70 LISTENER OCTOBER 13 2018
THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
Iran and elsewhere. (2006)
SUNDAY OCTOBER 14
Me Before You (Three,
8.30pm). Most recognisable as
dragon-riding Daenerys
Targaryen of Game
of Thrones, Emilia
Clarke here gets
something of
a demotion.
Far from the
badass of before,
Clarke is a bubbly
working-class gal
called Louisa, who finds a
caregiving job in the English
countryside. Her patient is
William Traynor (Sam Claflin),
a former banker and generally
dreamy dude who is confined
to a wheelchair after a motor-
bike accident. Traynor wants
to end his life at a centre in
Switzerland. They fall in love.
Can Louisa convince him
not to? Be warned: this is Jojo
Moyes territory. (2016)
The Machinist (Māori TV,
8.30pm). Christian Bale may
have taken method acting a
little too far in this psychologi-
cal thriller. By consuming only
water, coffee and an apple
a day, he dropped 28kg to
play emaciated metal factory
worker Trevor Reznick. Increas-
ingly paranoid and distracted
Films are rated out of 5:
(abysmal) to (amazing).Paterno, Tuesday.
and here pays tribute to his
countryman “who showed
Ireland wasn’t just about the
Famine”. Geldof wants the
documentary to correct the
“kitsch view” of Irish history.
The best parts are poetical:
recitals by Van Morrison,
Anne Enright, Sting, Bono,
Colm Tóibín, Damian Lewis,
Liam Neeson and many more.
(2016)TUESDAY OCTOBER 16
Paterno (Soho, Sky 010,
9.20pm). In 2011, Pennsylva-
nia State University was rocked
by a child sex abuse scandal
that led to the conviction of
assistant football coach Jerry
Sandusky. He committed his
crimes on and off the campus
and the finger of blame was
immediately pointed at the
school hierarchy: how could
someone get away with this
for so long? Beloved head
coach Joe Paterno came under
particular scrutiny. DirectorBarry Levinson (Rain Man,
The Wizard of Lies) sets out to
measure Paterno’s guilt. But he
can’t quite decide what Paterno
is: a biopic, a sports drama or
journalism. (2018)WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 17
The Tale (Movies Extra, Sky
031, 8.30pm). In the #MeToo
era more than ever, memory
and sexual assault are central
to sociopolitics. Written and
directed by Jennifer Fox (and
based on her own experi-
ences), The Tale tells of a
woman (Laura Dern) who,
when confronted by her
mother (Ellen Burstyn) with
a troubling essay she wrote as
a child, begins to reassess her
first sexual experience, with
a much older man. Graphic,
unsettling and timely. (2018)FRIDAY OCTOBER 19
Analyze That (Māori TV,
8.30pm). The mobster-in-
therapy gag is pretty funny the
first time, as it was in Analyze
This. Now “This” is “That”,
mob boss Paul Vitti (Robert De
Niro) is out of prison for more
therapy with Dr Ben Sobel
(Billy Crystal) and they’ve not
much left to work with. (2002)National Treasure (TVNZ 2,
8.35pm). In one of his many
baffling roles, Nicholas Cage as
Benjamin Franklin Gates goes
hunting for a treasure trove
of gold, jewels and artworks
hidden beneath ... where? The
key that will unlock the secret
is a code on the back of the
Declaration of Independence
itself, and Gates is not the only
one trying to crack it. Critic
Roger Ebert said, “The Monty
Python version could use the
same screenplay, line for line.”
Please, cinema gods. (2001)Best
poetryA FANATIC HEART
Sky Arts, Monday,
5.20pmdue to his sleeplessness,
Reznick causes a co-worker to
lose his arm in an accident.
This is the high point in a
downward spiral that writer
Scott Kosar (Texas Chainsaw
Massacre) and director
Brad Anderson take
all the way to rock
bottom, where we
make a discovery
about Reznick’s
past. (2004)Oscar Pistorius: Blade
Runner Killer (Bravo,
8.30pm). A bad title makes
way for a worse telefilm
that insults the memory
of Rheeva Steenkamp by
over-dramatising her murder
at the hands of Paralympian
Oscar Pistorius. Both families
were appalled; the Pistoriuses
threatened to sue. (2017)MONDAY OCTOBER 15
A Fanatic Heart: Bob Geldof
on Yeats (Sky Arts, Sky 020,
5.20pm). If for nothing else,
Bob Geldof should be world-
famous in New Zealand for
upsetting Winston Peters by
calling “shameful” our foreign
aid contributions. The Irish
singer-songwriter is a passion-
ate fan of the poet WB YeatsI, Tonya, Saturday.