New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

70 LISTENER AUGUST 24 2019

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

Don Jon (TVNZ 2, 11.20pm).

All-round clever dude Joseph

Gordon-Levitt writes and

stars in his directorial debut

that is a comic poke at porn

addiction. He plays a Jersey

Shore-style “guido” whose

world boils down to “my body,

my pad, my ride, my family,

my church, my boys, my

girls, my porn”. It’s all about

perfection, and when he meets

Scarlett Johansson, he thinks

he’s found it. So, why can’t he

connect? Perhaps less-than-

perfect Julianne Moore can

help. (2013)

SUNDAY AUGUST 25

A Star Is Born (Movies Premiere,

Sky 030, 8.00pm). An extraor-

dinary directorial debut from

Bradley Cooper, who also

co-writes, sings, plays guitar

and even co-writes some of the

songs. He assembled musicians

such as Lukas Nelson, Mark

Ronson and

Diane Warren

to contribute to

the soundtrack

and had the

supreme good

taste to bring in our

own Marlon Williams for

a brief cameo. He steals the

movie, too, from Lady Gaga.

We learn a lot about his Jack-

son Maine and not a lot about

Gaga’s Ally, the waitress with

the big voice. The movie was

nominated for eight Academy

Awards, but won just one,

for the song Shallow. (2018)

Marshall (Māori TV, 8.30pm).

Chadwick Boseman is doing

a good line in heroes: to his

list of Jackie Robinson, James

Brown and Black Panther, he

adds legendary civil rights

lawyer Thurgood Marshall,

who argued the case that

led to school desegregation

and became the first African-

American Supreme Court

justice. This biopic focuses

on his early work as a

National Association for the

Advancement of Colored

People lawyer in the 1940s

and centres on the trial

of a chauffeur (Sterling K

Brown, This Is Us) accused of

raping his white employer

(Kate Hudson). During the

trial, the judge won’t allow

Marshall to speak, forcing

his timid co-counsel (Josh

Gad) into the lead. Naturally,

the overarching racism is

infuriating, but Boseman’s

Marshall is rounded-out and

charismatic, perhaps even a bit

arrogant. (2017)

TUESDAY AUGUST 27

A Few Good Men (TVNZ Duke,

8.30pm). Screenwriter Aaron

Sorkin at times telegraphs

what’s ahead in this film

adaptation of his stage play.

However, director Rob

Reiner captures the

tension of the

courtroom, as an

inexperienced

Navy lawyer (Tom

Cruise) comes

up against salty

old dog Colonel

Nathan R Jessup (Jack

Nicholson). His famous line,

“You can’t handle the truth!”

was voted the American Film

Institute’s 29th greatest movie

quote of all time. (1992)

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 28

Yellow Is Forbidden (Rialto, Sky

039, 8.30pm). Quite the con-

trast from A Flickering Truth, in

which Kiwi Pietra Brettkelly

filmed in a ravaged, dusty

Afghanistan over the course

of two-and-a-half years. Here,

she follows Chinese fashion

icon Guo Pei, whose elaborate

embroidered creations go

beyond the word “fashion”

and enter the realms of art.

Brettkelly follows Guo as she

works on her first Paris show

that is also a bid to enter the

heady realms of French haute

couture. The documentary

is beautifully shot by Brett-

kelly’s long-time collaborator

Jacob Bryant and Brettkelly,

as always, allows space for the

story to unfold. (2018)

THURSDAY AUGUST 29

Transformers (Three, 7.30pm).

Oh, we’re back here again,

with presumably the whole

bombastic, mind-numbing

series to follow. This is the

only Transformers flick worth

seeing: blow-it-up action guy

Michael Bay curbs his natural

inclinations and makes the

movie fun. A young Shia

LaBeouf briefly looked like the

next Tom Hanks, and Megan

Fox briefly looked like an actor.

It begins as a simple tale of

a boy, a car and the girl he is

crushing on, and leads – just as

it should – to a huge

battle between robots. (2007)

FRIDAY AUGUST 30

Leave No Trace (Movies

Extra, Sky 031, 8.00pm). A

magnificent character study

from Winter’s Bone director

Debra Granik, which is based

on My Abandonment, the 2009

novel by Peter Rock – who, in

turn, based his book on the

real story of a Vietnam veteran

who was found living in a park

with his 12-year-old daughter.

Here, Ben Foster is Will, an Iraq

War veteran with PTSD, and

young Kiwi actor Thomasin

McKenzie plays his daughter,

Tom. It’s not clear how long

they have been living in a

public park in Portland, but

their isolated life is about to

change. Foster and McKenzie

are terrific and Granik’s subtle,

show-not-tell style is a rare

treat. (2018)

Films are rated out of 5:

(abysmal) to (amazing).

Marshall, Sunday.

Leave No Trace,

Friday.

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