Stuff Sampler: What to watch and listen to

Sam Claflin plays a borderline alcoholic Captain in Journey's End.
Sam Claflin plays a borderline alcoholic Captain in Journey's End.

OPINION: The 11th of November is drummed into me, a day of remembrance and a time of reverence for those who've fallen.

As a portly little cub scout, Armistice Day was one of parades and processions, a time to reflect and ensure the uniform-issued shoes were at their shiniest.

As the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I rolls around, there's a new film of the 1928 play Journey's End out that goes into the daily hell that British soldiers endured.

Set over four days, this essentially chamber piece takes in the waiting that goes on in the trenches as soldiers nervously expect the next big push; arguments over who's stolen rationed tinned apricots and discussions over what shade of yellow the soup is sit grimly next to a tale of a youngster who's used nepotism to get to the front line, much to the horror of a commanding officer who knows what's ahead.

While it rarely transcends its original roots as a play, Journey's End is a powerfully restrained film that revels in the poignancy of the dialogue, and the tragedy of the situation conscripted soldiers find themselves in. A soliloquy delivered by Paul Bettany's eloquent lieutenant laments the frailty of life, and the undelivered promise of youth caught in the conflict.

Journey's End opens in NZ cinemas on November 8.

Journey's End may lack the proverbial overload of war scenes (though when one comes, it's as horrifying as it should be) but it's evocative, powerful, damning stuff.

In truth, it's a reminder of the creeping terror of war and a rejoinder that while audiences are satiated with fantasy wars like Avengers: Infinity War, the reality of 100 years ago was much more devastating that perhaps many of us can even still begin to perceive these days. - Darren Bevan

IF YOU GET A MOMENT TODAY

Summer's on the way, and what better way to blow the cobwebs out than with an absolute banger aimed at nothing more than putting simple joy on your face.

The single I keep coming back to is, believe it or not, a 2002 hit from a Danish pop duo Junior Senior called Move Your Feet. This one hit wonder is worth playing loud, on repeat and with reckless abandon.

With a catchy chorus, looping hook and general joie de vivre, if you don't, erm, move your feet to this one, nothing can help you - and you're probably dead. - Darren Bevan

THANK U, NEXT

On "thank u, next" Ariana Grande sings "I'm so f...... grateful for my ex"
On "thank u, next" Ariana Grande sings "I'm so f...... grateful for my ex"

Smart Pop Music (SPM) isn't a new concept, but thanks to Ariana Grande's surprise release thank u, next, it's having a very mainstream moment.

SPM tricks you into thinking it's low-key because the production is upbeat and fun, when in reality it's actually quite complex. Think Lorde, think Chelsea Jade.

On thank u, next Grande muses on past relationships in a stream of conscious confessional.

The single is loaded with self awareness, and the production stays true to her sound. It's autobiographical, but rooted in emotions we can all relate to. If my Instagram feed is anything to go by, friends can't get enough of it either.

In honour of Queen Ari, say thank u, next to the problematic pop records in your glovebox and usher in some bops that'll leave you with something to chew on.

Some people (me) would argue Robyn pioneered SPM, at least in a modern day context.

This year Robyn returned with new music for the first time in eight excruciatingly long years.

Comeback album Honey dives right back into what she does best: figuring life out on the dancefloor. Close your eyes and move in a way that feels good, because that's all Robyn would want for you. A little bit of pure, uninhibited joy.

Carly Rae Jepsen has been making SPM for years, but the masses rejected her early on.

Call Me Maybe transcended success, ultimately meeting a fate similar fate as James Blunt's You're Beautiful. Love or hate that song, Jepsen knows good pop.

She builds narratives from broad, inclusive themes (genius) and knows just how far to push production. Her new single Party For One showcases both of these things. SMP seriously worthy of your consideration. - Kate Robertson

WHAT TO WATCH

Novitiate is available to stream on You Tube, Google Play and Apple TV and is available on DVD from November 8.

Fans of Doubt, Brides of Christ and even The Handmaid's Tale should check out one of the most under-rated movies of 2017.

Novitiate (M, just released on DVD and streaming on YouTube, Google Play and iTunes) debuted at last year's Sundance International Film Festival, but despite great reviews and a reasonable US release, not only bypassed cinemas, but also the film festival here. Which is a crying shame, because it not only boasts an excellent cast (Frozen River's Melissa Leo, August: Osage County's Julianne Nicholson and Glee's Dianna Agron), but also sheds light on one of the Catholic church's most controversial decisions of the 20th century.

While the work of the Second Vatican Council modernised many of the church's practices, it also reduced the status of nuns. No longer could they consider themselves closer to God than regular parishioners.

Melissa Leo is at the top of her game in Novitiate.
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Melissa Leo is at the top of her game in Novitiate.

Writer-director Margaret Betts' compelling debut feature looks at the effects of that decision through the eyes of the inhabitants of a single convent in rural Tennessee. In particular, two women at opposite ends of their life which they intend to spend dedicated to a higher power.

After seeing her own mother's (Nicholson) struggles to find and keep love, young Cathleen Harris (The Leftovers' Margaret Qualley) decides to firstly enrol in her Catholic girls' school and then take up a position as a postulant at the Sisters of the Beloved Rose (the Novitiate of the title is the following stage of her journey towards becoming a fully-fledged and habited nun).

Margaret Qualley plays young, would-be nun Cathleen Harris in Novitiate.
Margaret Qualley plays young, would-be nun Cathleen Harris in Novitiate.

It's there that she encounters the tough, uncompromising Mother Superior Marie Saint-Clair (Leo), whose weekly "Chapter of Faults" and "Discipline" rival anything Handmaid's Aunt Lydia could cook up. But while Cathleen struggles with her own desires and such strict teachings, Marie Saint-Clair is forced to face up to change that threatens the very core of her existence.

Thought-provoking, rage-inducing and timely in the wake of the societal debates of the past year, Betts' cleverly-crafted drama will have you shifting sympathies as it progresses to it's heart-wrenching conclusion.

Much of the credit for that has to go to Leo, who transforms what could have been shrill and one-dimensional villain into one of the most memorable characters you'll see on a screen this year. - James Croot

HAVE PODS, WILL TRAVEL

I'm heading overseas this weekend and there's no better travel companion than a podcast. A tiny bit of preparation beforehand is required: download the pods before you leave so they're saved to your device.

For the plane I've downloaded the latest podcast from The Boston Globe's Spotlight investigative team. Gladiator: The Aaron Hernandez Story pieces together the puzzling life of NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who was found guilty of murder in 2015. While on trial, Hernandez was charged and later acquitted of double murder. Days after his acquittal, Hernandez took his own life and scans showed he had a severe brain injury. The pod also explores the looming crisis around brain injuries in professional sport.

I'll be doing lots of city walks and for pounding the pavement I'm going for something dense and historical. The Ratline has been on my wishlist for a while but I haven't had time to give it the attention it deserves. The BBC pod looks at the disappearance of senior Nazi Otto von Wachter, who evaded capture after the Second World War and died in suspicious circumstances in 1949. Presented by law professor Philippe Sands, this 10-part series is gripping and hauntingly personal, particularly when Sands interviews Wachter's son.

For the return leg of my trip, I'm going for some wise reflection and will chomp my way through the four part Ask Mimi special from the Sporkful podcast. Mimi Sheraton is a legendary New York food writer and the Sporkful team get her advice on food, life, relationships and eating alone. My favourite is part three when she talks about eloping and lifts the lid on life as a chef. It will be a great way to end a weekend away. - Katy Atkin

WHAT TO READ

Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, And Other Lessons in Life
By Michael Caine
Hachette NZ, $37.99

Michael Caine has been looking back, and on the whole he likes the view. Regrets? He's had few.

The 85-year-old star of Alfie, Get Carter and The Dark Knight - among many, many others - reminisces fondly in Blowing the Bloody Doors Off, whose title adapts a line from his 1969 heist caper The Italian Job. It's part memoir, part advice manual for aspiring actors and anyone else nursing an elusive dream of success. Most of the advice is resolutely old-fashioned. Learn your lines. Work hard. Be nice to people. And be lucky. Caine knows he has been extremely fortunate.

Caine describes his success as sequence of lucky breaks. His first big movie break, as a British Army officer in Zulu in 1964, was followed by a role as a world-weary spy in The Ipcress File. On the back of that came his breakthrough as a callous man-about-town in Alfie. That film made blond, bespectacled Caine a symbol of Swinging London, brought him American fame and earned him the first of six Academy Award nominations.

He went on to win two Oscars. Later came a stint as butler and mentor Alfred in three Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan. Along the way, he became an icon, and his signature glasses and Cockney accent spawned a thousand imitators.

Born Maurice Micklewhite into a working-class London family, he was a child during the London Blitz and later, as a teenage conscript, was sent to fight in the Korean War.

"I have found it pretty easy to be happy since then," he notes in the book. "Once you've been on maneuvers in Korea, everything else seems like quite a lot of fun."

When he returned to London and a dead-end job in a butter factory, Caine resolved to be an actor, although he had little idea how to go about it.

"My father was an example of what I was and how lucky I was to have been born all those years later," he said.

Answering a classified ad led to small parts in a provincial repertory company. Then came work on the London stage, television parts, movie roles and global stardom. If he has a secret, he says, it's that he kept going when others gave up.

"If someone rejected me, I never worried about it," he said. "I tried again, because my only alternative was working back in the butter factory."

​Caine was starting out just as a new generation of writers was emerging - playwrights like John Osborne and Harold Pinter, telling stories about working-class life.

"Suddenly every working-class boy who was going to work said: 'Sod this. I'm going to do something I want to do and do it my way,'" he recalled.

The 60s made Caine a star, and he wasn't alone. Suddenly, he writes in the book, "everybody I knew seemed to become a household name". 

Caine enjoyed fame, when it came, but also worked extremely hard, at one point making 12 films in four years.

The result is a resume of more than 100 features, of varying quality. Caine is cheerful about the low points, films like schlocky shark sequel Jaws: The Revenge or The Swarm, a disaster movie in both senses of the word where Caine and his co-stars learned another lesson: Never work with bees.

"None of us realised it was a disaster till about halfway through, when the bees turned up," Caine said. "We were doing a scene and they all s... on us.

"I learned from them - also earned from them," he said of his critical duds. "I got the same money for the flops as I did from the successes."

These days, Caine is contentedly unretired, balancing work and time with his family: Shakira, his wife of 45 years; his two daughters; and his three grandchildren aged 9 and 10, with whom he is "besotted".

"I have such great times with them," Caine said. "What astonishes me the things they know. It's like talking to a 20-year-old."

"I don't play the leads in movies now - I'm too bloody old to be getting up every morning at half past six," he said. "I just take little character parts and have a bit of fun." - Reviewed by Jill Lawless for the Washington Post (AP)

CHASING DOWN THE BEST TV QUIZ

JEOPARDY!/YOUTUBE
Jeopardy! screens on weekdays on both Prime and Sky5, with some episodes also available on Netflix.

Some time around 5pm on weeknights, a silence descends in certain households around the country.

There's no talking allowed when The Vixen, The Beast and The Governess are in action, except for when your testing your own skills against them. But while The Chase has its loyal followers (even despite a seemingly endless string of scandals), there are plenty of other TV quiz shows out there.

I still don't really understand the appeal of fellow TVNZ1 show Tipping Point, with its trays of cash, and I'm really missing both Eggheads and Pointless, which used to be staples on Sky TV's UKTV (and the less said about TVNZ's mismanaged, short-lived resurrection of Mastermind the better). 

Those two have essentially been replaced on the British-orientated channel by comedy panel shows Eight Out of 10 Cats and Q.I., the former focused on "current events" (both British and often hopelessly out-of-date once it finally airs here) and the latter on questions impossible for most mere mortals (let alone Alan Davies) to even contemplate. Offering a more achievable challenge is the Sue Perkins-hosted Insert Name Here (also on UKTV) where comedians and others tackle questions relating to derivations of a particular christian name each week. For the kids, there's the "reimagined" delights of that old 1990s favourite Double Dare on Nickelodeon.

Alex Trebek is the host of Jeopardy!
Alex Trebek is the host of Jeopardy!

Weirdly this genre (despite their consistent popularity) seem to be the one corner of the market where traditional linear television appear to still have the edge over streaming. The likes of Amazon Prime Video and Lightbox appear to be quiz-free zones, however at least Netflix has the good sense to screen America's finest. 

Now in its 35th year, Jeopardy! (which also screens here on weekdays on both Prime Sky 5) is the quintessential quiz show.

There's no fuss, no pregnant pauses, no lengthy monologues - just around 60 posers per 20-minute show. The only twist being contestants are given the answer, rather than the question. - James Croot

 

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