New Zealand Listener 03.14.2020

70 LISTENER MARCH 14 2020

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

SATURDAY MARCH 14

The Godfather Part II (Māori TV,

8.30pm). “We agree people

should not kill one another,”

critic Roger Ebert once wrote,

“but that doesn’t explain why

these films are seen again and

again.” There’s only one way

to find out. (1974)

Everest (Three, 8.55pm). The

1996 Mt Everest disaster

brought to shrieking, howl-

ing life. Given the number

of accounts already written

about the tragedy (including a

best-selling account by writer

Jon Krakauer, who was there),

director Baltasar Kormákur’s

film might seem like overkill.

Particularly as it’s a survival

thriller that doesn’t shed any

new light on the questions,

big or small, about exactly

what happened to the dead

and what drives someone to

climb Everest in the first place.

One of those who perished

was Kiwi adventure-tourism

operator Rob Hall, played by

Australian Jason Clarke with

a passable Kiwi accent. Back

home in Christchurch, Keira

Knightley plays his wife with a

terrible one. (2015)

Interview with the Vampire

(TVNZ Duke, 9.25pm). The

movie that Oprah Winfrey

walked out of declaring she

didn’t want to be “a contribu-

tor to the force of darkness”. It

was possibly the most realistic

depiction of the plight of a

vampire until the arrival of

What We Do in the Shadows,

although rather than focus on

who hadn’t done the bloody

dishes, it chose to

examine the tragedy

of eternal life. As

suggested in the

title, Interview

with the Vampire

takes the form

of exchanges

between a vampire,

Louis de Pointe du

Lac (Brad Pitt), and journal-

ist Daniel Molloy (Christian

Slater), as Louis recalls his past

200 years with the murder-

ous Lestat de Lioncourt (Tom

Cruise). Kirsten Dunst also

stars as a vampire stuck in a

12-year-old’s body. Sure, it’s

creepy, but much better than

the six-year-old character in

Anne Rice’s original book.

(1994)

Mud (Choice TV, 9.30pm). Set

in the depths of Arkansas,

Mud is a coming-of-age story

with a violent twist. Two

14-year-old boys, Ellis

(Tye Sheridan) and

Neckbone (Jacob

Lofland), explore

a remote island

in the Mississippi

River, where they

find a man named

Mud (Matthew

McConaughey) hiding

out from the law. Intrigued,

they set out to help Mud

repair a boat and be reunited

with his old girlfriend (Reese

Witherspoon). Writer-director

Jeff Nichols (Loving, Midnight

Special) draws heavily from

A Guide to the Week’s Viewing

TV Films

Mud, Saturday.

by RYAN HOLDER

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