68 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
SATURDAY MARCH 10Back to the Future (Three,
- 5 5 p m ). When Ronald Reagan
first watched Back to the
Future, he had the projection-
ist rewind the scene where
Doc Brown (Christopher
Lloyd) finds out who will
be president of the United
States in the future. “Ronald
Reagan, the actor!?” he
shouts in disbelief. President
Reagan enjoyed it so much
that he included the refer-
ence, “Where we’re going,
we don’t need roads”, in his
State of the Union address
in 1986. One sly YouTube
commenter added, “And we
still don’t have roads.” (1985)
Better Living Through Chemis-
try (Choice TV, 8.30pm). Doug
Varney (Sam Rockwell) is what
would now be called a “beta
male”. He is pushed around
at home by his spin-class wife
(Michelle Monaghan) and
bullied at work by his father-
in-law (Ken Howard). Then
he meets an infamous motif,
a bored trophy wife (Olivia
Wilde), who sets him free.
There is chemistry between
them and that’s not counting
the cocktail of pharmaceu-
ticals they take together. An
awful voice-over runs through
the film, provided – bizarrely –
by Jane Fonda, giving you
a helping hand to the pre-
dictably schmaltzy ending.Why? No one knows. (2014)
Colossal (Rialto, Sky 039,
8.30pm). In South Korea, a
Godzilla-like monster crushes
its way through a terrorised
city. In New England,
Gloria (Anne Hatha-
way) scratches her
head. In TV foot-
age, the monster
does, too.
Coincidence?
I don’t think
so. In a story that
becomes blacker and
funnier as it skids across
genres, experimental director
Nacho Vigalondo makes literal
the metaphor of interpersonal
manipulation. Jason Sudeikis
has a darker presence than
usual. (2017)Enemy of the State (TVNZ 2,
- 3 0 p m). In 1998, Enemy of
the State came to the big screen
in the US. It told the story of
Robert Clayton Dean (Will
Smith), a labour lawyer who
unwittingly steps into the
crosshairs of the National Secu-
rity Agency (NSA). For what
it thinks he knows, his every
movement is watched, his rep-
utation is smeared, and
his life destroyed.
Variety categorised
the movie among
the “conspir-
acy-paranoia
pictures”, whereas
the San Francisco
Examiner derided
its “preachy” tone
and “Big Brother clichés”. All
the while, unbeknown to our
reviewers, the NSA’s machinery
was being put into place to
monitor a nation and hack the
networks of democratically
elected leaders around the
world. Starring Gene Hack-
man and Jon Voight (in an evil
caricature of former Secretary
of Defence Robert McNamara).
(1998)A Guide to the Week’s Viewing
TV Films
Hell or High Water, Friday.by RYAN HOLDER
Best
hostage drama
MONEY MONSTER
TVNZ 2, Sunday,
8.30pm