TV Movie Guide
SATURDAY Nacho Libre TVNZ 2, 7pm
Starring Jack Black, Hector Jimenez. Director Jared Hess made this film on the back of his 2004 surprise cult hit Napoleon Dynamite, and it’s safe to say that it may not have been made otherwise. Star Jack Black is as charismatic as ever as the titular Mexican monk who moonlights as a masked wrestler, but cannot carry this entirely by himself. Silly, but funny in places. ★★★
The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle Māori TV, 7pm
Starring Robert De Niro, Rene Russo. Clever special effects bring American comic-strip favourites Rocky and Bullwinkle into the real world as they take on their nemesis Fearless Leader and his cohorts in this star-studded family comedy. ★★★
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald Sky Premiere, 8.30pm
Starring Eddie Redmayne. Fantastic Beasts took the Potter franchise deeper into adult territory. This sequel continues the story of Newt Scamander, the somewhat loose cannon wizard who unleashed the beasts of the first movie. Here, he crosses wands with dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, splendidly portrayed by Johnny Depp. Overall, though, it somehow isn’t quite as spellbinding as its predecessor, or any of the Potter films. ★★★
The Piano M ori TV, 8.40pm
Starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel. This dark and brooding tale about a mute Scotswoman forced into marriage to a New Zealander was an international success for director Jane Campion, and earned 11-year-old Anna Paquin an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Holly Hunter plays the tragic heroine who becomes the pivot of a love triangle in a bleak 19th-century West Coast settlement. Not a lot to uplift the spirits here, but it is a beautifully piece of work, if slow at times. ★★★★
The Hangover Part II TVNZ 2, 8.50pm
Starring Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Paul Giamatti. Less a sequel than it is a cranked-up remake set in Bangkok instead of Las Vegas, this second outing for the ‘Wolf Pack’ certainly isn’t worried about character development. That said, it still comes up with the requisite number of laughs, as the boys piece together another drug-and-alcohol fuelled party binge after they journey to Thailand for Stu’s wedding to his improbably attractive Thai fiancee. ★★★
The Da Vinci Code Three, 8.55pm
Starring Tom Hanks, Audrey Tatou, Ian McKellen. More or less your typical Hollywood thriller, this not-quite-sparkling film adaptation of Dan Brown’s bestselling book The Da Vinci Code, sticks as closely as possible to its source material – although most of the zest and allure of the original novel is lost in translation, despite the talents of Tom Hanks and French starlet Audrey Tautou. ★★★
How To Make Love Like An Englishman Choice, 9.30pm
Starring Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba. It’s an odd title. For one thing, the Englishman in question, Pierce Brosnan, is Irish and his character is quite the Casanova, rather than the unemotional, unromantic stereotype of a Brit. He plays a Cambridge don who gets a student pregnant, and moves with her to Los Angeles, where everything becomes confusing. Predictable but OK. ★★