Your Night In: Every movie on Melbourne TV tonight rated
From Harry Potter’s gripping final showdown to a quiet Aussie drama or a Pedro Almodovar classic, there’s magic, action, heartbreak and more on TV in Melbourne tonight.
Leigh Paatsch
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HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2 (M)
****1/2
7.30pm 7MATE
No longer the boy with so much to learn about the ways of wizardry, our last long look at Harry Potter sees him all grown up with just one place to go: a thrilling showdown with his (im)mortal enemy, Lord Voldemort. The great thing about this impressive production is that it never rests on its laurels. The moment has arrived for actions to speak louder than words, and Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is first and foremost, an action movie. A great action movie. En route to a tumultuous finale that almost lays waste to Hogwarts, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) must find the remaining four horcruxes that are key to the enduring evil of Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The closing act of the picture — which also provides many beloved characters from past Potter adventures to make one lasting contribution to the tale — is at once gripping, stirring and highly moving. A fitting end to a decade of movies that had the whole world believing in magic. Co-stars Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith.
STEP UP 3 (M)
**1/2
9.20pm GO!
You know you’re in a Step Up movie when the whole thing stops for someone to spill an energy drink on a wind turbine — as you do — so that droplets strobe all over the screen as if you’re inside a radioactive car wash. As for the plot, well, there’s this secret underground dance posse known as The Pirates, whose funky NYC warehouse HQ is under threat of closure for failure to make mortgage payments. But as luck would just happen to have it, there’s an international hip-hop dance tournament (”it’s the World Jam, man!”) about to start, and the $100,000 first prize would snuff out those housing hassles once and for all. Luckily, no is here for the plot, right? The dance skills on display throughout Step Up 3 range from mildly diverting (hard not to love all those upside-down head-spins) to truly stunning (a big production number with Tron-style neon body suits).
KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (MA15+)
***1/2
10.05pm 7MATE
The noted epic specialist, Gladiator director Ridley Scott, winds the clock back to the Great Crusades of the 12th century. The ballistic bloodletting of the battle for Jerusalem is indeed awe-inspiring, but Scott also finds some space inside such heavy, hellish traffic to humanise the conflict. Vividly drawn characters such as the legendary knight Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson) – a tough hombre who states he once “fought for two days with an arrow through my right testicle!” — and the leprous King Baldwin of Jerusalem (a masked Edward Norton) come and go at a rate of knots, but do not waste a single second of their allotted screen time. Strong, stirring stuff. Co-stars Orlando Bloom, Jeremy Irons.
SLOW WEST (M)
***1/2
7.30pm WORLD MOVIES
A casual weirdness. A wisened grasp of when to embrace or reject a cliche. A quartet of ripping performances. These are the calling cards of this odd, funny and compelling western. Accomplished young Australian actor Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) stars as Jay, a hopelessly romantic teen with plenty of money in his pocket, and few clues in his head. This would explain why, in the 1860s, Jay has left a life of comfort in his native Scotland to comb the badlands of Colorado in search of his great lost love, Rosie (Caren Pistorius). Our naive hero’s crafty chaperone-slash-bodyguard (Michael Fassbender) has his work cut out for him. Especially when the pair keep crossing paths with the baddest hombre in them there parts (Ben Mendelsohn in a massive fur coat that needs its own postcode). An acquired taste, but plenty of vivid flavours await if your palate responds.
VOLVER (M)
***1/2
9.30pm WORLD MOVIES
It’s a playful soap-opera, mad with colour and crazy twists. It’s a ghost story that won’t give you the chills. And most importantly of all, it’s yet another fine movie from Spanish master Pedro Almodovar (Talk to Her). Penelope Cruz is at her dazzling best as a Madrid housewife with a daughter in trouble and a mother back from the dead.
THREE MOVIE PICKS FOR STREAMING OR RENTAL TO GET YOU THROUGH THE EVENING
CHARLIE’S ANGELS (M)
**1/2
FOXTEL, AMAZON & RENT VIA GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE
A check of the time tells us it is reboot o’clock. Yet again. A check of the pulse tells us there is no real reason to get excited. Yet again. This time it is the turn of Charlie’s Angels to bring on the brand reactivation to moderate effect. For those who missed the franchise’s earlier incarnations - most notably, the cheesy mid-1970s TV series, and the early-2000s movies - you won’t be at a disadvantage joining the party at this late stage. The premise remains the same: three good-looking spies-for-hire glamorously globe-trot the world to teach bad dudes all the lessons they had coming. Our trio of high-flying, haute couture heroines are comprised of a rebellious one (Kristen Stewart), a conscientious one (Naomi Scott) and a learning-on-the-job one (Ella Balinska). All three leads run hot and cold throughout, but so too does the movie. Some terrific set-piece action sequences, however. Co-stars Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin.
SATELLITE BOY (PG)
***
ABC IVIEW
A quiet, unhurried and graceful Australian drama. In the far northern reaches of the Western Australia, a young Aboriginal boy and his grandfather face eviction from the unusual place they call home. The pair live at the site of an abandoned drive-in cinema, which has been marked for demolition by a local mining company. Incensed by the news, 11-year-old Pete (Cameron Wallaby) takes off for the big smoke to see if he can change the miners’ minds. The film could be construed as a bit slow and airy for some tastes. Nevertheless, its insightful fascination with a fading way of life in the outback (and a people determined to keep living it as vividly as they can) is a small triumph. Co-stars David Gulpilil.
AFTER THE WEDDING (M)
***
NETFLIX
A gender-flipped American remake of the 2006 Danish arthouse hit drama of the same name. With the turmoil now being driven by female protagonists, the atmosphere conjured here is very different indeed (and mostly less intense than before). Luckily, there are two incredible actresses filling the leads to keep an audience involved and intrigued. Michelle Williams plays Isabel, an orphanage mistress who has travelled from India to the US to score some face time with a possible big benefactor. That would be Theresa (Julianne Moore), a media exec who is all hustle, all bustle, all the time. Is she gonna fork over some big bucks for the greater good? Well, first Isabel is going to have to leave the right impression as a late invitee to a family wedding. Which is the precise point things start going wrong. One shock (albeit seemingly coincidental) revelation starts a domino effects with drastic implications for both women. What this unusually static affair lacks in urgency, it does make up for with committed, intuitive acting.
Originally published as Your Night In: Every movie on Melbourne TV tonight rated