Wolverine, Liberace, Sharknado, the Eels and perfect steak

HOMETIME: Enjoy a recipe for the perfect steak then wait an hour before swimming, because there's sharks on the telly and some hungry Eels as well.

BELOW is a recipe to settle the arguments once and for all - how to cook the perfect steak. With Sharknado and the woeful Parramatta Eels on the box it's the ideal partner. Then there's Hugh Jackman and Wolverine to think about.

Welcome to HomeTime, our 4pm daily bulletin of what to watch on TV, what to cook and today the best of the new releases at the movies.

WHAT MOVIES TO SEE THIS WEEKEND WITH LEIGH PAATSCH

Leigh Paatsch's guide to the movies

Playing each other like a piano

Michael Douglas, left, as Liberace, and Matt Damon, as Scott Thorson, in a scene from "Behind the Candelabra." (AP Photo/HBO, Claudette Barius)

A bizarre love story, and also a familiar tale of woe, BEHIND THE CANDELABRA belatedly lifts the lid on the secret gay life of Liberace. Throughout a long reign as the Las Vegas king of keyboard kitsch, Liberace (Michael Douglas) went to extraordinary lengths to deny all accusations of homosexuality. This compelling drama spans the final decade of Liberace's life, wherein he finally met Mr Right, only for it all to go so horribly wrong. Matt Damon co-stars as Scott Thorson, a sheltered young fellow too wide-eyed to resist the razzle-dazzle of all things Liberace. Nor can he cope with the demands of a dysfunctionally undercover relationship. The grotesquely gripping performances of Douglas and Damon are wonders to behold here. Both actors step inside difficult roles with ease, revealing not only the unlovable, spiteful monsters that Liberace and Thorson were fated to become, but also the loving, giving men they might have been. {General release}

Leigh Paatsch's movie review: Behind the Candelabra

Liberace's ex-lover says he slept with Michael Jackson

Not what you knew, it's Hugh, you know

Rila Fukushima, left, and Hugh Jackman in a scene from "The Wolverine." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Ben Rothstein)

Against all expectations, Hugh Jackman has found a way to make his metal-clawed, mutton-chopped mutant Wolverine (aka Logan) matter all over again. The tentative dithering of the duff 2009 spin-off is gone. THE WOLVERINE means business from the get-go. An enjoyably over-the-top adventure story unfolds largely in Japan, where Logan has emerged from years of exile to do battle with the Yakuza, some ninja archers and every freelance hitman in the land. Yep, it is mostly a fight movie, occasionally a chase movie, and that it is all. Set-piece combat sequences range from quite good to truly great. A heart-stopping five-minute scrap on the roof of a bullet train is one of the great stand-alone action scenes of 2013. Never absolutely essential, but never a waste of your precious time. Particularly if it's a dose of instant escapism you're looking for. {General release}

Leigh Paatsch's movie review: The Wolverine

Picton, NSW, shines in Hugh Jackman's The Wolverine

Hugh Jackman: I have sex as Wolverine

Making a meal of an unpalatable discussion

Actress Judith Le Zien in a scene from French film

A lot of the French product that makes it into Australian cinemas is very soft, and very middle-of-the-road. Nothing wrong with that, but it is refreshing to see WHAT'S IN A NAME?, a Gallic comedy with a little edge, buck the trend. At a dinner party convened to premiere the name of their unborn baby, a Parisian couple gradually find themselves at the eye of a conversational cyclone. As the evening progresses, family and friends alike do not hold back on the contrary opinions or shock revelations. Based on the hit stage play Le Prénom, this deceptively dark farce can slide from feel-good to feelbad in the blink of a one-liner. Does go on a touch long, but electric dialogue holds is charge to the very end. Stars Patrick Bruel, Valerie Benguigui. {Limited release}

THE BEST OF TONIGHT'S TV WITH TV WRITER DIANNE BUTLER

Sharknado, Universal, Foxtel, 8.30pm 3 stars

Tara Reid stars in the mockbuster television movie Sharknado screening on Foxtel.

It's sharks, it's a tornado, it's Tara Reid. It's the biggest disaster movie in, like, ages. What happens is - there is totally a plot - all this water floods Los Angeles and sharks, usually in the ocean, are suddenly everywhere. And not just where there's water either. In the air, roaming the streets like a deranged Travis Bickle. Or, you know, like Travis Bickle. They can bite into metal. And can and do try to eat all people they encounter. This is so much better than Shark Week. Plus the hero's name is Fin. Yep. Fin owns a bar, Tara Reid plays his ex-wife April, John Heard plays the local drunk George. George is quite the name of the minute isn't it. John Heard was the father in Home Alone so this is a wonderful step up. He was also the bent cop who jumped off the bridge in The Sopranos. Spoiler alert. Fin is played by Ian Ziering, who said in an interview - did you see this? - that he almost turned down Sharknado because it had "a lot of holes in the script." This is the actor who played Steve Sanders in Beverly Hills 90210. But then his manager "assured" him there would be "more than" 300 visual effects. So then he was like, oh. OK. This was seriously how he arrived at his decision - visual effects papered over the enormous holes in the script. A script which contains the line "We're going to need a bigger chopper." Ian now describes Sharknado as his Bruce Willis Pulp Fiction moment. Steady on Ian, you're better than that. Bruce looks like a massive asshole after that Red 2 interview during the week. Whereas you, on the other hand, have already signed up for Sharknado: The Sequel.

Sharknado revives career of Aussie actor Jaason Simmons

Will Sharknado sequel jump the shark

Pictures: Tara Reid

Friday Night Football

Rugby league, Channel 9, 7.30pm/11.30pm 3 stars

Only one should be laughing. Tim Mannah from the Parramatta Eels and Krisnan Inu from the Canterbury Bulldogs before a visit to Westmead Children's Hospital to help launch the seventh Bandaged Bear Cup.

AFL, Channel 7, 7.30pm/Fox Footy, 7.30pm 4 stars

Buddy Franklin's form will be vital for Hawthorn against Geelong tonight.

This a whole other horror show. This is the worst-performing Parramatta Eels team since your children were born. Who put them on a Friday night? I don't know and I don't care but it's sweet of the NRL or whoever does the draw (someone who no longer works at Channel 9?) to consider their fans. Rugby league is, almost entirely now, a television sport. Not all games have to be about the top of the ladder. And obviously not all can be. Although one of these teams - the Bulldogs - is still in the mix at number six. If you were in Queensland you'd be making do tonight with number 12 playing number 13 but nobody's moaning about that because it's the Broncos and the Cowboys. I say nobody, but obviously people who support rugby league have come to accept different standards. Now, if it's a game you're after, Hawthorn are playing Essendon tonight, one versus two. Essendon, it's possible you've heard, have had a tiny bit of controversy - ongoing - involving drugs. And as it is they're only ahead of Geelong on percentage. Geelong who will win the premiership. I hope you're making notes for gambling purposes. Depends where you live, but you can probably see this game as it happens or later or again tomorrow. Lance Frankin, who plays for Hawthorn, will either kick some or no goals. One time last year, very upsetting, he kicked 13 in a game. Nobody wants that. Although if he must do it tonight would be OK.

NRL Late Mail Round 20

AFL Late Mail: Panic Room

Breaking Bad, Showcase, Foxtel, from 7.30pm 5 stars

Skyler White (Anna Gunn) and Walter White (Bryan Cranston) in a scene from Breaking Bad. Picture: Supplied

Yeah, I said five stars. Probably closer to four and a half though, overall. But then there's that last minute, two, of episode eight where Hank ... well, you'll see. That is mos def a five star moment. Man. So this is season five starting (again) tonight. All night. Or eight hours anyway. And when you've watched these we can all finally talk freely as adults. There'll be no more having to couch things about Gus or Mike or Hank or that kid Brock, or the new guy Todd - a high-grade idiot - we'll all know what we're here for. And then when the rest of the season, the final eight, starts in a couple of weeks we'll be good to go. This one picks up tonight right after the explosion at Casa Tranquila nursing home where Uncle Tio lived with his wheelchair and his bell. ring ring ring ring ring f****** ring ... not so case tranquila after all though was it ... Walter's got his strut on but not for long. I think we'd all go into mass drug production if it wasn't so stressful, there is just always some problem and he's got a big one right up. And then problems in every episode to come. Skyler, his wife, a complicated woman, has a very interesting reaction to it all. I loved The Sopranos - I don't know anyone who saw it and didn't love it - but I really think Breaking Bad has the tighter grip.

THE PERFECT STEAK WITH NATIONAL FOOD WRITER JANA FRAWLEY

Steak bourguignon including how to cook the steak to perfection.

Homer Simpson is quite right in labelling the pig as the magical animal and it's also possibly the number one reason many of could never make a 100 per cent commitment to vegetarianism, but, there is another: steak. A good, bloody steak.

How to cook one properly is the stuff of great debate among chefs. Some insist on only turning it once. Others turn it every 30 seconds. There are those who refuse to use anything but a barbecue versus the ones who finish it off in the oven. One chef will season the meat first, once just before it hits the serving plate.

But there are some tips on which they all agree: make sure your meat is at room temperature before you even think of putting it near any heat. Thirty minutes out of the fridge should do it. The other essential is to let the steak rest for the same amount of time it's taken you to cook it. So, let's say you're cooking your porterhouse for 8 minutes, you then should rest it for 8 minutes.

If you get that right, well done. You're a rare treat.

Steak bourguignon

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Skills: Intermediate

50g butter

2 eschalots, finely chopped

2 rashers shortcut bacon, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon plain flour

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup beef stock

4 x 150g beef Scotch fillet steaks

Olive oil cooking spray

100g button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Mashed potato and steamed green beans, to serve

Melt half the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add eschalot, bacon and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion has softened. Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually add wine, stirring constantly. Bring to the boil. Add stock. Reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, season steak with salt and pepper. Spray a large frying pan with oil. Heat over high heat. Cook steak for 3 to 4 minutes each side for medium or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate. Cover to keep warm.

Melt remaining butter in pan over high heat. Add mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes or until golden. Spoon mashed potato onto plates. Top with steaks and mushrooms. Spoon over red wine mixture. Serve with beans.