Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+: Review

You could easily be mistaken for thinking all tablets are the same.

They offer similar services from viewing videos to capturing images to doing bits and bobs of work on - they're never quite going to replace the conventional laptop, but their portability sees them scoring a few more points.

Well, Samsung's latest tablet, the Galaxy Tab S12+ takes a real stab at taking on the laptop and surprisingly comes very close to toppling it, thanks to some design choices and its size and compact nature.

The first most noticeable thing about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+ is just how incredibly thin and compact it is. Side-on, if you're not careful, you could lose this, because its slim nature and polished feel makes it one of the most compact tablets on the market.

At just 5.3mm thick, the Tab S12+ can slot in anywhere - into bags when you're on the go, on a bookshelf if you're so inclined or nestling happy on a coffee table to be picked up and used as when you want. Given tablets through the years have been chunky and hefty, this design choice from Samsung immediately elevates the Tab S12+ into the realms of something you need to own if you're a minimalist.

But the thin nature of it doesn't mean the power's been compromised (about which, more later.)

Nestled on the side of the Tablet are the volume and power buttons, which are sleek and minimal for the user. They're responsive and despite being thinner, can't easily be accidentally turned on and off. In fact, they're further into the side of the tablet than the camera, which like all Samsung cameras, sticks out the back of the device stopping you leaving it permanently flat. Though it has to be said, unlike the cameras, given there's only one lens here, the impact is more minimal than usual.

Also on the side are a micro-SD card slot and the charging port, along with two grilles which are the speakers. Design has been kept to a minimum here and it's paid off as the device is smooth and sturdy without feeling like it has to have edges that are simply there for the sake of it.

While the single megapixel camera on the back works fine, its imagery isn't the sharpest to be frank but it's more than adequate for the casual user - and who goes out taking snaps with a tablet anyway really? It's in the video and landscape mode the camera comes into its own, with the front lens nestling simply and subtly in the outside borders. The sharpness of the video camera is perhaps better than the image-taking side of things and it means that calls to family or video conferences will be the prime directive here and these are excellently served by the device.

It has to be said that while the glare on the beautiful 12.6 inch AMOLED screen is as much an issue as it always is, the display is really where the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+ shines. 

Watching films, TV shows or even music videos are an absolute delight here with the 1600 nits peak brightness serving up crisp and concise visuals that excel in HD video format. It's a pleasure to watch on this tablet, especially given the generous sound the speakers pass out. Place it on its side and it's a perfect viewing option that excels in the basics and delivers more - especially when you consider how thin the device is; there's not one single feeling that any of the processing power has been compromised here.

Talking of power, the battery life is more than generous too, with charging giving you a generous amount of time to do what you need to and more with this.

While the review unit didn't come with a pen and that side of the tech can't be spoken to, overall this really is a tablet that more delivers what's needed. With a screen you can spend hours staring at and never feeling like your eyes are being overpowered, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S12+ makes a play for being essential - and more than succeeds.

Grand Theft Auto VI launch trailer

The brand-new launch trailer for the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI, which releases on November 19, is out now.

The trailer, which shows off more of Jason and Lucia's story, has new music from electronic duo Justice, composers behind the original score of Grand Theft Auto VI.

 “Flower in a Hurricane" from Justice feat. Tame Impala, SZA, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is also included on Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album, the official soundtrack which is currently available to pre-save on all major music streaming services and up for pre-order on vinyl or CD at gtavi-thealbum.com.

 

For additional updates about the music of Grand Theft Auto VI, visit: https://www.rockstargames.com/VI/music.

Street Fighter: Movie Review

Cast: Noah Centino, Andrew Koji, Joe Anoa'i, David Dastmalchian, Calliana Liang, Orville Peck, 50 Cent, Jason Momoa, Eric Andre
Director: Kitao Sakurai

In a fight, there are always two opposing sides, trying to duke it out and overcome the other.

In many ways, that's exactly how the story (thin as it is) and the tone of the new 2026 Street Fighter movie are represented - constantly at odds with each other, and never quite landing the killer blow.

Set in 1993, giving the film a chance to embrace the slightly camp, slightly camera-leery approach of the era, Street Fighter follows Koji's Ryu and Centino's himbo Ken, a pair of fighters who trained under the same master, became brothers, but then grew estranged.

Lured back to fight one last time in a grand tournament organised by Bison (Dastmalchian, hamming it up at every moment) to discover who the ultimate fighter is, Ken and Ryu find themselves both needing to put aside their differences and to rediscover what it was that made them a formidable combo.

Throw in a side-plot about an Interpol agent (Liang) who's after revenge on Bison for killing her father and the possibility of a series of fight scenes, Street Fighter should be strong enough to deliver a KO.

Unfortunately, even with some incredibly well animated scenes that are scattered throughout and which stretch to cover the entire IMAX screen, Street Fighter somehow misses the mark, delivering a juvenile film that seems to have edited out its tournament fight sequences and after two hours, is no closer to delivering a final blow, preferring instead to tease a future sequel that may not happen.

It's not without its pleasures though.

Whether it's the extremely impressive fight sequences that are splashed throughout (when they're not edited or AWOL) or the occasional bursts of humour that embrace the dumb nature of what's occurring, Street Fighter proves worthy of its mantle and its ambition. And Momoa delivers his most fun role in a long time, finally embracing the macho levels of his persona and the inherent silliness of his premise.

But even the fan service to the game can't escape the need to down 3 or 4 beers before watching this. The tone severely grates after an hour, and the thinness and confusion of what's happening starts to take its toll.

It's amazing that even with a stuffed cast, the Street Fighter movie manages to be both over-stuffed and yet underdone. It's not even a technical victory and while it never lands a killer blow, the possibility there's more to come is enough to make even the most hardened action movie fan want to tap out.

What's on HBO Max in November

Here's everything that's streaming on HBO Max in November 2026.

The Gilded Age Season 4 (November 2)

The eight-episode fourth season debuts Monday, 2 November, only on HBO Max. 

Season four of The Gilded Age follows the fallout from Bertha Russell’s transformation of New York society, as her newfound power comes at a steep cost to her family. As Agnes van Rhijn seizes an opportunity to reclaim her place in the social order, Marian forges a new path of her own, while Peggy strives to earn the acceptance of her future in-laws. In this new era, ambition comes with consequences—and you must be careful what you wish for.

Season four cast includes Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson, Denée Benton, Taissa Farmiga, Harry Richardson, Blake Ritson, Ben Ahlers, Ashlie Atkinson, Dylan Baker, Kelley Curran, Jordan Donica, Jessica Frances Dukes, Amy Forsyth, Jack Gilpin, Simon Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Ben Lamb, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Debra Monk, Hattie Morahan, Donna Murphy, Kristine Nielsen, Kelli O’Hara, Taylor Richardson, Douglas Sills, Erin Wilhelmi, John Douglas Thompson, Taylor Trensch, James Scully, Dennis Haysbert, Maggie Kuntz, Neal Huff, Bonnie Milligan, Jim Gaffigan, Dallas Roberts, Andrew Burnap, Elizabeth Marvel, Adrienne Warren, with Bill Camp and Phylicia Rashad. 

Creator/writer/executive producer, Julian Fellowes; director and executive producer, Salli Richardson-Whitfield; writer and executive producer, Sonja Warfield; executive producers Gareth Neame, David Crockett, Bob Greenblatt, Kate Churchill, Davita Scarlett, Elaine Aronson; co-executive producers Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Holly Rymon. The Gilded Age is a co-production between HBO and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. 

HBO Max to launch Turner Classic Movies hub in New Zealand on 6 November

A dedicated destination for iconic films, spanning timeless classics, acclaimed dramas, musicals and genre-defining favourites. 

HBO Max New Zealand will launch the Turner Classic Movies hub on Friday, 6 November, giving subscribers access to an extensive collection of iconic films from one of cinema’s most celebrated catalogues. 

Spanning decades of film history, the collection brings together beloved classics, acclaimed dramas, genre-defining favourites, family films, musicals, epic adventures and historical stories from legendary filmmakers and performers. Highlights include: 

Timeless classics: Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, Ben-Hur, Rebel Without a Cause, The Philadelphia Story and Gone With the Wind. 

Acclaimed dramas: Dog Day Afternoon, Cool Hand Luke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire. 

Genre-defining titles: North by Northwest, Enter the Dragon, Dirty Harry, The Wild Bunch and Soylent Green. 

Show-stopping musicals: Easter Parade, Calamity Jane, High Society and The Music Man. 

Epic adventures: Around the World in 80 Days, How the West Was Won and Mutiny on the Bounty

The Turner Classic Movies hub will offer New Zealand subscribers a rich and expansive library of cinematic history, all in one dedicated destination on HBO Max.

Whalefall: Movie Review

Cast: Austin Abrams, Josh Brolin, Elisabeth Shue, Jane Levy, John Ortiz
Director: Brian Duffield

Based on Daniel Kraus' best-selling book, Whalefall wants desperately to be a whale tale about the claustrophobic nature of grief and guilt.

However, this story of Jay (Resident Evil's Abrams) who becomes trapped inside the belly of a whale while diving to find his cancer-ridden father's remains falters in parts as it foregoes some of the tenser parts for a series of flashbacks that heavily signpost what's due to happen in a truly unsubtle way.

So while some of that may be an issue in terms of the original source material, the film appears to adhere to plumbing the depths of an emotionally bereft rollercoaster of a series of allegories and trite life lessons being imparted in a sentimental overload as the film's final sequences play out.

(It can't be a coincidence that the character is called Jay and is trapped in a whale - the fact it doesn't even deviate from the Jonah and the Whale allegory is perhaps one of the film's failings.)

There's little to the film except for a one-line synopsis - and while Duffield tries to load the emotional bases up with flashbacks between estranged father and son, some of those actually stymy proceedings and leave you feeling manipulated.

While the belly of the beast is meant to be claustrophobic, unfortunately the trapping in the whale is perhaps the most exciting part of the film, one that captures the scale of Jay against this gargantuan creature as he becomes caught up in a fight between squid and whale for food.

Once inside the beast, with only an hour's oxygen left, the film follows a somewhat formulaic route of having Jay being crushed, rolled about and tossed around both by the creature and also his memories of his father.

For what it's worth, Abrams does brilliantly with the one-man physical role, commanding the screen for the entire time he's on it. While most of his scenes see Jay forced to scream or wail through his oxygen mask, Abrams proves to be incredibly tactile as he clambers around the clearly-meant-be-claustrophobic insides of the beast. He even mines some humour out of an encounter with a phosphorous jellyfish that is fashioned into a light.

But at no real point does the film escape its own metaphor - that Jay is being crushed from the outside by the guilt within. And at no moment in the film does Duffield do anything to move that film away from such laudable but obvious intentions. It coalesces into a final sequence that's more laughable than cathartic, a sign that the only blubber on this cinematic whale will come from audiences willing to let themselves be so obviously manipulated.

Whalefall has its moments when it works - from the dark, murky waters to Abrams' scintillating physicality fashioned from so little. And its soundtrack which captures the underwater menace is as immersive as it can and should be.

But with an overload of trite messaging bogging it down in the end, Whalefall sadly sinks to the bottom of the cinematic ocean, when it should rise triumphantly from the waters.