Win a double pass to see Project Hail Mary in cinemas

To celebrate the release of Ryan Gosling's new film Project Hail Mary, in cinemas March 19, thanks to Sony Pictures NZ, you can win a double pass.

About Project Hail Mary

Science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. 

As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. 

He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction... but an unexpected friendship means he may not have to do it alone.

Project Hail Mary is in cinemas March 19

God of War: Sons of Sparta: PS5 Review

Developed by MegaCat Studios and Santa Monica Studio
Published by Sony Interactive
Platform: PS5

For those looking for a return to Kratos' world may slightly be surprised by this 2D Metroidvania game that takes away Kratos' axe and gives him back a spear and a chance to fight some old enemies.

Essentially a maze game that's about looking for a new way to tell Kratos' story and setting back in Greek ideologies and mythologies proves to be a tonic on some fronts, but does expose a few storytelling flaws as it goes on.

You get to play as a young Kratos, a teenager who's barely found his bearded anger yet and who is about to learn a lesson of responsibility as the game goes on. Teaming up with his brother Deimos on an adventure outside of Sparta, there are various missions for Kratos to carry out, some of which are enticing and others which are slightly dull.

What's perhaps most disappointing about God of War: Sons of Sparta is the fact it feels like a mobile phone game, one that uses none of the tech's cinematic prowess or the engine's capability. Combat is simple, stab, slash, hack, jump and avoid. Perhaps it's more suited to a PS Portal than a large scale console and TV set up.

Granted, the further into the game you go, the more ability you get, but largely, this feels like a muted entrant into Kratos' world, one that diminishes the power of his legend. 

How you'll feel about dedicating some 20 hours to the game depends largely on how invested you are in the Greek Odyssey of Kratos himself, but don't be surprised if this leaves you feeling underwhelmed - despite the best intentions of MegaCat studios.

Cold Storage: Movie Review

Cast: Georgina Campbell, Joe Keery, Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Vanessa Redgrave
Director: Jonny Campbell

Cold Storage's distinctive B-movie vibes are apparent from its opening titles.

As meteors smash through on-screen graphics, this tale of a fungal microbe from space escaping from years of captivity in an abandoned Government facility that's become a storage unit is clearly not taking itself seriously from the start - even if its cast are.

Liam Neeson stars as Robert Quinn, a former specialist who first became aware of the alien lifeform after he was called to Australia by a Dr Martins (yes, it's a real name) who'd been contacted about an outbreak in a Western Australian township. 

Years later, Travis (Stranger Things' Joe Keery), a nighttime worker finds his shift interrupted by a beeping noise and a brand new colleague Naomi (Barbarian's Georgina Campbell). When the duo investigates, they soon discover the bacterial incursion and race against the clock to try and save the day.

Cold Storage does exactly what you'd expect from a story that's about a marauding fungus - and if you can get past the inconsistencies of the plot and the fact it feels padded with a small cast and an at times shonky script, there are plenty of gore-filled vicarious thrills and needle drops to be enjoyed here.

Neeson delivers a no-holds barred class in doing it all seriously throughout, despite the increasing levels of absurdity and it's great to see the likes of Lesley Manville taking part in something like this, given her career's been mainly prestige pictures and period dramas.

There's a real warmth to Neeson and Manville's partnership, a lived-in quality that makes you wish the story spent more time with them, rather than Travis and Naomi's attempts at banter and bonding.

Both are fine, and even an exposition-heavy script and a penchant for labelling Travis as "loqacious" before firing off yet another dialogue from him can't stop you feeling a frisson of engagement in this budding work-colleagues relationship -0 even if it doesn't leave mushroom for development.

Jurassic Park writer David Koepp's 2019 story is fun enough, and this is disposable enough fare that just about entertains, given how it doesn't take itself seriously. Do yourself a favour and see it with some friends - it's the kind of thing that will appeal to anyone who's a fungi.

The Boys releases final season trailer

The fifth and final season of The Boys, from Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios, will premiere exclusively on Prime Video on April 8, 2026.

 Prime Video revealed the epic official trailer for the highly anticipated upcoming fifth season of The Boys, as the global hit series heads toward its explosive final chapter. Season Five of the multi-Emmy Award-winning series will premiere on April 8, 2026, with two episodes, followed by a new episode each week, culminating in the unforgettable series finale on May 20, 2026. The season will stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. The trailer brings together the series’ iconic characters as they prepare for one last stand, building toward the ultimate confrontation.

 

In the fifth and final season, it’s Homelander’s world, completely subject to his erratic, egomaniacal whims. Hughie, Mother’s Milk, and Frenchie are imprisoned in a “Freedom Camp.”  Annie struggles to mount a resistance against the overwhelming Supe force. Kimiko is nowhere to be found. But when Butcher reappears, ready and willing to use a virus that will wipe all Supes off the map, he sets in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it.  It’s the climax, people. Big stuff’s gonna happen.

 

The Boys is based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, who also serve as executive producers, and developed by executive producer and showrunner Eric Kripke. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Phil Sgriccia, Michaela Starr, Paul Grellong, David Reed, Judalina Neira, Jessica Chou, Gabriel Garcia, Ori Marmur, Ken F. Levin and Jason Netter also serve as executive producers. The Boys is produced by Sony Pictures Television, Amazon MGM Studios with Kripke Enterprises, Original Film, and Point Grey Pictures.

I Swear: Movie Review

Cast: Robert Aramayo, Shirley Henderson, Maxine Peake, Peter Mullan, Scott Ellis Watson

Director: Kirk Jones

There's plenty in I Swear which feels formulaic.

Beginning with a present-day event (meeting the Queen, before swearing at her) and then zipping back to his earlier years, this feel-good film about Tourette Syndrome sufferer John Davidson takes on a more poignant and tragic edge, given his recent appearance at the 2026 BAFTA Awards.

Yet, this at-times heartbreaking underdog biopic is extremely uplifting, thanks to a compassionate direction and an extraordinary performance from both its leads - Watson as the young Davidson and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power's award-winning Aramayo as the older version.

In 1980s Galashiels in Scotland, John is a happy boy. On the cusp of starting secondary school, he's the apple of his dad's eye, thanks to his goal-keeping prowess. But a few days into a new life, it all begins to unravel when involuntary tics emerge and his life devolves into mockery and ostracism at the hands of others - including a family break-up and a cold, clinical mother (Henderson) who's incapable of any empathy.

Things change for Davidson when he meets Dottie (Maxine Peake), a mother dying of cancer, who gives him the sympathetic support he's been denied by society.

What happens next is very easily telegraphed in the world of movie-making - a series of obstacles to be overcome, before inevitable success. (Though any success will feel bittersweet after Davidson's use of the N-word at the BAFTAs).

And while you'd expect a film about this subject to use the Tourette's as a punchline of absurdity thanks to its appearance at the most inopportune moments, every outburst is utterly demoralising and hard to behold.

If Watson is deeply moving as the younger version, Aramayo absolutely knocks it out of the park as the older Davidson. From hints of sadness and frustration behind his eyes to a physical performance which is difficult to watch, he is astounding, while never losing any of the likeable everyman who has a wicked sense of humour.

But rather than mocking Davidson, the film - and by default Aramayo - give him wide berth to show the reality of living a life like this, the isolation and the utter frustration at an inability to just have a normal day. This so easily could have been a film that made a mockery of its subject matter - instead, it becomes a touchpoint for discussion, a window into humanity and a relatably human story about dealing with what life's delivered you.

A truly moving and joyful experience that could have easily lost some of the film's back third, I Swear is the kind of life-affirming thing British cinema does so well so often. It throws open a window into a world we barely know, floods it with pathos and delivers something that's truly unforgettable.

Rooster: Review

Steve Carell’s swapping the Office for the campus in this new university-set comedy that sees his pulpy book author Greg Russo dropping by to help out his college professor daughter Katie after her husband, a fellow academic, has an affair.

It’s an incongruous pitch for a comedy, to be frank, but where Rooster works is the way the story gets its hooks into you. This is not a series that delivers consistently belly-inducing laughs, but with subtle writing and smart deadpan delivery from Carell and a script from Ted Lasso’s creator Bill Lawrence, it has just something indefinable that works.

It helps that the ensemble cast is particularly strong as Russo finds himself in more and more outlandish situations – in the first episode alone, he’s forced to run away after camping out in the campus bushes to spy on his daughter’s husband and ends up inadvertently watching two lesbians kiss. It’s a moment that in any other situation probably wouldn’t work – but in Carell’s hands, it’s riotously funny and memorable.

John C McGinley also shines as the college’s dean who leans on Rooster to take on a role on campus, ensuring that he sticks around. From espousing moments in his steam room to delivering the kind of material he excelled in in Scrubs (surely, no coincidence the same writer’s behind the barbs), he’s a memorable addition to the show.

And in amongst it all, is Carell, a comedian whose delivery and whose cadences have improved with age. There’s no denying there are moments of Michael Scott in Greg Russo, but whereas Scott was a buffoon with a heart, Russo is an educated man, prone to mishaps and blessed with heart too – it’s a subtle difference. From dealing with his daughter’s problems, battling wits with the campus cop to finding himself constantly having to apologise formally for missteps, the escalating stupidity is hard to allay and even more difficult to put to one side, thanks to his efforts.

Like most campus-set comedies, there’s some frat boy hijinks in later episodes, but Lawrence and co-creator Matt Tarses ensure these don’t feel out of place or episodic in their nature.

Rooster is a clever comedy, that rewards persistence and which offers a smart rejoinder to other dumb campus-set shenanigans. For that alone, it’s well worth an investment of your time.

Six of ten episodes of Rooster series 1 were available and viewed for the purposes of this review.

The Bride: Movie Review

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penelope Cruz, Jake Gyllenhaal
Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Jessie Buckley's star continues to rise in The Bride.

The Bride! takes some big swings under the helmship of Maggie Gyllenhaal - and it largely pays dividends, delivering an audacious film that feels like nothing else out there. Until its final third when it falls drastically off the rails.

Buckley is Ida, who's murdered at the start of the film by a mobster boss, who believes her loose tongue will cause them problems. Unceremoniously dumped, she's recovered by Christian Bale's Frankenstein and Dr Euphonious (a toothy Bening) after the monster decides he needs companionship.

However, when the Bride comes back to life, her memory is shattered and she embarks on a quest to rediscover and reclaim her identity, sweeping up those around her in an ongoing crusade.

There's much to love about the Bride! as it swirls around the idea of a monster-led Bonnie and Clyde (though its use of the Monster Mash at the end seems trite and cheesy). A feminist romp that's about women fighting back will have many complaining about its woke edges, but Gyllenhaal's crafted a story that, while all the loose ends don't tie up, is for the most part, completely engaging and chaotically bonkers at the same time.

Less Gothic, more gangster, it feels like a spiritual partner to Joker: Folie A Deux, with less of the maudlin touches to go on. Central to all of this is Buckley, a dual edged performance that is filled with energy, surprise, sadness, tragedy and compassion in equal measures. It's a tour de force and a full commitment from Buckley pays dividends in what's likely to be a polarising performance.

Bale's turn is soulful, one that tunes into the loneliness of the monster and who aches for connection, before erupting into extreme violence. But he's lesser than the sum of his parts here, a not quite equal to Buckley's brilliance - despite an out-there dance number for Putting On The Ritz.

Perhaps less successful are Sarsgaard and Cruz's detectives who come into the story to investigate the spree and who feel like they're barely in enough to warrant much of an arc - even if Cruz's character forms part of the feminist allegory that plays out.

Ultimately, The Bride! is a film which bursts onto the screen with such chutzpah and steam that it's inevitably going to falter - which it sadly does toward the end - but for large swathes of the 2 hour journey, Gyllenhaal's inventive and gender-swapped take on the Bride of Frankenstein is one that has a unique voice, that deserves to be applauded.