TimeOut Editor Russell Baillie's picks of this week's movies, music and TV.
MOVIES
With a name like Morning Glory it could be the Paul Henry biopic we're all holding out for. But no, it's another newsroom comedy throwing together Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton as veteran autocue pilots and Rachel McAdams as their short-suffering producer.
Also out today,
director Tony Scott once again has Denzel Washington saving the day in runaway train action flick Unstoppable (see review here).
Disney delivers its 3D brush-up of the Rapunzel story in the animated Tangled for the kids, while new to the arthouses is French romantic drama Mademoiselle Chambon (see review here) and the Stephen Fry-fronted classical appreciation doco Wagner & Me.
TV
Last seen simpering her way down the Nile, this Sunday on One Joanna Lumley is out pondering felines and the people who own them in her two-part series Catwoman - possible working title Purdey and the Purr People.
Oh and among the few significant additions to the summer schedules, the HBO prohibition epic Boardwalk Empire comes to Prime after playing on Sky Movies late last year. If you missed paying for the privilege first time round, it's well worth it and the later episodes - once it's got over its many rounds of character introductions - are the better ones.
MUSIC
Early 90s flashback anyone? While the beach pubs continue to throb with local summer grooves, here in town this weekend it's a one-two combo of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion at the Kings Arms tomorrow night followed by Public Enemy at the Auckland Town Hall on Saturday.
Both acts were at their peak a good 15 to 20 years ago, but both were ahead of their time. The JSBE opened the door for the great post-grunge bass-free garage-blues uprising (hello White Stripes), while Public Enemy helped give hip-hop an album-length attention span on great LPs like 1990's Fear of a Black Planet, which they'll be playing in its entirety on this visit.
That's complete with track Fight the Power with its lyrically unkind view of Elvis just in time for Presley's birthday on Saturday.
Still, it's early albums like that PE should be remembered for, not giving us the star of Flavor of Love. Altogether now: "Yeah Boy!"
OR...
Elvis Presley would have been 76 this Saturday and his local faithful are gathering on Sunday, as they do every year, for Elvis in the Park at Henderson's Cranwell Park - a day-long free celebration of all things King, including half a dozen local Elvis impersonators.
Glorious sideburns, excessive sunglasses and too-snug jumpsuits are welcome ... even encouraged, y'hear? Now which way is it to the deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwich stall?
-TimeOut
