In 1969 John Wayne won his only Academy Award for his portrayal of the irascible one-eyed US Marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit, hired by young Kim Darby to avenge the murder of her father. Now the ever-surprising Coen Brothers have brought us their interpretation (back to Charles Portis’ original novel, with evidently no reference […]
I understand that New Zealand is proportionally the biggest market in the world for dance movies – the Step Ups, Stomping the Yards, dance battle films are huge here – so I wonder whether that will hold true for a psychological drama set in the world of classical ballet. Black Swan is Darren Aronofsky’s follow-up […]
It’s that time of year when the serious Oscar contenders start rolling out. The plan is usually to release a film between the Golden Globes (or the Oscar noms) and the Academy Awards night, maximising the attention before your films turn into losers (as most of them will). So, it’s going to be a busy […]
Those of us around the Civic Square or waterfront areas may have noticed a bit of a kerfuffle involving a fleet of Minis hooning where cars aren’t normally allowed. This is, it turns out, part of a Wellington-based shoot for the film “Players”, a cheeky Bollywood remake of the Michael Caine classic “The Italian Job”. […]
This weekend, film fans, you can watch the new animated Yogi Bear movie in two different formats, compare the two and then have an erudite discussion of the related strengths and weaknesses of the new “re-booted franchise” versus the beloved, barely 2D, original. Or, you can watch a drama about female circumcision. Tough call. Dan […]
A New Year brings with it several resolutions and one of those is that I will return to regular contributions here at The Wellingtonista. So, until I collapse under the strain, every Thursday I’ll present a quick rundown of what’s opening at local cinemas. This week Disney offers us an animated 3D “adventure”, Tangled (previously […]
This Friday and Saturday night, film maker Julie Hill (who’s name you may recognise from her work at Radio New Zealand and on Frontseat ) is screening the premiere of her documentary, Baby where are the fine things you promised me? at the Film Archive. The doco follows local actor Stephen Bain and his protest […]
We get to keep The Hobbit. Yay! Everyone has opinions on the matter, because everyone knows someone who’s worked on LOTR (my mum made some of the mugs in the “it comes in pints?” scene in the last movie). We’re stoked for the people who work in our film industry, but less impressed about the […]
NZ On Screen – the brilliant website dedicated to putting New Zealand film, television and music video online – is celebrating its second birthday. So to help celebrate, let us delve into the NZ On Screen archives and see what Wellington gems are to be seen. Monaco Monza Macao Wellington (1990) A TV doco looking […]
It’s Labour Weekend and, as such, you can pretty much guarantee that the weather will be filthy and the movies will be the place to be. So, what is there to choose from?
Nora Ephron made Sleepless in Seattle back in the day (and wrote When Harry Met Sally) and now she has cunningly merged two best-selling books into one film – Julie & Julia. On one hand Julie Powell (Amy Adams) attempts to cook every recipe in Julia Childs’ famous cookbook for a blog project and on the other hand Meryl Streep portrays the real Julia Childs and her transformation from American intelligence agent to one of the great cooks of Europe. Readings, Empire, Penthouse, Embassy (sharing with the Italian Film Festival), Lighthouse, Sky City Queensgate.