Ryan Holder
A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 18
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm). Thirteen hundred years have passed in Narnia since the enchantment of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; one year has passed in England. The Pevensie clan (played by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley and Skandar Keynes, who happens to be the great-greatnephew of economist John Maynard Keynes) wait at the train station in their school uniforms. Suddenly, they’re sucked back into the magical land of Narnia, now riven by war and in ruins, with a bloody battle for the throne on its way. Kiwi director Andrew Adamson does well with a story overflowing with characters, and as usual the CGI is overcooked. The moral of the story seems a bit murky, but then CS Lewis’s purpose in the book Prince Caspian was “restoration of the true religion after a corruption”. So it does have enough spiritual lessons to entertain a Bible studies class for at least two and a half hours. (2008)
Léon: The Professional (Maori TV, 8.45pm). In New York’s Little Italy, Léon (Jean Reno) is a professional hitman with neighbours who are stashing drugs for the Drug Enforcement Administration. When Norman Stansfield (Gary Oldman), a terrifically corrupt and unhinged agent, finds out the father has been cutting the drugs, he and his goons slaughter the family, except for 12-year-old Mathilda (Natalie Portman), who is out grocery shopping. A reluctant Léon takes her in, and they form an unusual but professional relationship. As Mathilda packs a bag full of guns with which to whack her father’s killers, the troubling question of her age is passed over with impressive nonchalance. Léon could do with some ethical guidance of biblical proportions. (1994)
Double Jeopardy (Three, 9.00pm). “You ever hear of something called double jeopardy?” one shrewd inmate asks the wrongfully convicted Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd). “The state says you already killed your husband; they can’t convict you of it a second time.” This basically describes the plot device of this routine thriller, but that doesn’t make life any easier for the extant husband (Bruce Greenwood) or for Parsons’ parole officer (Tommy Lee Jones), who has to supervise her once she gets out and starts hunting for her husband – and son. (1999)
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19
Patriots Day (Movies Premiere, Sky 030, 8.30pm). If the details of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing have already faded and you need the help of a fictional recreation, then
watch this film and call a doctor. Director Peter Berg ( Deepwater Horizon, Lone Survivor) again hooks up with Mark Wahlberg to tell the story of the heroism of the first responders to the terror attack. “Based on a true story”, the film is emotional in an overly patriotic way. Liberties are taken in the portrayal of the wife of a terrorist, whose reallife lawyer wasn’t happy about it. Boston FBI chief Richard DesLauriers said, “This movie wasn’t meant to be a documentary … I think you have to grant Hollywood a little bit of artistic licence.” (2016)
Inglourious Basterds (Maori
TV, 8.50pm). Director Quentin Tarantino ( Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained) shocks, thrills and entertains with this World
War II film about a band of Jewish-American soldiers – a rag-tag bunch played by Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Eli Roth, among others – whose purpose is to commit violent acts of retribution against the Nazis, including the taking of their scalps. Entirely pointless, though it does provide a much-preferred ending to the leadership of wartime Germany. (2009)
Predator (Three, 9.25pm). A reboot-sequel to Predator, directed by Shane Black (an original cast member), is due for release in August 2018. So, relive the glory days with Arnold Schwarzenegger while you can. He won’t be back. (1987)
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 21
Musicwood (Maori TV, 8.30pm). If you’ve ever strummed an acoustic guitar, odds are you’ve felt the prized sitka spruce ringing in your hands. The “tonewood” is the first choice of famous guitarmakers from Taylor, Martin and Gibson, which is why, as the forests started to dwindle early this century, they banded together to try to slow deforestation in south-east Alaska. Matters are complicated by the Native American loggers, whose company is clearing the woods, although Greenpeace is on hand to mediate. Drama is interspersed with soaring cinematics, moving instrumentals and interviews with master carpenters. Musicwood is a documentary sure to delight music lovers and environmentalists in equal measure. (2012)
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 22
Grace of Monaco (Movies Greats, Sky 032, 8.30pm). Historical inaccuracy rears its ugly head again. If we are to believe the children of actressturned-Princess of Monaco Grace Kelly, it is definitely not her biopic. At one point Kelly (Nicole Kidman) muses, “Some of you ask, ‘Why did I leave Hollywood?’ Well,
I left because I fell in love with a charming prince.” But wonderful gossip Gore Vidal says the still-youthful Kelly left her career to avoid the camera’s harsh glare on ageing women. Director Olivier Dahan captures the moment director Alfred Hitchcock tries to draw Kelly back into the limelight, to the dismay of her subjects and the growing irritation of Prince Rainier III. All the while regional tensions grow between Monaco and France. (2014)
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 24
The International (TVNZ Duke, 8.30pm). In 2009, as financial analysts picked over the economic wreckage of the global financial crisis and bankers cashed in their yearly bonuses, The International came out. One critic wrote, “Not since the days of silent movies have bankers as a group been cast so ruthlessly as villains.” And villainous they are. A chiselled Interpol agent (Clive Owen) and plucky district attorney (Naomi Watts) come up against a global banking giant that funds warlords, nuclear weaponry and, in a stroke of genius, both sides in a conflict. The bank chairman (Ulrich Thomsen) wipes out anyone who threatens his operation. It’s a formulaic thriller, but one with a brain. (2009)