Your Night In: Every movie on TV tonight rated or slated
Good news for fans of chick flicks or Sarah Jessica Parker movies – there’s no shortage of either on TV tonight. Other offerings include a gripping NFL biopic and a documentary on an Australian treasure.
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FAILURE TO LAUNCH (M)
**
7:30 PM GO!
The parents of a 35-year-old playboy (Matthew McConaughey) enlist the help of a professional ‘interventionist’ (Sarah Jessica Parker) to lure their layabout son out of the family home once and for all. A strange idea for a romantic comedy results in quite a strange film. Not much to like about the main plot, but some fun to be had on the fringes. McConaughey and Parker both later admitted they didn’t really hit it off during the shoot, and it really shows on-screen. Co-star Zooey Deschanel (of TV’s New Girl) all but steals the show.
SOMETHING BORROWED (M)
**1/2
9:30 PM GO!
Based on the best-selling book by Emily Giffin, Something Borrowed is a weapons-grade chick flick that will give its target audience just enough bang for their buck. This perfectly agreeable affair sashays down the same narrative path cleared by the smash hit My Best Friend’s Wedding. Ginnifer Goodwin’s man of her dreams is about to marry her bossy BFF Kate Hudson. So what is a girl to do? Force a break-up right now, or shut the hell up forevermore? With a running time of just under 110 minutes, it would be fair to say that the harried heroine will be taking the scenic route towards arriving at an answer. True believers in all things rom and com won’t mind the wait one little bit. Co-stars Colin Egglesfield, John Krasinski.
THE FULL MONTY (M)
***1/2
11:00 PM CH. 7
Upbeat, crowd-pleasing tale of six unemployed steel workers faced with an unusual choice to guarantee their livelihood. To regain their mantle as breadwinners and pants-wearers of the house, they will either have to take off, or take it all off. After seeing the sex drives of the local women conquered by that touring troupe of beefcake bum-flashers known as The Chippendales, our heroes decide that the male-stripping game might just be the answer to their cash-strapped plight. Robert Carlyle, Tom Wilkinson and Mark Addy head-up a strong cast in a fail-safe, full-frontal comedy.
SEX & THE CITY: THE MOVIE (MA15+)
**
9:00 PM 10 PEACH
In its TV incarnation, the better episodes of Sex & the City were perfectly-formed examples of populist programming: tightly-wound coil springs of smut, sass and sisterly soul. Zappy writing and zippy pacing were the keys to success, and high standards were maintained all the way through to that wonderful series finale in Paris. After flying so comfortably and so far in the economy environment of television, Sex and the City: The Movie just doesn’t know what to do with all the leg room in the comparative first-class section of the big-screen. The pacing barely ever breaks out of a light plod. And the writing is very, very average. Die-hard fans could walk away from almost every TV instalment with a zingerly quip to quote forevermore. Here, the only abiding memory many viewers will have once the hype dies down is the scene where one of the fabled quartet accidentally poops her pants.
THE EXPRESS (PG)
***
9:30 PM NITV
Fans of US sport – and in particular, its complicated history when it comes to racial matters – will be impressed by this modest biopic of Ernie Davis, the first African-American gridiron football player to win the prestigious Heisman Trophy. Administers a strong dose of well-earned outrage at what men of colour had to go through to get to places their white counterparts reached with ease. Stars Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid.
LABYRINTH OF LIES (M)
***
9:35 PM WORLD MOVIES
Germany, 1958. The word Auschwitz is already well on its way to being airbrushed from the nation’s history books, even though the atrocities committed at that hellish place ended only just over a decade ago. Then an idealistic young public prosecutor, Johan Radmann (Alexander Fehling), stumbles upon a clear trail of evidence pointing to a calculated cover-up that goes all the way to the top. The bottom line is that those who looked the other way at Auschwitz should be brought to trial. The word trickling down to Radmann is to move on to another case. Being based on a true story, this respectful and studious re-creation of what became a landmark case in the German courts rarely puts a foot wrong.
Three movie picks for streaming or rental to get you through the evening
THE LIGHTHOUSE (M)
***
BINGE, FOXTEL, AMAZON
An enigmatically intimidating psychological drama, cooping you up in a lighthouse with its only two occupants. Oh, and it’s 1890, so no-one will be switching on the radio, picking up a phone, or surfing the internet to liven up the vibe. All you can hear is the sea, the wind, and an occasional exchange of unpleasantries between Wake (Willem Dafoe) and Winslow (Robert Pattinson). On a good day, these mismatched “wickies” (sailor slang for lighthouse keepers) might be paid a visit by a seagull. On a bad day – or worse still, any night – the sheer monotony of their existence has both men forgetting the difference between sane and insane. Filmed in a stark black-and-white and paced like a funeral procession doing a U-turn in a back alley, this is the perfect date movie for any couples looking to end their relationship. Best appreciated by those who relish a cinematic challenge.
KOKO: A RED DOG STORY (G)
***
Rent via GOOGLE, APPLE, FOXTEL STORE
A delightful, moving and genuinely fascinating tribute to the one and only Koko, the Australian red cloud kelpie who blazed an unlikely trail to movie fame as the star of the 2011 family hit Red Dog. Sadly, just over a year after his breakthrough performance, Koko was gone, a victim of heart disease at just the age of seven. The structure of this movie is most unusual, and all the better for it. In some sections, it is a straight documentary, in which those who know, loved and worked with Koko share their stories of this remarkable canine character. In other sections, many of those same people are played by actors in playfully amusing re-enactments of key moments from Koko’s colourful life.
THE GOOD LIAR (MA15+)
**1/2
Stream via NETFLIX; or rent via GOOGLE, APPLE, FOXTEL STORE
A movie for people who think they could watch British acting legends Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen in just about anything. This deceptively inconsistent, semi-silly thriller of sorts will test this devotional stance to the limit. Goes without saying the Mirren-McKellen teaming – their first as a screen duo – is by far and away the best thing about the movie. She is Betty, a retired academic sitting on a rather large nest egg. He is Roy, a career conman who swiftly moves into the nest, then starts making tracks for the egg. The pair meet via an online dating site, and the getting-to-know-each-other section of the story (based on the 2016 novel by Nicholas Searle) extracts the finest from both veteran performers. However, once director Bill Condon must commit to cataloguing a collection of shock revelations and shifty intentions, the movie’s fate is taken out of the assured hands of Mirren and McKellen. All roads lead to an absolute howler of an ending!
Originally published as Your Night In: Every movie on TV tonight rated or slated