Monkey Business or Masterpiece?
Can't find a Better Man
Holiday procrastination is a time-honoured tradition, so why am I beating myself up so much? Every time I’ve walked towards my kitchen table to plonk myself down at my laptop and whip up another juicy newsletter I’ve somehow found myself swerving off to the fridge to scoff my body-weight in leftover xmas pav before collapsing on the sofa for a snooze with schnuggly Obi-Wan, my favourite floof.
I’ve always been VERY distractable and I will seek out that distraction if I have to (ask any of my Newshub mates, I was a newsroom menace). I have also spent most of my adult working life driven by rock solid deadlines - radio, print, TV, there’s no “I’ll finish this up tomorrow”; tomorrow is a whole other news day and if you FTD (“Fail To Deliver”) on your story for 6pm the producers would have their vengeance - in this life or the next.
I miss that. The urgency, the daily turnaround, the last-minute dash to the edit booth, annoying my workmates, arguing with my workmates, laughing at my workmates. I miss the vitality of a broadcast newsroom.
But all this is all sooo last year, it’s 2025 - it’s the summer holidays! Which brings me to my next horrifying New Year realisation: this is my first summer break where I’m not being paid to have a summer break - no more annual leave for me. For the first time in my life, I am no longer a full-time employee with a boss, with a desk, and crucially: with a salary. I’ve gone from a single income/two kids/Auckland mortgage situation to a NO income/two kids/Auckland mortgage situation (cue maniacal hysterical high-pitched cackling). Clearly it’s a batshit INSANE idea that I should launch myself into the fraught and frightening life of a first-time freelancer and yet - here I am. WTAF are you thinking, I hear you all whisper, but can you also maybe whisper godspeed fair Kate, you can do this! I need all the affirmations I can get (and money of course, I also need all the money I can get ;))
Anyway - what I’m trying to say is, I’ve been taking a wee summer break from terrorising you all with The Projector each week, somewhat of a “Creative Hibernation” if you will ;) But your respite was short-lived, I’m back and I shall be back each and every week! And there are soooooo many great films in cinemas right now - all the Oscar hopefuls are landing as we barrel headlong into Hollywood awards season - in fact the Golden Globules are just moments away - Monday NZT. So let’s gird out golden loins and launch into another sensational cinematic year!
GET THEE TO A CINEMA
NEW RELEASES
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What? 5 stars for a musical with Brit bad-boi Robbie Williams as a WētāFX-generated CGI chimp? Monkey do, monkey see? Don’t @ me and don’t waste another moment, just go see it already it’s an absolute riot!
In the interests of fair play, if you answer YEP to the following three questions, then you’re a shoe-in.
Do you like/love Robbie Williams?
Do you like/love his songs?
Do you love The Greatest Showman?
At the very least you’ll need to like musicals in the vein of Rocketman, Mamma Mia, Bohemian Rhapsody. But what Better Man brings, is all that Rock DJ energy with the monkey madness of it all and delivered with the same kinetic kick-arse choreography we got with The Greatest Showman.
The showman we’re really talking about here is Aussie filmmaker Michael Gracey. Dunno how many times we’ve watched the Hugh and Zac and Zendaya circus in in our household but it’s ALOT. He ramps it up to a whole other level with Robbie and I will state right here for the record and without spoilers, there is a phenomenal dance number to the tune of Rock DJ and shot on location on London’s Regent Street with 500 extras that blew my tiny mind. It’s worth the ticket price just for that.
So, this is Robbie William's telling his life story in the way he sees himself, as a performing monkey and through his music. Like watching a film with subtitles, you’ll stop seeing the chimp soon after the film starts rolling. And like Caesar and Kong before him, the magic of WētāFX immediately infuses him with unquestionable authenticity and humanity, and unlike those two ape icons their latest creation sings and dances for his supper - it’s so bloody weird and so bloody cool!
So please go see Better Man immediately lest you Come Undone… and let Robbie entertain you - No Regrets! (I know I know I’m sorry )
THE FEELS: ‘Cause I got too much life, running through my veins, going to waste. Guess that about sums it up.
THE HOOK: More hooks than a fly-fishing convention and from all your favourite Robbie tunes - you need to see Rock DJ to believe it.
ANORA
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Two Five Star Films in one Projector what a joyous start to 2025!
Catapulting Mikey Madison into the Hollywood stratosphere and quite rightly too, she and Anora blew my socks off.
If you haven’t already seen filmmaker Sean Baker’s other cinematic firecrackers Tangerine and The Florida Project then please add them to your must-see list, but first dash to your nearest cinema to sample his latest awards-baiting rollercoaster on the BIG screen.
Quick premise: Anora is a gritty modern kinda Cinderella/Pretty Woman-esque story, where a young sex worker from Brooklyn scores a high-paying hard-partying client in the shape of a gangly Russian who just happens to be the son of mega-rich Russian oligarch. When they impulsively marry in Vegas all hell breaks loose, but in typical Sean Baker style, not in the way anyone might expect.
It’s a dark almost anarchic comedy in a way, delivering the most unexpected love story and driven home by a truly mesmerising Madison and with a break-out performance from Russian actor Yura Borisov.
I loved every damn minute.
THE FEELS: This is R18 all the way baby and there is sooo much sex. Usually this bores and irritates me (and we don’t need to go into the why just now, that’s a whole other therapy session) but here it’s essential to the storytelling and also incredibly empowering.
THE HOOK: This is what a cinema experience should be, explosive, sensory, unexpected and just so so FUN! And we all love bearing witness to the arrival of a new superstar, let’s watch what Mikey Madison does next.
MY LUDICROUSLY CAPACIOUS BAG OF BINGE-A-BILITY
LANDMAN - Prime Video NZ I’m mentioning this again because I’ve tried and failed 4 times to get beyond Ep 3 and I’m just gonna have to pull the pin. I talked through my misgivings in an earlier Projector - the women becoming increasingly vacuous and helpless (save me from a snake Billy Bob save me from tequila Billy Bob save me from myself Daddy Billy Bob - dear lord give me STRENGTH) but now I’m just plain bored. Thoughts?
PRESUMED INNOCENT - AppleTV I’m dipping back into my 2024 Bag of Binge-a-bility as I need to make sure y’all across how GREAT Jake Gyllenhaal is in Presumed Innocent? Loved ye ole film and just loved the first season of this AppleTV show. And if you think Jake is great in this, don’t miss it for the stand-out performance from Ruth Negga, she’s a revelation.
Also remember how much we adore Colin Farrell in Sugar? There’s another season greenlit for this quirky Hollywood pop noir detective show and I want it NOW! S1 on Apple TV.
THE WEEKLY TIPS AND DIPS INTO THE KR ARCHIVE
Needless to say I would just love to riff on the Better Man/Greatest Showman shared DNA - I covered the mega Sydney world premiere for Showman and had such a super time with Jackman and kiwi breakout Keala Settle then followed Jackman home to NZ as he wowed the motu singing with the Oceania Choir at South Auckland’s AUT campus but ALAS, those stories and the video have disappeared from the internet for now (whimper). The best I can do is gift you the full 21 minutes of my 21 years at Newshub magnificently cut together by my friend and editor supremo Kellee Laufiso-Finau - Hugh features towards the end ;)
GUEST STARRING…
She’s here, she’s there, she’s every f**king where KATE RODGER!
I was mighty stoked to end the year with a first: a podcast - but a podcast I hosted and helped produced rather than just guested on. The super folk at the New Zealand Film Commission gave me a call and asked if I might like to host a podcast series they were launching called Lights, Camera, Kōrero and of course I said HELL yeah. We were in the PodLab booth quick smart and with the most excellent NZFC Head of International Attraction and Marketing Philippa Mossman as our very first guest. What a terrific start to the series and a magical end to a below average kinda year ;)
Here’s the pod on Spotify and and I’ll let you know when the next one’s up.
I also had another sweet-as call-up from longtime friend Richard Dalton, fellow film freak and The Lido Cinema ringmaster. He asked if I might like to host some special screenings at The Lido and three days later in the week before xmas we had a fabulous festive crowd in to watch a new release from Finland called Touch. I’ll keep you Auckland-based filmheads posted on the next Kate Screenings!
PS: Gotta love the description of the “Kate Film Night” tickets.. perfectly dodgy AF #AdultKateNight ha ha!!
THE COMMENTS SECTION
Feel free Join The Projector chat - what you been watching either out or in and what’s on your watchlist? Simply click below to rant and rave, I’m here for you…
Well I did it, the first of my WEEKLY Substacks for 2025 - yay me! Happy New Year and farewell for now FilmFreaks, and remember, “The noblest art is that of making others happy”
KR
God speed, fair Kate. You can do it!
Love the newsletter and reviews are so useful. Miss you on the telly but can hear your voice as I read it, thank you!