Eliza Janssen

@eliza_janssen

reviews

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a fun fun fun version of Clue for the TikTok era

Rachel Sennott is the hilarious standout of this entertaining, if shallow, Gen Z-skewering horror-comedy.

reviews

Maybe don’t take your elderly parents to see Gaspar Noe’s crushing Vortex

Love is not enough to survive the terrors of time and death, in one of the year’s most depressing dramas.

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Day Shift suggests that there’s no fresh way to vamp up vampires onscreen

It’s bloody hard (excuse the pun) to make a good vampire movie when every possible genre subversion has been played out.

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Retrospective: 25 years ago, Event Horizon made space exploration look like a terrible idea

Ooh, heaven is a place on earth – and hell is a dimension the 1997 film warns us against ever visiting.

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The new A League of Their Own highlights glaring omissions from the original – but it’s not all home runs

The Prime Video series is more wishful with its Mrs. Maisel feminism than the stirring athletic joy we could’ve got.

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Spotlight on Olivia Newton-John: hopelessly devoted to the late Aussie singer

We’ve chosen five essential performances to memorialise Newton-John’s passing, from Eurovision to “Physical”.

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Best new movies and TV series on Disney+ New Zealand: October 2022

Wanna know what’s coming to the House of Mouse this month? Here’s your guide.

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Best new movies and TV series on Disney+ New Zealand: August 2022

Wanna know what’s coming to the House of Mouse this month? Here’s your guide.

I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO THAT

I’ve Always Wanted To Do That: Rocky Balboa’s eggy morning run

I probably gave myself salmonella in an effort to understand how Sly Stallone must’ve felt in that classic montage.

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How Incantation perfects the visceral horrors of found footage

It’s Blair Witch + Exorcist + Kwaidan + The Babadook, with some truly unnerving, subconscious audience participation.

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What’s the deal with kids in suits seeing Minions: Rise of Gru?

A combination of multiple Gen Z memes has led to the birth of the #gentleminions, and some cinemas don’t like it.

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Who’ll get exploded in The Boys’ season 3 finale? Here’s our predictions

Our best predictions for what could go down in the Prime series’ violent season 3 conclusion.

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13 Thor-some things to know about Love and Thunder

All about the most muscly Thor yet, Natalie Portman’s turn with Mjolnir, and space sharks and goats.

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Spotlight on Maya Rudolph: fearlessly funny and capable of heartfelt drama

The SNL alum will play an ultrarich divorcee in her newest Apple TV+ series—a sadly rare lead role.

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10 of the biggest blockbusters still to come in 2022

The year in cinema is not over yet, with new superhero smackdowns, star biopics, and genius horror headed our way.

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Music biopic performances: the worst, the best and the rest

We’ve chosen five eerie, perfectly precise evocations of music legends…and five not-so-hot imitations.

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Spotlight on Jennifer Lopez: don’t be fooled by the flops that she got

Jenny from the Block always maintains her star charisma, even when her movies aren’t so great.

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Horror is calling: 10 of the best phone-based scary movies

Who you gonna call? We’re celebrating The Black Phone with telecommunication tales of terror.

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Spotlight on Claire Danes: a blend of luminous vulnerability and intensity

Ever since My So-Called Life and Romeo + Juliet, the Manhattanite actor has exuded a fragile yet strong sense of grace.

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Retrospective: superhero series Legion was stranger than Doctor Strange and deeper than Moon Knight

Now streaming, this artsy series went for Kubrick psychedelia in its portrait of a schizophrenic mutant hero.

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Bullock and Tatum’s comedy talents make The Lost City worth a visit

The script isn’t especially clever, but who cares when you can watch leeches suck Tatum’s butt?