Pick of the week
M3gan 2.0<\/p>\n
Like Chucky in the Child\u2019s Play films, you can\u2019t keep an evil doll down for long. So here\u2019s a sequel to the 2022 horror<\/a> about an AI-led robot that will do anything, including murder, to protect its young human charge. This time<\/a>, M3gan has been superseded by Amelia, an even deadlier model that\u2019s gone rogue from its military handlers. Allison Williams and Violet McGraw return as inventor Gemma and her niece Cady, who reluctantly join forces \u2013 Mission: Impossible style \u2013 with the rebooted M3gan to defeat the new bot on the block. With a healthy seam of sarcasm (there\u2019s a superb misuse of\u00a0a Kate Bush song), plus the odd serious thought about the future of AI, it\u2019s a fun ride. AfireBrooding \u2026 Paula Beer as Nadja in Afire. Photograph: Capital Pictures\/Alamy<\/p>\n The second in German director Christian Petzold\u2019s series of films based on the four elements, this brooding 2023 tale<\/a> uses the threat of a forest fire to concentrate the mind of its protagonist. Self-centred author Leon (Thomas Schubert) visits the holiday home of his photographer friend Felix (Langston Uibel) to work quietly on his book. However, Paula Beer\u2019s Nadja is already staying there, and with Felix hooking up with local lifeguard Devid (Enno Trebs), the immature Leon reacts badly. But does he actually need these real-life dramas to create great fiction? ChevalierA fascinating slice of Black history \u2026 Kelvin Harrison Jr in Chevalier. Photograph: Larry Horricks\/Searchlight Pictures<\/p>\n Celebrated composer and violinist, master fencer, revolutionary soldier \u2013 Joseph Bologne led a life that Stephen Williams\u2019s period biopic<\/a> has a job on to encapsulate. The mixed-race son of an enslaved Guadeloupe woman and a French plantation owner, Joseph (Kelvin Harrison Jr) rises through late 18th-century Parisian society, becoming a favourite of Queen Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton). But his celebrity threatens social and racial distinctions, and unrest is growing in the city \u2026 A fascinating slice of Black history about a man at the dead centre of the zeitgeist. The Night of the 12thUnsolved \u2026 Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners in The Night of the 12th. Photograph: Album\/Alamy<\/p>\n An onscreen note at the start of Dominik Moll\u2019s immersive true-crime drama<\/a> reveals that it\u2019s based on an unsolved murder, so don\u2019t expect any shock unmasking at the end. This is more along the lines of David Fincher\u2019s Zodiac, as the hunt for the killer of Clara, a young woman from a small town in the French Alps, oscillates between revelation and frustration. Bastien Bouillon plays the newly appointed lead detective, Yohan, who struggles to make progress in the case as every one of Clara\u2019s loathsome lovers \u2013 past and present \u2013 provokes suspicion. SW Ella McCayComic vitality \u2026 Emma Mackey in Ella McCay. Photograph: 20th Century Studios<\/p>\n The return to directing of James L Brooks (Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News) after 15 years is a cause for celebration, as is a lead role for the great Emma \u201cSex Education\u201d Mackey. This comedy-drama<\/a> about an idealistic 34-year-old (Mackey) thrust into the role of state governor may not be as good as it gets for either of their careers, but the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis (as Ella\u2019s sharp-tongued aunt) and Woody Harrelson (as her estranged father) give the film some much-needed comic vitality. Name Me LawandDeeply touching \u2026 Lawand Hamad Amin in Name Me Lawand.<\/p>\n Edward Lovelace\u2019s deeply touching documentary<\/a> tries to give hearing viewers an insight into a deaf world, while probing the trauma faced by asylum seekers. Lawand is a young Iraqi Kurd who came to the UK and attends the Royal School for the Deaf in Derby. Muffled sounds, silence and closed captions add depth to the story he and his family tell about his struggle to adjust to a new life and learn to communicate \u2013 particularly as his parents won\u2019t learn sign language. Their fight against deportation comes down to how successful Lawand is at the school, adding to the pressure this engaging, hopeful child feels. Silver HazeLove, hate and unexpected families \u2026 Esme Creed-Miles and Vicky Knight in Silver Haze.<\/p>\n Actor Vicky Knight and director Sacha Polak are becoming quite the team. After Dirty God<\/a>, they reunited in 2023 for another traumatic tale<\/a> about love, hate and unexpected families. Knight plays a nurse, Franky, who is physically and emotionally scarred after a fire 15 years earlier and harbours vengeful thoughts against those responsible. Then she meets a suicidal patient, Florence (Esme Creed-Miles), and falls fatefully in love with her. This is far from the \u201cnormal\u201d relationship she desires, but Flo\u2019s grandma (Angela Bruce) could help her to a solution.
Friday 6 February, 12.30pm, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere<\/p>\n
Saturday 31 January, 11pm, BBC Four<\/p>\n
Monday 2 February, 10.55pm, Film4<\/p>\n
Tuesday 3 February, 1.35am, Film4<\/p>\n
Thursday 5 February, Disney+<\/p>\n
Thursday 5 February, 2.50am, Channel 4<\/p>\n
Friday 6 February, 11pm, BBC Two<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pick of the weekM3gan 2.0 Like Chucky in the Child\u2019s Play films, you can\u2019t keep an evil doll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[156,409,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-259402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}