NEW YORK (OSV News) -- The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of Feb. 19. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence, and sexual situations.

Sunday, Feb. 19, 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. EST (TCM) "Joy of Living" (1938). Wacky romantic comedy about a down-to-earth Broadway musical star (Irene Dunne) and a rich nonconformist (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) who insists she drop her career and bevy of idle relatives to sail away for a carefree life as his wife on their own island in the South Seas. Director Tay Garnett keeps the odd-couple situation amusing as practical star resists free-spirited suitor until the inevitable happy ending. Romantic complications. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-II -- adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2:45-5:30 p.m. EST (AMC) "Arrival" (2016). Mesmerizing and unusually intimate science-fiction drama about an American linguist (the excellent Amy Adams) trying to communicate with aliens inside a spacecraft hovering over a Montana field -- one of a dozen such vessels that have descended at various spots around the globe and which threaten to trigger panic and geopolitical instability. Director Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of a short story by Ted Chiang finds profundity on a human scale as well as in the cosmos; and, while technically impressive, it owes the bulk of its melancholic, mystical power to Adams' gripping performance. Regardless of whether the underlying science is logically coherent or meshes with Christian thought, the primary values evinced are consonant with a Catholic worldview. Probably acceptable for mature adolescents. Some potentially frightening scenes and a single instance of rough language. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Tuesday, Feb. 21, 10-11:45 p.m. EST (TCM) "Twentieth Century" (1934). Screwball comedy in which a Broadway producer (John Barrymore) turns a model into a star (Carole Lombard), but goes bust after she deserts him for Hollywood, then tries to win her back on the train journey from Chicago to New York. Directed by Howard Hawks from a script by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, the squabbles between this egocentric duo pace the madcap proceedings aboard the title train and are put over by a top supporting cast (Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Etienne Giradot as an escaped lunatic). Sexual situations and innuendo. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Saturday, Feb. 25, 5:30-8 p.m. EST (A&E) "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (2016). Tom Cruise, in his second venture as the former Army officer-turned-freelance-detective invented by British novelist Lee Child, is as durable as a cast-iron stove. A somewhat mysterious knight-errant, Reacher is a strong moralist according to his own lights and descends into others' predicaments like a deus ex machina. This go-round, he comes to the rescue of a military-intelligence operative (Cobie Smulders) who has been framed on an espionage charge involving murders in Afghanistan. He also learns that he may have a teenage daughter (Danika Yarosh) from a previous fling. The difference between this film and the 2012 original, in which Cruise sulked through Pittsburgh, is that director Edward Zwick, who co-wrote the screenplay with Richard Wenk and Marshall Herskovitz, provides occasional moments of pleasantly acidic domestic bickering. That helps break up the narrow escapes, shootings and slugfests -- as well as the long sequences during which cast members simply break into a sprint. Stylized violence, including gunplay, fleeting crude and crass language. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Saturday, Feb. 25, 5:35-8 p.m. EST (HBO) "Man of Steel" (2013). Action adventure recounting the life of iconic comic book hero Superman (Henry Cavill). Born on distant Krypton, as an infant his parents (Russell Crowe and Ayelet Zurer) send him to Earth so that he can escape his doomed home planet's imminent destruction. His adoptive human parents (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) instill positive values and try to protect his secret. But, once grown, an investigative reporter (Amy Adams) is on the verge of disclosing his true identity when an old enemy (Michael Shannon) of his father's arrives from space and threatens humanity with annihilation unless Superman surrenders. Director Zack Snyder's take on the familiar narrative has the makings of an engaging drama and includes Christian themes and an anti-eugenics message that viewers of faith in particular can appreciate. But this positive potential is squandered in favor of endless scenes of high-powered brawling and the pyrotechnics of innumerable explosions. Much intense but bloodless violence, a fleeting sexual advance, occasional crude and crass language. The OSV News classification of the theatrical version was A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.- - - John Mulderig is media reviewer for OSV News.