If it’s earlier starting time was a titch later, or its later starting time a titch earlier, a contender for the Best Screenplay Ever Written would surely have made the cut (*The Imitation Game, 8.55am & 9.50pm Max).Either of the first two films in the Also Ran could also have been the BEST FILM OF THE DAY.

Today’s Number One Film:

The Sunset Limited, BEST FILM OF THE DAY 5.05pm HBO. Watch this if you liked God on Trial, The Road or God Grew Tired of Us. Even if the screenplay was by a complete moron, a two-hander featuring Samuel L Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones would be worthwhile; but add a script from his own stage play by Cormack “No Country for Old Men” McCormac and you’ve got the best hour-and-a-half you’ll spend this year contemplating life’s miseries and small mercies. Hard to say which actor is better, or whether they can surpass the script itself. It’s amazing that philosophy can be packaged in such a gripping way.A mindblowing cinematic experience but not for the people who need a stunt, an explosion or graphic nudity or violence to feel they’ve really seen a movie. Directed by Tommy Lee Jones/ 2011/ USA/ Drama/ 91 mins/ Unrated but unsuitable for preadolescents.

Also watch:

And Justice for All, 1.37pm Fox Classics. Watch this if you liked Michael Clayton, The Verdict or Gone Baby Gone. The versatile director of Moonstruck, Rollerball and Jesus Christ Superstar put a hand towards the courtroom drama in 1979 but had the sense to add a good bit of comedy and to cast Al Pacino, who was somehow denied the Oscar in favour of Dustin Hoffman in, ironically, Kramer vs Kramer, the divorce film. Most lawyers will object that everything in the film couldn’t possibly have happened to any one lawyer, but few would deny it all has already happened to many different ones.A real treat for all the wannabe lawyers and a real relief for the real ones, who at least don’t have those problems this week – unless, of course, their clients had part-heard cases before the former chief magistrate or current chief justice… Directed by Norman Jewison/ 1979/ USA/ Drama-Crime-Thriller/ 119 mins/Rated R.

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Von Ryan’s Express, 3.29pm Fox Classics. Watch this if you liked The Dirty Dozen, The Eagle Has Landed or The Great Escape. This Frank Sinatra POW escape flick begins in Bridge Over the River Kwai mode but soon accelerates into all-out The Great Escape adventure territory as the entire population of a WWII Italian war prisoner camp escape, stealing German uniforms and a whole train on the way. Splashes of humour lighten tension-filled scenes and even Sinatra is very good. Far grittier than any La-La Land, pre-Watts riots Hollywood movie could reasonably be expected to be, particularly in the last frames. Directed by Mark Robson/ 1965/ USA/ Adventure -War/ 117 mins/ Rated PG.

Just Nosed Out:

*Arrival (drama-sci-fi), 11.10am MaxP; *The Imitation Game (biodrama-history-war), 8.55am & 9.50pm Max; Jaws (horror), 11.31am FoxClas; The End of the Tour (biodrama), 12.45 midday Max.

Also Ran:

Action/Adventure: Speed, 1.45pm FxMv.

Animated/Family: Shrek Forever After, 6.27pm CnCl.

Arthouse/Independent/Cult: A Scanner Darkly (sci-fi), 7.10am MaxP.

Classic: Planet of the Apes (adventure-sci-fi), 7.40am FoxClas.

Comedy: Johnny English Reborn (action), 12.47 midday FoxFam; Horrible Bosses, 11.45am HBO.

Documentary/Biography: Winning: The Racing Life of Pal Newman, 10am Prmt.

Drama: District 9 (action-crime-sci-fi-thriller), 10pm FxMv.

Foreign: Marshland (Spanish crime thriller), 5.05pm FoxCin.

Horror: Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets (adventure-fantasy), 2.10pm HBOP.

Sci-fi/Fantasy: Alien: Director’s Cut (action), 9.33am FoxClas.

Thriller: Don’t Breathe (crime), 9pm HBOP.

War: World War Z (zombies), 8.02pm CnCl.

Western: Rio Grande (John Wayne), 9pm FoxClas.

*Starred films have been picked in the last year.**Double-starred films have been picked in the last two months.***Triple-starred films were picked last week.

Particularly strong Also Ran films are bolded.

Please verify times.Advance Internet scheduled times can be wrong, especially at month-end.