Today, Disney launches a new part of its streaming service, Star. But what in the Mickey Mouse is it? Sam Brooks explains. So what is Star? Star is Disney’s “new entertainment brand” that launches today in multiple countries around the world, including New Zealand. In reality, it’s just another part of Disney+. The service will … Read more
Bachelor superfans Jane Yee and Tara Ward recap the highs and lows of week four of The Bachelorette NZ. Hear more from Team Jack on this week’s episode of The Real Pod. Get it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you normally listen to podcasts. Tara Ward: Jane, I wanted to make a good impression on … Read more
Have you been duped by a Lifetime movie masquerading as a documentary? Sam Brooks is here to help you tell the difference between Britney Ever After and Framing Britney Spears. Last week, a colleague told me that she’d sat down the previous evening to watch buzzy documentary Framing Britney Spears, and was confused to see … Read more
The new Neon docuseries clears away the clutter from this messy saga and refocuses on the person it was always really about, writes Sam Brooks. The question of how to engage with art made by problematic people is one that’s never really been resolved. If you cancel the artist, do you cancel the art? How … Read more
Today, Disney launches a new part of its streaming service, Star. But what in the Mickey Mouse is it? Sam Brooks explains. So what is Star? Star is Disney’s “new entertainment brand” that launches today in multiple countries around the world, including New Zealand. In reality, it’s just another part of Disney+. The service will … Read more
Get a team together and prepare to spend the weekend of March 5-7 extremely under the pump – registrations for this year’s Vista Foundation 48Hours film competition are open now. The Vista Foundation 48Hours filmmaking competition is built around a simple mantra, “restriction breeds creativity”. The main thing being restricted in this case just happens … Read more
Trial of the Outback: The Lindy Chamberlain Story is a potent reminder that fighting for the truth is worth it, writes Sam Brooks. “The dingo ate my baby!” If there’s one line synonymous with Lindy Chamberlain’s story, it’s that. There’s a cruel irony that it’s not even what she said after the tragic death of … Read more
John Summers recalls the delight of seeing agapanthus when he first moved to Wellington, and how they’ve come to represent the perfect imperfection of his home city. Lately, the book I find myself returning to again and again is one featuring Hairy Maclary and his friends. This isn’t by choice, at least not mine, but … Read more
We Are Who We Are, the new limited series from Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino, treats this zoomer love story like it’s paradise, writes Sam Brooks. There’s a moment towards the start of the first episode of We Are Who We Are that left me genuinely breathless. The preceding hour of the … Read more
Watch the trailer below, featuring Meda McKenzie, Tuariki Delamere, Lee Ralph and more. Watch episode one: Meda McKenzie vs the Cook Strait Watch episode two: Tuariki Delamere’s somersault long jump One morning in 1978, 15-year-old Meda McKenzie got into the water off the coast of Wellington and started swimming. Just over 12 hours later, she … Read more
Carla Crozier, one of Shortland Street’s most memorable villains, is back to wreak havoc in Ferndale. Actor Elisabeth Easther tells Tara Ward why she’s returned to the role – and what’s different this time around. It’s been 25 years since Carla Crozier waved goodbye to Shortland Street, but fans have never forgotten her. Nobody knows … Read more
Intern stage manager Janaye Henry just had her first big gig running today’s alert level change announcement. Here’s how she went guiding Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Bloomfield through the briefing.
Singer, actor and all-round good guy Moses Mackay is the new single bloke handing out the roses on The Bachelor NZ. Tonight TVNZ announced a new season of The Bachelor NZ will begin on March 2, which is less than two weeks or 14 single one-on-one dates away. Along with fresh episodes of the reality … Read more
Longtime Bachelor fans Jane Yee and Tara Ward strip down the highs and lows of the third week of The Bachelorette NZ. Tune into this week’s The Real Pod for more The Bachelorette NZ chat. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or anywhere else you listen to pods. Tara Ward: Jane, we’ve finally reached the next destination … Read more
Two Outlander stars want to take you on the road trip of your Scottish dreams. If you’re a fan of Outlander, Neon’s popular time-travelling drama about a woman who accidentally finds herself in 1745 Scotland, you might feel like you already know everything about Scotland. You’ve soaked up the beautiful scenery and had a taste … Read more
A week after it made its attention-grabbing debut in the US, the documentary Framing Britney Spears has arrived in New Zealand. It’s an uncomfortable watch that forces us to consider our own complicity in Spears’ suffering, says Emily Writes. I’ve been following the collective reckoning around the United States and beyond after the screening of … Read more
The follow-up to When A City Falls celebrates the people of Christchurch and the wins of the rebuild, but loses some nuance in the edit, writes Erin Harrington. I’ve lived in Ōtautahi Christchurch all my life, but it took me until this week to watch Gerard Smyth’s 2011 film When A City Falls. This award-winning, … Read more
California, here we come! Definitive TV list maven Sam Brooks looks back at the wildest moments from the mid-aughts teen drama. If you are of a certain age, chances are you watched The OC. The show about the antics of rich teenage friends in southern California lasted only four seasons from 2003 to 2007, but … Read more
Bachelor superfans Jane Yee and Tara Ward launch themselves into the highs and lows of the second week of The Bachelorette NZ. Subscribe to The Real Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform for more The Bachelorette NZ chat. Tara Ward: After three nights of dates, mates and moley updates, I have one … Read more
Not many people have swum across the Cook Strait – fewer still have turned around and swum all the way back again too. Scratched meets Meda McKenzie, endurance swimmer. Meda McKenzie could swim. She was never a particularly fast swimmer, and never went to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games. It was her stamina and endurance … Read more
Doctor Emma Espiner watches TVNZ’s The Checkup, which promises to tell you the things about health that you really want to know. I lie to my doctor. It’s even worse now that I’m a doctor too and she treats me like a colleague. I pretend to know things that I don’t just so she doesn’t … Read more
You’ve seen the ads, but you’re still unsure what on earth Holey Moley actually is. Here’s what you need o know about Three’s new ‘extreme mini golf’ reality show. So what’s the show? The elevator pitch is that it’s Wipeout meets mini golf. The longer pitch is that it’s much stranger than even that sounds. … Read more
New Zealand’s favourite architectural series is undergoing a transformation of its own. On Tuesday, Chris Moller, architect and affable host of building series Grand Designs New Zealand, made the shock announcement that he was leaving the show. In a statement on the show’s Facebook page, Moller said that after six years it was time to … Read more
Sam Brooks reviews Russell T Davies’ It’s a Sin, which tackles the Aids crisis in a powerful, intimate way. Early on in It’s a Sin, Russell T Davies’ new drama about the HIV/Aids crisis in 1980s London, the disease is still so new that Ritchie – the show’s protagonist – refuses to believe it even … Read more
Long-time fans Jane Yee and Tara Ward discuss the love, life and laughs of the first two episodes of The Bachelorette NZ. Tara Ward: Meet me on the red carpet of your wildest dreams Jane Yee, because it’s time to recap the new season of The Bachelorette NZ, New Zealand’s most pashiest reality series. I’m … Read more
What are you going to be watching in February? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon, Acorn and TVNZ OnDemand. The biggies Men in Kilts (docu-series on Neon from February 15) Outlander fans, rejoice. Two stars from the popular time-travelling drama – … Read more
Sam Brooks wasn’t allowed to watch kids TV as a kid. Now, as a 30 year old man, he watches it for the first time. My mother’s approach to parenting was unorthodox. I wrote weekly book reports on top of my actual homework, I did maths equations in Roman numerals and I briefly picked up … Read more
On the edge of the Mataura River, a disused paper mill is filled with thousands of bags of toxic waste. Locals want to find out who’s responsible for it – and they want it gone before disaster strikes. First published November 10, 2020. The Paper Mill is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries … Read more
Zendaya has been around for a decade, but she’s gone from Disney prodigy to pop star to acclaimed actress. Here are the highlights of the 24-year-old’s already impressive career. Shaking it up: Zendaya on Disney The world’s first encounter with Zendaya was a little Disney show called Shake It Up, a series where two high … Read more