New Zealand TV-obsessed website The Spinoff curates Weekend Watch, their selection of the best places to rest your weary eyes on your days off, selected by Spinoff editor Duncan Greive (DG) or staff writer Alex Casey (AC). Enjoy!
Silver Linings Playbook, TV2 Saturday at 8.30pm
This was the film that sent Jennifer Lawrence flailing the up the Academy Awards steps faster than you could say "beautiful dork". Adapted from a novel by Matthew Quick, Silver Linings Playbook is a romantic drama that follows the story of Pat, a man recently released from a psychiatric facility after being treated for bipolar. Rejoining his family and working towards getting his estranged wife back, he meets a neighbour called Tiffany. From there, their friendship blossoms as she promises to help him get his shit together if he becomes her dance partner.
Cue some really great training montages, relationships strengthening and falling apart and a great soundtrack to get you boppin'. With an extraordinary dance finale that will rival anything we're about to see in Dancing With The Stars, it's a wonderful soaring film that propelled both Lawrence and Cooper into the golden Oscar realm. / AC
Just when you thought the CSI franchise had covered every crime imaginable, they have unlocked the Matrix world of hacking and skyping and internet shopping. Yep, CSI: Cyber is downloading this Sunday night to Prime, and it sounds equal parts ridiculous and intriguing. With Oscar darling and rousing speech-doer Patricia Arquette at the helm as Special Agent Avery Ryan, her team work together to travel down the silk road of internet crime. There's baby monitor hackers, Uber serial killers and explosive printers. Very bad, and very very good. / AC
Thunderbirds Are Go, TV2 Sunday at 7pm
On Sunday night, the new Thunderbirds are finally to be released from their underground bunker deep under Miramar. The reboot of the 1960s series is a co-production between UK's ITV and Pukeko Productions, with our own Sir Richard Taylor at the helm. So it's basically Whale Rider level national pride. You'll see the return of old favourite characters like Brains, Lady Penelope and the five Tracy brothers, as well as some exciting new additions. Tanusha "Kayo" Kyrano is joined by Colonel Casey (no relation), adding some fresh blood into the reboot. Featuring the vocal stylings of Rosamund Pike, Thomas Sangster and Rasmus Hardiker, it's jam packed full of as much talent as it does stylish CGI butts. Mixing CGI with live action model sets. Brace yourselves for remodelled Thunderbird crafts, including something exciting and ominous called the Thunderbird Shadow. Prepare for blastoff this Sunday night, and for Richard Taylor to be all over the papers again. / AC
Stream: Wolf Hall on Lightbox
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bodies were sensations upon publication a few years back. Fictionalised biographies of Oliver Cromwell, the commoner who rose to become a key figure in the Court of Henry VIII, the novels have revitalised the somewhat staid world of historical fiction, bringing a literary sensibility to bear on an already quite extraordinary story. This six part BBC2 adaptation has, if anything, been more widely praised than the novels upon which it's based, with the Guardian typifying critical reaction in describing the series as "sumptuous, intelligent, event television". Starring Globe theatre veteran Mark Rylance as Cromwell and Homeland's Damian Lewis as Henry VIII, the show matches piercing writing with riveting performances, and brilliantly captures the intrigue and terror of that royal era. If you've been holding back on taking up the subscription service's free trial, the just-completed Better Call Saul and Wolf Hall make now the perfect time to dive in. / DG
True Stories - BBC Knowledge, Saturday at 7.30pm
One of the most admirable elements of the BBC is the egalitarian plurality of its content. For every Wolf Hall there's a World's Craziest Fools. Where our Radio New Zealand can feel like it's by and for smart, right-thinking inner city types alone, the Beeb's vast audience has been forged and maintained by never ignoring the great sweaty suburban sprawl. Or at least being conscious they exist, and attempting to pander to them. Hence Top Gear. And hence True Stories, which has survived and thrived for five seasons now, looking for the true stories behind famous fiction. This isn't an inherently dumb exercise, clearly. But this season's targets include Die Hard, Star Trek and, most ludicrously, the Scream franchise. Brilliant. / DG
