Your Night In: Every movie on free-to-air TV tonight rated or slated

Your Tuesday night viewing options include a jam-packed action flick that brought together the acting chops of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro for the first time, or a midweek comedic antidote with the second Austin Powers.

HEAT (M)

****1/2

8.40pm GEM

Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) is one of those cops who has been chewed up and spat out by the very system he used to believe in. Then along comes chameleonic crook Neil McCauley (Robert DeNiro) and his crack troop of highrolling thieves. Employing a clinical precision that is Hanna’s own Achilles heel, McCauley is about to pull off the job of a lifetime. Woe betide anyone stupid enough to stand in his way. As the expected showdown between McCauley and Hanna looms, it’s clear that both will have to pay an ultimate price to seal their respective fates. Unbelievably, this was the first film to bring together DeNiro and Pacino, and the scene where they finally come face-to-face – a lengthy exchange in a late-night diner – is the true high point of an intelligent and exciting actioner absolutely jam-packed with great moments.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (M)

****

7.30pm WORLD MOVIES

The time and place vividly conjured here is a 1980s summer in northern Italy. However, once the story kicks in, the overwhelming beauty of the movie does not seem to matter as much. What comes to the fore even more powerfully is a certain state of mind captured in fine detail. Anyone who can remember what it was like to fall in love for the first time – that moment where the here and now were all that mattered, and the how and why could wait forever – will recognise the aching accuracy of what this captivating movie conveys. Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is 17 years of age, the only child of an American father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and French mother (Amira Casar), living an idyllic year-round existence in the Italian countryside. Upon the arrival of a visitor from America for an extended stay – Oliver (Armie Hammer), a graduate student in his mid-twenties – Elio finds himself drawn to the good-looking guest in ways he cannot fully understand. Or, for that matter, hide.

Mike Myers in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.

AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME (MA15+)

***

8.30PM 7FLIX

A rare comedy sequel that matches the original. Strangely, Mike Myers’ title character is nowhere near as amusing as the minor players, and the imbalance works. If you’re after an antidote to the midweek blues, some time spent in the company of demented Dr Evil (Myers again), his surly son Scott (Seth Green), the magnificent Mini-Me (Verne Troyer) and the delightful Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham) should do the trick.

THE NAKED GUN (M)

***1/2

10.35PM 7FLIX

First seen in the highly influential (and at six episodes, unjustly short-lived) TV series Police Squad!, Leslie Nielsen’s Lieutenant Frank Drebin remains one of the classic creations of modern comedy. Keeping a straight face during the most ridiculous of scenes is only half the achievement for the veteran Canadian actor – Nielsen has us completely believing he really is that stupid. As scripted by the writing team that gave the world Flying High and Top Secret, the deliciously dumb jokes just don’t let up until that ridiculous, Frank-saves-the-Queen finale.

THREE MOVIES TO STREAM OR RENT TO GET YOU THROUGH TO EVENING

HAMILTON (M)

DISNEY+, 162 min

***1/2

This is not a feature movie adaptation of the mega-hit stage musical that has been selling out houses around the world for several years. That will happen later this decade, for sure. No, this is a live recording of the spectacular stage show featuring the A-list company (headed by creator and chief composer Lin-Manuel Miranda) that put this epic endeavour on the map in the first place. This is the version for which a ticket often changed hands for thousands of dollars. So a look-see up close from the comfort of your lounge room just has to be a bargain, right? Kind of. An ambitious biopic of American founding father Alexander Hamilton can easily get the better of those not totally up to speed with their US history. Don’t be afraid to press pause and take a breather.

Daveed Diggs is Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, which is now streaming on Disney+.

OUTSIDE IN (M)

****

NETFLIX

Lovers of all things modestly, yet powerfully written – then enhanced by performances aptly exhibiting the same traits – should make a beeline for this lovely American indie drama. This is the kind of mature, confident and gimmick-free material that rarely makes into cinemas much these days. A simple, no-frills story centres on Chris (Jay Duplass), a 38-year-old man who has spent his entire adult life behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Now he is out and struggling to reintegrate with the real world. Upon returning to the small town where he both grew up and was arrested, Chris reconnects with Carol (a superb Edie Falco of The Sopranos), his former school high-school teacher and the one staunch ally who kept pressing the case for release. Without giving too much away, Chris becomes fixated on Carol in ways that have nothing to do with just simple gratitude. As the pair become closer, Carol has a decision to make that could have dire implications for Chris’ tenuous hold on freedom as a new parolee.

LAUREL CANYON (M)

****

DOCPLAY

This exquisite study of a singular place and time in popular music history is one of the finest music documentaries of recent years. Laurel Canyon is a rustic, idyllic hideaway just kilometres away from downtown Los Angeles. It is here, in the mid-1960s, that an incredibly influential community of singer-songwriters evolved, including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt and various members of The Eagles. The roll call does not end there. The use of previously unseen home movies and photographs is spellbinding. Highly recommended.

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