RNZ: At The Movies

Dan Slevin reviews three films in local cinemas: In Superman, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn reboots the Man of Steel legend; in Bride Hard, Australian comic Rebel Wilson plays a secret agent bridesmaid saving a wedding from a gang of terrorists; and in the absurdist Canadian comedy, Universal Language, a depressed man returns home to snowy Winnipeg to try and find himself.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Dan Slevin reviews an absurdist Canadian comedy about a depressed man who returns home to snowy Winnipeg to try and find himself.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Dan Slevin reviews an action comedy in which Australian comic Rebel Wilson plays a secret agent bridesmaid saving a wedding from a gang of terrorists.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn reboots the Man of Steel legend, reviewed by Dan Slevin.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris talks to NZ International Film Festival Director Paolo Bersolin about the programme for 2025. After a rocky few years, Bersolin promises this year's selection accentuates the positive. Featuring award winners from around the world, a New Zealand selection saluting Jacinda Ardern, Don McGlashan and Fred Dagg, two Beatle-adjacent movies and a famous chainsaw massacre! Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

F1 – Formula One racing, and movie star's movie star, Brad Pitt... What more could anyone want? Producer Jerry Bruckheimer returns to the scene of his Nineties Tom Cruise hit Days Of Thunder with more of the same. Featuring Javier Bardem (Dune), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin) and newcomer Damson Idris (TV's Snowfall). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Great Lillian Hall sees multi award winning Jessica Lange play a legendary Broadway star suddenly confronted with a possible life and career-changing disability. Features Kathy Bates and Pierce Brosnan, it's directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris looks at three films that reflect a little more effort on the part of their makers – the star-studded Formula One spectacle, F1, a well-scripted tale from Broadway's theatre district, The Great Lillian Hall starring Jessica Lange, and France's hugely successful film version of the classic The Count Of Monte Cristo. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Count Of Monte Cristo tells the story of a man wrongfully convicted, determined to take revenge on those who wronged him. The first French film version of Alexandre Dumas' classic tale for 50 years, it's produced by the same team who made the recent Three Musketeers films.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

28 Years Later sees the return of director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland to the zombie apocalypse they created 23 years ago. Now survivors settle on a small island, leaving the mainland to the rapidly mutating infected. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and newcomer Alfie Williams as the 12-year-old hero Spike.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Elio is the latest from Pixar Films – the story of a lonely, space-obsessed boy who dreams of being abducted by aliens. With an original story by Adrian Molina (Coco), Elio features the voices of Zoe Saldaña (Avatar), Brad Garrett (Ratatouille) and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones).Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Merchant Ivory tells the story of one of the longest ever movie-making partnerships, between Indian producer Ismail Merchant, American director James Ivory – and German-Jewish born writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Featuring interviews with Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham-Carter, Vanessa Redgrave and many others. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris takes a look at an unusually blokey collection of movies this week, including the return of the “infected” in Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later, a documentary about the films of long-time partners, producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory, and Pixar's Elio, about a boy who gets his wish – to be abducted by aliens!Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

How To Train Your Dragon is a remake of the popular animated feature with a difference. The live-action version is written and directed by the maker of the original Dean DeBlois (Lilo and Stitch). Once again starring Gerard Butler as Viking chief Stoick.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

K O is a French Netflix thriller, that sees an MMA fighter accidentally kill an opponent in the ring, then feels obliged to protect his family from dangerous gangsters. Starring actual former MMA star Ciryl Gane. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Materialists sees a successful matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) find herself torn between her heart and her head – between Mr Perfect and the far-from-perfect One That Got Away. Also starring Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, it's written and directed by Celine Song, who made the Oscar nominated Past Lives.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris looks enviously at the French Film Festival highlights that he can't see until their general release. While he waits he checks out the “re-imagining” of the recent How To Train Your Dragon, the French John Wick, K O on Netflix, and a superior romance from the director of Past Lives. It's called Materialists. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris regrets the passing of the old-fashioned film star, and reviews two movies featuring one-time “stars of tomorrow” – Ana de Armas in Ballerina, and Prime Video's The Assessment, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Alicia Vikander. And from Wales, an indie film with no stars to speak of, Chuck Chuck Baby.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Chuck Chuck Baby sees a woman in the production line of a chicken farm of the same name, suddenly confronted by her school crush. A winner at last year's Welsh Baftas, it features a string of director Janis Pugh's favourite songs.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Assessment finds a couple in a dystopian future trying to get permission to have a baby. But first they need to pass an assessment. Stars Elizabeth Olsen (WandaVision), Himesh Patel (Yesterday) and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina). Streaming on Prime Video.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Ballerina – now prefaced "From the world of John Wick" – sees a new face at the Continental Hotel for assassins. A young dancer seeks revenge for the death of her father. Joining John Wick regulars Keanu Reeves and Ian McShane is Ana de Armas (Knives out), Anjelica Huston (The Witches) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Phoenician Scheme opens on the fabulously wealthy Zsa Zsa Korda setting out to make even more money, with the help of his daughter, a novice nun, and a Swedish tutor called Bjorn. Directed by Wes Anderson, it stars Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Scarlett Johanssen, Willem Dafoe, Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Ayoade, Tom Hanks and Bill Murray as God. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris finds himself confused by flashbacks, dream sequences – and Wes Anderson's convoluted story structures. He sets out through the thickets of The Phoenician Scheme, Bring Her Back and New Zealand road-movie Kōkā. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Kōkā sees an ailing Māori matriarch and an angry delinquent form an unlikely team as they take a journey away from past traumas towards healing and reconciliation. A first feature by writer-director Kath Akuhata-Brown. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Bring Her Back is a stylish Australian horror, in which two teen siblings are fostered by a woman who turns out to have her own issues. Can partially-sighted Piper get through an unexpected ordeal? Starring Sally Hawkins (The Shape Of Water), it's directed by brothers Danny and Michael Philippu (Talk To Me).Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Lilo and Stitch – the latest in a string of Disney animated films remade in live action. Lilo is a lonely Hawaiian 6 year old who wishes for a best friend and gets Stitch an anarchic alien who lives for trouble. Look out for cameo appearances from the stars of the original animated version. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Tarrac is an Irish-language feelgood tale of an amateur team of women rowers who enter the semis in County Kerry. Can they beat the 20 year jinx? And will they pronounce the name of the sport? It's naomhóg rowing, by the way… Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris looks at three different films with one thing in common. They all feature “chosen families” - an Irish rowing team in Tarrac… an extended family of sisters, neighbours and a mischievous alien in Lilo and Stitch… and Bob Trevino Likes It – where a lonely young woman is let down by her real father and finds a better one online. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Bob Trevino Likes It, sees Lily Trevino saddled with this year's worst father, Bob. Let down once again, she searches the internet for another, better Bob Trevino – and finds one. Based, astonishingly, on a true event in writer-director Tracie Lymon's life. Stars John Leguizamo (John Wick) and Barbie Ferreira.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Salt Path is the story of real-life couple Raynor and Moth Winn who set out to walk the gruelling track around Devon and Cornwall after they lose everything in a bad investment. Based on Raynor's best-selling book, it stars Jason Isaacs (the last series of White Lotus) and Gillian Anderson (Sex Education). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

La Cocina is one day in the life of popular restaurant The Grill. Although it's set in New York, it's based on a 1961 English play and it's written and directed by Mexican Alonso Ruizpalacios. Stars Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning seems to imply this is Tom Cruise's last hurrah in the franchise. Though never say “final”. This features old hands Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg, newer hands Hayley Atwell and Pom Klementieff and very old hand Rolf Saxon, last seen in the very first Mission Impossible. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris tests the two methods of movie financing – betting a few dollars on small films like Mexican art-film La Cocina and English real-life memoir The Salt Path… or taking a huge plunge on a blockbuster like Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Wedding Banquet is a remake of the 1993 crowd-pleaser, written and directed by Ang Lee. This one stars Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live), Kelly Marie Tran (Star Wars), Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) and Joan Chen (Twin Peaks).Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Lies We Tell tells the story of an heiress whose shady uncle plans to get hold of her fortune by forcing her to marry his son. It was a big winner at the Irish Film Awards, including best actress for star Agnes O'Casey (Small Things Like These).Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Fergus Grady, Director of the French Film Festival Aotearoa, previews this year's programme – a star-studded affair featuring Sarah Bernhardt, Charles Aznavour, Marie Antoinette, the Count of Monte Cristo, Laure Calamy, two films about art thieves and the story behind Ravel's “Bolero”!Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris checks out two films based on well-known material - just not well-known by him! Irish film Lies We Tell is a 19th century thriller, The Wedding Banquet is a remake of one of Ang Lee's first films. He also previews the upcoming French Film Festival Aotearoa. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The Accountant 2 sees the return of Ben Affleck as the eccentric, former criminal accountant who sets out to avenge the murder of his best friend. Also stars Jon Bernthal (The Amateur) and Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power). Directed by Gavin O'Connor (Mare of Easttown). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua (Two Worlds) is a documentary about the Kiwi alt-country star and his journey to make his first album entirely in te reo. Spoiler alert: that album went on to top the New Zealand charts first week out. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Thunderbolts* are the B-Team you summon when Marvel superstars The Avengers are unavailable. Ironically, or not, it's proving a big hit after a few Marvel misfires. Starring Florence Pugh (Oppenheimer), Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Seinfeld). Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris has one of those weeks where you need to do your own research. Looking up the minor villains that make up Thunderbolts*…. Brushing up his knowledge of Kiwi household name Marlon Williams…. And struggling to remember an eight-year-old thriller about an autistic accountant. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Simon Morris goes off the beaten track this week, including two features found on streaming services – Netflix's Havoc and Prime Video's My Old Ass. He also finds a surprising number of self-funded New Zealand movies this month, including romantic comedy The People We Love. He talks to director Mike Smith about the pros and cons of independence.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details