Blessed be the fruit, we have been sent a good teaser. A new trailer for season three of The Handmaid’s Tale landed yesterday, and Tara Ward takes a look. The first trailer for the new season of The Handmaid’s Tale just dropped like Aunt Lydia after Emily stabbed her in the spine with a steak knife. It … Read more
Will & Grace ran for eight seasons at the turn of the century and now it’s been revived for a ninth. Sam Brooks explains why the beloved sitcom remains relevant today. When I heard that Will & Grace was coming back a few years ago, I immediately felt myself tense up. It was nothing to do with … Read more
Anne Perry: Interiors, currently streaming on TVNZ on Demand, looks into the famous New Zealander’s life after moving to Scotland. But how much can we learn when Perry herself seems incapable of true self-reflection? Anne Perry is a mystery writer based in Scotland. She’s written a lot of books, of which I have read exactly … Read more
The announcement that Peter Jackson’s latest project is a Beatles documentary is proof the decorated director has finally gone too far, writes Duncan Greive. It seems scarcely credible to suggest at this point, but Peter Jackson used to be cool. He made silly, weird movies about New Zealand – its monsters and its murderers – … Read more
The biggest meme generator of 2018, the return of a beloved sitcom favourite and a new Lightbox Original are just some of the new titles coming to Lightbox this month. Sam Brooks and Alex Casey run down the highlights. A Star is Born (movie drops 6 Feb) I’ll tell you something, girl, A Star is … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. The dream team is back together to cover all the breaking news topics you need to know this week. Which Aladdin star was spotted at Laneway? Which of our favourite celebrities made cameos in Jane … Read more
Music festivals are slowly making progress towards being accessible to disabled people – but is it happening fast enough? Alice Mander shares her experience at this year’s Laneway and offers some suggestions for improving accessibility. Sometimes I want to scream, “Disabled people like to party too!”. Or, maybe more accurately, “Disabled people want to join the … Read more
A popstar reclaims her hype, an indie-darling goes pop, and a trio of locals make good on their early promise. These are the songs of the month – five international, five local – as picked by The Spinoff’s culture editor Sam Brooks. International ‘Don’t Feel Like Crying’ by Sigrid For a while it seemed like … Read more
God may have created all of his children in his image, but the same cannot be said for his hymns. Some church songs are good, some are bad, and some are absolute bangers. Madeleine Chapman ranks the best of them. Some say that in order to experience complete and utter silence, a hearing person must … Read more
Outlander is over for another year, but don’t let #droughtlander get you down. Tara Ward keeps the thirst at bay with a look back on some of season four’s best moments, including baby goats, spotty Lords and a saucy sponge bath. Season four of Outlander has come and gone like an exploding hernia of emotion. We’ve … Read more
The Phoenix Foundation’s Samuel Flynn Scott checks out the food, music and wacky shirts of Laneway Festival 2019 in a review for Radio NZ. I’m pretty sure I used to be the target market for Laneway, but this year I barely know anyone on the lineup. As a joke, my good friend Lukasz sent our … Read more
Illustrator and writer Toby Morris spends a day in Albert Park for Laneway 2019. Who is that big sweaty bearded guy with his notebook out watching a band? Wait, is he… drawing? Why? (All fair questions.) First impression is always the styles. This year at least 1999 men dressed in prints. Second impression, at … Read more
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the path to the Idiot Hut is paved with trouble. Will Roger escape? Will Brianna marry Lord John? Will Jamie Fraser ever cry more than single tear? Tara Ward recaps the dramatic season finale of Outlander. Friends, we’ve reached the end of the Outlander highway, and I’m as exhausted as if … Read more
In Following Twain, which premiered on TVNZ One last night, Oscar Kightley follows the journey Mark Twain made around the country during his visit here in 1895. Sam Brooks reviews. The appeal of a travelogue show is one that has always eluded me. It’s the travel version of edging – all of the mildly pleasant bits … Read more
Everybody’s got a jam, and his is Suits. He watches it while he’s making dinner, while he’s in the car, maybe even when he’s on ‘the bog’. Who is it? It’s Adrian, New Zealand’s biggest Suits fan. You can watch all eight seasons of Suits on Lightbox right here – and new episodes drop weekly every Thursday.
A psyschic medium has launched a social media broadside against a comedian and NZ’s biggest 7pm show. Alex Casey retraces the gory details. It’s official: Sue Nicholson is mad as hell and not going to take it any more. Best known for her recurring role on TVNZ’s Sensing Murder, where she can frequently be found … Read more
It’s Auckland Anniversary Weekend, and you know that what means? St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, aka Laneway! Sam Brooks shares his guide to how to do your 2019 Laneway Festival right. So what the heck is Laneway? Laneway is a music festival that does the rounds across all of Australasia. It’s like the cooler, more alternative … Read more
Rudimental are one of the UK’s biggest bands with a list of collaborators as long as your arm. Sam Brooks takes a look at their best moments ahead of their new album, Toast to Our Differences. You’ve heard Rudimental, even if you don’t quite know it yet. This UK house band are a mainstay of many … Read more
The Project and Seven Sharp screened their first episodes of the year last night – so how did they fare upon their return? 7pm newcomer Sam Brooks watched them both. I’ve never watched a 7pm show that isn’t Shortland Street. It’s not a television hour for me; usually I’m playing video games, catching up on a non-news related … Read more
Four seasons in, with a fifth along the way, it’s time to look back, and then look even further back. Sam Brooks looks at who’s who on Westside, and who originally played them on Outrageous Fortune. It’s rare to see a local television show that takes place outside of Ferndale create its own artistic canon, but that’s precisely … Read more
It’s the pentultimate episode of Outlander season four, and things couldn’t be worse. Or could they? Tara Ward finds out. Friends, we are well and truly up the shitter. I thought we’d peaked in the Outlander disaster zone with last week’s craptacular camping trip and Murtagh putting his boots on Marsali’s blankets, but this week life in the Colonies … Read more
Alex Casey woke up at 6am this morning to flick between the first episode for 2019 of both The AM Show and Breakfast. Here are some of the highlights. Nothing captures Monday morning ennui like The AM Show. “Welcome back my friends,” belts out prog rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “to the show that never … Read more
Twenty years on, Bonnie “Prince” Billy’s I See a Darkness continues to beguile listeners. Jonny Potts tries to make sense of a timeless classic. It’s strange to consider I See a Darkness in terms of its age. Really, it’s strange to consider it being subject to time at all. It’s one of the very few records which … Read more
Acclaimed experimental musician Julia Holter, whose latest album Aviary appeared on multiple year-end lists, is playing in Auckland next week. Her opening act, Ryan McPhun, interviews her ahead of her show. * Ryan McPhun: I saw you at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen in 2013 and I believe you were a 4 piece then. Will you have similar setup … Read more
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the last few weeks in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s. With Duncan still basking somewhere on a desert island, Alex and Jane reconvene in The Spinoff studio to pick apart the past week in local weird news, pop culture and reality TV. We … Read more
Last year, Marvel’s Venom came out and was a huge hit, and you can watch it on Lightbox right now. But the real killer? Eminem’s rap over the credits. Sam Brooks performs an in-depth lyrical analysis of ‘Venom’, the song. First off: I have to declare my love for Venom, the film. It’s a bonkers good time. In … Read more
In only a few decades, the depiction of LGBTQ characters on television has gone from chaste ambiguity to frank explorations of queer identities of all kinds. But how far have we come, really, asks RNZ’s Melody Thomas. In 1991, a show called LA Law aired the first same-sex pash on primetime US television. The kiss between … Read more
The Passage comes with a best-selling novel pedigree – but will the show last long enough to make good on it? Sam Brooks reviews the new show which premiered on TVNZ last night. “I’m the girl from nowhere. The one no one will miss. I’m Amy Bellafonte. This is how the world ends.” Everything good and … Read more
It’s the most popular sitcom on television, and it’s full of supposedly lovable, always male, assholes. Catherine Hart explains why she’s not watching The Big Bang Theory or its ilk anymore. I’m sick of watching male ‘lovable’ assholes on our screens. They’re everywhere and I’m over it. These lovable assholes treat those around them with constant disrespect, … Read more