3 Things To Watch This Weekend

The end of summer is nigh, and that means one thing: an autumn selection of TV/movies you just know is going to make for quality viewing. While we wait, however, there are three things very worthy of a watch this weekend (that aren’t the Olympics, in case you’ve reached sporting overload):

At The Cinema:

Wiener-Dog ?(out now)

This charming story of an intrepid dachshund and the hands it crosses has received rave reviews so far, and for good reason. Throughout the course of the movie, this forlorn, cute creature comes to live with several different owners and through this we get a glimpse into four very different lives. The dog first stays with Remi, a precocious little boy recovering from an unspecified illness (presumably cancer), though his exasperated?parents can’t cope. They are ready to put the loveable mutt to sleep at any moment, though he gets rescued by his second owner, vet Dawn Weiner. Next, the dog is taken in by Dave Schmerz (played by a brilliant Danny DeVito), a screenwriter and film professor whose career and life have become stagnant.The dog’s final owner is an ailing but wealthy old lady who calls the dog cancer because “it felt right.” All four stories see its characters deal with disappointment, but overall, the movie remains touching; a combination of forlorn and uplifting.

On Netflix:

The Get Down?(stream now)

Ten years in the making, the visionary director Baz Luhrmann?finally brings his tale of a group of teenagers and their life in 1970’s Brooklyn, New York to the small screen. It features an almost an entirely unknown, yet fantastic cast and?if the first episode is anything to go by, this is surely going to live up to the hype. The universe has been injected by the Australian director’s kaleidoscopic (at this stage, instantly recognisable) vision, so everything is and bold and bright. It documents the rise of hip-hop, disco and other genres and we see New York at the peak of its creative bloom with killer music and costumes to boot. Those left?underwhelmed by Luhrmann’s last film efforts should love this.

On TV:

Run And Jump (RTE 1, Saturday, 11 PM)

This gem of an Irish film was stumbled upon by yours truly by accident last year, and it has been watched a few times since. A family’s life is changed forever when carpenter Conor Casey suffers a stroke. His wife Maxine is anxious to see him recover both for himself and their young children, however, an American neuroscientist, Doctor Ted Fielding arrives to observe him and reveals that his recovery will not be straightforward. ?Maxine and Ted eventually begin to bond over their mutual concern for Conor,’much to the concern of others around them. A tender tale of a family trying to reunite in challenging times.