Tom’s reVIEW

Movie title: Tótem (dir. Lila Avilés)

Movie description: Finally returning to Aotearoa after a bow at Whānau Mārama NZIFF, courtesy of Rialto Channel, Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés transcendent portrait of coming of age amidst grief is one of the essential films of the 2020s. It marks the arrival of a major new addition to the roster of major Mexican auteurs alongside Del Toro, Iñarritu and Cuarón.

Date published: January 16, 2025

Country: Mexico, France, Denmark

Author: Lila Avilés

Director(s): Lila Avilés

Actor(s): Naíma Sentíes, Montserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasé

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: The Best Films of 2024

Movie description: Many of the best films of the year were released in methods that deviated from the traditional cinema model, but which resisted the suffocating drabness of the established streaming model. The cinema world is, as ever, apt to surprise you.

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Movie title: A Different Man (Schimberg, 2024)

Movie description: A picture quite unlike any other to come out of the United States this year, Adam Schimberg’s remarkable Faustian fable is unsettling, tragic and farcical in equal measure. Driven by Sebastian Stan’s remarkable lead performance, it announces the arrival of a major artist of current New York cinema.

Date published: October 24, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Aaron Schimberg

Director(s): Aaron Schimberg

Actor(s): Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, Renate Reinsve, Patrick Wang

Genre: Comedy, Thriller, Drama

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Movie title: Passenger (Buchan, 2024)

Movie description: The latest buzzed-about international series to drop on Rialto Channel is this British mystery thriller, an across-the-pond fusion of Stranger Things and Noah Hawley’s Fargo series. Though Andrew Buchan (taking a turn in the writer’s chair, though he’s most well known as Broadchurch’s big bad) wears his televisual influences on his sleeve, Passenger retains a unique flavour of its own.

Date published: September 12, 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Author: Andrew Buchan

Director(s): Andrew Buchan

Actor(s): Wunmi Mosaku, David Threlfall, Rowan Robinson

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

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Movie title: The Watchers (I. Night Shyamalan, 2024)

Movie description: Daughter of M. Night Shyamalan, Ishana, makes her feature debut with this moody folkloric horror, stranding four strangers in a mysterious, seemingly inescapable forest full of monsters. Shyamalan has inherited much of her father’s directorial prowess - unfortunately, she also inherits some of his films’ less appreciable aspects too.

Date published: June 13, 2024

Country: United States, Ireland

Author: Ishana Shyamalan, A.M. Shine

Director(s): Ishana Shyamalan

Actor(s): Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouéré

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Mystery

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Movie title: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Burton, 2024)

Movie description: Auteur Tim Burton attempts a late-career comeback after a string of failures with this return to one of his most beloved properties, 1988’s Beetlejuice, reuniting many of the key cast from the original. Burton showcases a more lively approach than much of his recent work, and there’s fun to be had, but a messy script and a nagging sense of wheel-spinning let the side down.

Date published: September 5, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Seth Grahame-Smith

Director(s): Tim Burton

Actor(s): Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe

Genre: Dark Comedy, Dark Fantasy, Supernatural Horror

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Movie title: May December (Haynes, 2023)

Movie description: In June, Rialto Channel will be playing host to a handful of the very best films of 2023. One of these, the supreme, scalpel-sharp melodrama May December, from master auteur Todd Haynes (Carol, Far From Heaven), may very well be last year’s greatest film.

Date published: May 31, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik

Director(s): Todd Haynes

Actor(s): Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Infiniti (Poiraud, 2024)

Movie description: Screening exclusively on Rialto Channel in June, this French/Kazakhstani limited science fiction series is a thrillingly peculiar and unsettling blend of noirish mystery and chilly futuristic parable. Making great use of the desolate Kazakhstan landscape and a strong ensemble cast, it’s a muscular, mature and deeply intriguing mystery not to be missed.

Date published: May 13, 2024

Country: France

Author: Stéphane Pannetier, Julien Vanlerenberghe

Director(s): Thierry Poiraud

Actor(s): Céline Sallette, Daniyar Alshinov, Vlad Ivanov

Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller

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Movie title: Monolith (Vesely, 2024)

Movie description: This month, Rialto Channel will be providing the thrills and chills for your Friday night in with ‘Friday Night Frights: Indie Horrors’, a series of excellent, inventive modern horrors from the fringes of the cinema world. Up first, this hair-raising, sci-fi-inflected paranoiac nightmare, grounded by a stunning performance from Evil Dead Rise’s Lily Sullivan.

Date published: May 2, 2024

Country: Australia

Author: Lucy Campbell

Director(s): Matt Vesely

Actor(s): Lily Sullivan, Ling Cooper Tang, Ansuya Nathan

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-fi

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Movie title: Challengers (Guadagnino, 2024)

Movie description: Bolstered by three superb lead performances, Luca Guadagnino’s sweat-soaked tennis drama is his finest work since Call Me By Your Name. Thrillingly directed and cleverly structured, it’s an exhilarating reminder of the value of mature, mid-budget studio filmmaking.

Date published: April 19, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Justin Kuritzke

Director(s): Luca Guadanigno

Actor(s): Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O'Connor

Genre: Sport, Romance

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Movie title: Rio Connection (Lima, 2023)

Movie description: Screening in its entirety on Rialto Channel, the Brazilian crime series Rio Connection is a refreshing entry into the seedy underworld crime series canon whose door was opened by the likes of Narcos and Breaking Bad. Appealingly fleet and mischievous, the series packs a lot of bang for buck with appealing performances and sophisticated 70s period detail.

Date published: April 4, 2024

Country: Brazil

Author: Mauro Lima

Director(s): Mauro Lima, Thiago Teitelroit, Toni Vanzolini

Actor(s): Valerio Morigi, Aksel Ustun, Raphael Kahn

Genre: Crime, Drama

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Movie title: Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (Kenan, 2024)

Movie description: Following on from the especially dire franchise reboot Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the latest foray for the iconic series is this unnecessary if generally watchable sequel, which manages to be a marginal improvement on its predecessor while still not making much of a case for itself. Director Gil Kenan pushes the franchise even further into harmless family-fare territory, an odd concession to commercial pressures that never quite gels.

Date published: March 21, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman, Ivan Reitman

Director(s): Gil Kenan

Actor(s): Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Patton Oswalt, Kumail Nanjiani, Bill Murray

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

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Movie title: How to Have Sex (Manning-Walker, 2023)

Movie description: Winner of last year’s Un Certain Regard Festival Prize, along with three BAFTAS, Molly Manning-Walker’s assured and authentic debut walks a fine line between arthouse cinema and strident didacticism - a line it mostly succeeds at following. Anchored by a striking performance from Mia McKenna Bruce, it’s both a squirm-inducing depiction of hazy youthful abandon and a teachable moment for younger audiences.

Date published: March 7, 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Author: Molly Manning Walker

Director(s): Molly Manning Walker

Actor(s): Anna Antoniades, Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Drive-Away Dolls (Coen, 2024)

Movie description: For his first solo effort sans brother Joel, the great filmmaker Ethan Coen directs this deliriously wacky oddity, a film that hearkens back to the Seventies exploitation films of Russ Meyer and John Waters. Part crime caper, part soft-hearted romance, part devilish sex comedy, the film is too muddled and haphazard to endorse outright, yet too idiosyncratic, exuberantly queer and endearingly lewd to dismiss.

Date published: February 22, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke

Director(s): Ethan Coen

Actor(s): Margaret Qualley, Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo

Genre: Action, Comedy, Thriller

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Movie title: Rialto Channel Pride Month

Movie description: For Pride Month 2024, Rialto Channel has assembled a vital and eclectic collection of some of the best and most significant queer cinema offerings of the last few years, from here, Australia and abroad. Together, they offer a picture of a community embracing the liberation of being your true self, while also confronting the scars of the past and the prejudices that remain prevalent.

Date published: February 9, 2024

Country: New Zealand

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Movie title: Perfect Days (Wenders, 2024)

Movie description: Wim Wenders is responsible for some of the most important works of the late 20th Century in Paris Texas, Wings of Desire and Alice in the Cities. The visionary German filmmaker has earned the right to coast, which makes his patient and kind-hearted Perfect Days all the more special for its late-period artistic rigour.

Date published: January 25, 2024

Country: Japan, Germany

Author: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders

Director(s): Wim Wenders

Actor(s): Koji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Monsieur Spade (Frank, Fontana, 2024)

Movie description: Starting off the new year with a bang, The Queen’s Gambit creator Scott Frank’s update of legendary gumshoe Sam Spade, a role made iconic by Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon, breaks new ground while delivering a reliably thrilling, muscular neo-noir befitting such a character. Featuring a memorable turn from Clive Owen as an older, more world-weary iteration of the detective, it’s a modern update that more than makes a case for itself.

Date published: January 12, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Scott Frank, Tom Fontana

Director(s): Scott Frank

Actor(s): Clive Owen

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

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Movie title: The Best of 2023

Movie description: The year that was confidently displayed the many contradictions of cinema in the modern era. It was a time of original stories breaking box office - and creative - boundaries; but also a time of sameness and homogenisation sweeping through our multiplexes and streaming services. Above all, 2023 made it clear that the cinema is still a commercial, ideological, technological battleground, a status that is unlikely to change any time soon. Here are the boldest, the most memorable, and finest pictures of 2023.

Date published: December 14, 2023

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Movie title: Steeltown Murders (dir. Marc Evans)

Movie description: Screening for the first time in New Zealand on Rialto Channel this month, this under-the-radar Welsh crime series is a sobering, fascinating plummet into the real-life, thirty-year hunt for a serial killer. Atmospheric and fascinating, this four-part series offers a glimpse into historical police corruption that benefits from a well executed time-hopping structure.

Date published: November 30, 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Author: Ed Whitmore

Director(s): Marc Evans,

Actor(s): Phillip Glenister, Steffan Rhodri, Keith Allan

Genre: Crime, Drama, History

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Movie title: Saltburn (dir. Emerald Fennell)

Movie description: One-time Killing Eve writer Emerald Fennell follows up her Oscar-winning debut feature Promising Young Woman with this handsomely mounted but hollow story of class obsession that doesn’t so much live in The Talented Mr Ripley’s shadow as attempt to recreate it wholesale. As with many stories from the über-wealthy that aim to ‘eat the rich’, Saltburn packs a lot of bark but tragically little bite.

Date published: November 16, 2023

Country: United Kingdom

Author: Emerald Fennell

Director(s): Emerald Fennell

Actor(s): Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike,

Genre: Drama, Thriller, Comedy

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Movie title: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (dir. Laura Poitras)

Movie description: One of very few documentaries to ever be awarded the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Citizenfour and Risk documentarian Laura Poitras’ biographical retelling of the life of extraordinary photographer and activist Nan Goldin may be her finest ever work. Weaving together Goldin’s astonishing imagery with her outspoken protests against über-rich Oxycontin peddlers the Sackler family, it is a startlingly relevant exploration of the limitations – and potentialities – of art under capitalism.

Date published: November 2, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Laura Poitras

Director(s): Laura Poitras

Actor(s): Nan Goldin, David Velasco, Megan Kapler

Genre: Documentary

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Movie title: Killers Of The Flower Moon (Scorsese, 2023)

Movie description: Remarkable on every conceivable level, the latest sweeping epic from the greatest living filmmaker is a haunting, intricate masterwork quite unlike anything else in his unparalleled career. There will surely be no better film made this year – to see it in cinemas is a must.

Date published: October 19, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese, David Grann

Director(s): Martin Scorsese

Actor(s): Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow

Genre: Crime, Drama, History

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Movie title: Streaming Roundup Reptile (Singer, 2023) / No One Will Save You (Duffield, 2023) / The Wes Anderson Roald Dahl Shorts (2023)

Movie description: As the cinema world draws its breath to prepare for the plunge into Oscar season, a number of fascinating titles both great and not-so-great are being released with little fanfare to various streaming services. The best of them are good enough that you might question why they’ve been relegated to the black hole of the modern straight-to-DVD strategy.

Date published: October 6, 2023

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Movie title: It Lives Inside (Dutta, 2023)

Movie description: A promising concept and a welcome, fresh cultural perspective on the possession horror genre aren’t enough to save It Lives Inside from rote storytelling and half-baked scares. The debut from Bishal Dutta has its charms, but falls short of the potential this sort of story innately holds within.

Date published: September 25, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Bishal Dutta

Director(s): Bishal Dutta

Actor(s): Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan

Genre: Drama, Horror, Thriller

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Movie title: The Night Logan Woke Up (Dolan, 2022)

Movie description: The prolific Quebecois filmmaker Xavier Dolan’s first television series is an unsettling and intricate family drama, one that demonstrates a distinct maturation in the filmmaker’s style. It’s some of his most impressive work in years.

Date published: September 11, 2023

Country: Canada

Author: Xavier Dolan, Michel Marc Bouchard

Director(s): Xavier Dolan

Actor(s): Julie LeBreton, Patrick Hivon, Éric Bruneau, Xavier Dolan

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: A Great Friend (Bésnard, 2023)

Movie description: Middlebrow comfort food to a fault, the latest from French filmmaker Eric Bésnard is sumptuously shot and features warm performances from its two leads, but cuts itself off from any sense of real profundity with its fatal adherence to risk-aversion. Likeable in the moment, forgotten moments later.

Date published: August 24, 2023

Country: France

Author: Éric Besnard

Director(s): Éric Besnard

Actor(s): Lambert Wilson, Grégory Gadebois, Marie Gillain

Genre: Comedy

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Movie title: Asteroid City (Anderson, 2023)

Movie description: In recent years, Wes Anderson’s output has reached new levels of intricacy, his delightfully hand-crafted diorama worlds drawing acclaim from some circles and ire from others. His latest is sure to give plenty of fuel to both camps, but represents one of Anderson’s most fully realised and quietly personal efforts yet.

Date published: August 10, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

Director(s): Wes Anderson

Actor(s): Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

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Movie title: New Zealand International Film Festival - Week One

Movie description: Barbie and Oppenheimer can wait: the New Zealand International Film Festival, now in full swing, offers the best and most enriching cinema experience you can have in Aotearoa right now. A week in, a number of astonishing films have graced the Civic Theatre, with more to come - get in there while you can.

Date published: July 27, 2023

Country: New Zealand

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Movie title: Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One (McQuarrie, 2023)

Movie description: Returning for one last Mission, the first half of star Tom Cruise’s reported swansong for his most beloved series is a wondrous concoction that blends the paranoia and purposefulness of Brian DePalma’s original film with the utter spectacle of later entries. In terms of blockbuster entertainment, nothing else in the modern cinemasphere comes close.

Date published: July 17, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Bruce Geller, Erik Jendresen, Christopher McQuarrie

Director(s): Christopher McQuarrie

Actor(s): Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

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Movie title: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Mangold, 2023)

Movie description: Purportedly the last outing for Harrison Ford’s iconic treasure hunter, the fifth in the Indiana Jones series is also the first not to be directed by Steven Spielberg. What results is an enjoyable, even moving adventure - though one can’t help but miss the extra magic it might have had in the hands of a master.

Date published: June 30, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp

Director(s): James Mangold

Actor(s): Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Genre: Action, Adventure

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Movie title: The Flash (Muschietti, 2023)

Movie description: Billed as a kind of intermediary between the tortured current onscreen iteration of the DC Universe and the new, James Gunn-led vision to come, IT director Andy Muschietti’s long-fomenting The Flash finally arrives on-screen on a wave of toxic press. As it trods from promising beginnings to a befuddled climax, the film comes to evoke our current, deeply compromised cinema landscape in general.

Date published: June 15, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Christina Hodson, Joby Harold

Director(s): Andy Muschietti

Actor(s): Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon

Genre: Action, Adventure,

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Movie title: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse (Dos Santos, Thompson, Powers, 2023)

Movie description: The sequel to the hit animated superhero flick Into the Spider-verse is an expansion in every way - a grander story, a longer run-time and ever more dazzling arrays of imagery. It’s a visually stunning and frequently thrilling effort, even as it occasionally succumbs to sequel bloat.

Date published: June 1, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dave Callaham

Director(s): Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson

Actor(s): Shameek Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson

Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure

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Movie title: A Good Person (Braff, 2023)

Movie description: The latest from Scrubs actor and Garden State director Zach Braff is this rote but well-meaning story of addiction and redemption. A treacly, cliche-ridden script is ultimately rescued by fiery, flinty performances from Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman, who bring the story to life in the scenes they share together.

Date published: May 18, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Zach Braff

Director(s): Zach Braff

Actor(s): Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Celeste O'Connor

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume Three (Gunn, 2023)

Movie description: Returning for one last ride with the eponymous heroes that he made into household names, director James Gunn pumps the third instalment of the Guardians trilogy with everything the series has been lacking in recent years - personality, colour, stakes and pathos. Easily the best Marvel film in several years, it feels positively nostalgic amidst the waves of slushy piles of content for which the post-Endgame brand has become known.

Date published: May 5, 2023

Country: United States

Author: James Gunn

Director(s): James Gunn

Actor(s): Chris Pratt, Chukwudi Iwuji, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

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Movie title: Beau Is Afraid (Aster, 2023)

Movie description: The third film from the mind behind Hereditary and Midsommar mastermind Ari Aster is a bit of a left turn from the filmmaker - an existential comedy-cum-nightmare where the horrors are anxiety and mummy issues. It’s a tremendously mounted experiment, but one that lacks a beating heart at its core.

Date published: April 21, 2023

Country: Canada

Author: Ari Aster

Director(s): Ari Aster

Actor(s): Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan

Genre: Comedy, Horror, Drama

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Movie title: True Colours (Glynn and McGregor, 2023)

Movie description: This four-part Australian miniseries is a handsome and well-wrought piece of mystery television, one that showcases a wide range of Australian talent and platforms an all-too-rare Indigenous Australian perspective on a large scale. It feels like a vital landmark in Australian storytelling for the screen.

Date published: April 6, 2023

Country: Australia

Author: Danielle MacLean

Director(s): Erica Glynn, Steven McGregor

Actor(s): Rarriwuy Hick, Warren H. Williams, Luke Arnold, Miranda Otto

Genre: Crime

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Movie title: John Wick: Chapter 4 (Stahelski, 2023)

Movie description: The latest instalment in the Keanu Reeves-starring action behemoth is everything you’d expect from a John Wick - balletic gun and knife-play, cartoonish character actors, mind-numbingly extensive world-building, and so on. It’s also, somehow, the best of the lot.

Date published: March 23, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Shay Hatten, Michael Finch, Derek Kolstad

Director(s): Chad Stahelski

Actor(s): Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Donnie Yen

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

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Movie title: Broker (Kore-eda, 2022)

Movie description: The latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda functions as a companion piece to his Palme D’Or winning Shoplifters, another warm and melancholic drama about an unorthodox family of underclass drifters. Thornier and more complex than that earlier film, and featuring a medley of stunning performances, it’s an under-the-radar gem.

Date published: March 9, 2023

Country: South Korean

Author: Kore-eda Hirokazu

Director(s): Kore-eda Hirokazu

Actor(s): Song Kang-ho, Bae Doona, IU

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama

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Movie title: Aftersun (Wells, 2022)

Movie description: At once a celebration of digital memory and an examination of its limitations, Charlotte Wells’ sensational debut is a shattering, deeply moving journey through the director’s own aching reflections of a childhood snapshot, and the father she never truly knew. It is one of the best films you’ll see this year.

Date published: February 23, 2023

Country: United Kingdom, United States

Author: Charlotte Wells

Director(s): Charlotte Wells

Actor(s): Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Soderbergh, 2023)

Movie description: In the third, underwhelming instalment of the fascinating and shape-shifting Magic Mike series, original director Steven Soderbergh finds himself adrift in a muddled, well-intentioned romance that never quite ignites.

Date published: February 9, 2023

Country: United States

Author: Reid Carolin

Director(s): Steven Soderbergh

Actor(s): Channing Tatum, Salma Hayek,

Genre: Comedy, Drama

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Movie title: Rialto Pride Month & Girl Like You (Elliott, Marlowe, 2021)

Movie description: Rialto Channel’s annual Pride Month lineup promises a range of incisive and profound queer stories from fringe and independent cinema scenes. At the centre is Girl Like You, a revealing and commendably complex document of transitioning and the struggles of relationships undergoing major changes.

Date published: January 26, 2023

Country: Australia

Author: Frances Elliott, Samantha Marlowe

Director(s): Frances Elliott, Samantha Marlowe

Actor(s): Lauren Black, Elloise Walsh

Genre: Documentary

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Movie title: Best of 2022

Movie description: There was plenty of great cinema on offer in 2022, in the form of thrilling returns from master filmmakers and astonishing dispatches from new and emerging voices. The question is, did audiences care enough to seek it out?

Date published: December 15, 2022

Country: New Zealand

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Movie title: Christmas/NY Preview

Movie description: Life may be slowing down come Christmas-time across Aotearoa, but it’s a fantastic opportunity to catch up with some tantalising cinematic offerings, with a range of promising major titles of both the blockbuster and prestige variety debuting in cinemas and on streaming.

Date published: December 1, 2022

Country: New Zealand

Author: Tom Augustine

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Movie title: Stars at Noon (Denis, 2022)

Movie description: Winner of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, French auteur Claire Denis’ latest work, one of two to release this year, is a woozy, sweltering erotic thriller set in a purgatorial, pandemic-stricken Nicaragua. An adaptation of the novel by Denis Johnson, it is a wry continuance of Denis’ occasionally frustrating but always beguiling late-period body of work.

Date published: November 17, 2022

Country: France

Author: Claire Denis, Andrew Litvack, Léa Mysius, Denis Johnson (Novel)

Director(s): Claire Denis

Actor(s): Margaret Qualley, Joe Alwyn, Benny Safdie

Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller

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Movie title: Ablaze (Morgan, Onus, 2021)

Movie description: The moving, illuminating centrepiece of Rialto Channel’s forthcoming Film Icons and Pioneers series is this powerful piece of cultural excavation from the family of a forgotten visionary. It marks a milestone in recognising the work of indigenous filmmakers in a still-evolving artform.

Date published: November 3, 2022

Country: Australia

Author: Alec Morgan, Tiriki Onus

Director(s): Alec Morgan, Tiriki Onus

Genre: Documentary

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Movie title: The Stranger (Wright, 2022)

Movie description: The latest in a series of stirring Australian true-crime dramas is this stunner from multi-hyphenate Thomas M. Wright (of Top of the Lake fame), which may be the best example of the form yet. Featuring a simmering, immense performance from Joel Edgerton, it’s releasing on Netflix to little fanfare - but don’t let it pass you by.

Date published: October 20, 2022

Country: Australia

Author: Thomas M. Wright

Director(s): Thomas M. Wright

Actor(s): Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Ewen Leslie

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

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Movie title: Amsterdam (O. Russell, 2022)

Movie description: Boasting a remarkably stacked cast and a vivid postwar setting, David O. Russell’s return to the screen after the underwhelming Joy is an absolute mess. A mishmash of poorly blended tones, thinly drawn characters and a patronising, overwrought plot suggest the controversial filmmaker has seen better days.

Date published: October 6, 2022

Country: U.S.

Author: David O. Russell

Director(s): David O. Russell

Actor(s): Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington

Genre: Drama, Comedy, History

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Movie title: Hit the Road (Panahi, 2022)

Movie description: Melancholic and mysterious, this wonderful Iranian tragicomedy follows in the footsteps of that nation’s cinematic masters, creating something that feels up-to-the-moment and yet timeless in the rich veins of feeling that it mines. It’s a quiet, revelatory must-see.

Date published: September 22, 2022

Country: Iran

Author: Panah Panahi

Director(s): Panah Panahi

Actor(s): Pantea Panahiha, Mohammad Hassan Madjooni

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Filmstream titles incl. Master Cheng (Kaurismaki, 2022)

Movie description: Good cinema is often hidden in plain sight, and easily accessible, beyond the usual streamers whose offerings regularly fall short. A new, free arthouse cinema platform, Filmstream (an offshoot of TVNZ+) includes a range of hidden gems from around the world - the kind of films worth stumbling upon.

Date published: September 8, 2022

Country: NZ

Author: Hannu Oravisto

Director(s): Mika Kaurismäki

Actor(s): Pak Hon Chu, Anna-Maija Tuokko

Genre: Drama, Romance

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Movie title: Beast (Kormákur, 2022)

Movie description: August is usually a rough month both weather-wise and in terms of cinema releases. This month, at least, you can watch Idris Elba get into a fistfight with a murderous lion in the tense, brutally enjoyable survival thriller Beast.

Date published: August 25, 2022

Country: US

Author: Ryan Engle, Jaime Primak Sullivan

Director(s): Baltasar Kormákur

Actor(s): Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley,

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Horror

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Movie title: Nope (Peele, 2022)

Movie description: Spectacular, thrilling and thought-provoking in an equal degree, the third, grandest outing for horror auteur Jordan Peele yet is a stirring sci-fi Western with a lot on its mind. It may be Peele’s finest work yet.

Date published: August 11, 2022

Country: US

Author: Jordan Peele

Director(s): Jordan Peele

Actor(s): Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

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Event Title: NZIFF Preview 2022

Event Description: The New Zealand International Film Festival is finally back on screens across the country, including Auckland, after two pandemic-plagued years. A small but wonderful selection offers exciting cinematic offerings from Aotearoa and across the world.

Start date: July 28, 2022

Location name: New Zealand

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Movie title: Best Sellers (Lina Roessler, 2021)

Movie description: Premieres Saturday 16 July, 8.30pm, Sky's Rialto Channel. Gentle-hearted and disarmingly sweet, the debut feature from Lina Roessler utilises a sterling odd-couple pairing in Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza to create a moving tale of unexpected connection.

Date published: July 15, 2022

Author: Anthony Grieco

Director(s): Lina Roessler

Actor(s): Michael Caine, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Speedman

Genre: Comedy, Drama

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Movie title: Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021)

Movie description: Whether you’re revisiting this sleeper hit of 2021 or just encountering it for the first time, Pig is a powerful, moving examination of the paralysis of grief, a man-on-a-mission tale as American as a Springsteen song that explores the rapidly changing Portland food scene.

Date published: June 30, 2022

Country: US

Author: Vanessa Block, Michael Sarnoski

Director(s): Michael Sarnoski

Actor(s): Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff, Adam Aarkin

Genre: Drama, Mystery

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Movie title: The Traitor (Marco Bellocchio, 2019)

Movie description: It’s a slickly made but unflinchingly brutal beast, easily calling up references to crime classics like The Godfather and Carlos; while its vivid digital photography recalls the fluid action dramas of late-career Michael Mann.....

Date published: June 16, 2022

Country: Italy

Author: Marco Bellocchio, Valia Santella, Ludovica Rampoldi, Francesco Piccolo

Director(s): Marco Bellocchio

Actor(s): Pierfrancesco Favino, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Fabrizio Ferracane

Genre: Crime, Drama, Biography

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Movie title: Hatching (Bergholm, 2022)

Movie description: Finnish filmmaker Hanna Bergholm has crafted a delightfully icky, if somewhat blunt piece of body horror. It’s a startlingly strong case for the ongoing relevance of practical effects.

Date published: June 2, 2022

Country: Finland

Author: Ilja Rautsi

Director(s): Hanna Bergholm, ,

Actor(s): Siiri Solalinna, Sophia Heikkilä, Jani Volanen

Genre: Horror

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Movie title: Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (dir. Christian Gudegast)

Movie description: Six years in the making, the sequel to the Gerard Butler cult action spectacular expands upon the ambition of a film known affectionately by its fans as ‘dirtbag Heat’. Replacing grimy LA streetfights with slick Eurotrash intrigue, it is a film that mostly lives up to the gauntlet thrown down by its predecessor.

Date published: January 9, 2025

Country: United States

Author: Christian Gudegast

Director(s): Christian Gudegast

Actor(s): Gerard Butler, O'Shea Jackson Jr, Evin Ahmad

Genre: action, Drama, Crime

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Movie title: Anora (Baker, 2024) & A Real Pain (Eisenberg, 2024)

Movie description: Boxing Day brings no less than six major new releases to the big screen, including these two awards-season heavy-hitters. Both are accomplished, rich dramas for adults - though they couldn’t be more different from each other - with each representing a distinct maturation in style and appeal from their respective directors.

Date published: December 12, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Sean Baker - Jesse Eisenberg

Director(s): Sean Baker (Anora) - Jesse Eisenberg ( A Real Pain)

Actor(s): Anora: Mikey Madison, Paul Weissman, Lindsey Normington, A Real Pain: Kieran Culkin, Jesse Eisenberg, Olha Bosova

Genre: Anora (Drama, Romance), A Real Pain (Comedy, Drama)

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Movie title: Summer Preview - 2024

Movie description: With the coming of Christmas and the New Year, there’s plenty of gold to be found on the big screen. Here’s your guide on what to watch when beating the summer heat at the multiplex.

Date published: December 5, 2024

Country: New Zealand

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Movie title: Heretic (Beck, Woods, 2024)

Movie description: Hugh Grant continues to expand his repertoire in his recent career resurgence, channelling his devilish charm into sinister roles, notably as the antagonist in this religious (or anti-religious) horror. His performance, alongside the impressive talents of newcomers Chloe East and Sophie Thatcher, elevates an engaging thriller that perhaps overestimates its own intellectual depth.

Date published: November 28, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Director(s): Scott Beck, Bryan Woods

Actor(s): Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East,

Genre: Psychological Horror, Psychological Thriller, Horror, Thriller

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Movie title: Wicked (Chu, 2024)

Movie description: Director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) adapts the smash-hit Oz-set musical for the big screen. Glimmers of the stage musical’s power and magnetism appear here and there, particularly in the performance of Ariana Grande, but are too often buried beneath a blandly digital, overly-busy visual palette and a bloated runtime.

Date published: November 21, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Gregory Maguire

Director(s): Jon M. Chu

Actor(s): Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey

Genre: Romance, Pop Musical, Fantasy, Fairy Tale

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Movie title: Gladiator II (Scott, 2024)

Movie description: Twenty-four years on, Ridley Scott returns to the historical epic that rocked the world at the turn of the Millennium. For better and for worse, Gladiator II is a film eclipsed by that film’s shadow, struggling valiantly but failing to define itself beyond more of the same.

Date published: November 15, 2024

Country: United States, United Kingdom

Author: David Scarpa, Peter Craig, David Franzoni

Director(s): Ridley Scott

Actor(s): Connie Nielsen, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal

Genre: Action, Drama

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Movie title: Saturday Night (Reitman, 2024)

Movie description: As the 50th Anniversary looms, director Jason Reitman dramatises the fraught hours and minutes before the first ever episode of Saturday Night Live went to air in 1975, from the point of view of head honcho Lorne Michaels. Borrowing multitudinously from Birdman, it’s an oddly empty, self-congratulatory effort that skimps on genuine insight on the show, or the man in charge, opting all-too-often for mimicry and nostalgia-baiting instead.

Date published: November 6, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman

Director(s): Jason Reitman

Actor(s): Gabriel LaBelle, Kaia Gerber, Cory Michael Smith, Jon Batiste.

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Biography

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Movie title: Here (Zemeckis, 2024)

Movie description: Billed as the reunion of the director and stars of Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis’ techno-gimmick Here squanders a promising concept and two titanic performers in this treacly, uninspired slice of old-school American cheese. Moments of inspiration clash unbearably with ill-considered and narrow-minded narrative choices, furthering Zemeckis’ current losing streak.

Date published: October 31, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Eric Roth, Robert Zemeckis, Richard McGuire

Director(s): Robert Zemeckis

Actor(s): Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany

Genre: Drama

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Movie title: Last Summer (Breillat, 2023)

Movie description: In her first film in ten years, daring French auteur Catherine Breillat ferociously demolishes wealthy liberal scenes of comfortable domesticity in this exceptional, emotionally brutal erotic drama. Led by an astonishing performance by Léa Drucker, it’s a film whose glassy, clinical surface conceals roiling currents beneath.

Date published: October 17, 2024

Country: France

Author: Catherine Breillat, Pascal Bonitzer, Maren Louise Käehne

Director(s): Catherine Breillat

Actor(s): Léa Drucker, Samuel Kircher, Olivier Rabourdin

Genre: Drama, Thriller

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Movie title: The Apprentice (Abbasi, 2024)

Movie description: Hot off a silencing attempt from the Trump campaign, Holy Spider director Ali Abassi’s profile of the rise of Donald Trump under the mentorship of svengali lawyer Roy Cohn makes for a compelling, if only skin-deep examination of the corrosive effects of capitalism on the soul. Led by two exceptional performances from Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong, it’s a less-accomplished Wolf of Wall Street that nevertheless reminds us of the monstrous capabilities of the one-time President.

Date published: October 10, 2024

Country: United States

Author: Gabriel Sherman

Director(s): Ali Abbasi

Actor(s): Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova

Genre: Docudrama, Political Drama, Biography, Drama

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