70 LISTENER JUNE 8 2019
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
hold of them. In hindsight,
Chris Pratt, Bradley Walsh,
Vin Diesel and Zoe Saldana
were perfectly cast (Diesel
says just one word as Groot),
and a fun soundtrack adds
new energy to classics such as
Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in
the Sky, David Bowie’s Moon-
age Daydream and 10cc’s I’m
Not in Love. Shame about the
self-conscious sequel. (2014)American Made (Three, 8.30pm).
Tom Cruise is a flashy flyboy
in this Doug Liman thriller,
although he’s involved in
much murkier dealings than
Top Gun’s Maverick. The film
is based on the story of TWA
pilot Barry Seal, who was
coerced by the CIA (Domhnall
Gleeson), the Medellín cartel
and the DEA. Cruise is good at
grinning through the madness
and Liman (The Bourne Iden-
tity, Edge of Tomorrow) keepsthe crazy ride going. Next on
the CIA agenda: the secret sale
of arms to Iran. (2017)Goldstone (Māori TV, 8.30pm).
Time-worn archetypes are
often given fresh insight in
the hands of indigenous direc-
tors, and Australia’s Ivan Sen
gave the crime thriller a shot
in the arm – and other places- with this sequel to 2013’s
Mystery Road. He may not
have invented outback noir,
but Goldstone is an exemplar.
Like Chinatown, it has a wider
theme, in this case land rights
and the expansion of mining.
Aaron Pederson’s sad-sack
detective, Jay Swan, arrives
in Goldstone looking for a
missing Chinese woman and
encounters a corrupt mayor
(Jacki Weaver, brilliant) and a
compromised local cop (Alex
Russell). David Gulpilil is
moving as a tribal elder still
connected to the land. The
film is beautifully and crisply
shot by writer-director Sen,
who is also the cinematogra-
pher, editor and soundtrack
composer. (2016)The Ghost Writer (Choice TV,
8.30pm). All eyes were on
Pierce Brosnan as the Tony
Blair-like former British PM
who hires Ewan
McGregor to
write his
memoir.
But direc-
tor Roman
Polanski layers
this flashy
veneer over
what amounts to an
old-fashioned Hitchcockian
thriller, complete with spooky
house, isolated location and
wheels-within-wheels political
intrigue. Really worth it for
McGregor’s and Olivia Wil-
liams’ performances – she’s
the pissed-off wife – and a clas-
sic 60s-thriller ending. (2010)MONDAY JUNE 10
Hotere (Māori TV, 8.30pm).
Merata Mita’s 2001 docu-
mentary about artist Ralph
Hotere opens with a quote
from Miles Davis and, to a
jazz soundtrack directed by
Hirini Melbourne, embarks
on a handheld roam through
the artist’s house in Careys
Bay on the Otago Harbour. It’s
a typically empathetic piece
of work from Mita, who gives
air to the artist’s extensive
body of work. In lieu of
actual commentary from the
famously uncommunicative
Hotere, the doco features
artists and commentators
such as Pat Hanly, Marilyn
Webb, Faith McManus, poet
Cilla McQueen and art dealer
Rodney Kirk-Smith. (2001)WEDNESDAY JUNE 12
First Reformed (Movies Extra,
Sky 031, 8.00pm). Surprisingly,Paul Schrader, the writer of
Taxi Driver and co-writer of
Raging Bull, had never had
an Oscar nomination until
First Reformed, his severe,
unadorned investigation into
faith and alienation. There are
echoes of Schrader’s previ-
ous work, especially in Ethan
Hawke’s lonely, tortured man
alone, the pastor of the dwin-
dling First Reformed Church
in upstate New York. A world
of environmental collapse
and suicide bombings mirrors
his own parlous existential
and physical state, which is
ironically not helped by the
mega-church up the road.
(2017)The Greenaway Alphabet
(Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm).
Saskia Boddeke takes a playful
approach to this exploration
of her husband, artist and
film-maker Peter Greenaway,
constructing her documentary
around the alphabet. This
suits the collector Greenaway
perfectly, but the real insight
comes in his conversations
with his 16-year-old daughter,
Pip. A is for Amsterdam is the
cue to look back on his film
Nightwatching; A is for Autism,
says Pip, “which is what you
are”. (2017)THURSDAY JUNE 13
R.I.P.D. (Three, 9.00pm). Jeff
Bridges yee-haws his way
through this movie about a
pair of undead cops (he is part-
nered with Ryan Reynolds)
whose job is to hunt souls
thzat refuse to move on to the
afterlife. Red director Robert
Schwentke desperately throws
elements of many other
movies at the screen (Ghost-
busters, The Mummy, Men in
Black) and ends up with a big
ol’ CGI mess that is too adult
for kids and too stupid for
adults. (2013)Films are rated out of 5:
(abysmal) to (amazing).Guardians of the
Galaxy, Sunday.Goldstone,
Sunday.Be
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