Your Night In: Every movie on free-to-air TV tonight rated or slated
If you watched The Godfather or Twilight last week you’re in for a treat, with the sequels to both playing on free-to-air tonight. But if neither of those tickle your fancy, here’s what else is on offer.
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THE GODFATHER: PART II (M)
*****
8.30pm VICELAND
Just as the first Godfather (which screened this time last week) is one of the greatest movies of all time, so too is its equally revered sequel. Snapping off the twigs of an Italian-American family tree one-by-one, director Francis Ford Coppola paints an unflinching picture of how absolute power can corrupt absolutely. The big trifecta of what makes a good film great – direction, script and performance – achieves the maximum pay-off possible here. A realisation made all the more remarkable given the difficult circumstances under which this masterpiece was created. Simply untouchable. Stars Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall.
TWILIGHT: NEW MOON (M)
**1/2
8.30pm 7FLIX
For fans under the spell of immortal teen bloodsucker Edward (Robert Pattinson) and his all-too-human girlfriend Bella (Kristen Stewart), there is no real difference between any of the Twilight movies. As before, a lot of the acting in New Moon is shonky, the production values are cheap, and the pacing rarely breaks out of a ponderous plod. However, the main job here is to transport Twi-hards deep inside the appealingly affected world (now with added werewolves!) created by author Stephenie Meyer. On this level – the only level that really matters to the massive target audience – New Moon gets the job done.
BIG MOMMA’S HOUSE 1 & 2 (M)
*1/2
7.30pm and 9.30pm GO!
Please stand back as Big Momma’s House 1 and 2 backs-up the truck and dumps every conceivable thin-fella-cross-dressin’-as-a-fat-lady joke on the front lawn of your brain. The plot has Lawrence playing Malcolm, an FBI undercover agent on a very difficult assignment: posing as a portly neighbourhood matriarch known to all and sundry as Big Momma. Stick around and you’ll get to see Big Momma/Malcolm beat-up a karate instructor, perform a selection of basketball trick shots, avoid the amorous clutches of a dirty old suitor, lace some expletives through a gospel hymn, deliver a baby (with the assistance of a plunger and some cooking oil) and develop an unhealthy crush on Big Momma’s babe of a granddaughter. Aeesh.
CHAPPAQUIDDICK (M)
****
7.30pm WORLD MOVIES
The story begins on July 18, 1969, where a car driven by Senator Edward Kennedy (played by Australian actor Jason Clarke) spirals off a bridge and into the water. Kennedy walks away from the accident unscathed. Meanwhile, the other passenger in the vehicle, Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) is left behind to drown. In the days that follow – after Kennedy took a staggering 8 hours to acknowledge his part in the tragedy – several shockingly cynical attempts are made to get the Senator looking like a heroically innocent victim of bad luck. This powerful tale of galling entitlement and ruthless insensitivity is filtered through an impressive performance by Clarke, who finds in Kennedy the pathological combination of a man stunned by what he has done, yet stirred by what he must do.
THE TROUBLE WITH YOU (M)
***
9.30pm WORLD MOVIES
A mildly involving French drama, well-suited to the small screen. While a Riviera police officer discovers her late husband led a double life, the man who was imprisoned for her husband’s crimes is released from jail and must adapt to the outside world.
THREE MOVIES TO RENT OR STREAM TO GET YOU THROUGH THE EVENING
AD ASTRA (M)
****
FOXTEL
A serenely captivating work of science fiction, where the fiction heavily outweighs the science. Keeping this disparity in relative balance is yet another economical and deftly convincing lead performance from Brad Pitt. He plays Major Roy McBride, a veteran astronaut facing the most dangerous mission of his career. The movie takes place in a future where space travel to the moon has been commercialised, and the rest of the solar system could yet follow suit. However, increasingly powerful energy surges from the planet Neptune may not only threaten Earth’s reach across this new frontier, but the lifespan of all mankind as well. To identify and isolate the threat at hand, McBride must make contact with a lost explorer who disappeared in the same region as the surges: his father Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones). By turns, a cerebral and compelling experience – imagine 2001: A Space Odyssey delicately dovetailing with Apocalypse Now – equally adept at raising pulses and expanding minds when least expected.
DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD (PG)
***
AMAZON
An irresistible feature-length – and more importantly, live-action – adaptation of the long-running Nickleodeon TV cartoon series Dora the Explorer. This isn’t just kids’ stuff, by the way. It will play equally well with teens who are up for a rollicking blend of the Jumanji and Indiana Jones flicks to boost the adventure factor in play. The title character (well played by rising star Isabela Moner) is temporarily transferred from the jungle to the big city while her intrepid parents go off in search of a lost Incan kingdom. However, it isn’t long before Dora returns to the wild to alert her mum and dad to a looming danger. A fast pace, friendly vibe and a willingness to send itself up are all big pluses for this crowd-pleasing affair. Well worth a look with the school holidays drawing near.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (M)
****
SBS ON DEMAND
An uncannily focused drama-comedy introduces you to a family who puts the cult in counterculture. The window through which you will see this unusual clan is a magnificent, nuanced performance from Viggo Mortensen. He plays Ben Cash, the father of six very individual children he is raising, schooling and simply running wild with, deep in the forests of America’s Pacific northwest. The Cashes don’t just live off the grid. They may as well be living on another planet. The one missing link in this captivating tale is the whereabouts of Ben’s wife. Without giving too much away, it is her absence that triggers an unplanned return by Ben and his brood to conventional society.
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Originally published as Your Night In: Every movie on free-to-air TV tonight rated or slated