Settle in for the evening because there are some great films on TV later

One of the best days in recent memory for films on TV

Much like the weather getting colder and abundance of football on the TV, you can tell it’s getting closer to Christmas because the standard of films on TV is getting better.

If you fancy sticking on a cup of tea and getting stuck into some decent films, there’s plenty of good stuff on the TV tonight.

Here are our picks.

Flight of the Navigator

Film4 13:00

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81%

Plot:12-year-old David Freeman (Joey Cramer), playing in the woods near his home, is knocked unconscious. He awakens and heads home, only to find strangers living there. He also finds that the year is 1986 and that he’s been officially missing for eight years. NASA officials determine that David was abducted by aliens during his blackout, and hope to scan the boy’s brain in order to unlock a few secrets of the universe.

Watch it because:  It’s an ’80s classic.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Comedy Central 18:20

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 33% but who cares?

Plot:  Ace enters a Tibetan monastery to search for peace. His quest is interrupted when a British emissary arrives and begs him to head for Africa to locate a stolen sacred white bat.

Watch it because: Where else would you see a grown man climbing out a rhino’s ass?

About Time

Film 4 at 18:40

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 68% which is pretty criminal.

Plot: At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Watch it because: It’s one of the bets romantic-comedies around. Sweet but never cynical, it’s far more moving than it should be.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Channel 4 at 21:00

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%

Plot: he beloved characters from the original “X-Men” film trilogy join forces with their younger selves from the past, “X-Men: First Class,” in order to change a major historical event and fight in an epic battle that could save our future.

Watch it because: It features one of the greatest scenes in comic-book history. Quicksilver, The Pentagon, slow motion. Brilliant.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Film 4 at 21:00

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 78%

Plot: Martin Scorsese directs the story of New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort. From the American dream to corporate greed, Belfort goes from penny stocks and righteousness to IPOs and a life of corruption in the late 80s. Excess success and affluence in his early twenties as founder of the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont warranted Belfort the title “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

Watch it because: DiCaprio’s most O.T.T performance yet.

The Impossible

E4 at 9:00 

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81%

Plot: Maria, Henry and their three sons begin their winter vacation in Thailand, looking forward to a few days in tropical paradise. But on the morning of December 26th, as the family relaxes around the pool after their Christmas festivities the night before, a terrifying roar rises up from the center of the earth. As Maria freezes in fear, a huge wall of black water races across the hotel grounds toward her.

Watch it because: The director, J.A. Bayona, is a supremely gifted filmmaker. He’s directing the new Jurassic World film and his previous effort, The Orphanage, is the best horror of the decade.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Christmas Gold at 21:40

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 67%

Plot: The Gremlins are back, and this time, they’ve taken control of a New York media mogul’s high-tech skyscraper.

Watch it because: The ‘brain’ Gremlin is still absolutely hilarious.

Shaun Of The Dead

ITV1 at 23:05

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%

Plot: A man decides to turn his moribund life around by winning back his ex-girlfriend, reconciling his relationship with his mother, and dealing with an entire community that has returned from the dead to eat the living.

Watch it because: Well, you’ve seen it 74 times already so another viewing won’t hurt you. It’s a classic.

The Cider House Rules

BBC2 at 23:15

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 71%

Plot: A compassionate young man, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a doctor there, decides to leave to see the world.

Watch it because: The cast is absolutely stellar with Tobey Maguire, Charlize Theron, Michael Caine, Paul Rudd and J.K Simmons all featuring.

The Drop

Channel 4 at 23:35 

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89%

Plot: Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood’s past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living – no matter the cost.

Watch it because: Tom Hardy. Need we say more?