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Muru (8.30pm, Sunday, March 5, Sky Movies Premiere)
Tearepa Kahi’s 20222 action-thriller, partly-inspired by the real-life 2007 raid by New Zealand Government’s elite Special Tactics Group on a remote Māori township in Te Urewera in the eastern Bay of Plenty, focuses in on Cliff Curtis’ Tūhoe Police Sergeant “Taffy” Tawharau, as he finds himself caught between loyalty to his whānau and dedication to his badge.
Also starring Jay Ryan, Manu Bennett, Simone Kessell, Troy Kingi and Tame Iti, the film was selected for the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival last year.
“A constantly unnerving experience and one that does away with subtleties to make its point clear and concise,” wrote Tilt magazine’s Christopher Cross.
Jawbone Pictures
Cliff Curtis plays Tūhoe Police Sergeant “Taffy” Tawharau in Muru.
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Damson Idris is Snowfall’s Franklin.
Snowfall (9.30pm, Thursdays from March 2, SoHo)
The sixth and final 10-episode season of this US crime-drama opens in October 1986, as civil war threatens to destroy the Saint family.
Franklin (Damson Idris) is desperate, forced to rob his Aunt Louie (Angela Lewis) and Uncle Jerome (Amin Joseph) after being wiped out by former CIA officer Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson). Meanwhile, Louie has taken over Franklin’s role as Teddy’s sole buyer, undercutting her nephew and creating a competing empire in the process.
“It’s bleak and violent – and it’s totally compelling TV,” wrote TV Guide’s Kyle Fowle.
Prisoners (8.30pm, Saturday, March 4, Eden)
Before fully immersing himself in sci-fi, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve helmed this crime drama about a man (Hugh Jackman) who decides to take matters into his own hands when his daughter and her friend go missing. Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo, Viola Davis and Maria Bello also feature.
Challenging, chilling and compelling, this slow-burning tale that packs a powerful emotional punch, certainly isn’t a comfortable watch, not only because of its 150-minute running time, but also its raw and relentless sense of dread.
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Jodie Foster won an Oscar for her performance as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs.
The Silence of the Lambs (8.30pm, Saturday, March 4, Bravo)
Anthony Hopkins’ theatrics stole the show, but Jodie Foster’s fledgling FBI Agent Clarice Starling was the heart, soul and audience’s guide in Jonathan Demme’s deliciously taut take on Thomas Harris’ 1988 pulp novel. It was no surprise when those first three all took home Oscars.
“The Psycho of the ’90s,” wrote Minnepolis Star-Tribune’s Jeff Strickler. “A first-rate stomach-in-a-knot psychological thriller.”
Heat (8.40pm, Saturday, March 4, Whakaata Māori)
Michael Mann’s much loved crime drama is an extremely successful marriage of memorable characters, escalating tension and perfectly executed set pieces. Career criminal Neil McCauley (Robert DeNiro) battles to evade the clutches of Al Pacino’s LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in what is a truly absorbing game of cat and mouse.
“The taciturn De Niro and the braying Pacino share a flawless scene over a cup of coffee, but the real honours go to Val Kilmer and Ashley Judd as a warring, loving couple,” wrote The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane.
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Al Pacino plays LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in Heat.
Brain Busters (3.40pm, Weekdays from March 6, TVNZ 2)
The local quiz show that gives Kiwi kids the chance to compete in scholastic sports, tear round a massive obstacle course and win actual money (and not be forced to call the host “sir”) is back.
Why not test yourself while watching the young contestants tackle a series of increasingly tricky challenges involving maths, memory, spelling and more?
Escape From Mogadishu (8.30pm, Monday, March 6, Rialto)
A hit at the 2021 New Zealand International Film Festival, this South Korean action-drama dramatises the decidedly perilous escape attempt made by North and South Korean embassy workers in 1991 as the Somalian Civil War explodes around them.
Korea’s answer to Argo, this a tension-filled thriller, propulsive action movie and character-filled drama all rolled into one. Frenetic, occasionally frightening and surprisingly funny, Ryu Seung-wan’s film takes plenty of narrative twists and turns before serving up one of the finest car chases in recent years.
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