Every movie rated on Melbourne TV tonight
A comedy legend, a music legend a high-concept heist movie and bees — Leigh Paatsch rates every movie on TV tonight to help you make the most of your Monday night in.
Leigh Paatsch
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THE TRUMAN SHOW (PG)
****
7.30PM GO!
Still so much to be gained from this fine film’s prescient prodding of our unhealthy obsession with peeking into the private lives of others. Jim Carrey stars as Truman Burbank, the amiable, good-hearted leading man of a 24-hour live TV program that broadcasts every moment of his life. As Truman, Jim Carrey turns his usually frenetic acting style down to a subtle level many would have thought beyond him. He is still quite funny – after all, this is still a comedy, albeit a black and bleak one – but he also radiates a warmth and an inner sadness crucial to holding together what otherwise could have been written off as a fragile and far-fetched tale. Directed by the great Australian filmmaker Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock).
THE CABLE GUY (M)
***1/2
9.30PM GO!
Matthew Broderick requires cable TV (and the free dodgy channels that can often come with it) hooked up to his house to his house. Goofy cable technician Jim Carrey is so desperate for a friend he’ll ruin Broderick’s life to cement the relationship. The hook to this weirdly compelling film is its teasing nature as a comedy of terrors. Whenever Carrey’s character crosses the line and shows his evil side (especially in two very weird scenes in a medieval theatre restaurant and at a family dinner), The Cable Guy begins messing with your mind in a way you could not have possibly expected.
RAY (M)
***
9.35PM WORLD MOVIES
The soul-stirring sounds of music legend Ray Charles keep saving the day for this straightforward, safe-bet biopic. Jamie Foxx truly channels the spunk and spirit of Charles when swaying behind the keyboard during a multitude of exhilarating song sequences. In one hell of a hurry for a 152-minute flick, but has to be to match the exuberant rush of a wonderful soundtrack. Charles collaborated closely on the film’s music before his death, supplying all the vocals and arrangements.
KELLY’S HEROES (M)
***
8.30PM 7MATE
Clint Eastwood is Private Kelly, busted down in rank from Lieutenant for infractions earlier in World War 2. Now it is 1944, and the crafty Kelly has got wind of a major stash of gold bullion about fifty miles behind German-controlled lines. Rounding up a rag-tag crew of uniformed pals, Kelly goes after the big-bucks payday he’s always dreamt of. The movie as a whole is a bit of a lark compared to war flicks of similar scale and running time. The usually unemotive Eastwood is more engaged than usual, clearly having a whale of a time with a fruity support cast that includes the likes of Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas.
GOD HELP THE GIRL (M)
**
7.30PM WORLD MOVIES
Sluggish romantic drama written and directed by Stuart Murdoch of the cult UK band Belle and Sebastian. Which kind of explains the subject matter: the early days in the career of a cult UK band. Feels like a 15-minute short stretched to two hours. Only if you’re a Belle and Sebastian fan, and very, very patient.
THREE MOVIE PICKS FOR STREAMING OR RENTAL
WIDOWS (MA15+)
****1/2
FOXTEL; or rent via GOOGLE, ITUNES, YOUTUBE MOVIES
A magnificent high-concept heist movie adapted from the excellent 1983 British TV miniseries by acclaimed crime author Lynda La Plante. The story begins with three elite criminals (led by Liam Neeson) coming to an unseemly end when an elaborate robbery goes horribly wrong. The three women they leave behind have little time to grieve. A ruthless Chicago crime lord wants the millions that went missing in that ill-fated job, and gives the ladies a deadline to cough up the dough, or else. Though completely inexperienced as crooks, Veronica (Viola Davis), Linda (Michelle Rodriguez) and Alice (Elizabeth Debicki) have no choice but to toughen up and take the plunge as high-stakes thieves. Director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) and screenwriter Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) are always hustling for greater things from both the sensational source material and an electrifying ensemble cast. The results are there for all to see, and to be utterly knocked out by. Co-stars Colin Farrell, Jacki Weaver, Robert Duvall.
THE KING (MA15+)
***
NETFLIX
This well-mounted historical drama is not quite the radical re-reading of Shakespeare’s Henry V some may have you believe. It is more a cautious remixing of the play, avoiding the classic text so a little factual detail can be applied and a lot of performance pyrotechnics detonated. With the bloody reign of Henry IV (Ben Mendelsohn) almost done, the time has come for sullen son Prince Hal (Timothee Chalamet) to lay off the booze and the ladies, and do his bit to stop the British throne from falling into French hands. Hal’s change from louche layabout to leader of men is akin to that of a fourth-year arts student suddenly becoming boxing’s World Heavyweight Champ. Chalamet has his work cut out convincing us, but eventually does so, confirming his rep as one of cinema’s best young talents. Some fine, if strange support work comes from Joel Edgerton (as Hal’s old drinking buddy Falstaff) and Robert Pattinson (the preening Dauphin). Directed by Australian filmmaker David Michod (Animal Kingdom), who co-scripted with Edgerton.
HONEYLAND (M)
****1/2
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO
True lovers of the documentary form must track down this incredible experience during its limited run in cinemas. This is the story of Hatidze Muratova, a beekeeper whose mystical command of the hives makes her one of the last practitioners of a vanishing art of honey extraction. The filmmakers found Hatidze and her astonishing story by accident in a hilly corner of rural Macedonia, and then spent three years gathering the extraordinary footage shown here. The end result (which earned two nominations at the recent Academy Awards) is a miracle in so many ways.
Originally published as Every movie rated on Melbourne TV tonight
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