Your night in: Every movie on Melbourne TV tonight - rated and slated
Tonight’s TV viewing has a plethora of options, from dancing with Channing Tatum to transporting into a world of magic, and finding an unlikely activist in the AIDS epidemic. Here’s our guide to what’s on.
Leigh Paatsch
Don't miss out on the headlines from Leigh Paatsch. Followed categories will be added to My News.
HARRY POTTER & THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (M)
****
7.30pm 7MATE
In this epic sixth instalment of author J.K. Rowling’s mega-popular saga, Harry and his fellow Hogwarts students are no longer simply learning about magic. Some major lessons about life, death, love and personal ethics are also high on the curriculum this time around. Director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves crafted a challenging and decidedly mature film that paves the way perfectly for the two-part finale (coming at you on 7Mate in the next fortnight).
CHAIN REACTION (M)
**1/2
10.40pm 7MATE
An enjoyably mindless action adventure flick welded to a ludicrously cumbersome storyline. Keanu Reeves plays Eddie, a student scientist who has stared into microscopes just long enough to unlock the secret of water as a limitless power source. Shock Development #1 : the FBI reckon Eddie has blown up an eight-storey building after selling the secret of water as a limitless power source to the Chinese. Shock Development #2 : Eddie may have been cruelly framed for the crime by ‘The Foundation’. So who are they exactly? They may or may not be a CIA front who may or may not be responsible for blowing up an eight-storey building and selling the secret of water as a limitless power source to the Chinese.
STEP UP (M)
***
9.20pm GO!
He’s a body-poppin’ bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. She’s a ballet-dancin’ rich girl on the wrong side of insensitive parents. And you, you’ve already seen Dirty Dancing 1 and 2. So surely Step Up is gonna suck? Not quite. What Step Up lacks in the originality stakes is more than covered by the come-hither chemistry of its majorly attractive leads, Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan. When this pair hit the floor and make their best moves - nearly all of which involve a sudden halt, followed by a laser-like locking of the eyes - the suggestive swoon that sweeps the screen could be classified as a viable alternate power source.
WARM BODIES (M)
***1/2
7.35pm WORLD MOVIES
Get set for the surprisingly heartwarming sight of the undead breathing new life into Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Not enough for you? Warm Bodies is funny as well. While its humour is neither as zippy nor zappy as that classic zom-rom-com Shaun of the Dead, this cleverly thought-out affair earns its laughs with a little attitude and a lot of wit. Nicholas Hoult stars as R, a with-it young zombie who develops feelings for a winsome young human named Julie (Teresa Palmer). In spite of not being able to exchange much dialogue - R can only grunt out the occasional word or phrase - Hoult and Palmer get some great chemistry going in the lead roles. Co-stars John Malkovich.
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB (M)
****1/2
9.30pm WORLD MOVIES
The compelling true story of a man who turned a life sentence into a career opportunity. Matthew McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, a homophobic rodeo rider who contracted the AIDS virus in 1985. Given mere months to live by doctors, Woodroof’s redneck instincts point him to Mexico, where he discovers a line of medication that improves his condition. Though the treatment is banned in the US, Woodroof starts smuggling the stuff across the border, after which he turns a tidy buck selling it to fellow sufferers. As he gradually drops his gay-hating stance and develops some compassion for those around him, Woodroof becomes an unlikely role model and activist in a time that sorely needed them. Exceptionally well-written and directed, this tough, yet tender-hearted film doesn’t take the easy road towards winning your full respect and fascination. It ultimately reaches you via McConaughey’s incredible performance as a one-of-a-kind rebel who remains difficult to like, but is impossible not to admire. Co-stars Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner.
THREE MOVIE PICKS FOR STREAMING OR RENTAL
GREYHOUND (M)
***1/2
APPLE TV+
A lean and meaningful war picture which turns out to be everything the similarly-themed recent cinema hit Midway was not. It is the height of WWII, and in a stretch of the North Atlantic known as the Black Pit, a convoy of American naval supply ships is being stalked by a sizeable pack of German U-boats. The only protection the Allied vessels can hope for comes from destroyers such as the USS Keeling, which just happens to be under the command of a rookie skipper on his first assignment in combat conditions. The movie sticks close to the stressed, yet clear-thinking strategic perspective of Commander Ernest Krause (compellingly played by Tom Hanks, for whom this is a longstanding passion project). This gripping production will definitely appeal to military buffs, but its ability to grip a viewer and not let go is deceptively wide-ranging. Sequences where Krause is on the attack against an enemy he literally never sees are what really stick in the mind here. Another big plus: it’s all over inside 90 minutes (a rarity these days!).
THE VAST OF NIGHT (M)
****
AMAZON
What this bargain-basement American indie lacks in polish, it more than compensates for with ideas, intelligence and a determination to deliver. The setting is a small country town in the 1950s, where unexplained electrical interference could be signalling an imminent visit by strangers from parts unknown. If this sounds a little science-fictiony, let’s just say this clever tale passes through that realm on the way to something of its own making. Some virtuoso camera shots and the accomplished work of an unknown cast combine for something truly special: close to exactly what a Steven Spielberg might have done if he was just starting out today.
HIDDEN FIGURES (PG)
***1/2
FOXTEL
Back on home streaming after an extended absence. Few inspirational true stories hit the screen in such infectiously upbeat fashion as Hidden Figures. While amiably predictable at all times, the sheer energy of the cast and the pure curiosity provoked by its subject are simply too inviting to resist. This is the untold tale of a group of black female mathematicians employed by NASA during the crucial pre-Apollo years of the US space program. The film focuses on three high-achievers on this remarkable team : aspiring aerospace engineer Mary Jackson (played by singer Janelle Monae), pioneering computer programmer Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and the brilliant geometrics analyst Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson). What truly impresses about this movie is how a fine balance is maintained between charting the personal journeys of the trio - who endured widespread discrimination both inside and outside NASA - and establishing the wider significance of their important contributions to the US space program. Overall, a great all-ages experience. Co-stars Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst. ***1/2
Originally published as Your night in: Every movie on Melbourne TV tonight - rated and slated