GUEST (2007) - SBS ONE, 1.35am
Daniel Auteuil, Thierry Lhermitte, Valerie Lemercier. Amusing French comedy about average people pretending they're something they're not. Daniel Auteuil plays 50-year-old Gerard who, after three years of unemployment, invites a new potential boss (Hippolyte Girardot) over for dinner. Panic-stricken, Gerard's wife Collette (Valerie Lemercier) recruits their PR guru neighbour Alexandre (Thierry Lhermitte) for a speedy makeover. Not the best showcase for Auteuil's talents, but a pleasant romp nonetheless.
LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (2004) - 7MATE, 6.30pm
Jim Carrey, Emily Browning, Liam Aiken, Meryl Streep. Based on the first three in Daniel Handler's Lemony Snicket series of children's books, this densely stylised piece of bleak gothic fun has something of the nastiness of a Roald Dahl story. Jim Carrey is in madcap form as the vile Count Olaf, who tries to swindle the wealthy Baudelaire children (Emily Browning and Liam Aiken) out of their inheritance after their parents are killed in a fire. A worthy tale for children and adults alike. The animated credits by Jamie Caliri (responsible for the opening sequence of TV's United States of Tara) are worth watching alone.
BASEketball (1998) - 7MATE, 8.30pm
Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Dian Bachar, Yasmine Bleeth. South Park's irrepressible duo, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, take the knife to professional sports in this hilarious and off-the-wall tale directed by Flying High! creator David Zucker (surprisingly, Stone and Parker only act here). What starts as nothing more than a driveway game shooting hoops evolves into the "hottest thing in sports", with large-scale events and big-money endorsements for players. But all is not well: the two buddies who invented the game fall out over the same girl, while a greedy businessman is trying to manipulate them out of their invention. A little more high-brow (read: not deliberately goofy) compared with other "gross-out" comedies, with some great cameos, and all the better for it.
GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST (2009) - GO!, 6.30pm
Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Emma Stone. In yet another Hollywood regurgitation of the slacker-turned-hero formula, Matthew McConaughey plays toxic bachelor Connor Mead, who displays a love 'em and leave 'em approach to dating. However, his brother's wedding forces Connor to take a long, Hollywood-style look at his life, and with the help of his uncle, Wayne (Michael Douglas), realises he needs to stop his womanising. The ghosts of girlfriends past are women from Connor's former life who, through the very goodness of their moral fibre, put him on the right path to finding his one true love, Jenny (Jennifer Garner). Ardent fans of the romantic comedy genre will lap this up.
FOOL'S GOLD (2008) - GO!, 8.30pm
Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland, Alexis Dziena. There's no denying Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey shared amazing chemistry in How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, but this time around it's just not the same. Shot in Queensland (doubling as the Caribbean), McConaughey plays a not-too-bright treasure seeker who's obsessed with finding chests lost at sea. His pursuit of riches has cost him his wife (Hudson), who was jointly pursuing the treasure, but is now divorcing him to work aboard a luxury yacht, owned by the wealthy Nigel Honeycutt (Donald Sutherland). Once the eye-candy value wears off, there's very little left to salvage from this romantic comedy.
CALAMITY JANE (1953) - GEM, 1.10pm
Doris Day, Howard Keel, Gale Robbins. With an innocence that launched a million heartaches, America's sweetheart, Doris Day (affectionately known as "Do-Do"), belts out number after number as the titular gun-totin' tomboy with eyes for Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel). One of Warner Brothers' more rip-snortin' good-time musicals.
55 DAYS AT PEKING (1963) - GEM, 3.15pm
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, David Niven. This historical war epic barely keeps its balance on the dramatic high-wire of costume dramas. In turn-of-the-century Peking, Charlton Heston leads the charges during the Boxer rebellion, with David Niven as his right-hand man. A neat rewriting of history Hollywood-style, with action aplenty, though a noted lack of Chinese actors and the requisite romantic subplot manage to drag it into mediocrity.
LOVE IS IN THE AIR (2005) - SBS2, 12.15am
Vincent Elbaz, Marion Cotillard, Gilles Lellouche, Elsa Kikoine. This French comedy starring 2008 Oscar winner Marion Cotillard (Nine, La Vie En Rose) explores the notions of fate through the reunion of two lovers. Light and funny, it tells the story of Yann (Vincent Elbaz), who must deal with his chronic fear of flying while pining for Alice (Cotillard), whom he met 10 years earlier. Suddenly she reappears in his life and helps him assess his phobia. Surprisingly moving in the finale, this would plummet if not for the engaging leads.
