TV Films
A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
SATURDAY APRIL 29
Penguins of Madagascar (Three, 7.00pm). The clumsy and lovable penguins in Madagascar have got their own spin-off, which seems to be the formula for success with scene-stealing characters in kids’ movies these days. We are taken back in time to the icy plains of Antarctica, where we are told the back story of the penguin gang, then, zooming forward to a time after Madagascar 3, we follow their undercover mishaps from Venice to Shanghai. The story is packed full of adult-friendly jokes – there’s a great running bit on celebrity names: “Nicholas. Cage them.” “Charlize! They’re on their way!” – and so many brilliant voice actors (Benedict Cumberbatch, John Malkovich and Ken Jeong) that it’s a winner for all. (2014)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Three, 9.00pm). The Englishlanguage adaption of Stieg Larsson’s novel is a darker, slicker recreation of the tale of computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara) and investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). As they search for a missing girl, they uncover a conspiracy that runs much deeper. Director David Fincher ( Fight
Club, The Social Network) and screenwriter Steven Zaillian ( Schindler’s List, American Gangster) made their version a short two years after the Swedish one and changed very little. It’s hard to see what they’ve contributed, except to those who can’t bear subtitles. Fun fact: Larsson’s novel was originally called Men Who Hate
Women. (2011)
Schindler’s List (Maori TV, 9.10pm). As the Red Army closes in on Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) is handed a ring inscribed with the Talmudic quote, “Whoever saves one life saves the world entire.” The story of the Schindlerjuden is unforgettable and Steven Spielberg’s memorialisation rightly fills the lists of Best Movies Ever Made. (1993)
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
(TVNZ 2, 9.30pm). Friends and flatmates Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) have money problems. He has an idea. Make a porno? “I don’t really see myself being in one, ya know?” “Look at Paris Hilton!” Well, the man has a point. How anyone with the back-fur of Rogen could successfully star in a porno – even a fictional one – is an enduring mystery of both the film and porno industries. Zack and
Miri is rude, disgusting and quite funny. It even manages to squeeze romance in, too. (2008)
The Fifth Estate (TVNZ 2, 11.30pm). The concept of the Fifth Estate as a check and balance on the mainstream media (the Fourth) did not
emerge with the publication of Collateral Murder – a video that shows US aircrew firing on a group of Iraqi men that included unarmed journalists and their would-be rescuers – but it did mark the beginning of the bizarre story of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. In The Fifth Estate, Benedict Cumberbatch is Assange (blond and cultish) while Daniel Brühl plays Daniel Domscheit-Berg, his sidekick-turned-critic (nerdy and impertinent). The film is peculiar to watch now that WikiLeaks is mostly loved by its enemies and hated by its fans. The real question should be: who is the Sixth Estate? In the words of British journalist Douglas Murray, who guards the guardians’ guardians? (2013)
SUNDAY APRIL 30
House of Games (Maori TV, 8.30pm). In David Mamet’s directorial debut, a psychiatrist (Lindsay Crouse) is drawn into the shadowy world of the con game. A young and smooth Mike (Joe Mantegna) leads her astray. (1987)
Elvis & Nixon (Movies Extra, Sky 031, 8.30pm). Matter meets anti-matter. The world does not end, but the US National Archive is overwhelmed by requests for the picture of President Nixon and Elvis Presley’s famous meeting. Kevin Spacey plays Nixon as hunched, surly and confused as to why he is meeting a rock star (answer: the youth vote). Michael Shannon plays the king of rock’n’roll, gunloving, drug-hating and soon to be drug-addicted. I’m on your side against the druggies and Commies, Dick. No one really knows what exactly was said in that meeting – Nixon hadn’t got around to installing that tape recorder yet. But Shannon says it wonderfully, outshining even Spacey, one of the great impersonators of our time. (2016)
MONDAY MAY 1
Rams (Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm). Two Icelandic sheep-farming brothers haven’t spoken for over 40 years, when suddenly, their neighbouring herds become fatally infected. They are ordered to kill their sheep, burn their hay and disinfect their barns. When the biohazard team arrives, both brothers have, each in his own stubborn way, failed to follow orders, and they must work together, in spite of their jealousies and hatred, to save their ancestral flock from oblivion. It’s droll, tragic and Icelandically absurd. (2015)
TUESDAY MAY 2
Soundtrack for a Revolution (Maori TV, 8.30pm). Which songs recall the protests against the Vietnam War? Or the Springbok tour? In Soundtrack for a Revolution, Bill Guttentag ( Nanking, Only the Dead) and Dan Sturman ( Nanking, The Hollywood Complex) memorialise the music of the civil rights movement with a little help from their friends: John Legend, the Roots,
Joss Stone, Richie Havens, Anthony Hamilton, Wyclef Jean and other contemporaries. Archival footage ties the music together with the words of Harry Belafonte, John Lewis, Lula Joe Williams, Andrew Young and Lynda Lowery. (2009)
FRIDAY MAY 5
Split Decisions (Sky Movies
Fight Club Pop-up, Sky 035, 7.30pm). Split Decisions sounds the opening bell of the Fight Club Pop-up on Sky Movies. It stars Gene Hackman as a hard-ass boxing trainer for his two sons (Craig Sheffer and
Jeff Fahey), one of whom veers a little too close to the Mob. The pop-up goes on to screen most of the Rocky series, The Hurricane, Ali, The Fighter and Southpaw. (1988)
Gangs of New York (TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm). It’s 1846 in New York City. At Five Points, the gangs are taking up arms. A son (Leonardo di Caprio) has come to avenge his father (Liam Neeson). Bill “the Butcher” Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis) will not release his grip on the city easily. All the stars shine in Martin Scorsese’s lengthy and loose fictionalisation of Herbert Asbury’s The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. (2002)
Films are rated out of 5: (abysmal) to (amazing).