Transforming power of music James Croot
Plenty of drama in store
As the fourth and final season of the popular United Kingdom series Mr Selfridge begins, it’s London, 1928, and Harry Selfridge (Jeremy Piven) is at the pinnacle of his wealth and celebrity. But in this buzzing, fast-evolving world, Harry is splashing his cash in an unprecedented, dangerous way. As he parties and gambles with stage stars, the Dolly Sisters, and pursues risky new business ventures, the trials and tribulations of our other much loved characters, and a handful of newcomers, also unfold.
Friday, 7.30pm, Vibe
Brothers butt heads
Rams offers yet another surprise 2016 package from Iceland, the Nordic land that former English footballer Gary Lineker described as having ‘‘more volcanoes than professional footballers’’ (after they defeated his home nation at Euro 2016). Writer-director Grimur Hakonarson ( A Pure Heart, Summerland), skilfully manages a number of tonal transitions, keeping his focus on the changing relationship between two estranged farming brothers, as they firstly seem set to escalate to open warfare, before realising they may have to work together for a common goal.
Monday, 8.30pm, Rialto
Songs of protest
Soundtrack for a Revolution is a 2009 documentary which tells the story of the American civil rights movement through its powerful music – the freedom songs protesters sang on picket lines, in mass meetings, and in jail cells as they fought for justice and equality. ‘‘Through vivid archival material and voice-overs, the filmmakers create moving vignettes that, taken together, form a fascinating primer on nonviolence as a political force and discipline,’’ wrote The Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday.
Tuesday, 8.30pm, Maori TV Tuesday, 8.35pm, Prime
Soul-filled sounds
Respected by her peers and revered internationally by those in the know – Donna Dean is perhaps our most famous singersongwriter you’ve never heard of. That’s something fellow Kiwi musician Bill Morris aims to put right with his 2016 documentary The Sound of Her Guitar. What started as an attempt to capture the two-time New Zealand Country Music Album of the Year winner in her element as she brought her music to the home of ‘‘country’’ – middle-America – soon became an intimate portrait of a woman who overcame a troubled background and poured her pain into her heart-rending songs.
Thursday, 8.30pm, Rialto Based on the first of four books by Chris Tebbets and James Patterson, Middle School (PG, ) with its subtitle The Worst Years of My Life, is an entertaining slice of Disney Channel-esque subversive comedy that will appeal to both tweens and adults. Although its illustrative breakouts, sibling rivalry and endless pranks invites comparisons to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, it actually more closely evokes the works of John Hughes, especially Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club, with its emphasis on ‘‘stopping the fun being sucked out of childhood’’. – James Croot
War disappoints
John Michael McDonagh fails to get anywhere near the heights of his hilarious debut The Guard, in the lessthan-palatable buddy-cop movie War on Everyone (R16, ). Set in Albuquerque, it follows the misadventures of the Glen Campbellloving loner Terry (Alexander Skarsgard) and smack-talking family man Bob (Michael Pena). From the flashy Euro villain and bad-haired henchman, to the hip pop-culture and philosophy conversations, this is a film that desperately wants to be the 2016 equivalent of a Shane Black movie ( Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Unfortunately, The Nice Guys got there first. – James Croot