SUNDAY OCTOBER 14
Me Before You (Three,
8.30pm). Most recognisable as dragon-riding Daenerys Targaryen of Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke here gets something of a demotion. Far from the badass of before, Clarke is a bubbly working-class gal called Louisa, who finds a caregiving job in the English countryside. Her patient is William Traynor (Sam Claflin), a former banker and generally dreamy dude who is confined to a wheelchair after a motorbike accident. Traynor wants to end his life at a centre in Switzerland. They fall in love. Can Louisa convince him not to? Be warned: this is Jojo Moyes territory. (2016)
The Machinist (Māori TV, 8.30pm). Christian Bale may have taken method acting a little too far in this psychological thriller. By consuming only water, coffee and an apple a day, he dropped 28kg to play emaciated metal factory worker Trevor Reznick. Increasingly paranoid and distracted due to his sleeplessness, Reznick causes a co-worker to lose his arm in an accident. This is the high point in a downward spiral that writer Scott Kosar ( Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and director Brad Anderson take all the way to rock bottom, where we make a discovery about Reznick’s past. (2004)
Oscar Pistorius: Blade Runner Killer (Bravo, 8.30pm). A bad title makes way for a worse telefilm that insults the memory of Rheeva Steenkamp by over-dramatising her murder at the hands of Paralympian Oscar Pistorius. Both families were appalled; the Pistoriuses threatened to sue. (2017)