HDTV Movie Premieres: February 26-March 4

Duplicity: TV3, 8.30pm Saturday.

The writer/director of Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy, targets the lighter side of industrial espionage in this sophisticated to-catch-a-spy caper with a droll romantic-comedy streak. Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play transatlantic secret agents-cum-distrustful sweethearts who risk being outfoxed by one another when they team up to scam two multi-nationals. Their skulduggery is fiendishly complicated, but brain teasing rather than baffling, and the time-fractured storytelling keeps you guessing until the final, surprising switcheroo. (2009)

Batman & Robin: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Saturday.

After a terrific opening, Batman 4 loses what there is of the plot and sidelines its tortured heroes for the villainous ambitions of Mr Freeze and Poison Ivy. While Arnold Schwarzenegger impresses as the ultimate cold warrior, and the Amazonian Uma Thurman turns more than just leaves as the Mother Earth from Hell, George Clooney’s strengths are all-but overlooked as the new Batman. He brings to the part not only the proper physical presence but also a rakish charm and wit. (1996)

Hide and Seek: TV3, 11.05pm Saturday.

Robert De Niro and Dakota Fanning head an excellent cast in an otherwise undistinguished thriller about a newly widowed psychologist who moves to the country to raise his traumatised daughter. It’s not just audiences who were in two minds about Hide and Seek: it was released on DVD with four alternate endings. Harper’s Island creator Ari Schlossberg wrote the screenplay; X-Men’s Famke Janssen, Elisabeth Shue (Piranha), ex-Mrs Steven Spielberg Amy Irving and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) co-star. (2005)

Million Dollar Baby: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Sunday.

Clint Eastwood goes one more round with Unforgiven’s Morgan Freeman as his loyal lieutenant in a Best Picture boxing drama with a sucker punch to cherish. The scenario sounds twee: dinosaur trainer (Eastwood) reluctantly turns long-shot rookie (Hilary Swank) into a Rockette with world champ prospects. But Million Dollar Baby astonishes and exhilarates thanks to a supremely structured screenplay that’s peppered with witty, trenchant dialogue and has a heartbreaking, breathtaking twist. (2004)

Shakespeare in Love: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Monday.

This witty, touching, Oscar-winning Elizabethan triumph about how history’s greatest scribe overcame writer’s block and found his real-life Juliet is packed with period puns, literary gags and showbiz barbs (and bards). Gwyneth Paltrow shines as the muse who melts Will’s heart and saves the world from Romeo & Ethel, The Pirate’s Daughter. Geoffrey Rush, Joseph Fiennes, Ben Affleck, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson, Rupert Everett, Martin Clunes and Judi Dench co-star. (1998)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus: Sky Movies, 8.30pm Wednesday.

An immortal holy man in a traveling circus tries to find his daughter a suitor before the Devil calls for her hand. Terry Gilliam directs Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp and Christopher Plummer; he wrote the screenplay with longtime collaborator Charles McKeown (Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). As the New York Times quipped: “It’s a full three-ring affair, complete with puffs of smoke, glitter and grunge, some hocus-pocus, mumbo jumbo and even a dwarf.” (2009)

You’ve Got Mail: Sky Movies Greats, 8.30pm Friday.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan play cyber-lovers who meet through e-mail – only to see their relationship crash when their paths cross off-line. Why? Because she’s the owner of a storybook children’s bookshop that his discount books chain forces to close when it opens around the corner. Predictable pap, perhaps, but the scenario’s elevated by believable leads and a cleverly crafted screenplay that’s smart, corny and touching. Nora Ephron (Julie & Julia) directs. (1998)