PICK OF THE WEEK:
Weiner
SVT2, July 3, 22:00
It’s not uncommon to see politicians come unstuck, but rarely has it been captured as precisely on film as Weiner. Appraised as “the best documentary about a political campaign ever made”, the film (84 on Metacritic) takes us behind the scenes of Anthony Weiner’s campaign to become the Democrat mayor of New York City in 2013 as a major scandal takes hold.
Directed by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg, Weiner opens our eyes to the grim realities of the political world and shows how the media distracts the audience to focus on what sells: gossip, scandal and the private lives of public figures.
Weiner is not interesting because it revolves around the life of a politician, but because it portrays the struggle of a man who makes mistakes and then seeks to save his marriage as well as his political career. (SBH)
ALSO NEW:
The heavyweights are out in force to lend their gravitas to the narrations of some god-fearing documentaries.
The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (SVT2; July 11, 20:00) has its work cut out to compete with the myriad of deities who feature in Rome: The World’s First Superpower (SVT2; July 4, 18:00), but Morgan might fancy his chances against its narrator Larry Lamb, err … the geezer who played Archie in Eastenders.
Staying in Britain, many felt Home Fires (SVT1; July 14, 18:30), a series about working ladies in a rural area during WWII, shouldn’t have been axed, while The C Word (SVT1, July 13, 21:00), the true story of a woman (Sheridan Smith) with cancer, had no such worries – no spoilers but there’s no sequel.
Elsewhere, Joan Rivers – don’t start with me (SVT1; July 9, 22:25) recalls one of TV’s feistiest performers; Professor Green: Suicide and Me (DR3, July 5, 17:10) follows a British rapper’s quest to discover why his father killed himself; we’ve got S3 of British sitcom Last Tango in Halifax (SVT2; July 12, 20:00) and S12 of Keeping up with the Kardashians (TV3; July 6, 20:00); there’s another chance to see the miniseries The Great Fire (DRK, June 30, 21:00) and Football Fight Club (DR3; July 5, 17:10). (BH)
COMING SOON:
Ahead of the July 5 release of Snowfall, there are high hopes that John Singleton will again deliver on the promise he showed in his 1991 debut, Boyz n the Hood, which has since only appeared in fleeting moments.
Snowfall takes us back to early 1980s LA where a crack epidemic has broken out, radically impacting its culture. The story revolves around three characters: a street entrepreneur in search of power; a Mexican wrestler turned gangster pursuing the American dream; and a black sheep from a well-known family trying to escape his dad’s influence. It sounds promising.
Less so is Will, which revolves around the life of William Shakespeare. Released on July 10, it appears to have all the bad elements of Shakespeare in Love. Time will tell, we guess.
Among the series already released, Cardinal (71 on Metacritic) is based on Giles Blunt’s novel Forty Words for Sorrow, but subtly shifts away from the original plot. It follows a detective who is removed from a missing child case he can’t leave alone.
Scottish noir series Loch Ness (67) is described as ‘overplotted’ by some critics, but while there isn’t anything new on the table, the fine performances earns the series some points.
Meanwhile, female wrestling drama GLOW (81, out on Netflix, previewed last issue) is the find of the summer! (SBH)
TOP SPORT:
No football … unless you include the finals of the Confederations Cup (DR3, July 2, 19:50) and Under-21 Euros (Eurosport, June 30, 20:45), followed by the Women’s Euros (DR1, July 16-Aug 6). Elsewhere, we’ve got Wimbledon (TV3 Sport 1 & 2, July 3-16), British Open golf (Viasat channels, July 20-23), F1’s Austrian and British GPs (3+, July 9 & 16, 12:30), and the Tour de France (TV2, July 1-23). (BH)
TOP FILMS:
Amid the dross that schedulers reserve for July – TV3 is the worst culprit – we’ve found three films worthy of your time. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Zulu, July 15, 23:05) is a solid second outing for the rebooted franchise, The Book Thief (DR2, July 7, 20:00) is a charming WWII drama about a Jewish girl surviving in Berlin, while suburban fetish in The Little Death (DRK, July 13, 21:30) offers more evidence of Australian film’s revival. (BH)
