Lauren Buckeridge
A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
SATURDAY OCTOBER 27
Hotel Transylvania 2 (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm). Gearing up for Halloween midweek, the second instalment of the endearing animated Transylvania franchise features a plethora of recognisable Hollywood voices. Dracula (Adam Sandler), who runs a high-end resort for monsters, accepts that his vampiric daughter (Selena Gomez) loves a human (Andy Samberg) but attempts to make his half-human grandson one of their own. (2015) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri (Movies Premiere,
Sky 030, 8.30pm). When local authorities fail to catch a murderer, the victim’s mother (Frances McDormand) takes matters into her own hands by erecting scathing billboards aimed at police. Winning an Academy Award for her portrayal of Mildred, McDormand’s performance is a sharp and fearsome display of a grieving woman pushed to the edge. Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and Peter Dinklage star in supporting roles in this controversial mid-West drama. (2017)
The Florida Project (Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm). Set in a budget motel just outside Florida’s Disney World resort, this film warms the cockles and tugs at the heartstrings. Six-year-old Moonee (Brooklyn Prince) spends her days not at school but creating mischief with the neighbourhood kids. Her young mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), hawks, steals and sells herself to pay rent to compassionate motel manager Bobby (Willem Dafoe). This realistic look at modern poverty, set against the backdrop of “the most magical place on earth” is utterly affecting. (2017)
Inferno (TVNZ 2, 8.40pm). Ron Howard directs this third instalment of the trilogy based on the novels of Dan Brown. This time around, Harvard symbologist Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) races around Europe to stop the “inferno virus” from decimating humanity. This frantic
city-hopping series finale sadly doesn’t do the original Da Vinci Code justice. (2016)
Everest (Three, 9.35pm). A dizzying adaptation of the 2000 memoir Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers, a climber in the 1996 Everest disaster. That year, lauded Kiwi mountaineer Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) led Weathers (Josh Brolin) and nine others up the south summit of Mt Everest. Hall completed a fifth summit but died in a storm that claimed three other members of the group. Keira Knightley attempts a New Zealand accent as Hall’s wife, Jan, and Robin Wright features as Weather’s wife, Peach. Jake Gyllenhaal and Sam Worthington also star as climbers. (2015)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 28
Pet Sematary (Halloween Pop-Up, Sky 035, 3.35pm). Catch the original 80s version of Stephen King’s famous horror story ahead of next year’s remake. A doctor and his young family move into a troublesome home with its own pet cemetery out the back. Sematary is purposely misspelt by the house’s previous children occupants, who made the graveyard. Creepy neighbours, demonic possessions and bloody murders lead to a cliffhanger ending. The 1992 sequel, Pet Sematary II, follows at 5.20pm. (1989)
Passengers (Three, 8.30pm). Five thousand people are in an induced sleep aboard the spaceship Avalon, set on a 120-year journey to a colony planet. The hibernation pod of Jim (Chris Pratt) malfunctions, waking him 90 years too early and leaving him isolated. After contemplating suicide, Jim decides to awaken Aurora (Jennifer Lawrence), essentially stealing her life to keep him company. Passengers has received backlash from viewers and critics alike for romanticising a manipulative relationship. Too right. (2016)
The Kite Runner (Māori TV,
8.30pm). Two young Afghani boys have their close friendship severed by the 10-year SovietAfghan war in this adaptation of the bestselling debut novel by Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Later, as adults, one of the pair, Amir (Khalid Abdalla), must return to Afghanistan from his home in California to find the orphaned son of his old friend, who has been murdered by the Taliban, and battle his childhood nemesis. (2007)
MONDAY OCTOBER 29
Citizenfour (Māori TV, 8.30pm). In 2013, cinematographer Laura Poitras began receiving encrypted emails from a senior CIA employee. Poitras ( The Oath; My Country, My Country) traces the emails back to whistle-blower Edward Snowden, now in asylum in Moscow after leaking classified NSA data. This Oscar-winning documentary has Snowden speaking out for the first time after the leaks, which exposed the extent of US and UK government surveillance of its citizens as well as spying on at least 122 world leaders. (2014)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 30
The Patriot (TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm). The director and producer duo of Independence Day and Godzilla transport us to 1776 where Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson), veteran of the French and Indian War, is now a peaceful farmer. But after family tragedy strikes, he must renounce his vow of peace to save his family and lead a militia in the American Revolution. Although slammed by critics for its many historical inaccuracies, Benjamin’s character is actually an amalgamation of several real revolutionary leaders. (2000)
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 31
The Exception (Movies Extra,
Sky 031, 8.30pm). Exiled German Kaiser Wilhelm II (played by a bewhiskered Christopher Plummer) is living in Nazi-occupied Holland in 1940. When young German captain Stefan Brandt (Jai Courtney) is sent to investigate whether the Dutch resistance has British spies watching the Kaiser, Brandt unexpectedly begins a passionate romance with a Jewish maid ( Downton Abbey’s Lily James). After realising he has fallen for a British agent, Brandt must choose to be loyal to his country or to follow his heart. (2016)
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2
Thor (TVNZ 2, 8.35pm). This fourth foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is directed by Kenneth Branagh and features Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Idris Elba and Anthony Hopkins as mythological Norse characters. Thor (Hemsworth) is stripped of his hammer by his father, Odin (Hopkins), for misbehaving and banished to Earth. Upon arrival he meets love interest Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and discovers his trickster brother, Loki, (Hiddleston) is trying to take over his home, Asgard. Thor must prove himself worthy of redemption to save the day. (2011)
Films are rated out of 5: (abysmal) to (amazing).