Square Eyes

Television Reviews

Movie of the week, Wonder Boys, NBN, Sat, 9.30pm:

Michael Douglas delivers a cracker performance as an academic and writer's blocked author with a disintegrating private life. His mistress, the Uni's chancellor (Frances McDormand) is knocked up and his book editor (Robert Downey Jr) is chasing him for a new manuscript. Meanwhile, his best student (Tobey Maguire) is a pathological liar and thief, but may be his way out of this mess. While it's cumbersome in places, this is a brilliantly dark screwball comedy worth watching for its gentle satire of academic life.

America's Forgotten Allies, SBS, Sat, 7.30pm:

The Montagnard hill tribes sided with the US in the Vietnam War. And they kept fighting for 17 years after the Americans abandoned them before they finally surrendered. Their persecution by the communists continues to this day, while US-based exile Kok Ksor does his best to make sure they're not forgotten, as this sad doco shows.

Rugby: Aust vs Sth Africa, Prime, Sat, 10pm:

Up until now the Wallabies have been tackling teams about as strong as the palookas Anthony Mundine fights. The Boks are for real, so this is a real test.

One-day cricket, Prime, Sun, 7.30pm:

Giving a whole new meaning to 'It's just not cricket' the Poms and Aussies square up while officials fiddle with the rules, allowing substitutions (no doubt they'll use Warnie for the sex scenes) and dabbling with the fielding restrictions.

Dramatically Black, SBS, Sun, 8.30pm:

These four 30-minute Indigenous dramas, screened over two Sundays, are surprisingly diverse and all excellent. The first, about a community radio DJ (David Page) in the Alice, won best short at the Berlin Film Festival. It's a poignant tale of fighting to hold a fractured community together. The second is a funny romp about a spiv blackfella behaving just like a sleazy whitefella.

I am Sam, NBN, Sun, 8.30pm:

The best thing about this treacle-coated tearjerker is the soundtrack of Beatles covers.

The Power of Nightmares, SBS, Tues, 7.30pm:

This three-part series will annoy the hell out of conservative commentators, since it sets about debunking the straw-man threats politicians use to keep the electorate worried and them in power. It looks at the US neo-cons and Islamic extremists and finds they both have madness in their methods.

Trafficked: the child sex trade, SBS, Thurs, 8.30pm:

This deeply depressing and disturbing doco tackles one of the most appalling crimes perpetrated on children. The UN estimates one million children are forced into sex slavery every year - some even coming to Australia. In a final injustice, one even died in immigration detention.