Explore every episode of the podcast At The Movies
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Festival of Hope | 09 juil. 2025 | 00:23:09 | |
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! | |||
| Review - F1 | 02 juil. 2025 | 00:06:45 | |
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). | |||
| Review - The Great Lillian Hall | 02 juil. 2025 | 00:04:40 | |
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. | |||
| Prestige Pictures | 02 juil. 2025 | 00:22:53 | |
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. | |||
| Review - The Count Of Monte Cristo | 02 juil. 2025 | 00:06:22 | |
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. | |||
| Review - 28 Years Later | 25 juin 2025 | 00:06:54 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Elio | 25 juin 2025 | 00:06:16 | |
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). | |||
| Review - Merchant Ivory | 25 juin 2025 | 00:05:33 | |
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. | |||
| Full Show: What do men want? | 25 juin 2025 | 00:22:21 | |
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! | |||
| Review - How To Train Your Dragon | 18 juin 2025 | 00:07:01 | |
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. | |||
| Review - K O | 18 juin 2025 | 00:04:55 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Materialists | 18 juin 2025 | 00:06:21 | |
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. | |||
| FULL SHOW: Festival Blues | 18 juin 2025 | 00:22:34 | |
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. | |||
| Wishing On A Star | 11 juin 2025 | 00:22:47 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Chuck Chuck Baby | 11 juin 2025 | 00:04:49 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Ballerina | 11 juin 2025 | 00:07:00 | |
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). | |||
| Review - The Assessment | 11 juin 2025 | 00:05:30 | |
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. | |||
| Full SHOW: Where Are We? | 04 juin 2025 | 00:22:48 | |
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. | |||
| Review - The Phoenician Scheme | 04 juin 2025 | 00:06:19 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Kōkā | 04 juin 2025 | 00:05:50 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Bring Her Back | 04 juin 2025 | 00:05:33 | |
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). | |||
| Review - Lilo and Stitch | 28 mai 2025 | 00:06:55 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Tarrac | 28 mai 2025 | 00:05:22 | |
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… | |||
| Family Values | 28 mai 2025 | 00:22:57 | |
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. | |||
| Review - Bob Trevino Likes It | 28 mai 2025 | 00:06:07 | |
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. | |||
| Review - The Salt Path | 21 mai 2025 | 00:05:37 | |
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). | |||
| Review - La Cocina | 21 mai 2025 | 00:06:23 | |
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). | |||
| Review - Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning | 21 mai 2025 | 00:06:40 | |
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. | |||
| FULL SHOW: Place Your Bets | 21 mai 2025 | 00:22:59 | |
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. | |||
| Review: The Wedding Banquet | 14 mai 2025 | 00:04:36 | |
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). | |||
| Review: Lies We Tell | 14 mai 2025 | 00:04:13 | |
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). | |||
| FULL SHOW: I've heard of it | 14 mai 2025 | 00:22:34 | |
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. | |||
| French Film Festival Aotearoa | 14 mai 2025 | 00:10:19 | |
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”! | |||
| Review: The Accountant 2 | 07 mai 2025 | 00:06:19 | |
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). | |||
| Review: Thunderbolts* | 07 mai 2025 | 00:06:35 | |
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). | |||
| FULL SHOW: Homework | 07 mai 2025 | 00:23:05 | |
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. | |||
| Review: Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua (Two Worlds) | 07 mai 2025 | 00:06:10 | |
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. | |||
| FULL SHOW: Off the Beaten Track | 30 avr. 2025 | 00:23:11 | |
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. | |||
| Interview: The People We Love director Mike Smith | 30 avr. 2025 | 00:15:34 | |
Independent film The People We Love is that very rare thing, a Kiwi romance. Writer-director Mike Smith (TV’s My Life Is Murder and Siege) wonders we’re so reluctant to make such a popular genre, and how to negotiate the perils of the indie film-maker. The People We Love stars Neill Rea (Brokenwood Mysteries) and Alison Bruce (Tinā). | |||
| Review: My Old Ass/Havoc | 30 avr. 2025 | 00:07:07 | |
Prime Video’s My Old Ass and Netflix’s Havoc have one thing in common – neither was exactly what their trailers promised. The first promises more of TV favourite Aubrey Plaza (White Lotus) than it delivers, while the latter offers rather more Tom Hardy (Venom) than anyone asked for. | |||
| FULL SHOW: The horror, the horror | 23 avr. 2025 | 00:24:29 | |
Dan Slevin reviews three new films in local cinemas: In Sinners, Black Panther director Ryan Coogler tells a Southern Gothic horror story with Michael B. Jordan playing identical twins; in Warfare, Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza collaborate on what’s been described as the most authentic modern war film ever, and in Small Things Like These, Cillian Murphy plays a family man troubled by the secrets being kept by his community. | |||
| Review: Small Things Like These | 23 avr. 2025 | 00:05:49 | |
Dan Slevin reviews an adaptation of Claire Keegan's 2021 novella about an Irish family man prompted to confront his community about the secrets that they have been keeping (starring Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy). | |||
| Review: Warfare | 23 avr. 2025 | 00:06:42 | |
Civil War director Alex Garland collaborates with that film’s military advisor – and real-life Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza on the story of a platoon of Navy SEALS having a bad day in Ramadi. | |||
| Review: Sinners | 23 avr. 2025 | 00:08:26 | |
Ryan Coogler writes and directs a Southern Gothic horror film featuring gangsters, vampires and the Klan, reviewed by Dan Slevin. | |||
| Review: The Correspondent | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:05:46 | |
The Correspondent tells the true story of Australian journalist Peter Greste, covering a military coup in Egypt for Al Jazeera. His arrest on trumped-up charges became a worldwide scandal. Directed by Kriv Stenders (In the wake of Captain Cook with Sam Neill), it stars Richard Roxburgh (Rake). | |||
| Review: The Penguin Lessons | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:05:57 | |
The Penguin Lessons is based on an unlikely true story of an English teacher in Argentina who finds himself stuck with a penguin at the height of a military coup. Written by Jeff Pope (Philomena) it stars Steve Coogan. | |||
| FULL SHOW: Comfort Zones | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:22:51 | |
Simon Morris occasionally finds himself out of his comfort zone - but not this week. Three films right up his alley – a true story of a journalist arrested for doing his job, The Correspondent… a straight, old-fashioned thriller, The Amateur… and The Penguin Lessons, a blend of Steve Coogan, a military coup in Argentina and a penguin. | |||
| Review: The Amateur | 16 avr. 2025 | 00:06:10 | |
The Amateur sees a back-room boffin in the CIA turn himself into an avenging killer when terrorists kill his wife. Starring Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix), it’s directed by James Hawes (TV’s Slow Horses). | |||
| Review: Death of a Unicorn | 09 avr. 2025 | 00:06:19 | |
The death of a Unicorn sees a father and daughter (Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega) hit a mysterious entity on the way to a weekend with an unscrupulous pharmaceutical family. An entity with the ability to heal any disease. What can go wrong – particularly when the unicorn summons assistance? | |||
| Review: Queer | 09 avr. 2025 | 00:06:09 | |
Queer sees Daniel Craig (No time to die) shake off Double Oh Seven in an adaptation of a book by William S Burroughs (Naked Lunch) about an American writer hiding out in Fifties Mexico who falls in love. Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers). | |||