Spook spoof perfect for Atkinson

I WAS never sure whether Johnny English (Saturday, 10.45pm, Seven) was a brilliant spoof of the Bond films or a half-baked farce.

Rowan Atkinson and Natalie Imbruglia star in spy spoof Johnny English.

I WAS never sure whether Johnny English (Saturday, 10.45pm, Seven) was a brilliant spoof of the Bond films or a half-baked farce.

How does one make a Bond spoof when Bond films look increasingly like spoofs themselves? Peter Howitt directed this amiable comedy with Rowan Atkinson playing a bumbling office worker who gets to live out his fantasy of becoming a secret agent. In 2003 Atkinson was riding high on the popularity of his TV persona Mr Bean, and the mere thought of Bean as Bond was funny enough to sustain the joke.

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, Thor (Saturday, 8.30pm, Ten) is a spectacular action blockbuster with Australia's Chris Hemsworth in the superhero role: a blond-bearded man of enormous strength with the most impressive torso in movies since Arnold Schwarzenegger's. Banished from his home planet by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), Thor lands in a remote stretch of New Mexico, armed only with his magic hammer, to begin an intergalactic romance with beautiful astrophysicist Natalie Portman.

The story has little to do with Nordic legend, but the extraterrestrial scenes have a gothic grandeur and somehow look mythological rather than merely alien. Hemsworth is shaping as a Hollywood action star. He was seen as a racing driver in Ron Howard's Rush, and Thor: The Dark World has just hammered its way into cinemas (see David Stratton's review, page 16).

Great action movies tend to be based on comic strips (Thor) or popular old TV shows. In the second category is The Fugitive (Saturday, 9.40pm, Nine), which began life as a 1960s TV series to become one of the big screen's great escapist adventures and another landmark in the career of Harrison Ford.

Dr Richard Kimble (Ford) escapes from custody after being wrongly charged with murdering his wife and goes in search of the real killer. He's pursued by US marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), whose gruff, low-key performance goes close to stealing the show. The stunt work and action sequences, including a train-bus crash, have rarely been bettered. The Fugitive ranks among the greatest Hollywood chase thrillers.

Released in 1995, Toy Story (Saturday, 7pm, Seven) was a milestone in animation, a visual masterpiece, a triumph for the Disney/Pixar studios and the first film created entirely on computers. Two toys -- Woody, a cowboy (voiced by Tom Hanks), and his space-ranger pal Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) -- join forces against their common foe, a spoiled kid with a penchant for harming his toys.

The film won a special Oscar for its animation. It was followed four years later by Toy Story 2 (Saturday, 8.45pm, Seven), again directed by John Lasseter, this time with a female toy, spunky cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack). An unbeatable double-bill for youngsters (and many parents).

BEST ON SHOW

The Fugitive (M)
4 stars
Saturday, 9.40pm, Nine

Thor (M)
3.5 stars
Saturday, 8.30pm, Ten

Toy Story (G)
4 stars
Saturday, 7pm, Seven