Skyline, The Mortal Instruments, City of Bones, Pitch Black, Django Unchained, The Night Porter: films on TV today

Greg and Colin Strause trade as “the Brothers Strause” and graduated from a successful career in visual effects (they created the iceberg sequence in Titanic), before graduating to directing AVPR: Aliens vs Predator Requiem, which repelled critics but made money. As did this alien invasion thriller, in which strange blue lights in the Los Angeles sky turn anyone who looks at them into a zombie, at which point they are literally hoovered up into extraterrestrial spaceships. We’ve seen all of this before, many times, but Skyline has a certain confidence that’s hard to knock, and cost relatively little (reportedly under $20 million). Where the similarly pitched Battle Los Angeles had name actors, Skyline boasts just Eric Balfour (you may remember him from 24), but it’s the inventive and resourceful action that counts here.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones ★★★
PREMIERE 9.00-11.35pm Film4

Moody teens discover supernatural powers in this adaptation of the popular young adult fantasy novel.

Pitch Black ★★★★
9.00-11.10pm Movie Mix

Afraid of the dark? The crew of a crashed spaceship has to rely on Vin Diesel's eyes when an eclipse on a strange planet brings flesh-eating creatures out into the open.

Django Unchained ★★★★
10.00pm-1.25am 5★

Think "Once upon a Time in the South" with Jamie Foxx as a former slave whose fury is unleashed in Quentin Tarantino's audacious genre mash-up.

The Night Porter ★★★
11.45pm-2.00am Talking Pictures TV

A rare chance to see this controversial drama, in which Dirk Bogarde tramples over his matinée-idol image to play a former Nazi embroiled in a S&M relationship with Charlotte Rampling.

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