TV Films Ryan Holder
A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
SATURDAY OCTOBER 13
Bobby (Choice TV, 8.30pm). Bobby is less about the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy than it is about the mood and ambience of the period – the Vietnam War, civil rights protests, the sexual revolution – and the star cast assembled to re-enact it. Notables include Harry Belafonte, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Fishburne and Helen Hunt. Real-life footage from protests, rallies and speeches is intercut with acting that reaches its climax in the kitchen of the Ambassador
Hotel. (2006)
I, Sky skating the that attention. Tonya world” 030, would scandal (Movies 8.30pm). But is usually not the Premiere, that something “The story keep shocked figure of my world-class, Tonya Harding, redneck whose skater boyfriend organised an attack on her main opponent before the Olympic team selection … well, that’s a different beast entirely. Director Craig Gillespie ( The Finest Hours) and writer Steven Rogers ( PS
I Love You) play a little fast and loose with the truth, but it’s part of the charm. They break movie conventions the way Harding changed figure skating. Characters talk to the camera mid-scene and sit down for mockumentary-style interviews. Stick around after the credits for graceful footage of the real Harding on the ice, plus real interviews with the gormless goons behind the assault. (2017)
The Da Vinci Code (TVNZ 2, 9.15pm). By director Ron Howard ( A Beautiful Mind,
Solo: A Star Wars Story), The Da Vinci Code is supposed to be the thinking man’s National Treasure (see Friday). But they are equally preposterous. Everyone has read Dan Brown’s novel and knows his fictional conspiracy about how the Catholic Church hid the true nature of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene’s relationship. What is less known is how widespread the anger provoked by the movie was: it was censored in Syria, Belarus, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Samoa,