Over 30 locally made short films have arrived to Lightbox today, all of which have featured in New Zealand’s premiere short film festival Show Me Shorts. To help guide your viewing, I’ve had a perusal of the extensive catalogue and have made my picks from each year. 2014 Pick: Uphill (dir. Jackie van Beek) We’re about … Read more
In which Jane, tired from raising twins and moving house, and Duncan, tired from being alive, discuss the vitally important new MediaWorks reality show The Block. Alex was Absent Without Official Leave, and much missed as the undynamic duo dutifully trawled through the mostly mystifying first week of block action, desperately seeking meaning. What happened … Read more
Eleanor Robertson delivers her final Masterchef NZ power rankings, wherein Tim is crowned King of the Masterchef court. Disclaimer: the author’s views of Nadia Lim – and Nadia Lim alone – do not represent those of The Spinoff family. Episodes 15 and 16 I’m late to the party on last week’s episodes, having only just … Read more
As a prelude to the Block NZ: Villa Wars Power Rankings starting next week, Calum Henderson investigates the first episode’s series of ominous signs which indicate that this will surely be New Zealand’s scariest ever renovation show. Two adjacent sections snaffled up in “Auckland’s sought-after central west”. Four decrepit old three-bedroom villas carefully tetrissed onto … Read more
José Barbosa wraps on a tinfoil hat and dissects the hidden meaning in the trailer for the new X Files reboot. Earlier this year the television world was rocked by the announcement that 2016 would bring a brand new X-Files series. Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny, we were told, would reprise their roles as FBI … Read more
Last night, Sky customers suffered a lengthy television blackout across free-to-air channels TV1, TV2 and TV3. This occurred during the premiere episode of The Block NZ, the biggest MediaWorks television event since the Story premiere. Not only that, but the blackout hit right when the teams were weirdly double bluffing their way to choosing their decrepit … Read more
Aaron Yap examines how cyber thriller Mr. Robot manages to balance captivating storytelling with authentic tech-geekery, and give us a new breed of shuffling television superhero. Blackhat almost got it right. Released earlier this year, Michael Mann’s moody techno-thriller sought to provide as realistic a portrayal of cyber-terrorism and hacking as possible and proved to be … Read more
Following in the footsteps of Liz Lemon, Jerry Seinfeld and Louie CK, Catherine McGregor eats at the iconic food vendors of New York television comedy. “I’m going to go talk to some food about this” – Liz Lemon. The Seinfeld Diner Finding out that Seinfeld was shot in Los Angeles sits high in my personal pantheon … Read more
Inside the Lightbox is a sponsored post where we mine the extensive Lightbox catalogue for shows you might like to watch. This week, we pick our favourite cult television classics. Don Rowe on The Mighty Boosh Lightbox describes The Mighty Boosh as “a surreal comedy set in a zoo”, which is correct in the same … Read more
Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: the soap industry sucks, storms roll in and Murray messes up again. 1) Characters we hardly know walk in the shadow of the valley of death They were dropping like flies at Shortland Street this week. First to be wheeled … Read more
We enjoyed Dom Harvey’s live prostate exam on Story so much we’ve brainstormed ten more ideas for future TV3 live broadcast stunts. 1) Rachel Glucina’s Key Keyhole Surgery Inserting a keyhole camera through the Keys’ keyhole live on Scout TV, Glucina gains exclusive footage of Max Key letting people into Harvard on Skype and John … Read more
Don Rowe interviews one of New Zealand’s most familiar voices in his central Auckland Bed and Breakfast about breathing life into The Abdomenizer and the intricacies of John Key’s accent. There is only one house left on Parliament Street. It’s been there since 1901. Behind a low cast iron fence the grey walls rise two stories above the … Read more
Jose Barbosa interviews Samantha Newark, voice of Jem in the mid-80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms, and reflects on how the show represented bold and independent role models for young women. Every generation has their cultural touchstones. For my parents it’s the music of the Beatles and Norman Kirk. For their parents it was Johnny Cooper and … Read more
Bringing together the best, worst and weirdest TV moments of the week, including Hosking’s personal pineapple express to hell and Wendy Petrie’s triumph over Simon Dallow. Mike Hosking’s Brush with Death New Zealand’s leading radio broadcaster, television host, newspaper columnist, husband and Ferrari driver bravely stared death in the face on Wednesday morning when a … Read more
Steve Braunias lists some potential understudies for Duncan Garner, should he ever leave a chair open at Story. Regan whatever his name is over at Throng has spoken and it behoves us all to listen and that. He believes that TV3 must get rid of Duncan Garner as co-host of Story. “It’s time,” he announced … Read more
Years before he became our Prime Minister, John Key was just another electorate MP, wading through his constituents’ sewage. We look back at his time on the magical New Zealand docu-drama Neighbours at War – and get his brief memories of the moment. “You’re a racist,” the man yells. “And so is he.” ‘The man’ is a … Read more
Here is all you need to know about The Mindy Project before you dive into the romantic comedy-inspired sitcom with a passion for Sandra Bullock. What’s the story? The Mindy Project is the colourful comedy vision of the creator, writer and star Mindy Kaling. Within the sitcom, Mindy Lahiri works as a gynecologist whose life is in constant state of … Read more
With John Key currently settling important panda trade deals, Calum Henderson watched Lightbox’s nature documentary Panda Nursery to see what our country might have in store. What’s it about? Like a grown-up version of Countdown’s animal cards, John Key this week proposed a swap with China – a couple of our kiwi double-ups for a couple of … Read more
Earlier this year, Mad Men’s prize asshole Don Draper was forever tied to Coca-Cola’s advertising history in an act of televisual finale-making so audacious that it raised the question: is great advertising art? The answer, obviously, is no, but does that necessarily mean its empty calories are worthless? That’s both a clunky rhetorical question and … Read more
I was happy before Black Mirror. I was even deliriously happy in the way dogs are when their owners wave food in front of them. They’re so glad they’re getting fed. What they don’t know is they’re getting served sick old nags ground up into paste. It was nearly four years ago Charlie Brooker’s dank … Read more
Calum Henderson watches Jeremy Kyle every day for a week, and gets up to his eyeballs in other people’s misery. Jeremy Kyle’s television show has been on the air now for over ten years. In that time there have been over 2,000 episodes filmed – something like a full two-and-a-half months worth of bickering, shouting, … Read more
Alex Casey recaps Rachel Hunter’s trip to Dubai, during which she falls in love with a camel and then eats it. This week Rachel went to Dubai, the beautiful city “that grew out of the desert”, which is an extraordinary euphemism for “was built by slaves.” Travelling to the United Arab Emirates, it honestly looks like … Read more
The Emmy Awards are both the spikiest and most important television awards around, recognising those who have achieved small-screen greatness in 2015. So who will take home the trophies? Will Mad Men clean up in its final year, or will we see some new faces usurp the Draper throne? Read our bets from earlier in the … Read more
Tara Ward ranks her favourite moments from the past week of Ferndale hijinks. This week: Rachel gets a pat on the head and Lucy and Dayna’s friendship is on the rocks after some (literally) soapy drama. 1) Rachel puts the phwoar into FWIB Is there anything Rachel McKenna can’t do? She keeps a bunch of … Read more
Our US correspondent Catherine Mcgregor watched the brave, televised testimonies of Bill Cosby’s victims in the A&E special The Women Speak, and recounts some of the most affecting evidence against the entertainer. (Trigger warning: this article discusses sexual violence). As a broad-strokes telling of the Cosby story, the A&E special Cosby: The Women Speak didn’t tell us much … Read more
Bringing together the TV moments on the week, including 3 News’ SCOUT leader, Mr Robot’s arrival and TVNZ’s new season launch. Contributions by Alex Casey and Calum Henderson. Mr Robot Hacks Into New Zealand Mr Robot is one of the buzzed-about shows of 2015, a cinematic cyber thriller that grips the viewer right in the codes … Read more
José Barbosa tracks down the man who once ran the internet in New Zealand, and asks him to assess Mr Robot, Lightbox’s acclaimed new hacking thriller. Listen below as a podcast, or read on for a text transcript of the package. So there’s this scene in a movie called Panic Room. It’s directed by David Fincher, stars Jodie … Read more
Everyone is churning out snackable video content these days, from SCOUT in 60 Seconds leading 3 News every night, to TVNZ announcing that short entertainment videos will be available on demand by the end of the year. Feels like we could be at snack saturation point – something which may have been confirmed with the launch of … Read more
The press release read like the front page of a newspaper in wartime. DUNCAN GARNER CONVINCES VIOLENT OFFENDER TO RETURN TO POLICE CUSTODY. Of course we were going to tune in. I imagined a bus rigged with explosives. The passengers trapped inside, subject to the whims of a criminal with nothing to lose. Then Duncan Garner … Read more