Rounding off the year’s entertainment offerings, editor of flicks.co.nz Steve Newall tells Francesca Rudkin 2024 did not have the usual offering of culturally impactful shows and films.
Firing through those that did stand out, Steve says he was more impressed with the range of cinema than small screen selections.
In no particular order...
Series Highlights:
Rivals
The Curse
Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee
Ludwig
The Bear (season 3)
Film Highlights:
Dune (Part 2)
No Other Land
Challengers
Zone of Interest
Long Legs
Love Lies Bleeding
Rebel Ridge
Iron Claw
Plus, what is going on with all the cancelled summer festivals? Steve explains the news of Juicy Fest and Summer Timeless Tour’s cancellations, as well as Laneway’s reversal on admittance for 16 &17 year olds.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talk SEDB. Steve Newell, for editor at Flix
dot Cot on n Z, joins me now to talk entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We were just having a little talk. I was saying
to you know, I've really sort of struggled to pull
together my favorites of the year, mainly because I feel
like I've watched a lot of average stuff both on
the big screen and on TV this year. And you
just sort of said to me, yeah, you know what
I mean. There have been some there's been some great stuff,
but across the board, Yeah, not a stali year, not.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
A heighten maybe not the strongest, and I think possibly
lacking a kind of critical consensus about sort of what
the standout things, what were the cultural, culturally impactful shows
of the year. I mean probably Baby Reindeer was the
last thing that became a critical thing to watch at
that particular time. That feels like so long ago.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now, well that's that's the other thing. So you kind
of need to get your diary out to remember what
you've actually watched and looked at what have been of
your fraid would you like, just start with shows.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He let's started with shows. I was a lot more
impressed with the range of cinema that was on offer
in twenty twenty four, but just blitzing through TV Rivals.
I think this was probably the most pure fun show
of twenty twenty four. Jullie Cooper coming to the small
screen on Disney pluss boardin US, bonking, backstabbing, a bit
(01:30):
of broadcast a.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Currently, that's what the world needed.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
There we go absolutely. It turned out that we needed
another show about extreme white privilege, and Rivals gave it
to us in spades. The Curse sort of The Curse
looked at white privilege in a very different way, much
more sarcastic and sort of singular show. This was Nathan Fielder,
Benny Safti and Emma Stone's show about NEPO Baby White
(01:54):
Savior real estate developers. Pretty weird, pretty specialist, I think
this one. But also for specialists of spelling, Guy Montgomery's
Guymont's Spelling be still still doing a great service here
in New Zealand, also in Australia this year so nominated
for TV Awards in both countries, which is awesome to
see for a guy A couple of others to mention Ludwig,
(02:16):
which I talked about a couple of weeks ago, David
Mitchell's kind of Jonathan Creek like mystery series, which I
found really entertaining. I've described it arrived well, yeah, I
can't take the credit for that. I stole off, mate,
but it arrived just at the time of year when
I needed something easy to watch. I think about maybe four,
four or five weeks ago, and look, I really dug
(02:37):
it season three of The Bear. This is a show
that has kind of thrived on nervousness and anxiety, but
I think audience has got a little bit challenge to
the year with the fact like, oh, maybe it's not
about narrative, Maybe it's not about resolving the story. Maybe
it is just sitting in this tense situation with these characters.
I dug it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
There's TV in movies land, much broader landscape. We just
published the results of our flex right his poll last week.
Twenty writers sent lists and there are one hundred movies
in total, eleven three hundred and two minutes of viewing time,
which makes me feel a bit ill really, And the
(03:19):
results of that, you know, consensus Pole amalgamated out of
a different writers lists. June Part two was in fifth
place West bank Land Confiscation doco No Other Land, and
fourth Luca Guardacino's Tennis Tennis Love Triangle Challenges the number
three film Festival favorite. I Saw the TV Glow polled
(03:42):
second and number one. Still the most impactful movie of
the year the Zone of Interest. Although it's probably not
one to pop on and put your feet up over
the summer break.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
No, if you did not get the chance to see
it, it is absolutely It is one of those films that
everybody must see.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Basically, and that does sound like homework, but it's also
very true. This is Jonathan Glaze's masterpiece film, filmed around
Auschwitz and kind of recounting the psychological weirdness of working, living, laughing,
having lives right next door to mass extermination.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
It's not like love. Actually, you're not going to pull
it out every Christmas, but I do recommend if you
haven't been had the chance to see it, you do
try and track it down.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Is that one like if you want to punish the
extend family.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
But I just think it's a reminder of the power
of the power of cinema to be honest with you.
You know, they did things a little bit differently, you know,
the way the soundtrack and the audio tracks and things
were absent and not there, and as you say, you
sort of sat in this discomfort for so long. I
just think it's a reminder of the power of the
medium of film. And I thought it was so masterfully created.
(04:57):
It was it was really stunnying. Actually, it was a
really good start to the year. It was.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, okay, But I think the other thing was the
zone of interest is just that, like it weaponizes absence
of something like nothing else this year, So you're constantly
aware of the context of what's taking place, even if
the characters are kind of pushing it to the.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What's not shown, which is more horrifying than what is showing.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, And in a way, I'm going to relate that
slightly to Long Legs, the Nicholas Cage starring horror, where
he's on screen for I think a total of seventeen
minutes in this film, but his presence haunts the whole movie.
This is one of the best horror films of twenty four,
kind of built on a silence of the Lambs type
chassis FBI investigating a string FBI agent investigating a string
(05:44):
of murders gets a bit more occult and then sort
of totally creepy at the end. But yeah, Cage's performance
in that as a ratio of screen time to impact
pretty stand out this year. A couple of other I'll
mentioned a couple of fun things to wrap up, because
it does all sound a bit heavy, and you know
a weighty This morning Love Lies Bleeding. It's Kristen Stewart
(06:08):
film from Midiere, like a small town queer noir. So
bodybuilder comes into town, strikes up a relationship with the
manager of a gym who also happens to be the
daughter of a crime family. This is a really entertaining film,
like B movie, knowing it but pushing the boundaries all
the way through. And if I pull out one more
(06:31):
I would say, let's toss up between thriller Rebel Ridge,
which is on Netflix at the moment. Loved this film,
took it for a rewatch a couple of weeks ago,
really really impressed Jeremy Soornier, the filmmaker who made Blue
Ruin and Green Room, tells a tale here of corrupt
small town police department knocking a man of his bike,
confiscating his cash, and then the kind of increasingly absurd
(06:54):
steps he needs to go through to retrieve that money
with a fantastic villainous termed by Don Johnson, as has said,
small town sheriff and maybe it's not fun one, but
wrestling drama the Iron Claw. This was another one from
the start of the air.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
On Everybody this story.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I stuck with me this one, and I think the
initial allure was you're casting all these beefcakes to play
wrestlers like Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White
from the Bear. But there's much more going for it
than just a bunch of stunt cast.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And amazing family drama as well. Yeah, indeed, can I
ask you just really quickly before you go. We've just
had quite a lot of news in the last few
days about music festivals. The Juicy Fest has been canceled,
it looks like the summer Timeless tour. Also we've seen
the sixteen and seventeen year olds booted out a Lane Way.
I thought that had gone well last year with Laneway
having the underage I guess there. It just seems that
(07:49):
there's a bit of a licensing issue. It seems to
be coming back to the same thing, and it comes
to do with people and alcohol. A lot of amount
of people in an area where alcohol is available. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Look, the government wants to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses,
but in the area of music, regulations getting in the
way of people being able to have a good time.
I'm worried about audience development for something like Laneway. It's
fantastic for people in their late teens to be going
to an event like that and participating in something that's
(08:21):
not just off turned eighteen now I can get wasted.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well, what concerns me about that is that they've changed
really who the audience who they're trying to appeal to.
It is appealing to a much younger audience. If you
don't get them in there, we're going to be to
get Lane way back to New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah okay, yeah, so you know, let's look at lightning
the red tape. Load on fun cultural things, not just
boring business things.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Steve, thank you so much for all your contribution this year.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
To you as always great popping in for more from
the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Listen live to news talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talk SEDB. Steve Newell, for editor at Flix
dot Cot on n Z, joins me now to talk entertainment.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
We were just having a little talk. I was saying
to you know, I've really sort of struggled to pull
together my favorites of the year, mainly because I feel
like I've watched a lot of average stuff both on
the big screen and on TV this year. And you
just sort of said to me, yeah, you know what
I mean. There have been some there's been some great stuff,
but across the board, Yeah, not a stali year, not.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
A heighten maybe not the strongest, and I think possibly
lacking a kind of critical consensus about sort of what
the standout things, what were the cultural, culturally impactful shows
of the year. I mean probably Baby Reindeer was the
last thing that became a critical thing to watch at
that particular time. That feels like so long ago.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now, well that's that's the other thing. So you kind
of need to get your diary out to remember what
you've actually watched and looked at what have been of
your fraid would you like, just start with shows.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
He let's started with shows. I was a lot more
impressed with the range of cinema that was on offer
in twenty twenty four, but just blitzing through TV Rivals.
I think this was probably the most pure fun show
of twenty twenty four. Jullie Cooper coming to the small
screen on Disney pluss boardin US, bonking, backstabbing, a bit
(01:30):
of broadcast a.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Currently, that's what the world needed.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
There we go absolutely. It turned out that we needed
another show about extreme white privilege, and Rivals gave it
to us in spades. The Curse sort of The Curse
looked at white privilege in a very different way, much
more sarcastic and sort of singular show. This was Nathan Fielder,
Benny Safti and Emma Stone's show about NEPO Baby White
(01:54):
Savior real estate developers. Pretty weird, pretty specialist, I think
this one. But also for specialists of spelling, Guy Montgomery's
Guymont's Spelling be still still doing a great service here
in New Zealand, also in Australia this year so nominated
for TV Awards in both countries, which is awesome to
see for a guy A couple of others to mention Ludwig,
(02:16):
which I talked about a couple of weeks ago, David
Mitchell's kind of Jonathan Creek like mystery series, which I
found really entertaining. I've described it arrived well, yeah, I
can't take the credit for that. I stole off, mate,
but it arrived just at the time of year when
I needed something easy to watch. I think about maybe four,
four or five weeks ago, and look, I really dug
(02:37):
it season three of The Bear. This is a show
that has kind of thrived on nervousness and anxiety, but
I think audience has got a little bit challenge to
the year with the fact like, oh, maybe it's not
about narrative, Maybe it's not about resolving the story. Maybe
it is just sitting in this tense situation with these characters.
I dug it.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
There's TV in movies land, much broader landscape. We just
published the results of our flex right his poll last week.
Twenty writers sent lists and there are one hundred movies
in total, eleven three hundred and two minutes of viewing time,
which makes me feel a bit ill really, And the
(03:19):
results of that, you know, consensus Pole amalgamated out of
a different writers lists. June Part two was in fifth
place West bank Land Confiscation doco No Other Land, and
fourth Luca Guardacino's Tennis Tennis Love Triangle Challenges the number
three film Festival favorite. I Saw the TV Glow polled
(03:42):
second and number one. Still the most impactful movie of
the year the Zone of Interest. Although it's probably not
one to pop on and put your feet up over
the summer break.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
No, if you did not get the chance to see
it, it is absolutely It is one of those films that
everybody must see.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Basically, and that does sound like homework, but it's also
very true. This is Jonathan Glaze's masterpiece film, filmed around
Auschwitz and kind of recounting the psychological weirdness of working, living, laughing,
having lives right next door to mass extermination.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
It's not like love. Actually, you're not going to pull
it out every Christmas, but I do recommend if you
haven't been had the chance to see it, you do
try and track it down.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Is that one like if you want to punish the
extend family.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
But I just think it's a reminder of the power
of the power of cinema to be honest with you.
You know, they did things a little bit differently, you know,
the way the soundtrack and the audio tracks and things
were absent and not there, and as you say, you
sort of sat in this discomfort for so long. I
just think it's a reminder of the power of the
medium of film. And I thought it was so masterfully created.
(04:57):
It was it was really stunnying. Actually, it was a
really good start to the year. It was.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Yeah, okay, But I think the other thing was the
zone of interest is just that, like it weaponizes absence
of something like nothing else this year, So you're constantly
aware of the context of what's taking place, even if
the characters are kind of pushing it to the.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What's not shown, which is more horrifying than what is showing.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, And in a way, I'm going to relate that
slightly to Long Legs, the Nicholas Cage starring horror, where
he's on screen for I think a total of seventeen
minutes in this film, but his presence haunts the whole movie.
This is one of the best horror films of twenty four,
kind of built on a silence of the Lambs type
chassis FBI investigating a string FBI agent investigating a string
(05:44):
of murders gets a bit more occult and then sort
of totally creepy at the end. But yeah, Cage's performance
in that as a ratio of screen time to impact
pretty stand out this year. A couple of other I'll
mentioned a couple of fun things to wrap up, because
it does all sound a bit heavy, and you know
a weighty This morning Love Lies Bleeding. It's Kristen Stewart
(06:08):
film from Midiere, like a small town queer noir. So
bodybuilder comes into town, strikes up a relationship with the
manager of a gym who also happens to be the
daughter of a crime family. This is a really entertaining film,
like B movie, knowing it but pushing the boundaries all
the way through. And if I pull out one more
(06:31):
I would say, let's toss up between thriller Rebel Ridge,
which is on Netflix at the moment. Loved this film,
took it for a rewatch a couple of weeks ago,
really really impressed Jeremy Soornier, the filmmaker who made Blue
Ruin and Green Room, tells a tale here of corrupt
small town police department knocking a man of his bike,
confiscating his cash, and then the kind of increasingly absurd
(06:54):
steps he needs to go through to retrieve that money
with a fantastic villainous termed by Don Johnson, as has said,
small town sheriff and maybe it's not fun one, but
wrestling drama the Iron Claw. This was another one from
the start of the air.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
On Everybody this story.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
I stuck with me this one, and I think the
initial allure was you're casting all these beefcakes to play
wrestlers like Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White
from the Bear. But there's much more going for it
than just a bunch of stunt cast.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And amazing family drama as well. Yeah, indeed, can I
ask you just really quickly before you go. We've just
had quite a lot of news in the last few
days about music festivals. The Juicy Fest has been canceled,
it looks like the summer Timeless tour. Also we've seen
the sixteen and seventeen year olds booted out a Lane Way.
I thought that had gone well last year with Laneway
having the underage I guess there. It just seems that
(07:49):
there's a bit of a licensing issue. It seems to
be coming back to the same thing, and it comes
to do with people and alcohol. A lot of amount
of people in an area where alcohol is available. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
Look, the government wants to reduce regulatory burdens on businesses,
but in the area of music, regulations getting in the
way of people being able to have a good time.
I'm worried about audience development for something like Laneway. It's
fantastic for people in their late teens to be going
to an event like that and participating in something that's
(08:21):
not just off turned eighteen now I can get wasted.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Well, what concerns me about that is that they've changed
really who the audience who they're trying to appeal to.
It is appealing to a much younger audience. If you
don't get them in there, we're going to be to
get Lane way back to New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Yeah okay, yeah, so you know, let's look at lightning
the red tape. Load on fun cultural things, not just
boring business things.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Steve, thank you so much for all your contribution this year.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
To you as always great popping in for more from
the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Listen live to news talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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