Three films battled their way to the top of a strong field by virtue of all having two chances to see them.

Today’s number one film:

Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan/2005/ USA/ Crime-Fantasy-Drama-Action-Mystery/ 141 mins/ Rated PG-13 for intense action violence, disturbing images and some thematic elements), 8.39am & 7.40pm HBOP. Watch this if you liked any of the other Dark Knight films, any Daniel Craig James Bond film or Sin City. The Chris Nolan Batmans are easily the best comic book-to-movie translations – or at least the smartest ones – so far made. With a first half structured a la Memento and the more familiar city-under-threat second half much more realistically presented than the claustrophobically dark earlier Tim Burton movies, and with Christian Bale leading an impeccable cast, this is a film that can please adults who love story & character as much as those who crave action. Beautifully shot and scored, this is a flawless film from a hugely talented director. Recommended like Spider-Man for grownups.

Also watch:

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller/ 2015/ Action-Sci-fi-Thriller/ 120 mins/ Rated R for intense sequences of violence throughout and for disturbing images), 1.35pm & 11.05pm HBO. Watch this if you liked any of the other Mad Max, Terminator or Star Wars movies. The Mad Max film franchise may be the best of them all and is certainly the one that has improved the most. Closer to four than three decades on, the director who created the original (meaning both ‘first’ and ‘groundbreaking) upstart action movie (and one of the great cult films of all time, anywhere) has the expertise, technology and budget to perfect his fuel-starved, post-nuclear Apocalypse other-world – and to fill it with highly memorable characters and moments. He also managed to get rid of the one thing that dragged the whole exercise down: Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron in the lead roles replace the loutish anti-Semite Mel Gibson, allowing the greatest car movie of all time to finally fire on all cylinders. If you don’t cheer when the guitar man starts rocking out, you need to have your imagination realigned.

Everest (Baltasar Kormakur/ 2015/ UK-Iceland-USA/ Adventure-Biography-Drama-Thriller/ 121 mins/ Rated PG-13 for intense peril and disturbing images), 1.45pm HBO Caribbean and 5.50pm HBO. Watch this if you liked Alive, Into the Wild or 127 Hours. What might have been a dreary docudrama 20 years ago is transformed into both a breathtaking – and breath-holding – adventure narrative film. Everest tells the true story of a 1996 expedition to the summit of the world’s highest mountain, a story so well known that several books, a 1998 documentary and a 1997 TV mini-series have all told it before. Today’s technology now allows it to be told the way it should have been: with real life mountain shots spliced so seamlessly into studio sequences you can’t tell. Like Alfonso Cuaron’s recreation of outer space in Gravity, Everest’s great success is that it all but carries you to the mountain. As pure narrative film, it is also unimpeachable. The performances are all strong and there’s more than a smidgeon of interest to subscribers to National Geographic magazine – but you know the film’s strength when you leave thinking, “I would never dream of doing that!” It doesn’t occur to you, until later, that you were watching a movie, not real life.

JUST NOSED OUT:

*Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Crime-Fantasy-Horror-Musical), 3.25pm HBOP; **Big (Children-Comedy-Drama), 8.15am FoxClas; Bride & Prejudice (Bollywood Rom-Com), 10.15am FoxCom; Little Miss Sunshine (Indy comedy), 9am Prmt; *Up (Animated-Family), 12.35 midday MaxU; The Squid & the Whale (Indy drama), 12.55 midday HBOP; *Dracula Untold (Horror), 11.45am HBOP; Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs II (Animated-Family), 9.29am HBOF; Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (Fantasy-Horror), 11.08am HBOF; **2 Days in New York (Indy comic drama), 2.15pm FoxCin; *Rango (Animated-Family-Western), 2.15pm FoxFam.

ALSO RAN:

Action/Adventure: Pacific Rim (Sci-fi), 9.30am HBOP; Avengers: Age of Ultron, 1.45pm HBOF;

Art House/Independent: The Master, 5.40pm Max

Biography: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, 9pm HBOS; Marie Antoinette, 8.55pm ISat

Children/Family: *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (Animated), 10am HBOS;

Classic: *Forrest Gump (Comedy-Drama), 6.35pm FoxMov

Comedy: Intolerable Cruelty (Black comedy), 5.20pm FoxCom; Last Vegas (Crime-Drama), 6.55pm CnCl

Drama: *There Will Be Blood, 1.20pm Prmt

Foreign: Phoenix (German Holocaust drama), 9pm FoxCin

Sci-Fi/Fantasy: Chappie (Crime-Comedy), 9pm Maxp

Thriller: Leon: The Professional (Action), 9pm Stun; The Bourne Ultimatum (Action), 11.38am HBO; Smokin’ Aces (Crime-Comedy), 11.35am MaxP; Stretch (Crime), 7.10pm MaxP

War: Black Hawk Down (Action), 4.20pm Prmt

Western: The Sons of Katie Elder, 3.05pm FoxClas

*Starred films have been chosen in the last two years. ** Double-starred films have been chosen in the last two months. Particularly strong Also Ran choices are bolded.

Scheduled Internet times often vary on the day, particularly around month-end.