New Zealand Listener – June 01, 2019

70 LISTENER JUNE 1 2019

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

Steven Soderbergh (Traffic,

Contagion) adds a little zest by

having Tess Ocean (played by

Julia Roberts) disguise herself

as Julia Roberts in a scene that

already had a Bruce Willis

cameo. (2004)

SUNDAY JUNE 2

Halloween (Movies Premiere,

Sky 030, 8.00pm). Forty years

after narrowly surviving the

events of John Carpenter’s

classic slasher film, a trauma-

tised Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee

Curtis) lives in preparation

for the return of evil personi-

fied. As we and several hapless

characters are about to learn,

Michael Myers (James Jude

Courtney) isn’t evil to be stud-

ied or corrected, he is evil to be

killed. Director David Gordon

Green (Stronger, Pineapple

Express) does a good job in

recreating the terrifying mood

of the original and – merci-

fully – he ignores the series of

bad sequels and

spin-offs that

have cropped up

in the interven-

ing years. (2018)

Suffragette (Choice TV,

8.30pm). “Suffragette is not the

record of a bygone battle,”

Sally Blundell wrote in these

pages, in an interview with

Bafta-winning screenwriter

Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady).

Indeed it is not, but it was

a battle. The armies form

around Maud Watts (Carey

Mulligan), a fictional laundry

worker who is drawn to the

movement because of the

abuse heaped on her at work

and at home. As the suffra-

gettes become more militant,

she meets activist Emily

Davison (Natalie Press), who

would go on to throw herself

in front of the King’s horse at

the 1913 Epsom Derby. Meryl

Streep makes a far-too-fleeting

appearance as the powerhouse

Emmeline Pankhurst. (2015)

War for the Planet of the Apes

(TVNZ 2, 8.45pm). The mon-

keying around is over. War

is at hand. Caesar (a motion-

captured Andy Serkis) and his

army of intelligent apes march

on a military faction led by

the Colonel (Woody Har-

relson), who appears to have

walked straight from Heart of

Darkness. But the violence is

not of their doing. Along with

impressive visual effects and

surprising moral complexity,

this is the trick that director

Matt Reeves (Let Me In) and his

co-writer, Mark Bomback (The

Wolverine), almost pull off: our

sympathy is with the apes.

(2017)

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY

Killing Them Softly (Movies

Action, Sky 032, 8.00pm).

After the success of

The Assassination

of Jesse James

by the Coward

Robert Ford,

New Zealand-

born director

Andrew Dominik

returned with

Killing Them Softly, a

Mafioso story set against

the backdrop of the global

financial crisis. Barack Obama

sermonises on the television

while hitman Jackie Coogan

(Brad Pitt) and his boss,

Driver (Richard Jenkins),

argue over the price of three

whacks. The targets are

Squirrel (Vincent Curatola),

Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and

Russell (Ben Mendelsohn),

three burglars who picked

the wrong poker game. It’s

a star-studded cast (that

includes James Gandolfini

and Ray Liotta), but the

film unfortunately relies too

heavily on their past

achievements. (2012)

Million Dollar Baby (Movies

Pop-up, Sky 038, 8.25pm). Clint

Eastwood directs and stars in

a heartbreaking film about a

waitress (Hilary Swank) who

fights her way to the top of

the boxing world. Co-starring

Morgan Freeman. (2004)

A Hologram for the King (TVNZ

1, 8. 30pm). A washed-up cor-

porate salesman (Tom Hanks)

goes to Saudi Arabia to try to

sell holographic teleconferenc-

ing technology to the king.

Culture clash, confusion and

comedy ensue. Oh, the films

that Hanks can save. (2016)

TUESDAY JUNE 4

Iron Man 2 (TVNZ Duke,

8.30pm). With the release of

Avengers: Endgame, nostalgia

for the Marvel Cinematic Uni-

verse is at an all-time high. Iron

Man 2 doesn’t fare too well in

retrospect. Playboy billionaire

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr)

faces a not unfamiliar threat: a

bad Russian (Mickey Rourke).

He is out to prove the Iron

Man is not invincible. Little

did he know. (2010)

WEDNESDAY JUNE 5

Open Range (Movies Classics,

Sky 034, 8.00pm). Kevin Cost-

ner’s slow-burning western

is of the old breed. Violence

is not sought, but inexorably

comes. This time it’s a small-

town despot named Denton

Baxter (Michael Gambon).

Cattlemen Boss Spearman

(Robert Duvall) and Charley

Waite (Costner) run up against

him when stopping by Har-

monville for supplies. Baxter

doesn’t take kindly to their

type. The wonderful Annette

Bening features in a pass-

ing romance that is, like the

rest of film, understated and

restrained. (2003)

Films are rated out of 5:

(abysmal) to (amazing).

Suffragette, Sunday.

Million Dollar

Baby, Monday.

Bes

t

slow-b

urning^

western

OPEN

RAN

GE

Movies^

Classic,^ S

ky^034 ,^

Wednes

day,^

8.^00 pm