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At The Movies

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A weekly topical magazine about current film releases and film related topics.

At The Movies - Eileen

Eileen is a Netflix noir, starring New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie (Last night in Soho) and Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables.) as co-workers in a juvenile prison whose relationship goes bad. Directed by William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth).

At The Movies - How ot make Millions before Grandma dies

How to make millions before Grandma dies is a tiny independent from Thailand that's punching considerably above its weight. It's being sold entirely on its ability to make audiences cry!

At The Movies - Midas Man

Midas Man tells the story of Brian Epstein, the man who discovered the Beatles and changed the world. Starring Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The three musketeers) as Brian, with cameos from Eddies Marsan and Izzard, Emily Watson and talkshow host Jay Leno as Ed Sullivan.

Poverty Row

Simon Morris looks at three smaller films that attempt to do more with less - Midas Man, a biopic of the Beatles' manager, a Thai tear-jerker called How to make millions before Grandma dies and a dark thriller called Eileen that went straight to Netflix.

At The Movies - Blink Twice

Blink twice is the directorial debut of actor Zoë Kravitz (The Batman) that sees a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum) invite his celebrity friends to an island getaway where all is not what it seems. Co-starring Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston in I wanna dance with somebody), Christian Slater (True romance) and Geena Davis (Thelma and Louise).

At The Movies - Breaking The Rules

Simon Morris suggests that when it comes to breaking the film-making rules, it's best to pick your battles. This week The sitting duck is a real life French miscarriage of justice, Blink twice is a thriller about life among the idle rich - yes, another one! And We were dangerous sees three teenage girls plan to break out in 1950s New Zealand.

At The Movies - The Sitting Duck

The sitting duck is the real-life story of a French trade union dispute that turns nasty. Was the whistleblower really attacked at her home, or did she make it up to publicise her cause? Starring Isabelle Huppert (Elle).

At The Movies - We Were Dangerous

New Zealand film We were dangerous is set during the famous "moral panic" of 1954, when a new invention - the "teenager" - seemed to terrorize the powers that be! Three rebel girls decide to get out from under. Starring Erana James (Uproar), Nathalie Morris (One lane bridge) and newcomer Manaia Hall. With Rima Te Wiata (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) as the Matron.

Ratings & Reviews

My number 1 podcast.

rock-steady!

I love the Simon Morris's eloquent, observed, challenging look at films. His podcasts are punchy and quite indepth, even for their short-ish length. I appreciate that he holds films to a high standard- including New Zealand films. The format works well - he choses interesting extracts of clips to compliment each podcast. He is current, politically savy and knowledgable. The podcasts are enjoyable and informative listening. Thank you.

Why the advertising RNZ? You are a fully funded public broadcaster

Old Tuatara

Simon Morris is great. His reviews are great and well informed ( note Dan Slevin is not great - he’s dour, pretentious and constantly gives spoilers - I don’t listen when Dan is subbing in). HOWEVER- why is RNz putting ads at the beginning and end of each 4 minute review. It doesn’t happen with any other RNz podcasts and is truly irritating. RNz is a fully publicly funded body so why the irritating ads?

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• Years Active 2008 - 2024
• Episodes 1K
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• Copyright © (C) Radio New Zealand 2024
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‘Head South’ Review: A Mild-Mannered Tribute to a Formative New Zealand Punk Epoch

Jonathan Ogilvie’s autobiographical fiction opens this year's Rotterdam festival with a somewhat undercooked nostalgic flashback to 1979 Christchurch. 

By Dennis Harvey

Dennis Harvey

Film Critic

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Joining a long line of filmmakers who’ve fictionalized their comings-of-age in one regional punk scene or another, veteran New Zealand writer-director Jonathan Ogilvie turns the clock back to 1979 Christchurch in “Head South.” Its protagonist is the classic shy but would-be rebellious teen boy dared into starting his own band, whose first gig naturally provides an underdogs-triumphant climax. Pleasant but awfully thin, feeling like a short insufficiently fleshed out to feature length, this modest nostalgic exercise provides a lightweight opener to this year’s Rotterdam fest. 

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When the fadeout abruptly brings tragedy into this picture — a turn torn from real-life experience, as evidenced by closing dedication text — its force is muffled by the fact that the film has done almost nothing prior to mine character depths or stir our own deeper emotions. What ought to play as a sobering slap in the face after a wild ride instead comes off as an incongruous tonal shift interrupting exceedingly restrained hijinks. 

Which is not to say “Head South” (whose title song, as well as another played by Angus’ band, was written by the director himself) isn’t enjoyable within its limitations. Most of the performances are expert, even if we wait in vain for the script to give them more to chew on. Csokas fares best with the thin material, lending Gordon a sly edge that suggests he’s got more dimensions than he or the movie care to reveal. There’s some good music heard, if not as much as one might expect — particularly given that the original score is from Shayne Carter of the great late-’80s/early-’90s New Zealand post-punk band Straitjacket Fits. 

Ogilvie actually made music videos for acts on that outfit’s influential label Flying Nun Records in the 1980s. He applies various retro techniques to make the film look like an artefact from back then, including jump cuts, fisheye lenses, light flares, signs of faux film-stock distress, and so on. But these quasi-rough stylistic tropes tend to underline what the feature never quite achieves: approximation of the messy exuberance that made punk attractive in the first place. It’s a strangely mild-mannered, small-caps tribute to a movement that was more inclined to loudly (as a Bible-borrowed 1986 Nick Cave album title put it) kick against the pricks. 

Reviewed online, Jan. 21, 2024. In International Film Festival Rotterdam (opener). Running time: 98 MIN.

• Production: (New Zealand) A New Zealand Film Commission presentation in association with Head South Cohort, Black Frame. (World sales: Moviehouse Entertainment, London.) Producers: Antje Kulpe, Jonathan Ogilvie. Executive producers: Emma Slade, Lee Hubber, Gary Phillips, Mark Vennis, Mat Govoni. 
• Crew: Director, writer: Jonathan Ogilvie. Camera: John Crisstoffels. Editor: Julie-Anne De Ruvo. Music: Shayne Carter.
• With: Ed Oxenbould, Marton Csokas, Stella Bennett, Trendall Pulini, Roxie Mohebbi, Arlo Gibson, Demos Murphy, Jackson Bliss, Oscar Phillips.

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Joker: Folie à Deux review – Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga shine in downbeat sequel

The sequel lacks the intensity of Joker but is still a brooding tale that works hard to reinvent the comic book movie.

• James Mottram
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Back in 2019, Joker premiered at the Venice Film Festival, going on to win the top prize of the Golden Lion. Five years on, the sequel Joker: Folie à Deux arrives, back in competition at the festival.

Joaquin Phoenix returns as Arthur Fleck, the role that won him an Oscar, in a story that, despite lacking the intensity of the original, still has the capacity to surprise. Todd Phillips, also returning as director, has turned this grim, grey Gotham psychodrama into a musical of sorts, with Phoenix and co singing old standards. Weird? Well, it works. Kind of.

Fleck, better known to his supporters as the psychopathic clown Joker, is now in Arkham Asylum, awaiting to see if he will stand trial for five murders, including the killing of TV host Murray Franklin on live TV.

Already his fame has spread so much that a television movie has been made of his adventures, although the authorities refuse to let him watch it (a running joke sees him obsess over whether it’s any good or not).

Still skeletal thin, Fleck is almost catatonic at the outset, until a prison guard (Brendan Gleeson) gets him into a music class. There, he meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) – aka Harley Quinn, the Joker’s love interest throughout DC Comics lore.

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Committed to the institution by her mother after she set fire to her parents' apartment, she strikes up a bond with Fleck. "We’re gonna build a mountain," she promises. They even get intimate in his cell, just after she daubs his face with blusher (you might call it the weirdest 'make-up sex' you’ll ever see).

With Fleck’s lawyer (Catherine Keener) looking to improve his public image, an exclusive TV interview with a dirt-digging reporter, played by Steve Coogan, is also set up.

As Fleck’s defence pleads that he has a multiple personality disorder, this rather taps into the various musical numbers, which often play out as if they’re in his head, much like the way he imagined his comedy career in the original movie.

Indeed, it makes sense that former stand-up comic Fleck should burst into song, seeing as he has always believed himself as the consummate entertainer. There’s even a interlude called the Joker & Harley Show, with the two looking like Sonny and Cher.

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With the musical numbers running throughout, songs range from That’s Entertainment to (They Long To Be) Close To You, although neither Phoenix nor Gaga belt out the tunes. Rather, in keeping with the film’s atmosphere, performances are muted, both vocally and when it comes to the choreography. Don’t expect to see Joaquin tap-dancing à la Fred Astaire.

By the second half, Joker: Folie à Deux – the title translates from French meaning a mental illness shared by two people – mutates into courtroom drama, as Fleck goes to trial. The clown is suddenly the main attraction in this particular circus.

If you can believe it, the film is even more downbeat than its predecessor, despite the musical element, thanks to the grim atmosphere that Phillips lathers on. It also goes some way to distancing itself from the nihilistic incel-culture that simmered in the background of the earlier movie, despite violent riots once again brewing on the streets of Gotham.

There’s also zero mention of Batman, making this a story far removed from the Caped Crusader's crime-fighting universe as you could possibly get.

Phoenix is seamless, picking up this maudlin character again as if it were only yesterday. It’s a truly versatile, malleable performance.

Meanwhile, Gaga makes for a good sparring partner, her Harley far more low-key than the recent version played by Margot Robbie. While the film arguably lacks the rage-fuelled intensity of Joker, this is still a brooding tale that works hard to reinvent the comic book movie.

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Joker: Folie à Deux will premiere in cinemas on Friday 4th October 2024.

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Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

• Movie Review: ‘Reagan’

NEW YORK (OSV News) – Many have observed that one of the characteristic strengths of President Ronald Reagan’s political career was the fact that he focused on a few strongly held but straightforward beliefs and communicated them with great effectiveness. Thus his two terms each in the California governor’s mansion and the White House.

Such simplicity may be an asset on the campaign trail but it’s questionable at the Cineplex. So, although Christian faith is front and center in the screen biography “Reagan” (Showbiz Direct), the film’s noticeable lack of subtlety undermines its overall potential impact.

In adapting the 2006 book “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism” by Paul Kengor, director Sean McNamara and screenwriter Howard Klausner provide a curious entree into their story. Namely, the reminiscences of retired KGB officer Viktor Petrovich (Jon Voight).

Quizzed by a colleague about the reasons for the fall of the Soviet Union, Petrovich recounts his decades-long effort to gain information about Reagan, even before the second-tier leading man became an anti-communist activist and, later, a politician. Accordingly, it’s through Petrovich’s memory that we witness Reagan’s rise from small-town lifeguard to commander-in-chief.

Along the way, Reagan enjoys the support of his devout mother, Nelle (Amanda Righetti), his famously doting but formidable second wife, Nancy (Penelope Ann Miller), and his more moderate-minded secretary of state, George Shultz (Xander Berkeley). Ranged against him are leftists in Hollywood, personified by union head Herbert Sorrel (Mark Kubr), and on campus.

As Petrovich tries to warn his superiors that Reagan poses a serious threat to their rule, we’re taken inside the Kremlin and it’s in these scenes that the profile’s black-and-white approach to history becomes most glaring. As presided over by Communist Party general secretary Leonid Brezhnev (Robert Davi), the Soviet politburo looks like a gathering of comic-book villains.

Without in any way minimizing the atrocious record of world communism, it can still be said that — in dramatic terms at least — this is sketchy stuff. Brezhnev, after all, would not have risen to the top of an admittedly vicious system had he been merely the heedless dunderhead portrayed here.

While Brezhnev’s eventual successor, Mikhail Gorbachev (Olek Krupa), comes off a little better, blacklisted tinseltown screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Sean Hankinson) is depicted as a shifty provocateur. At a swank dinner, he’s heard uttering thinly veiled threats against democracy and capitalism. But he refuses to be drawn out when challenged by Reagan.

Surely the man who gave us the script of “Roman Holiday” would have been more eloquent — even in defense of wrongheaded ideas.

Ultimately, the equation underlying the film amounts to something like this: 1 Godfearing Reagan + 1 Margaret Thatcher (Lesley-Anne Down) + 1 JohnPaul II = 0 USSR. That’s not at all an inaccurate sum, but it may be an incomplete one.

With objectionable ingredients kept to a minimum, and a lesson about the value of honesty on offer via the climax of the Iran-Contra scandal, “Reagan” is suitable fare for a wide audience. But hippies and Mondale voters need not apply.

The film contains brief stylized violence, a couple of mild oaths and at least one crass expression. The OSV News classification is A-II — adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

• Exhibit highlights impact Reagan, St. John Paul II had on world through their shared moral vision

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August 23, 2024 • As the dust settles on the DNC, host Brittany Luse takes a look at the challenges facing a group of progressive democrats commonly known as "The Squad." Incumbent Reps. Cori Bush in Missouri and Jamaal Bowman in New York lost their seats this summer to candidates whose campaigns received funding from pro-Israel PACs. Brittany is joined by POLITICO Congress reporter Sarah Ferris and Capital B News national politics reporter Brandon Tensley to understand how these PACs are impacting progressives in Congress.

"The Squad" loses two members; plus, Colman Domingo shines in 'SING SING'

Director Francis Ford Coppola at the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Calif. on March 27, 2022. ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

Lionsgate apologizes to Coppola for now-pulled 'Megalopolis’ trailer

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A scene from Mountains . Music Box Films hide caption

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Endangered Little Haiti

Noel (John Cena) and Katie (Awkwafina) in JACKPOT! Daniel McFadden/IMAGE COURTESY OF AMAZON MGM STUDIOS hide caption

August 20, 2024 • Entering the studio with Jesse Thorn on the latest episode is John Cena. The wrestler turned actor talks about his path to the ring and Hollywood. John recently announced his imminent retirement from wrestling – he talked with us about that decision. Plus, John's always wanted to learn how to play piano, and he's thought of a way to make that happen. His latest project is an action comedy called Jackpot! in which he stars alongside Awkwafina. You can stream it now on Amazon Prime.

The physical media we still treasure

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French actor Alain Delon in 1976. AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

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1999 Haley Joel Osment And Bruce Willis Star In "The Sixth Sense." (Photo By Getty Images) Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption

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Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson in Alien: Romulus . Murray Close/20th Century Studios hide caption

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The 20 Greatest New Zealand Films of all Time

1. Goodbye Pork Pie

4. Once Were Warriors

5. Bad Taste

6. Samoan Wedding

7. The Piano

8. Meet the Feebles

9. Arriving Tuesday

10. Topless Women Talk About Their Lives

11. Smash Palace

12. The World's Fastest Indian

14. Heavenly Creatures

15. Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale

16. Came a Hot Friday

17. Whale Rider

18. Dead Alive

19. The Quiet Earth

20. Black Sheep

More to explore, recently viewed.

The 10 Best New Zealand Movies of All Time

In the early 1990s, the British Film Institute launched the Century of Cinema Series in attempt to explore the various examples of national cinemas around the world. Cinema of Unease, written and directed by Kiwi actor Sam Neil, was New Zealand’s contribution to this project.

Although his attitudes towards this topic have gradually changed, Sam Neil concluded in his documentary that New Zealand films are predominately dark and brooding.

This particular filmmaking era emerged during the mid-1970s with the rise of the New Wave in film. Here such themes which defined the way New Zealand audiences viewed themselves on screen, placed enormous creative pressure on local filmmakers. Since then, the national cinema of New Zealand has experienced a series of unstable phases.

Over the years, one of the greatest obstacles that New Zealand filmmakers had to overcome was the inherent ‘tall poppy syndrome’ of the Kiwi culture. Local audiences were unimpressed with the talents and creativity of their nation’s artists, thus very few Kiwis would sit and watch New Zealand made productions.

National pride in the country’s film industry has only recently blossomed. Below is a list of the ten best examples of New Zealand’s national cinema. It is important to note that despite playing a pivotal role in establishing an influential film industry in New Zealand, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series have not been included in this write up. Instead, the films chosen for the list are those that showcase key characteristics of the nation’s culture.

10. Goodbye Pork Pie (Geoff Murphy, 1981)

Considered to be New Zealand’s coming-of-age film, Geoff Murphy’s Goodbye Pork Pie was the country’s first local production to become a smash hit. The film helped prove that New Zealanders were highly capable of creating both financially and commercially successful movies about New Zealand, and it now holds a special cult status for many Kiwi audiences.

It is a unique twist on the classic road movie genre where two men – John and Gerry – travel the length of New Zealand in a yellow mini, from the north of Auckland to just south of Invercargill. Through minor mishaps such as running a red light or forgetting to pay for gas, the duo steadily become wanted criminals by local law enforcement.

New Zealand’s key urban areas are all separated by miles of rural landscape, thus the open road is an important feature that units the population. Murphy uses the open road not only as a story device, but to also illustrate the characteristics of the nation itself – an imperfect but charming clusters of townships and people who must carry on in an isolated setting.

The film’s production may have been fairly small in scale, with only 24 cast and crew participating over 6 weeks in 1979. However, it has a left a rather large mark on New Zealand’s national cinema.

9. Out of the Blue (Robert Sarkies, 2006)

For a small peaceful country like New Zealand, large killing sprees are uncommon. It is no surprise then that the entire nation came to a standstill and watched in horror as crazed gunman David Gray opened fire on the small seaside community of Aramoana, killing 13 innocent residents. The massacre of 1990 still remains the deadliest criminal shooting in New Zealand’s history.

Robert Sarkies makes audiences relive the terror and tragedy in his 2006 film Out of the Blue. The filmmaker captures the violence in a realistic but restrained manner. The majority of the murders appear off-screen, with Sarkies choosing instead to focus on the confusion and dread of the local residents as they struggle to elude their unseen assailant.

The film did face strong opposition from the Aramoana township during pre-production, forcing the cast and crew to film outside the region. However, the film received praise from local audience members upon release. Both Matthew Sunderland and Karl Urban give outstanding performances as David Gray and Constable Nick Harvey respectively.

8. The Quiet Earth (Geoff Murphy, 1985)

If you take Peter Jackson’s body of work out of the mix, New Zealand filmmakers are generally quite conservative when it comes to genre. Attempts to break away from the status quo and create bold cinematic pieces often fall short of the director’s original intentions. Geoff Murphy’s The Quiet Earth is one of the nation’s few forays into the science fiction genre.

Although the film doesn’t quite encapsulate the qualities audiences have come to love about sci-fi movies, it does incorporate a distinctive representation of the Kiwi bloke: the ‘man alone’ theory. Basically this refers to that which separates New Zealand men from other social groups.

A larger number of Kiwi men, to certain degrees, adhere to a sense of morality, even if it is simply a personal code to abide by in life. However, various individuals socially detach themselves from the rest of the community, representing a select group of men who are emotionally detached, lack sexual intimacy and find themselves driven by circumstance, approaching it in their own manner.

Murphy’s film is set in a post-apocalyptic New Zealand, and spends time establishing the isolation of the protagonist Zac Hobson – portrayed by Kiwi legend Bruno Lawrence.

The director draws upon distinctive features of the ‘man alone’ to flesh out Zac’s mannerisms and survival methods. Although Zac eventually makes contact with fellow survivors – even engaging in sexual intercourse with one of them – his inability to look beyond his own self-preservation keeps him at an emotional distance from others.

7. Once Were Warriors (Lee Tamahori, 1994)

Every country has its virtues and its flaws, and New Zealand is no exception. The nation has had a rather disturbing past when it comes to the issue of domestic violence. In 2011 a United Nations report found New Zealand to have a high domestic violence and maternal mortality rate compared to other OECD countries.

Lee Tamahori’s 1994 film Once Were Warriors, based on Alan Duff’s controversial novel, depicts the heart-breaking atrocities behind this issue. Set in a rough South Auckland suburb, the film focuses on the challenges faced by a contemporary Maori family – mostly brought on by their unstable patriarch, Jake “The Muss” Heke.

Both the film’s narrative and visual technique creatively provide solid images of the disintegration within the Heke family, caused by Jake’s violent outbursts and his wife’s submission to the physical abuse she endlessly receives.

By frequent use of hand held camera shots, Tamahori sets out to capture the trauma; zooming in on each fist movement. Here the director is able to break the barrier between the story’s chaotic atmosphere and reality so audiences not only witness the violence but experience it as well.

6. Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2002)

The traditions and heritage of New Zealand’s indigenous people, the Maori, play an important role in the nation’s culture. One of the central themes of Maori tradition is the unity and importance of the whanau (family).

This theme is explored in Niki Caro’s Whale Rider. Based on Witi Ihimaera’s renowned tale of how Maori religion is intertwined within the dynamics of a contemporary family, the film focuses on the upbringing of a young Maori girl named Pai (played by Keisha Castle-Hughes in her debut performance).

Pai must overcome oppression in order to achieve the respect and love of her proud but stubborn grandfather, Koro; a Maori descendant of the mythical Paikea, who struggles to accept that the leadership of his hapu (tribe) must soon pass into the hands of a female.

The director relies heavily upon symbolism throughout the film to successfully render both the beauty and imperfection of the Maori tradition in a modern society. Caro achieves this through the effective use of a character-driven plot, comparing Pai’s story and the situation with her family to the beaching of a small pod of whales.

It is this supernatural identification with the whales, culminating in the protagonist’s re-enactment of the mythical journey her ancestor once took across the ocean on whaleback, that affirms her rightful place in both her tribe and her grandfather’s heart.

Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews

New zealand movie ratings.

The Cinematograph-film Censor Act of 1916 was New Zealand's earliest attempt at classifying films for the general public. Those early attempts at censoring films concentrated heavily on wartime issues. With the passing of decades, film ratings in New Zealand became more focused on regulating sexually explicit videos and films.

In 1994, the New Zealand government combined the activities of print, film, and video classification and censorship into the Office of Film and Literature Classification. The movie ratings used in New Zealand are as follows:

Note that the New Zealand classification office has the flexibility to designate any age they wish in their R rating. According to their information officer, Brenden Crocker, "R13" is becoming a more utilized restrictive rating.

As well, New Zealand ratings are color coded to give quick visual indication of the movie's suitabilty for children. Only the "G" rating receives a green sticker, while advisory ratings are printed on a yellow background and age restrictive ratings are red.

The process to determine New Zealand movie ratings begins at an organization called the Labeling Body. Here a three-step process is used to determine if a film falls into an unrestricted age category or a restricted one. First the body checks to see if a movie had a previous New Zealand rating prior to the creation of the Office of Film and Literature Classification. If it does, then the equivalent rating (using the newer classification system) is applied to the movie.

At the Classification Office, publications (everything from film, video, and magazines, to t-shirts and playing cards) are submitted which likely contain sexual or violent content relating to crime, horror, or cruelty.

The Classification Office has 28 members, 5 of whom are part time.

Office of Film and Literature Classification Freephone: 0508 236 767 Phone: +64 4 471 6770 Fax: +64 4 471 6781 [email protected] www.censorship.govt.nz Postal address P.O. Box 1999 Wellington 6140, New Zealand Deliveries Level 1 88 The Terrace Wellington 6011, New Zealand

Information extracted from New Zealand's OFLC website and interview with Information Officer Brenden Crocker.

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