NOVEMBER 5 2016 http://www.listener.co.nz 71
Although Nothing But the Truth
is a different beast, this fact
may make it irksome for those
who like their films free of
sordid reality. This is a shame,
because it deserves to be
watched by all. (2008)
Joy (Sky Movies Extra, Sky
031, 8.30pm) Sometimes you
have to pause and consider
whether Hollywood is trying
to set couples up. I have my
suspicions with respect to
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley
Cooper. Silver Linings Play-
book, American Hustle, Serena
and now Joy? The latter is a
biographical drama that stars
the two under examination,
with Robert De Niro, Édgar
Ramirez and Virginia Madsen.
It charts the unlikely rise of
Joy Mangano (Lawrence),
entrepreneur and inventor
of the self-wringing Miracle
Mop, who has apparently
now turned co-conspirator
to Hollywood matchmaking.
Illuminati? Quite possibly.
(2015)
The Drop (TV3, 10.30pm) Tom
Hardy stars with James Gan-
dolfini, both rocking Mobbish
Brooklyn accents, in a film
based on a Dennis Lehane
(Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone)
short story. Let’s just say this
crime thriller is pretty solid.
(2014)
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 8Straight Outta Compton (Sky
Movies Song & Dance Pop-
up, Sky 035, 8.30pm) For
a fictionalised account of
“ground-breaking gangsta-rap
group” NWA, something about
“Song and Dance Pop-up”
doesn’t quite scan. Unless, of
course, you’re a quibbler with
a dictionary. Yes, there’s music
by Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr Dre
and co, and they may have
even bopped along. But this
isn’t the Macarena. They came
straight outta Compton, a
rough city where poverty, gang
violence and police brutality
were the norm. A rag-to-riches
story if ever there was one.
(2015)Yo u ’ve B e e n Tru m p e d (Maori,
8.30pm) Add the Scottish
landscape to the list of things
ruined by Donald Trump. In
2007, he bought a tract of
coastal land in Balmedie – a
conservation area, no less- then had it dug up and plas-
tered over with another of his
bland golf courses. Incensed
local villagers and farmers
mounted a campaign with a
group of environmentalists to
halt construction – to no avail.
Sequels to the documentary
quickly followed, with the
latest arriving any day. At this
point, it’s one for masochists.
(2011)
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 10
The Look of Silence (Rialto, Sky
039, 8.30pm) This devastating
documentary follows an opti-
cian as he quietly confronts his
brother’s killers. It completes
the circle begun by Joshua
Oppenheimer in The Act of
Killing, in which the genocidal
butchers of 1960s Indonesia
recreate their crimes in gaudy
and violent skits, oblivious
in the main to the moral
depravity of their acts. Some
don’t understand why they’re
considered evil – they were
communists, weren’t they? –
whereas others are more clued
up. Some are still in power.
Under the guise of an eye
examination, our protagonist
gently prods and fishes for
an answer, an explanation ...
repentance? None is forthcom-
ing. (2014)Lethal Weapon 3 (Prime,
8.35pm) A few years after
“getting too old for this”
stuff, copper Roger Murtaugh
(Danny Glover) is back with
his buddy Martin Riggs (Mel
Gibson) on the tail of lieuten-
ant-turned-arms-dealer JackTravis (Stuart Wilson). Signs of
ageing start to show through
a formulaic plot, but mullet-
lovers will find redemption
in Gibson’s impressive mane.
(1992)FRIDAY NOVEMBER 11
Along Came Polly (Bravo,
8.30pm) It ruined the idea of
bar snacks for a generation.
After professional risk-assessor
and life-insurance underwriter
Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) tells
Polly (Jennifer Aniston) about
the number of toilet users’
unwashed hands that are likelyto have touched any given
bar snack peanut, they were
never the same again. Polly
comes along after Reuben’s risk
assessment of his new wife,
Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing),
turns out to have been well
short of the mark. Goofy
friend Sandy Lyle (Philip
Seymour Hoffman) is on hand
with sound relationship and
other miscellaneous advice, as
goofy filmic friends always are.
(2004)Films are rated out of 5:
(abysmal) to (amazing).The Drop,
Sunday.Straight Outta
Compton, Tuesday.You’ve Been
Tru m p e d,
Tu es d ay.