After six months of film delays and cinema closures, Tenet is New Zealand’s only blockbuster hope, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund. Black Widow, No Time to Die, A Quiet Place 2. All were big-budget should-be hits scheduled to open in New Zealand cinemas during the time of Covid-19. Now, they won’t be hitting screens until, at the … Read more
Theatre owners are up in arms that potential blockbuster Mulan – filmed in New Zealand and directed by hometown hero Niki Caro – is to be premiered not in cinemas, but on Disney’s streaming platform, Disney+. On an office wall somewhere hangs a picture of Disney CEO Bob Chapek – target on his head, and … Read more
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year’s New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) is going predominantly digital for the very first time, replacing nights out at the Civic with nights in-front of the living room TV. Aaron Yap explores both the upsides and downsides to this unprecedented shakeup, and wonders if film festivals in the … Read more
The news that Reading Cinema’s wonderful cinema staff are being made redundant was a shock given Reading Cinemas had just said the complex would reopen. Emily Writes salutes the workers. This piece began as a tribute to my favourite cinema complex, and then the news broke that all staff there would be made redundant. Like … Read more
New Zealand’s film industry has always been about location, location, location, but what about everything else? What about all the stuff that comes after filming? Jihee Junn talks to Department of Post’s Katie Hinsen at the company’s new state-of-the-art headquarters about her mission to make Auckland into a post-production powerhouse. For much of late 2016, … Read more
Philip Matthews reviews a new memoir of genius director David Lynch, who emerges from the book as a “happy neurotic”. Dougie heard the name and everything changed. If you watched last year’s mesmerising Twin Peaks reboot, Twin Peaks: The Return, you will know what I mean. If you didn’t, spoilers follow. We are deep into episode … Read more
After a cinema in Hawera banned patrons wearing pyjamas last week, ex-cinema attendant Alex Casey shines a light on much grosser stories from the back row of theatres around the country. First published May 2018. Something extremely weird happens to people inside a cinema. Maybe it’s the enveloping womb-like darkness that reverts grown adults to … Read more
After viewing the latest season of Top of the Lake in a cinema, Aaron Yap looks at the increasingly blurred lines between films, TV shows, and everything in between. “It’s so magical – I don’t know why – to go into a theatre and have the lights go down. It’s very quiet, and then the curtain starts … Read more
With a line-up boasting everything from Miyazaki to Spike Lee, Dan Taipua suggests you look no further than Māori Television for the best in free-to-air movies. When Māori Television launched back in 2004, it brought to the viewing public a new channel for the promotion of te reo Māori me nga tikanga Maori (Māori language … Read more