Big screen

Opening Friday

Skyfall (PG-13) The 007 series takes a huge leap in quality under the director of Sam Mendes ( American Beauty, The Road to Perdition), who pays as much attention to characters as he does to enormous action set pieces. Daniel Craig and Judi Dench return as the playboy-secret agent and his by-the-book boss. Javier Bardem joins the ranks of all-time best Bond villains as man with a curious sense of humor who has a personal beef against the hero. Roger Deakins’ exceptional cinematography easily makes this the best-looking Bond of all. Start lining up now.

The Sessions: (R): John Hawkes is sensational as a man who was left paralyzed from the neck down by a childhood bout of polio. Helen Hunt is the sexual surrogate he hires to help him explore his sexuality. Funnier than it sounds, although that doesn’t mean you won’t shed a few tears.

The House I Live In (unrated): Documentary filmmaker Eugene Jarecki explores the human rights violations that are a byproduct of America’s war on drugs.

A Late Quartet (R): Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Wallace Shawn are among the members of a world-famous string quartet whose future is threatened by clashing egos, lust and terminal illness.

Rene Rodriguez

Small screen

Seal Team Six (8 p.m. Sunday, National Geographic Channel) Hardly anybody has seen a single frame of this docudrama about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but it’s already created a storm of controversy. The New York Times reported last month that Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, a hardcore Obama supporter who bought the film after it was shot, had it reedited to give President Obama a bigger role in a show that, coincidentally, airs two days before the election. Weinstein denies any partisan intent. Watch and decide for yourself.

Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade (8 p.m. Sunday, Hallmark Channel) Dude, stop complaining that it’s too early for Thanksgiving shows. Halloween is so last week. The gorgeous Autumn Reeser of Last Resort plays a Thanksgiving Day parade coordinator who falls in love with her arch-enemy (Antonio Cupo, Hellcats) because, as we all know, nothing breeds peace and good will like giant inflatable rodents.

Witness (9 p.m. Monday, HBO) A grim four-part miniseries on news photographers working in the world’s most senselessly violent hellholes. First up: Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where the city’s own mayor governs from across the river in Texas to escape the city’s roving hordes of narco-gunmen..

Glenn Garvin

Let Miami Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin program your TiVo! Just click on his best bets for the week at http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/mix/index.do