TV Films
SATURDAY APRIL 1
Annie (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm). Updated, overly busy reinterpretation of the Annie Broadway musical that features a diverse cast and no actual poverty. Quvenzhané Wallis ( Beasts of the Southern Wild) is the cheerful scamp Annie; Jamie Foxx is “William Stacks”; and Cameron Diaz overacts something awful as cruel Colleen Hannigan. (2014)
The Neon Demon (Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm). Both booed and given a standing ovation at Cannes – that’s Nicolas Winding Refn for you. He taps into the exploitation films of the 70s (think Dario Argento and the crazy surrealism of Suspiria), referencing everything from Possession to Salvador Dali, in his horror story about a young model (Elle Fanning) in the LA shark pool. He might be saying something about this toxic, youth-and-beauty-obsessed world, but as always with Winding Refn, it’s a thin line between fetishisation and commentary. (2016)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Maori, 8.40pm). Homer’s Odyssey by way of Preston Sturges (the title is a reference to Sturges’ 1941 film Sullivan’s Travels) via the Coen brothers. George Clooney, not long out of ER, shows surprising comic ability, and there are satirical digs at political corruption in the South and the KKK. With the great Roger Deakins behind the camera, the sepia-tinged film looks beautiful and features one of the best soundtracks in modern movie history, too. (2000)
Just Go With It (TVNZ 2, 9.25pm). Terrible remake of the terrifically entertaining 1969 romp Cactus Flower. That starred Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn, who between them won two Golden Globes, a Bafta and an Oscar. This has Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler and Minka Kelly. Holy cow, even the updated title is asking for patience; you’d be far better off with America’s Sweethearts at 11.45pm. (2011)
Ruby Sparks (Three, 11.10pm). Jonathan Dayton and
Valerie Faris, the husband-and-wife team behind Little Miss Sunshine,
continue in the indie vein with this meta magic-realist romcom. It’s a Pygmalion story written by Zoe Kazan, who also stars as Ruby, a woman conjured up by blocked writer Calvin (Paul Dano).
But what do you do when you’re suddenly God? It could be a serious case of Manic Pixie Dream Girl if it weren’t written by a woman – Kazan says the movie is about the danger of idealising a person,
of “reducing a person down to an idea of a person”. Annette Bening, Antonio Banderas, Steve Coogan and Elliott Gould also star. (2012)
SUNDAY APRIL 2
Tracks (Maori, 8.30pm). Based on the real story of author Robyn Davidson’s 2700km trek across the outback in 1977, Tracks is haunting and rather beautiful, with great sweeps of the Australian desert and Mia Wasikowska blending into the landscape as she troops along under the hot sun with four camels and a dog. Why Davidson decided to make such a journey is not revealed, but she needed the financial assistance of National Geographic, which sent Rick Smolan (played by Girls’ Adam Driver) to photograph her journey (some of his pictures can still be seen online). The quest is the thing – and some of the people she meets along the way, including Aboriginal elder Mr Eddy (Rolley Mintuma). (2013)
Margin Call (Choice TV, 8.30pm). An impressive debut for writerdirector JC Chandor (who followed up with All Is Lost and A Most Violent Year) about the 2008 financial crisis. The cast includes Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, Jeremy Irons and Zachary Quinto – all have been morally compromised in the pursuit of wealth, but the “margin call” arrives when Irons, the CEO of a Lehman Brotherstype firm, calls an emergency meeting to decide whether to stave off disaster by dumping toxic assets before the market catches on that they’re worthless. Margin Call was a surprise hit, grossing more than five times its budget, and the New Yorker declared it “easily the best Wall Street movie ever made”. (2011) San Andreas (TVNZ 2, 8.45pm). An old-fashioned disaster movie; they’re still making ’em and, of course, the guy you call when California is about to fall into the sea is Dwayne Johnson. Big special effects don’t make up for the uninventive script, but there is “an undeniable sort of pre-verbal lizard-brain appeal”, according to Variety. (2015)
MONDAY APRIL 3
Alex Cross (Prime, 8.35pm).
As predictable as an airport thriller, which, of course, is what it is, adapted from the series by prodigious author James Patterson. Supposedly a reboot of the franchise begun by Morgan Freeman in Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, but let’s just say funny guy Tyler Perry is no Morgan Freeman. Lost’s Matthew Fox, who usually plays the nice guy, may have been hoping for a reboot of his career, too, but is merely awful as the serial killer “Picasso”. (2012)
TUESDAY APRIL 4
That Sugar Film (Maori, 8.30pm). Australian actor Damon Gameau does a Super Size
Me- style stunt with “hidden sugar”. It seemed radical at the time, but now that Jamie Oliver is on the case, the idea of non-obvious sources of sugar is commonplace. Gameau’s aim is to consume the Australian average of 40 teaspoons of sugar a day, which is not particularly hard when a smoothie from Jamba Juice contains 34 teaspoons in one hit. (2014)
THURSDAY APRIL 5
Repo Men (Three, 8.30pm). There’s a great beginning to this futuristic health-insurance satire, but it’s followed by the inevitable descent into ultraviolence and predictability. Still, if you like the sound of Jude Law in action mode and Liev Schreiber in full-on evil mode against a Bladerunneresque background, go for it. (2010)
FRIDAY APRIL 7
Haywire (TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm). The eclectic Steven Soderbergh tries out another genre – action thriller – which he builds around cage fighter Gina Carano. She plays a black-ops type who is double-crossed and has to beat everyone she meets thereafter to a pulp. Soderbergh goes for a 60s spy vibe and the movie is nicely no-frills; his stated aim was to make “a Pam Grier movie made by Alfred Hitchcock”, but just to be sure that Carano doesn’t have to carry the whole thing, Soderbergh ropes in a great cast, including Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton. (2011)