TV Films
A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
Fiona Rae
SATURDAY APRIL 21
Inkheart (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm). A fantasy adventure that’s supposed to be about the power of books – and it may well drive kids to the novels by German author Cornelia Funke, if only to figure out what’s going on. Brendan Fraser plays a guy who brings characters to life when he reads aloud; unfortunately there’s a sort of supernatural student-exchange scheme going on – real people replace the characters, and that’s how Fraser lost his wife. When characters he has released (played by Andy Serkis and Paul Bettany, among others) come after him and his 12-year-old daughter (Eliza Bennett), incoherent adventures ensue. (2008)
The Hurt Locker (Māori TV, 8.30pm). The glass ceiling broke, just once, for Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first, and so far only, woman to win the best director Oscar, for this feature about members of a bomb-disposal squad in Iraq. Jeremy Renner turns in his best performance as the unit’s reckless alpha male, to whom war has become the drug; Anthony Mackie’s more careful sergeant tries to keep him safe. Bigelow is a visceral film-maker and she and her cinematographer, Barry Ackroyd, a frequent Ken Loach collaborator, keep close-in and tense. (2008)
Tickled (Choice TV, 8.30pm). Journalist David Farrier takes us down a long, strange road in his acclaimed documentary, which opened up the weird world of “competitive endurance tickling”. Apparently, it is a thing undertaken by consenting adults, but it was the abuse and bullying of young men (and the written and legal threats hurled at Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve) that turned his investigation into a real story. For a tiny, no-budget film sparked by Kickstarter money, it is a raging success. (2016)
The Expendables 3 (TVNZ 2, 9.00pm). Co-writer and star Sly Stallone went PG-13 for the third movie, but later regretted it: let’s face it, all these movies have is the ultra-violence. Who the hell knows what’s going on at this point, except that there are a lot of blokes jostling for screen time and Kelsey Grammer beat Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mel Gibson for the Worst Supporting Actor Golden Raspberry Award. (2014)
Purple Rain (TVNZ 2, 11.25pm). Cheesy and misogynistic with many 80s fashion crimes, but worth it for the soundtrack and the concert footage. It was brave on the part of Prince, whose character, “the Kid” is a difficult wee customer. It’s all down to his violent daddy ( The Mod Squad’s Clarence Williams III), to whom the final showstopper title song is dedicated. Two
years to the day since Prince’s death, it seems more poignant than usual. (1984)
SUNDAY APRIL 22
Minions (Three, 7.00pm). Surprisingly, the secondhighest-grossing animated film, only $100 million or so behind Frozen. The Despicable Me spin-off is one long sugar rush of manic slapstick and sight gags: the minions might be searching for a new master to serve, but they’ll definitely make the under-fives their slaves. (2015)
Boy (TVNZ 2, 8.30pm). Taika Waititi’s coming-of-age story is pitched perfectly between humour and heartbreak. The story about 11-year-old Boy (James Rolleston), who idolises his absent father (Waititi), seems slight on the surface but is, in its self-deprecating, effortless way, profound. (2010)
Appaloosa (Choice TV, 8.30pm). It’s a story as old as westerns: a town that is being terrorised calls in a couple of gunslingers to implement justice. However, this is based on a 2005 novel by crime writer Robert B Parker, and director Ed Harris, who plays one of the gunslingers, gives the story depth beyond the average shoot ’em up. There are subtle and clever performances from Viggo Mortensen, Jeremy
Irons and Renée Zellweger and Harris was smart enough to employ Australian cinematographer Dean Semler, whose CV includes Dances with Wolves, Lonesome Dove and
Mad Max 2. (2008)
The Internship (Three, 8.50pm). Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn teach the nerds how to be human. Little more than an ad for Google, which allowed filming at its campus and provided props and extras. Worse, Wilson and Vaughn hardly seem to mean any of it any more. (2012)
MONDAY APRIL 23
22 Jump Street (Three, 8.30pm). The address has only slightly changed from the original movie, which pretty much sums up the sequel – this time, brains-and-brawn bro cops Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are undercover at a college, rather than a high school, to take down a drug dealer. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller know that the audience wants self-referential jokes, action, explosions and Tatum dancing, and there’s nothing wrong with that. (2014)
ANZAC DAY
The Lighthorsemen (Māori
TV, 12.05pm). An Australian war film in the same vein as Breaker Morant and Gallipoli, exploring the themes of identity and mateship through the lens of World War I. It is based on the story of the 4th Light Horse Brigade involved in the 1917 Battle of Beersheeba. Phar Lap director Simon Wincer follows four Aussies (including a young Gary Sweet) who were part of the Anzac force that famously charged Turkish lines armed with bayonets. (1987)
The Sapphires (Māori TV, 8.30pm). Something feelgood for Anzac Day: the story of a group of indigenous Australian women who tour Vietnam was inspired by writer Tony Briggs’ mum and aunt, who were backing vocalists for a New Zealand Māori band in Vietnam. Chris O’Dowd plays the crazy Irishman who discovers the Sapphires in the Outback and turns their act from country to Motown. A triumph of the soul music, you might say. (2012)
THURSDAY APRIL 26
Spookers (Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm). New Zealand’s manic pixie dream documentarian Florian Habicht turns his quirky eye on the haunted house attraction that runs all year round at the former Kingseat psychiatric hospital. In his typically warm style, Habicht turns his vintage lens on the people who provide the scares and finds a community that has become a family for some. He turns the surrealism up another notch with dream sequences based on the spookers’ nightmares. Code brown, indeed. (2017)