You can still read Tony Stamp’s short reviews of these terrific films here, even though they’re no longer available on NEON. Click each title to find its new streaming home!
Aftersun (2022)
Let’s not mince words: this movie will break your heart. I’ve yet to meet anyone who hasn’t been emotionally pulverised by its end, but the film’s magic lies in how it achieves that, light years removed from the approach of a typical weepy. Frankie Corio and Paul Mescal both give naturalistic, vulnerable performances, and while director Charlotte Wells is more interested in feeling than plot, it’s the small moments that really leave a bruise.
Another Round
Rightly celebrated for its final scene—an all-timer that’s revelatory, ambiguous and about as good as cinema gets—Thomas Vinterberg’s comedic drama about our relationship with alcohol features a never-better Mads Mikkelsen as a depressed school teacher who embarks on a booze-related experiment with his friends. Aside from anything, it’s refreshing to see a film that presents adult life with all its complications intact, avoiding easy answers completely in search of the truth.
Arrival
Denis Villeneuve’s first sci-fi feature laid the groundwork for his epics Blade Runner 2049 and Dune pt 1, and it’s just as masterful, featuring the most imaginative depiction of alien life in some time—and a story that on one hand is grounded and human, on the other completely mind-boggling. Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner match the scope of the material with two of their best performances.
Babylon (2023)
Damien Chazelle’s fifth directorial effort was largely derided upon its release, but there’s no denying its ambition—with its expansive dance sequences, absurdly inflated debauchery, and late descent into pure horror movie territory. It’s nothing if not entertaining. Pitt, Robbie, and eventually, Toby Maguire give it their all, with extremely gonzo results.
Batman Returns (1992)
After Tim Burton’s Batman was a massive hit he was free to do what he wished in its sequel, and boy did he. Uber-gothic and grim, it features an off-the-leash Danny Devito dribbling black bile and being disgustingly horny as The Penguin, and Michelle Pfeiffer as an equally horny Catwoman (still the best big screen version of the character). A massive tentpole release that’s also weirdly personal, it’s pure, unfiltered Burton, for better and, if you’re squeamish, worse.
Beetlejuice
He’s the ghost with the most, babe. Emblematic of Tim Burton’s early outings, which somehow meshed his wide-eyed sense of imagination and appetite for the ghoulish with commercial sensibilities, and led to box office bangers. Michael Keaton’s improv-heavy ghoul is unhinged, and Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin are adorable, even when they’re mutilating their features in this somehow PG movie. Add Winona Ryder and “Day O” and you have an embarrassment of comedically creepy riches.
Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott’s 1982 behemoth set the template for dystopian sci-fi for decades to come, and still feels fresh over forty years later. So many moments are permanently etched in popular culture, from the billboard geisha to chopsticks, origami and tears in rain. But it’s Scott’s woozy, dreamlike tone, Vangelis’ iconic score, the revolutionary special effects, and of course Harrison Ford’s lead performance, that make Blade Runner an all-timer.
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
The 1967 classic busted down the door in terms of acceptable on screen violence and sexuality, making it one of the first films of the New Hollywood period (it’s also one of the first to use ‘blood squibs’ to depict gunshot wounds). Faye Dunaway and Warren Beattie (who produced) expertly shade their morally compromised characters, and the film plays fast and loose with actual events but never lets them off the hook.
Boy
Taika Waitit’s second film perfected his balance of pathos and silliness, in a film that couldn’t have been made anywhere else. A story of rural Māori that finds time for jokes about the 1980s and choreographed dancing alongside its bittersweet, quietly profound central narrative, with rich performances from James Rolleston and Waititi himself.
The Breaker Upperers
This collaboration between Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami (who co-star, co-wrote and co-directed), is a crisp comedic caper that understands its strengths and leans into them, employing a wealth of local talent (both familiar and fresh) to charming effect. It smacks of two friends making each other laugh in the best possible way, and when the time for dramatic arcs does arrive, they’re wise and well-earned.
Bullitt
Featuring one of the finest car chases put to film (employing the hilly streets of San Francisco in a way that’s never been bettered), Bullitt also sports one of cinema’s coolest performances, as Steve McQueen negotiates a maze of conspiracy and double-crosses with maximum stoicism. Lieutenant Frank Bullitt has had a gutsful, and by god he’s going to crack this case.
Cape Fear
Martin Scorcese remade the 1962 film of the same name, ramping up the luridness and paying tribute to Alfred Hitchcock wherever possible. His embrace of Hitch’s camera, lighting, and editing techniques intentionally jar with the grubby subject matter, and Scorcese’s usual moral relativism. Nick Nolte is a delight as a buttoned-down lawyer way out of his depth, and De Niro goes full Beast Mode.
The Card Counter (2021)
It’s no secret that Paul Schrader specialises in films about tortured loners – as a writer there’s Taxi Driver, Rolling Thunder, Obsession and more, and as director it’s a theme he’s returned to in recent years, with First Reformed and The Card Counter. Featuring fantastic performances from Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan, it’s a tough movie that’s plainly furious at the US government (for reasons I won’t reveal), which does manage to find some light at the end of the tunnel (if you squint hard enough).
Children of Men (2006)
Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi masterpiece has seemed less and less far-fetched since it was released in 2006, a gloomy portrait of a potential future that thankfully manages to squeeze in a drop of optimism. Come for the weighty philosophical ponderings and fine performances from Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, stay for the immersive, nerve-wracking long-take action scenes.
Clueless (1995)
A sleeper hit which became a cult classic and now serves as a fascinating snapshot of nineties culture, Clueless reimagines Jane Austin’s Emma, while poking fun at Hollywood, materialism, and teen films. Alicia Silverstone is a force of nature, little baby Paul Rudd is preternaturally charming, and director Amy Heckerling showed she’d retained her knack for skewering the youths, after helming Fast Times at Ridgemont High over a decade earlier.
Collateral (2004)
One of Tom Cruise’s best performances (please play a villain again Tom!) and one of Jamie Foxx’s too—not to mention the appearance by a scene-stealing Jada Pinkett-Smith. That’s Michael Mann for you, deploying typically muscular filmmaking to bolster a no-nonsense story of hapless hero meeting hitman. He uses pioneering digital cinematography to showcase Los Angeles and delivers a one-crazy-night showstopper.
Constantine (2005)
The subject of a well-deserved critical reappraisal (which led to talks of a sequel all these years later), Keanu’s 2005 comic-book adaptation is a total blast, particularly if you’re into fiction that dabbles in the overlap between biblical and supernatural. Rachel Weisz adds support but Tilda Swinton and Peter Stormare walk away with the movie, turning in delicious performances as the archangel Gabriel and Lucifer himself.
Dawn Raid
There were reports of discontent behind the scenes of this local doc from musicians who alleged their stories had been left on the cutting room floor, but that aside this is an engrossing, inspiring story about the grass roots beginnings of a record label and the ups and downs that followed. Brotha D and Andy Murnane are engaging and effervescent guides through the story, and director Oscar Kightley brings his obvious storytelling strength and plenty of humour.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
Ben Affleck is hilarious in this movie, and he’s wayyy down the cast list. Plenty of other familiar names are there too (Matthew McConaughey being the role that stuck in the cultural imagination), all making up a woozy tableau covering one night in 1976. Richard Linklater made his name with “hang out” movies, and this is one of the best—100 minutes spent chilling with characters who are always fun to be around.
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
A two-fisted classic from Robert Aldrich, who had a reputation for pushing the limits of on-screen violence and celebrating a certain type of machismo. The Dirty Dozen might be the moment this approach reached its apex, and is the one he’s best remembered for. Following a premium crop of late-60s tough guys as they prepare for a suicide mission prior during WWll, it set a new high-bar for war movies to come.
Dunkirk (2017)
Christopher Nolan’s non-linear war film throws the viewer into its chaotic milieu and doesn’t let up, presenting tragedies (and eventually triumph) of various sizes across its runtime, and finding a good, thematically-rich reason for him to indulge his fascination with the passage of time. The scale is frequently dazzling, but Nolan doesn’t lose sight of the small stories that made up the battle, or the hollowness of the victory that followed.
Easy A (2010)
A whip-smart family-friendly movie centred on a ridiculously charming performance from Emma Stone, Easy A updates The Scarlet Letter for a modern high school setting with amicably funny results. Includes a stellar supporting cast of grownups who wind up feeling as complex as their junior counterparts, in ways you may not expect. Director Will Gluck’s career has been somewhat patchy since, but this one is an absolute winner.
Elizabeth (1998)
That Cate Blanchett, eh: quite good at acting! This was the performance that propelled her to international acclaim, netting her a BAFTA & Golden Globe, as well as an Oscar nom. Her transformation over the course of the film, weaving through plenty of court intrigue and nefarious plotting, is expertly judged, and she’s supported by a rogues’ gallery of greats: Geoffrey Rush, John Gielgud and Richard Attenborough among them.
Emily the Criminal (2022)
A small-scale crime flick that makes its points about the student loan system and income inequality in America without letting them get in the way of a good yarn. John Patton Ford’s debut feature showcases another great dramatic turn from Aubrey Plaza, dipping her toes into the world of petty crime and quickly finding herself treading water. When romantic entanglement enters the equation, the movie graduates from snazzy thriller to great film full stop.
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
It shouldn’t be forgotten that this frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars was one of the year’s weirdest movies, featuring a world-ending bagel, hot dog fingers, and a fight that includes the use of butt plugs. But its real genius lies in its everyday emotional stakes, The Daniels using the story of a multigenerational Chinese-American family to draw powerful, awards-blitzing performances from their cast.
The Exorcist
Fifty years on, William Freidkin’s masterpiece is still not for the faint of heart. Pea soup, head spinning and crucifix stabbing aside, there’s a deep existential dread running through William Peter Blatty’s screenplay that’s timeless, and the material is treated with the utmost seriousness. We’ve seen hundreds of imitators since, but nothing touches the craft of the provocative, chilling original.
The Fabelmans (2022)
The accusations of Oscar-bait against Spielberg’s pseudo-biopic rang false: this film is so specific and strange, positing the director’s love of filmmaking as a coping mechanism from someone unequipped to face the world without the aid of a lens. A series of life events that feel strikingly personal, The Fabelmans sports riveting performances from Paul Dano, Michelle Williams, and Seth Rogen. Plus there’s Spielberg’s usual virtuosic camera moves, this time pointing inward.
Get Carter (1971)
The archetypal Michael Caine performance has him wreaking havoc on the Newcastle underworld while investigating his brother’s murder. Endlessly charismatic while constantly poe-faced, and spouting insults like “your eyes still look the same—pissholes in the snow”, he’s matched by Mike Hodges’ no fuss, no muss direction, as remorseless as the film’s lead character.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Watching this with adult eyes, and learning about how it was made, you start to see what a one-in-a-million shot this was, and why it’s never been replicated. Paring Dan Aykroyd’s cosmically bonkers script down to its essentials, making it a blue collar, guys-at-work story, and letting Bill Murray off the chain to improvise, it all somehow coalesced into an all-time classic: hilarious, scary, and exciting.
Goodfellas
What more can be said about Goodfellas? It’s not just the jewel in Scorsese’s crown but one of the best movies ever made, a gangster film that entertains, educates, and is made with the kind of filmmaking aplomb that can only come from a master. A stacked cast including De Niro, Pesci, Bracco and Liotta doing some of their best work, a handful of the best needle-drops ever committed to film, and cinema’s greatest garlic-slicing scene. A true classic.
Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón’s thrill-ride through space pairs his love of immersive long takes with meticulous visual effects, resulting in a truly white-knuckle movie. Much of the film features Sandra Bullock being flung around the atmosphere like a rag doll, but the moments when Cuarón gets intimate, sometimes placing his camera inside her helmet, are the ones that stick.
Jurassic Park (1993)
It’s worth bearing in mind that Spielberg had already helped invent the blockbuster a full fifteen years before he arguably perfected it with this tale of cloned dinos and overly optimistic park employees. The fledgling CGI is used perfectly alongside practical effects, and while lip service is paid to chaos theory and the perils of capitalism, it’s the director’s grasp of how to execute thrilling setpieces that cement this as a classic.
Licorice Pizza (2021)
Another shaggy dog tale from Paul Thomas Anderson. More linear than Inherent Vice but less purposeful than Phantom Thread, it’s made up of a sequence of dramatic/comic vignettes, the type that have typified his style since Boogie Nights. Sean Penn, Tom Waits and Bradley Cooper show up in powerhouse extended cameos but the film belongs to Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim, both delivering debut performances that exude charm and naivety in equal measure.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
This entry could just be a list of things from the movie and you’d get the point. Gollum alone is a miracle, let alone the siege of Helm’s Deep, or Ents for that matter. Looking back, this film represents a lovely midpoint between practical SFX and CGI run amok, fueling a story that’s gob-smackingly epic. And more emotional than you’d expect from something that involves talking trees.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)
A wryly funny, and, by the end, very touching mockumentary about an animate inanimate object, Jenny Slate delivers a fantastic vocal performance as the shell of the title, with director Dean Fleischer Camp essentially playing himself behind the camera. Expect life lessons from the perspective of something very tiny, ranging from how to traverse a house and beyond, to ones more cross-transferable to normal sized folks.
Millie Lies Low (2021)
A local gem that deserves a lot more eyeballs on it, Michelle Savill’s cringe comedy follows the incredible Ana Scotney as Millie, faking her way through an overseas trip after she misses her flight due to a panic attack. An increasing number of complications ensue, culminating in scenes as hilarious as they are uncomfortable. Savill has more on her mind than awkwardness, though, and the film’s resolution is warm and wise.
Minari
A portrait of Korean-American immigrants in the 1980s, Minari is gentle and almost fable-like, often presented from the perspective of the family’s youngest son. It’s a film that strives to find beauty in daily adversity, concerned with common humanity and the meaning of ‘home’.
Moonrise Kingdom
A lesser Anderson effort perhaps, but it did introduce Bruce Willis and Ed Norton into Wes-world, plus you get plenty of adorable young person romance, old person romance, and beach-dancing, all impeccably framed & shot and delivered with the usual wry wit.
Murina (2021)
This Croatian coming-of-age film is a simmering drama that’s worth your time, following a teenage girl facing off with her overbearing father as she undergoes life changes during a weekend on the remote island where they live. Darker than you might imagine, it’s a sinister slow-burn where the threat of disaster hangs over proceedings, brightening each time NZ actor Cliff Curtis appears in full charming-rogue mode.
The Nest
An elliptical tale about family, class and ambition, The Nest has Jude Law uprooting his American wife and children and transplanting them into a creaky British manor, before their situation becomes more desperate and the strains on the marriage start to show. Law and Carrie Coon turn in powerhouse performances under the direction of Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), in a film that’s grown-up in the best sense of the term.
The Nice Guys (2016)
I dearly wish director Shane Black had made twenty more movies with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. His script comes together with clockwork precision, thrilling and hilarious thanks to its stars, who seem to intuitively get what Black is going for. It’s a movie that rewards repeat viewings and is fun every time, fuelled by the swagger of a team who knew they were making something really great.
The Night House
If you’re in need of a good startling, you could do much worse than this creeper from the director of the upcoming Hellraiser reboot. A semi-sozzled Rebecca Hall tiptoes through an eerie house, but there’s much more to this than a paint-by-numbers ghost story, and figuring out what the heck is actually going on is part of the dastardly fun.
No. 2 (2006)
Adapted by Toa Fraser from his play of the same name, this is an exploration of an extended Fijian-NZ family that’s surely informed by Fraser’s own, imbued as it is with unmistakable authenticity. American actress Ruby Dee gives a commanding, heart-breaking late-career performance as the family matriarch, supported by a fine cast of (mostly) locals. The wealth of well-observed details make this a nostalgic watch for anyone who grew up in Aotearoa.
Nobody
A beefed-up Bob Odenkirk comes out of tough-guy retirement to take on the Russian mob—so far, so John Wick (they even share a screenwriter). But Nobody distinguishes itself with plenty of humour and a weirdly heartwarming conclusion, capitalising on its star’s unique charisma as he mows through baddies in a series of inventively-choreographed and shot action scenes.
The Piano (1993)
Jane Campion’s tale of forbidden love in colonial Aotearoa still hits hard, as rough and unforgiving as the untamed coast. Plaudits went to Anna Paquin in her first role, as well as leads Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel and Sam Neill, but it’s a film led foremost by director Jane Campion’s motley vision. As in all her films, she allows the characters to be muddied and impulsive, well-rounded with all their faults intact.
Pig
In 2021 Nicolas Cage did the most surprising thing possible: delivered a quiet, subdued performance. He’s heartbreaking in Pig, but the film isn’t a melodrama. Nor is it the John Wick style revenge flick the trailer was selling. Instead it’s that rarest of things: totally unique, a tapestry of comedy and drama that treats modest stakes as if they were huge, and, as much as Alex Wolff’s character broadens his perspective over its duration, one that teaches you how to watch it as you progress.
Red Rocket (2021)
If you follow Sean Baker on Letterboxd you’ll know he loves films that revel in the worst of humanity, and maybe even have a soft spot for them. Red Rocket’s poster, designed to look like a sex comedy from the 1980s, shows how this film’s protagonist sees himself, and the film follows suit (save for one shot that gives the game away). Moral hand-wringing aside, it’s one fantastically entertaining car crash.
The Shallows (2016)
‘Blake Lively avoids shark’ might not sound like a thrilling pitch for a movie, but director Jaume Collet-Sera earned his reputation as a ‘vulgar auteur’ for good reason. Starting with Orphan, he’s proved he can spin trash into expertly-constructed, thoroughly entertaining movies, and this is no different, featuring gorgeous location photography, a heroine who’s easy to root for, and several genuinely edge-of-the-seat sequences.
The Shining
Kubrick was nothing if not fastidious, and his take on Stephen King’s novel (famously disliked by the author) oozes the kind of chilly menace that’s the result of meticulous filmmaking. It’s one of the greatest horror films of all time, full of countless iconic images: Jack Nicholson breaking through a door, the twins, the blood flood, that guy in a dog mask. After all these years it’s still scary, and the carefully threaded feeling throughout that something’s not quite right has led to years of analysis and theorising.
The Social Network (2010)
David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s typically incisive, journalistic look at the psychology behind the creation of Facebook only gets more relevant each year, as social media continues to influence our culture and politics. Impeccably directed and performed, with an appropriately unsettling score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to boot, and a final shot that should haunt us all.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
James Cameron cemented his reputation as ‘good at sequels’ with the impossibly burly follow up to his original, packing in more cool sci-fi ideas, muscular action and cutting edge effects. Arnie is great of course, as is Linda Hamilton, but the scenes burned into my adolescent brain involve Robert Patrick’s T-1000 and his ability to become terrifying liquid metal.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Watch on NEONSpy work as bureaucratic slog, impeccably mounted and acted by a heavyweight cast of British thespians, with Swedish director Tomas Alfredson applying the same frosty approach as he did to the vampire tale Let the Right One In. It’s a film that demands your full attention, playing out in whispers even once Gary Oldman’s George Smiley has figured out who exactly is up to what, and at what cost.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
The way this film operates on a meta level—Tom Cruise as an ageing star who returns to show the youngsters how it’s done—became all the more sweet when it went on to dominate the global box office. It’s a tribute to the filmmaking of Tony Scott (who helmed the original), not just through visual technique but the crafting of a simple, satisfying story. Add thrilling, practically-shot action sequences and you have a near-perfect movie.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
The stop-motion, thumb-print-adorned plasticine heroes made the jump to the big screen, as charming as always and housed in a real movie—this is as thrilling and romantic as many po-faced films for grownups, it just features lots of cheese gags, Rube Goldberg contraptions and, well, a Were-Rabbit.
The Woman King (2022)
An historical action epic that did not receive its dues during awards season, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s muscular film is a breath of fresh air amongst increasingly stale Hollywood fare. Viola Davis is as fearsome as you might expect, and Lashana Lynch matches her with an equally piercing and physically accomplished performance. Prince-Bythewood rarely misses, and the kinetic filmmaking here is top notch.
