A weekly topical magazine about current film releases and film related topics.
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Fueled by an unashamed love of reality TV and local pop culture, The Spinoff presents deep dives into the bizarre and brilliant moments from our screens and beyond. Hosted by Jane Yee, Alex Casey and Duncan Greive. Join the Real Pod community! Join The Real Pod Corner on Facebook Join our Discord server
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Kinds of kindness is a typically opaque collection of loosely-connected short stories by UK-Greek film-maker Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor things). Starring Emma Stone (The favourite), Willem Dafoe (The Florida project) and Jesse Plemens (Civil war).
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Fly me to the moon sees Scarlett Johanssen and Channing Tatum in a romantic romp that wonders what if the moon landing really was faked? Co-starring Woody Harrelson as President Nixon's hatchet man.
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Twisters - 28 years after the original Twister a new crew is chasing storms in Oklahoma's notorious "Tornado Alley". Starring Glen Powell (Hit man) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Where the crawdads sing). Once again produced by Steven Spielberg.
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Simon Morris is confronted by an embarrassment of good, entertaining movies. And about time too…
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On At the Movies, Dan Slevin reviews Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy and Austin Butler in The Bikeriders, a drama about Chicago motorcycle gangs in the 1960s, three competing animated sequels for the school holidays, and Eddie Murphy's fourth outing as Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.
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Eddie Murphy returns as the Detroit detective getting into and out of trouble in the posh part of Los Angeles, reviewed by Dan Slevin.
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Dan Slevin watches three competing animated sequels - Despicable Me 4, Inside Out 2 and 200% Wolf.
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Dan Slevin reviews Jeff Nichols' drama about a Chicago motorcycle gang in the 1960s, based on Danny Lyon's famous book of photojournalism.
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International film festival director's picks to watch out for
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Simon Morris talks to the new director of Whānau Mārama, the New Zealand International Film Festival. Paolo Bertolin plucks some highlights from. this year's programme, including Cannes sensation The seed of the sacred fig, tributes to musician Paul Simon and one-time Superman, the late actor Christopher Reeves, and New Zealand classics, new and ol…
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Coup de chance is Woody Allen's 50th movie - and his first entirely in the French language. A chance meeting - a stroke of luck or the worst thing that could happen?
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Simon Morris looks at the conflicting demands of history and a good story. When the truth becomes legend, should you always print the legend?
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Ka whawhai tonu: Struggle without end tells the famous story of Rewi's Last Stand in the Land Wars of the 1860s. Directed by Michael Jonathan, it features Tem Morrison (Aquaman), Cliff Curtis (Avatar), Miriama Smith (Love and monsters) and newcomers Paku Fernandez and Hinerangi Harawira-Nicholas.
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The road to Patagonia is the story of a couple who travel from Alaska to the southernmost tip of Patagonia, and along the way shoot enough footage to make a great love story. Directed, photographed and edited by real-life couple Matty Hannan and Heather Hillier.
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The Watchers is the directorial debut of Ishana Shyamalan, produced by her rather more famous father M Night Shyamalan. In it, a young woman (Dakota Fanning) finds herself trapped in the Irish woods by a mysterious group.
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Mothers' Instinct is a Hitchcock-style suspense thriller produced by its stars Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. (Now streaming on Prime Video)
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The Promised Land is a historical drama set in Denmark in the early 18th century. A retired army captain (Mads Mikkelson) plans to turn a barren heath into successful farmland but makes a powerful enemy in the local magistrate.
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Simon Morris discovers three old-fashioned movies mostly from outside the Hollywood mainstream.
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Under Paris is part shark-thriller, part French cop movie and part Greenie parable - which is why it's getting enthusiastic thumbs-up from unexpected quarters.
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Simon Morris continues to be unimpressed by the so-called "blockbuster season", and finds better - or at least more interesting - stuff on Netflix this week.
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Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the fourth in the buddy-cop franchise starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Does it have the same magic 30 years after the first episode?
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Hit Man, from arthouse darling Richard Linklater, tells the true-ish story of a "fake hitman" working for the New Orleans Police Department.
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Unsung hero is the mostly true story of Australia's Smallbone family, who emigrated to America and ended up spawning two leading Christian music acts - Rebecca St James and pop duo For King and Country. Starring Josh Smallbone as his father David and popular Australian actress Daisy Betts (Last resort) as his mother.…
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The Garfield movie sees the big screen return of the sarcastic, overweight marmalade tabby. Now voiced by Chris Pratt (The Lego movie) with Samuel L Jackson as his long-lost father and Snoop Dogg as a cat.
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Atlas is a new scifi thriller on Netflix, starring Jennifer Lopez as a genius scientist on the hunt for her family robot, whose gone rogue and plans to destroy the Earth. Believe it or not, it went straight to Number One on the streaming service.
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Simon Morris finds it hard to get much sympathy when he complains about the regular mixed bag of movies currently on display at the cinema!
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Furiosa follows the 15 year backstory of the co-star of Mad Max Fury Road. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the girl kidnapped from her idyllic home, and out for vengeance. Once again directed by George Miller, and co-starring Chris Hemsworth as Doctor Dementus.
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Freud's Last Session is a play about a fictitious meeting between the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, and the Christian writer, and later creator of the Narnia books, C S Lewis. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) and Liv Lisa Fies (Berlin Babylon).
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Copa 71 is a documentary of the first, unofficial Women's Football World Cup in Mexico City 1971. Football organisers FIFA did all they could to close it down, and later hush it up. Produced by Venus and Serena Williams.
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Simon Morris wonders why prequels are so much rarer than sequels - and reviews three films, all in their way, backstories of later events.
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The Way, My Way is the film of director Bill Bennett's book about how he walked the 800-kilometre pilgrims' walk - the Camino de Santiago.
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Simon Morris looks at a lucky dip of movies - a family fantasy, an extended home movie travelogue and an optimistic first part of a new horror franchise. IF is about a girl who discovers a world of Imaginary Friends of children who've outgrown them. Can she find them new homes, and can they get her through some personal traumas? Starring Ryan Reyno…
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IF is about a girl who discovers a world of Imaginary Friends of children who've outgrown them. Can she find them new homes, and can they get her through some personal traumas? Starring Ryan Reynolds, Cailey Fleming and a host of celebrity voice talent as the Ifs. Directed by John Krasinski (A quiet place).…
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The Strangers: Chapter 1 is the first part of an extended remake of a 2008 Liv Tyler horror film, directed by the notorious Renny Harlin.
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Simon Morris sympathises with based-on-real-life movies where the real life doesn't quiote fit the music. And he welcomes back a franchise with a lot of New Zealand digital effects.
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Joika is a Polish New Zealand co-production about the only American to join the famed Bolshoi Ballet. Starring Diane Kruger (Inglourious basterds) and Talia Ryder (Never rarely sometimes always), it was written and directed by James Napier Robertson (Dark horse).
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Review: The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
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The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes sees the return of the popular series, many years after the last episode. Starring Owen Teague (It) and Freya Allen (Baghead) but the real stars are the amazing effects from Weta Digital.
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Jackie Stewart tells the story of one of the most popular drivers on the Formula 1 scene. Sir Jackie tells his story from his childhood in Scotland to his superstar status that continues to this day. Directed by Patrick Mark (Fabergé: A life of its own)
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Simon Morris regrets the dearth of the sophisticated blend of romance and comedy - and looks at three films all based, more or less, on love.
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The Moon Is Upside Down is a New Zealand film following three stories of love gone wrong - a mail-order bride, a long-distance Skype affair and a woman wrestling with death.
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The Idea of You imagines what would happen if a 40-year-old gallery owner (Anne Hathaway) fell in love with a 24-year-old singer in a boy band.
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This new biopic of British singer Amy Winehouse is everything you were expecting and less, says Simon Morris.
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Before Dawn is an ambitious, low-budget World War I film made in Western Australia.
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Simon Morris wonders if the star system is over, and audiences are now only interested in the movie itself, not who's in it.
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The Fall Guy is a reboot of an old TV series about stunt men which benefits from three suddenly very hot stars - Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Hannah Waddingham (TV's Ted Lasso) and particularly Ryan Gosling (Barbie).
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Dame Helen Mirren stars as 1970s Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in Golda.
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Italian Film Festival director Paolo Rotondo
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Paolo Rotondo introduces this season of the Italian Film Festival, which includes a biopic of bad-boy painter Caravaggio, the first solo film by tbe legendary Federico Fellini, and last year's box office sensation There's still tomorrow, which trounced both Barbie and Oppenheimer in Italy.
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Simon Morris introduces an all-Italian show - from Luca Guadagnino's Challengers, starring Zendaya, to an overview of this year's Italian Film Festival road show with Festival Director and film-maker, Paolo Rotondo. Challengers sees top star Zendaya (Dune) playing a top tennis star, torn between two competing suitors, Mike Faist (West Side Story) a…
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Challengers sees top star Zendaya (Dune) playing a top tennis star, torn between two competing suitors, Mike Faist (West Side Story) and Josh O'Connor (The Crown). Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name).
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Civil War imagines a future America torn apart by another civil war, and the people who have to cover the story. Written and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina), it stars Kirsten Dunst (Power of the Dog) and Caelee Spaeny (Priscilla).
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In Late Night with The Devil, a 1970s TV host goes for the ultimate shock interview at Halloween. "Absolutely brilliant," says Stephen King. Is he right?
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