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!

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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).

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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.

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Dan Slevin reviews four new films in cinemas: Emilia Pérez is a musical about Mexican cartel boss who goes through gender reassignment; Flow is an animated film from Latvia about a cat and his animal friends escaping a catastrophic flood; Dragonkeeper is an animated Chinese-Spanish co-production with the voices of Bill Nighy and Bill Bailey, and Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. reunite for the sequel to Den of Thieves, Pantera.

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Golden Globe winning musical about a Mexican drug cartel boss who undergoes gender reassignment treatment, reviewed by Dan Slevin.

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An animated Spanish-Chinese co-production featuring the voices of Bill Nighy and Bill Bailey, about a young girl who goes on a journey to hatch a dragon egg and save the species from extinction. Dan Slevin reviews.

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In Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film, Tilda Swinton plays a dying woman who asks a final favour from a friend (played by Julianne Moore). Dan Slevin reviews.

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Dan Slevin reviews the Robert Eggers’ remake of the 1922 vampire classic, which features Bill Skarsgård as the monstrous Count Orlok and Lily-Rose Depp as the object of his affections.

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The Pope has died and 118 cardinals must gather to elect a new leader of the Catholic Church. Mystery, intrigue and politics abound and it's up to the Cardinal-Dean (Ralph Fiennes) to lead the process and find the best man for the job.

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94-year-old Clint Eastwood directs a courtroom drama about a man on a jury who discovers he may have an intimate involvement in the death of the murder victim. Dan Slevin reviews.

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Dan Slevin reviews three new films in cinemas and one on digital: in Conclave, Ralph Fiennes and 117 other cardinals attempt to elect a new Pope; Robert Eggers remakes the 1922 horror classic Nosferatu; Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore team up for Pedro Almodóvar’s first film in English, The Room Next Door and 94-year-old Clint Eastwood has made a courtroom drama called Juror #2.

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Dan Slevin reviews the winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2024, an Indian drama about three women navigating love and friendship in modern Mumbai.

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Dan Slevin reviews three new films in cinemas: Paddington in Peru sees our favourite refugee bear visiting his Aunt Lucy at the Home for Retired Bears and stumbling across a mystery; in All We Imagine as Light, three women in modern-day Mumbai navigate challenges of love and friendship; and in A Real Pain, Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg are estranged cousins taking a Holocaust tour around Poland to honour their beloved grandmother.

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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.

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Estranged cousins, played by writer-director Jesse Eisenberg and Succession’s Kieran Culkin, travel to Poland to honour their beloved grandmother by taking a Holocaust tour. Dan Slevin reviews.

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The third film in the popular franchise sees the most famous refugee bear in the world finally get a UK passport so he can visit his beloved Aunt Lucy at the Home for Retired Bears in Peru. There he stumbles across a mystery that only he (and the Browns) can solve. Dan Slevin is the reviewer.

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The 2024 winner of the Cannes Palme d’Or is a comedy/drama about a Brooklyn lap dancer (Mikey Madison) who is given a shot at new life when the big spending son of a Russian oligarch falls head over heels for her. Reviewed by Dan Slevin.

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Dan Slevin reviews a prequel for the popular Disney musical franchise, directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins and featuring the voices of Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Tiffany Boone.

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Dan Slevin reviews three new films arriving in cinemas for the summer holidays. Mufasa: The Lion King is a prequel about the patriarch Mufasa and how he came to lead the animals of Pride Rock. Anora is a Cannes award winner about a Brooklyn lap dancer given a shot at a new life. And Better Man is a biography of Robbie Williams in which the pop star is portrayed as a performing chimpanzee.

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Biography of Robbie Williams in which the English pop star is portrayed as a performing chimpanzee (digitally created by New Zealand’s Wētā Digital). The film is directed by Michael Gracey (The Great Showman). Dan Slevin reviews.

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Simon Morris looks back on 2024, a year initially damaged by writers’ and actors’ strikes in Hollywood, and still wondering what happened after Barbie and Oppenheimer changed the rules last year. This year was a bumper year for non-American films, for sequels and prequels, for horror films, and for some reason films about 1970s television! It was also a pretty good year for New Zealand films, low budget films and the best films from Pixar and Marvel in years. All this plus the hotly-contested Cate Blanchett They’re In Everything award. No, Cate didn’t make it this year.

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Simon Morris is underwhelmed by what’s on offer before the holiday movie riches. They include The Problem With People, an American/Irish comedy about a family feud; Goodrich, a comedy-drama about blended families in LA, and, raising the level, an Oscar nominated German drama, The Teachers' Lounge.

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The Teachers’ Lounge is a German Oscar-nominated drama about what happens when an investigation into thefts at a school escalates out of control. Starring Leone Benesch (Babylon Berlin).

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The Problem With People follows a dying man’s wish to bring together the American and Irish sides of the family after a century-old dispute. Starring and written by Paul Reiser (TV’s Mad About You), with popular Irishman Colm Meaney (TV’s It’s Always Sunny In Philadephia).

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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.

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Goodrich finds an LA father of 10-year-old twins in trouble when his wife books herself into rehab for a few months. He calls in his daughter from a previous marriage. Can he become the father he never was with her? Starring Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) and Mila Kunis (Bad Moms).

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Taki Rua: Breaking Barriers tells the story of the theatre group that started out as an activist group following the Springbok Tour protests, and ended up creating a new art form. Directed by Whetū Fala, it features Wi Kuki Kaa, Jim Moriarty, Rena Owen, Briar Grace Smith and many more.

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Simon Morris is surprised at how smart the Biggest Film of the Year™ is this year, then goes on to look at three rather smaller films. There’s a local documentary about our first Māori theatre group – Taki Rua Breaking Barriers; a rare horror outing for the usually suave Hugh Grant – Heretic; and the most successful Italian film this century – There’s Still Tomorrow.

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Heretic confronts two young Mormon missionaries with their worst nightmare – a man determined to challenge their beliefs in the worst possible way. Starring, of all people, Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as Mr Reed. Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (A Quiet Place).

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There’s Still Tomorrow is a hugely popular Italian comedy-drama, set in Rome immediately after World War Two. Fascism may be over, but for Italian women their home is still a battleground. Can Delia get out from under the tyranny of her violent husband and take charge of her own life? Starring, written and directed by TV comedy favourite Paola Cortellesi it cleaned up at the Italian Academy Awards.

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Joy tells the story of the development of IVF – the then-notorious “test-tube babies”. Featuring Bill Nighy (Living) and James Norton (TV’s Happy Valley), it stars New Zealand actress Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit) and is produced by New Zealand-born Finola Dwyer (An Education). Streaming on Netflix.

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Blitz follows an 11-year-old boy, trying to rejoin his mother at the height of Hitler’s bombing raids on London. Written and directed by Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave) and starring Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun), Stephen Graham (Snatch) and musician Paul Weller as Grandad. Streaming on Apple Plus.

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Simon Morris dodges the Musical of the Year - Wizard of Oz prequel Wicked - in favour of three smaller (and harder to find) titles. These include Apple Plus’s Blitz, directed by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen, a small indie film starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard called Memory, and the real-life story behind IVF, Netflix’s Joy, starring Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie.

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Memory sees the meeting of two troubled souls, one haunted by bad memories, the other by the loss of them. Starring Jessica Chastain (The Eyes Of Tammy Faye) and Peter Sarsgaard (An Education), it’s written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco (Sundown).

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Simon Morris finds himself getting picky at the end of the year as Christmas movies start to clog up the cinemas. Instead he checks out Ridley Scott’s second blockbuster in a year, Gladiator II; a French film that sees a couple stranded at the bottom of the world – Suddenly; and a New Zealand documentary directed by Warrior Queen Lucy Lawless.

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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.

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Gladiator II sees Paul Mescal take over Russell Crowe’s (unhistoric) leather wrist-straps as Son of Maximus. Directed by the tireless 86-year-old Sir Ridley Scott, it co-stars Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal and from the first movie, Connie Nielsen.

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Suddenly sees two married adventurers sail round the world, but come adrift when they’re stranded on an Antarctic island when their boat is swept away in a storm. Written and directed by the award-winning Thomas Bidegain (A prophet) it stars Mélanie Thierry (Da 5 Bloods) and Gilles Lellouche (Farewell Mr Haffman).

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Never Look Away is the story of one of CNN’s first war camerawomen, Margaret Moth. Reckless, courageous and dedicated, the New Zealander’s story is almost as exciting as the events she covered. Directed by actress turned director Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess)

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Jason Reitman’s comedy focuses on the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the debut of the famous television variety show Saturday Night Live. Dan Slevin reviews.

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Dan Slevin reviews a documentary about the legendary screen composer, John Williams, and his seven decade career in Hollywood.

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Dan Slevin reviews Music by John Williams, a Disney+ documentary about the legendary film composer; Australian animated tragicomedy, Memoir of a Snail, and Saturday Night, a comedy about the birth of the entertainment juggernaut, Saturday Night Live.

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Oscar-winning Australian animator Adam Elliot’s latest feature is a tragicomedy about twins separated after the death of their father and their eventual recovery. Reviewed by Dan Slevin.

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On At the Movies, Dan Slevin reviews three films in which change can be welcome or unwelcome but inevitable all the same. In Head South, a Christchurch teenager discovers New Wave music and a way forward to the rest of his life. Here is a simultaneously experimental and sentimental film about the multiple generations of people who pass through a simple suburban Pennsylvania living room. And in A Different Man, a New York actor with a facial disfigurement is offered a miracle cure – but will it make him happy?

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Sebastian Stan stars as a struggling New York actor with a face deformed by rapidly growing tumours caused by neurofibromatosis. He is offered a miracle ‘cure’ but will the transformation make him happy? The film also stars Adam Pearson, an actor who has the same condition. Dan Slevin reviews.

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An experimental and sentimental drama shot from a single point-of-view in a single location but presenting people and events over many decades. The stars, screenwriter and director of Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Eric Roth and Robert Zemeckis) are reunited (and Dan Slevin reviews it).

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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.

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Dan Slevin reviews Jonathan Ogilvie’s autobiographical portrait of the Christchurch New Wave music scene in 1979. Ed Oxenbould plays schoolboy Angus, discovering the underground music scene and a community of his own.

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The Critic features Sir Ian McKellen as a much-feared theatre critic who’ll do anything to keep his job, no matter who gets hurt. Also starring Gemma Arterton (Byzantium), Mark Strong (Kingsman) and Lesley Manville (Mrs Harris Goes To Paris).

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Lee is the story of one of the great World War Two photographers, Lee Miller, and why she slipped into obscurity when the war was over. Starring – and produced by – Kate Winslet, with Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg and Alexander Skarsgård.

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