Tara Ward: Black Rabbit, Tangata Pai, Boyzone: Life, Death and Boybands

Black Rabbit 

A rising-star restaurateur is forced into New York's criminal underworld when his chaotic brother returns to town with loan sharks on his trail (Netflix). 

 

Tangata Pai 

Five lives collide during a land occupation - an activist musician, a conflicted cop, a grieving nurse, a struggling father, and a torn politician (ThreeNow). 

 

Boyzone: Life, Death and Boybands 

30 years ago five lads from Dublin took the world by storm. The remaining members of Boyzone reflect on their accelerated journey to fame - how it affected the trajectory of their lives, relationships, mental health, and the pop music industry as a whole (TVNZ+). 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks AB Time.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
To catch up with our screen time expert Tara Ward
is here with her three picks for shows to watch
your stream this weekend.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hey Tara, Janna, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Let's begin with a show streaming on Netflix starring Jude
Law and Jason Bateman. Tell us about Black Rabbit.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah, this is Netflix's latest big name prestige drama. It's
a crime thriller, as you say. It's stars Jude Law
and Jason Bateman, who play brothers living in New York.
Jud's Law, Jude Law's character Jake, is a successful businessman.
He owns a restaurant called Black Rabbit and it's kind
of this up and coming man about town. Jason Bateman

(00:49):
plays Vince, who is everything that Jake is not. Is
a criminal and he owes a lot of money to
some dangerous people. And after several months of not talking,
Vince turns up out of the blue, needs his brother's
help and Paul's Jake into the New York criminal underworld
to cover his debts and sort of risks everything that
Jake has built up. Last week, I talked about the

(01:11):
show Task which was pretty dark and gloomy, and this
is kind of similar. Most of it is filmed inside
at night, so it feels about claustrophobic and again has
quite a slow pace. It's very stylish. But I think
the thing here will be whether you like the brothers
enough to care about watching all eight episodes. The kind
of characters who are their own worst enemies, so I

(01:34):
think it will depend on how much you sympathize with them.
But yeah, very stylishly made some good tension here. It's
a bit reminiscent of the Beer, you know, set in
a restaurant with some family troubles, but with a bit
of dark crime thrown in for good nature.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Okay, all right, sounds interesting. I certainly love those two actors,
so do Laura and Jason Bateman in Black Rabbit. So
that's on Netflix on three now. Something completely different Taata Pie.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, this is a fantastic new local drama. It started
on three last Tuesday, but it's also streaming on three now.
Set in a more tunew Plymouth, and it follows five
different people in the hour before a bomb goes off
at a land occupation against a proposed mining scheme, and
there's a few reasons why this show is so good.
The first is that thirty percent of the dialogue is

(02:21):
into the Emori and it's woven seamlessly through the script.
The second is that it feels very current. The stories
are about politics and issues that everyone will recognize from
the real world, and every episode is one hour long,
so the drama unfolds in real time, and the storytelling
plays with perspectives so that you see the same events
from different points of view. And those five characters that

(02:44):
are caught up in that explosion are all very different.
There's a politician, there's a musician, there's a young dad,
there's a nurse and a police officer. So it's very
clever and layered and thoughtful. Brilliant New Zealand cast in
this as well, including Shevone Lukiy Nikolakawana Jaden Daniels. It's
written and director by Carle mc norton, who lives in Taranaki,

(03:07):
And what I really liked about it was that this
is a drama that feels very us. It's not trying
to replicate an overseas TV show. It feels very authentic.
It's about us and our history and our stories and
it's taking those issues that we've seen in the news,
but showing how they affect real people at the heart
of those issues. You really recommend this one. They've done
a beautiful job on it.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Nice okay and on TV and Z plus Boysone Life,
Death and boy Bands.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Yeah, this is a three part documentary series that I
hoovered down in one sitting last weekend. It is brilliant
and I know it's about Boyzone. Please don't think you
have to know anything about Boyzone or even like Boysoned
music to enjoy this documentary, because yeah, it's more of
a nostalgic, quite emotional look back on what it's like

(03:57):
to be in one of the biggest boy bands in
the world and what happens when it all goes wrong.
Boyzone was created in nineteen ninety three. They were going
to be Ireland's answer to to take that. They were
five working class boys from Dublin and you know, probably
the most famous as Ronan Keating, and they went on
to have huge global success. They started doing some very

(04:18):
cringey things, just dancing on TV to other people's music
and then went on to you know, playing a different
different country every night. And the documentary series talks to
the four surviving band members about how their lives changed
and what happened when the music stopped. And there's a
great villain in this too. Louis Walsh was their manager,
and he has no regrets today about the tabloid head

(04:40):
lines that he encouraged and fed, because you know, he
was doing his job. Any publicity was good publicity. So
it's a great watch. If you liked the Robbie Williams
documentary or the Beckham doc o, you know those shows
that look back on the nineties and the two thousands
with fresh eyes, you will definitely enjoy this as well.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
All Right, it sounds like a bit of fun Boys,
Own Life, Death and boy Bands. That's on TV and
Z Plus, Tongua Tapi, the one with dadil Mauri filmed
in New Plymouth that is on three and Black Rabbit
is on Netflix. All of those shows will be on
the News Talk's He'd Be website.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
to News Talks He'd Be from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.