What to watch this week: Stephen King adaptation The Institute; and top-notch doco as Jaws turns 50
Fans of the Steven Spielberg classic Jaws will love the new star-studded documentary marking it’s 50th birthday; Stephen King devotees can sink their teeth into the very creepy The Institute
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We’ve sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.
JAWS@50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY
FRIDAY, DISNEY+
It’s Emily Blunt’s favourite film, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh saw it in a cinema 31 times, Quentin Tarantino called it “the perfect movie”, it influenced the careers of visionaries including James Cameron, JJ Abrams and Guillermo Del Toro – and it’s still a stone-cold classic, despite turning 50 last month. This hugely entertaining documentary traces how then rising star Steven Spielberg – on only his third film – adapted Peter Benchley’s bestseller about a territorial man-eating great white shark into what many regard as the first true blockbuster and changed the face of filmmaking in the process. In a candid new interview, Spielberg reflects on being inspired by his hero Alfred Hitchcock, the challenges of shooting on the ocean, the idiosyncrasies of the animatronic shark he nicknamed Bruce (after his lawyer) and how he initially thought that the film that made his career was going to end it. There are also fascinating insights into the shoot itself, filmed on Martha’s Vineyard using mostly locals and how Spielberg incorporated real underwater footage from Aussie shark experts Ron and Valerie Taylor into the final cut.
STATE OF ORIGIN
WEDNESDAY, 7PM, CHANNEL 9
Even the most one-eyed Blues or Maroons fan would grudgingly agree that this is the way Origin footy should be – one game apiece leading into the decider. The good news for Queensland is that they are on a roll after hanging on to square the series in Perth. The bad news is that they have to do it again in the Blues’ backyard, against a team desperate for its first back to back series since 2019. In a nice touch, Erin Mortimer will sing the national anthem before the game, 40 years after her grandfather and Bulldogs great Steve Mortimer led the Blues to their first series win.
HEADS OF STATE
PRIME VIDEO
If either the current US President or UK Prime Minister had a fraction of the charisma and charm of their fictional counterparts John Cena and Idris Elba in this big, dumb, fun action-comedy movie, it feels like the world would be much better place. The pair make for a fine mismatched pair – Cena as the optimistic action star turned newly minted Commander In Chief and Elba has a more jaded and worldly pollie with an army background – and nail the frequent fight scenes as they are forced to team up when their plane is hijacked, and the future of the free world is on the line.
EAT SMART: SECRETS OF THE GLUCOSE GODDESS
WEDNESDAY, 8.30PM, SBS
Best-selling French author Jessie Inchauspe – aka the Glucose Goddess – might be stating the bleeding obvious when she says “we are in a sugar crisis”, but this two-part documentary has some easy and useful hacks on what to do about it. She’s recruited six volunteers from the UK to trial her techniques for six weeks to treat a range of conditions including chronic acne, sleep apnoea, diabetes and obesity. The hidden cameras that track their eating habits can make slightly uncomfortable viewing, but simple tips such as eating different food groups in the correct combinations and order, as well as pointers on snacking and exercise turn up some astonishing results.
BALLARD
PRIME VIDEO
It feels a little by the numbers, but fans of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch detective novels and the TV adaptation starring Titus Welliver will find plenty to like in this new spin-off. Maggie Q reprises her role of Renee Ballard from Bosch: Legacy, an outspoken detective who has been banished to the “ass end of the LAPD” for calling out a superior and is now in charge of a cold case unit, staffed only with volunteers and retired cops. While being pressured into finding who murdered an ambitious and abrasive politician’s sister, she uncovers a serial killer who might still be active as the investigation takes her deep into the corridors of power and pits her against her former foes in the force.
ESPORTS WORLD CUP
THURSDAY, 9PM, 7PLUS
There are still plenty who say that esports aren’t real sports – but try telling that to the 2000 elite players who are doing battle for a share of $107 million at the gaming world’s premier event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week. The seven-week tournament will kick off with an opening ceremony featuring US superstar and avid gamer Post Malone and will feature 24 of the biggest esports titles in the world, including Counter Strike, League of Legends, DOTA, MLBB, PUBG and Honor of Kings. Fans can also tune into EWS Spotlight, a two-hour live show featuring the competition’s biggest moments.
THE CROW GIRL
SUNDAY, 6PM, 7PLUS
There’s a sense of creeping dread hovering over this six-part UK crime drama that gets under your skin and stays there after a slow start. Adapted from the Scandinavian bestseller of the same name, it follows Bristol detective Jeanette Kilburn, who teams up with psychotherapist Sophia Craven to find out who is killing young men and dumping them in public places with traces of mysterious injuries. Their search will see them cross paths with a truly vile dentist who has been arrested for possession of child abuse images and seems to be somehow connected to the case and may or may not be part of a local pedophile ring.
THE INSTITUTE
SUNDAY, STAN
King of Horror Stephen King is also an executive producer on this adaptation of his own book of the same name, which isn’t always a guarantee of quality, but this is shaping up as one of his better screen projects of recent years. There are echoes of his classics Firestarter and Carrie in this story about a genius teenager whose sporadic and uncontrolled telekinetic powers lead to him being kidnapped from his house in the middle of the night. He wakes up in a remote, high security facility with similarly gifted teens, under the watchful eye of Mary-Louise Parker’s Nurse Ratched like Ms Sigsby. At the closest town, a decorated cop (Ben Barnes) is looking for a fresh start but begins to notice that something is off about some of its residents and the heavily guarded building in the middle of the forest.
DR ANN’S SECRET LIVES
TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC
Nature journalist Dr Ann Jones more used to watching wildlife from a safe distance, but for this new series gets very up close and personal and her sometimes palpable discomfort adds an edge to his new series that focuses on some of the world’s most elusive creatures. In this week’s opener she heads to the Great Barrier Reef to observe the bull shark in its natural habitat. With the help of some local experts, one of whom describes shark study as “95 per cent boredom and 5 per cent absolute chaos”, she hits the open sea on an alarmingly small boat. You can guess which percentage kicks in when they finally find a toothy 2.5m specimen and attempt to flip it on its back to attach a tracker.
THE SANDMAN
NETFLIX
For better or worse, there’s nothing else on TV quite like the sumptuous, visually stunning adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s trailblazing comic book centred on Lord Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), one of the seven Endless and ruler of the dream realm. In this second and final season, he’s reunited with this immortal siblings Destiny, Desire, Death, Delirium and Despair and handed the keys to Hell by Lucifer herself (Gwendoline Christie). Some might find it all a bit ponderous and pretentious, but fantasy fans will love the motley collection of mythical beings and beasts who assemble to try to convince Dream to bequeath the underworld to them.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
UNFAITHFUL
Connie (Diane Lane) is a well-to-do housewife who impulsively embarks on a torrid affair with Paul (Olivier Martinez), a handsome artist she meets by chance on the street while out shopping. Finding a new lease on life through her sizzling, secret liaison, Connie is increasingly willing to jeopardise her happy but boring marriage to her devoted husband Edward (Richard Gere). Lane scored an Oscar nod for her exquisite performance as Connie – a woman torn between the security of the family and the life she has and the thrill of being in the arms of her lover – while Kylie Minogue’s old beau Martinez is at the peak of his powers as a swoonworthy leading man.
Originally published as What to watch this week: Stephen King adaptation The Institute; and top-notch doco as Jaws turns 50
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