After more than a year of social distancing, Alex, Jane and Duncan are back in the same room for an emotional reunion and to talk about a cinematic masterpiece. Approximately a thousand years ago, the idea of The Real Pod maybe, possibly, perhaps one day recapping the Twilight movie was floated. The people heard the … Read more
Three shows in one month? Sounds ridiculous, but that’s actress Morgana O’Reilly for you. If you haven’t seen Morgana O’Reilly on your screens, chances are you’re just not paying attention. The actor has been ubiquitous for over a decade now – you may know her from indie horror Housebound or, more likely, from her 18 … Read more
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, New Zealand’s audiovisual archive, has uncovered some clues, but needs your help in solving a 90-year-old mystery. “A Mild Case of Murder”, one title shouts. “The Wife Who Knew”, insinuates another. “Happy Honeymoon – A Near Tragedy”, warns a third. Film-making is serious business and involves many people – can … Read more
The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards are today – screening live from midday on Vibe and SkyGo – but who are you putting your bets on? We took a look at the Neon and Sky catalogues to gain a little insight on how a show can maximise its chances. If you’re an entertainment awards fanatic, the Emmys … Read more
This week sees the first televised leaders debate between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins. What are the techniques and tricks Jacinda and Judith will need to win the nation’s love? José Barbosa has watched a podium-load of old debates and thinks he has the answers. By golly gum I love TV election debates. There’s a … Read more
For her Loading Docs short Going Home, film-maker Ashley Williams paid tribute to her late uncle Clive by learning to fly. Some people say I was brave to fly. I tell them my Uncle Clive was the one who had courage. He was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer at the age of 50. He had … Read more
Netflix drama Ratched aims to rehabilitate the villain from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but would do better in the electric chair. Nurse Ratched is, quite rightly, one of the most famous movie villains of all time. The source of all of McMurphy’s despair and angst in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written … Read more
Tara Ward chats to Farmer Harry, one of the Australian bachelors looking for love on reality series The Farmer Wants a Wife. All Farmer Harry wants is a woman as reliable as his John Deere tractor, and Farmer Wants a Wife might be the answer to his farmy prayers. A chaotic mix of The Bachelor … Read more
Rose Matafeo calls Horndog a ‘silly show about love’, but what follows is a persuasive case for loving with obsessive devotion. Rose Matafeo assures us in the first few minutes of Horndog (now streaming on Neon) that it’s not a TED talk, that it won’t be one of those shows where there’s a “lesson to … Read more
Grand Designs NZ is back with a new season that promises more incredible homes, optimistic owners, and the easy charm of presenter Chris Moller. Grand Designs NZ kicked off its sixth season with a reminder that most of us will never have six million dollars to transform a heritage building into our house of dreams, … Read more
Join Michèle A’Court, Alex Casey and Leonie Hayden as they go on an odyssey of women’s rage, and find out how we can channel our anger into good. Have you ever been called a bitch? Hysterical? Stroppy? Do you find yourself suppressing warranted anger to appear more likeable? Mad as hell and don’t want to … Read more
Shrill, now streaming on Neon, is more than just a comedy – it’s a landmark in millennial feminist storytelling. Shrill is a sitcom with social grit and feminist nuance that goes where other fat-focused shows have failed to go before – straight into your heart. High on laughs and equally high on feels, the shows … Read more
With the first of the Hui Pōti 2020 debates on tonight, Mihingarangi Forbes – who’ll be keeping those vying for votes in the seven Māori electorates in line – shares some words of wisdom. As one of my impertinent children pointed out this week, I have been a journalist since “LAST CENTURY” (they’re now grounded), … Read more
Snowpiercer imagines a world where the class system follows us to the grave, but in doing so, does it fail at its own goals? It was Snowpiercer, not Parasite, that was meant to be Bong Joon-ho’s big western debut, but the film had the misfortune to be picked up by the Weinstein Company. Harvey Weinstein … Read more
Grab your Factor 50 and put all your eggs into someone else’s basket, because a new season of Love Island USA just landed on Neon. Love Island is the ultimate reality show about strangers finding love on the telly, and this season comes with a shocking twist: they’re not on an island. It’s news more … Read more
It might be the most bonkers reality show of all, but The Farmer Wants a Wife is back for 2020. Tara Ward recaps the first episode. “It all begins with hope,” host Natalie Gruzlewski tells us in the opening moments of The Farmer Wants a Wife, and friends, I did not expect this show to … Read more
I’m Thinking of Ending Things is another trip into the mind of the pathetic man, but Charlie Kaufman finally finds universality in one man’s fantasy. Mild spoilers for I’m Thinking of Ending Things below. You can mark the exact point at which one-time wunderkind Charlie Kaufman went from being a critic’s darling to a difficult … Read more
Filmmaker Gwen Isaac was meant to be in Japan filming a documentary about a New Zealand MMA fighter. But when Covid-19 hit, she found herself embedded in the household of Dr Siouxsie Wiles, documenting a different type of fight. I had never heard of Siouxsie Wiles before March this year. Then, suddenly, she seemed to … Read more
In season two of The Boys, Antony Starr’s Homelander gets even more twisted. He spoke to The Spinoff about the gratuitous violence and nationalism that runs through the show. Antony Starr is calling from LA, where he’s riding out Covid-19. He’d love to come home to New Zealand one day, but now’s not the time. … Read more
From the rights of migrant sex workers to the euthanasia debate, the eight new episodes of Alice Snedden’s Bad News have wrestled with some of the most confusing and contentious political and social issues confronting Aotearoa in 2020. Catch up on the full season here. Episode One – Migrant Sex Workers Sex work is decriminalised … Read more
Away tries to be a space drama and a family drama, but fails massively at both. There’s a good reason why outer space is such a popular setting for fiction: the stakes are so obvious. Just off camera, just off the page, is an endless void that can kill your protagonists if a single thing … Read more
Charting the British actor’s trajectory from teenage pop star to her brilliant turn in I Hate Suzie. For someone who has been in front of our eyes for 20 years, Billie Piper’s career has been more diverse than many appreciate. From teenage pop star to companion of Doctor Who, to critical acclaim on the screen … Read more
In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020. As Taika Waititi once said, New Zealand is racist as fuck. To find out what he meant, Alice and Kura (Ngāti Porou) … Read more
It’s one of the most remarkable political documentaries ever made, and it was produced with a single camera and next to no budget. More than two decades on, it was a key reference point for the Spinoff series Youth Wings. The Spinoff speaks to director Tony Sutorius about the legacy and message of Campaign, and … Read more
Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue? The right to vote in Aotearoa is currently denied to anyone imprisoned for over three years. To figure out if this is fair or not, Alice meets with … Read more
What are you going to be watching in September? The Spinoff rounds up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ OnDemand. The biggies Shrill (on Neon now) It’s the superhero show we need right now: a woman who decides she’s had enough of everyone … Read more
The second instalment of Patrick Gower’s On… series is about the one issue that has touched all of us this year. But the documentary seems almost as fascinated by Gower himself, writes Sam Brooks It seems strange, on the day that Auckland comes out of a lockdown, its second, to be watching a documentary about … Read more
Because there’s no time like now to catch up on the best the small screen can offer. Picture this scenario: it’s the end of the workday, you’ve just got home (or if you’re working from home, transformed your work-couch into your rest-couch) and you hit up your streaming services. Instantly, you’re bombarded with choices across … Read more
Sick of dating shows? The Dog House is a matchmaking show with none of the drama and all of the feels. I like to schedule my crying jags for Tuesdays at 8.30pm. A bawl isn’t guaranteed: sometimes just a trickle of salty sadness runs down my cheek, other times happy tears flow. Either way, it’s … Read more