The best things we watched (and listened to) over summer
Plus: A cracking new season of The Traitors UK, the emotional Robbie Williams-is-a-chimp movie, and a frenetic new medical drama.
Welcome back to Rec Room for 2025. I hope you had a refreshing break, or at least had the chance to knock off some of the shows on your streaming watchlist. I spent Dunedin’s coldest summer in 25 years watching a lot of television with my kids, which meant endless episodes of Friends, nightly instalments of The Block AU, Taskmaster reruns and delighting in every episode of new season of The Traitors UK.
No matter how your summer has been, the good news is that there’s plenty of great shows and movies to look forward to in 2025 (more on that next week). In the meantime, if you’re looking for something to watch or listen to for the rest of the summer, we’ve got you covered. The Spinoff team has gathered together a selection of the best shows, movies, podcasts and playlists that kept us entertained over the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Leo (Netflix)
My partner and I watched exactly one thing on the TV in our Japan accommodation while on holiday and it was, inexplicably, Leo. We hadn’t heard a peep about Leo before that fateful night and it was probably exhaustion that allowed us to hit play on a year-old animation about an old lizard, but believe me when I say neither of us have ever laughed more in a movie. Leo is a classroom Lizard in Florida, specifically a tuatara (we squealed at this reveal but also there’s no way he could’ve been a tuatara) with a life expectancy of 75 years. When he realises he’s 74 and about to die, he hatches a plan to escape. But his plans keep getting foiled by the kids who take turns looking after him at home, and all the problems they have that only an old, wise lizard can solve. Leo is an Adam Sandler vehicle with Adam Sandler sensibilities and I’m too scared to revisit it, even a little, now that I’m back to my regular life. Maybe it was just a bit of holiday euphoria clouding our judgment, or maybe Leo is one of the best, funniest movies ever made. / Madeleine Chapman
The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (Netflix)
Scheduling issues meant that I missed this incredible documentary in the film festival last year, so it was a thrill to see it bobbing like a life raft in Netflix’s stinking sludge pit of recent arrivals. The Remarkable Life of Ibelin tells the story of Mats Steen, a Norwegian online gamer who passed away at 25 from a degenerative muscular disease. In the final years of his life he became a World of Warcraft obsessive and, thanks to some savvy archiving and brilliant animation, filmmaker Benjamin Ree is able to recreate the journey through his rich, thrilling and compassionate online life. There aren’t many good stories about the internet these days, and this is one the most moving documentaries I’ve seen in years – a testament to the power of community, even if that community is the fictional guild of Starlight. Watch it. / Alex Casey
Gavin and Stacey: The Finale (TVNZ+)
There’s always a risk when a beloved TV series gets rebooted after several years away from our screens: can you ever recreate the magic? Gavin and Stacey: The Finale proves the answer is yes. This one-off 90-minute special was the final episode of the award-winning British sitcom that began in 2007, and it delivered the last chapter in the love story between Gavin from Essex and Stacey from Wales, whose whirlwind romance brought two very different families together nearly 20 years ago.
The finale wasn’t perfect, but it was the perfect goodbye. I watched the entire thing with a mad grin across my face, thrilled to see that Gwen still makes a mean omelette and Three Steaks Pam is as gloriously hectic as ever. It was like reuniting with old friends: there were the same running gags and some delightful surprises, but it still celebrated the unique quirks of these ordinary people and their wonderfully everyday lives. When I got to the end, I immediately watched it over again, and then dove back into the original series (also on TVNZ+), hoovering down three seasons in two days. Tidy. / Tara Ward
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Netflix)
I like to wear a long, white, thin cotton grandma nightie on the beach. I’ll say it's for sun and heat protection, but in fact there’s a romantic whimsy I’m trying to capture with its broderie trims. Just before I stained it with a cherry, my friend called it “pretty” and said it reminded her of a beautiful new show on Netflix, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Based on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1967 novel of the same name, the series follows the Buendia family and the town José Arcadio built in a swamp after trying to find the sea for years. The novel is famous as a representation of magical realism and Marquez never thought it suitable for adapting onto a screen. He’s been proven wrong. It's been done with care, attention to detail and authenticity – Marquez’s two sons acted as consultants and co-producers. The result is beautiful – period costumes are carefully put together, sets are detailed and verdant, the acting restrained and powerful. / Gabi Lardies
Rob Has a Podcast interviewing Emily Nussbaum (Spotify)
Sorry to be one of those people who recommends a podcast about a book, but I loved hearing former Survivor player and longtime reality podcaster Rob Cesternino getting deep in the weeds with The New Yorker’s Emily Nussbaum about her new book ‘Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV’. Covering everything from early Big Brother, to reality TV cliques being like college alma maters (“Survivor players think they are Ivy League”) to the influence that The Apprentice had on the course of US politics, it is a super engaging discussion between two of the world’s leading experts on the genre and I am now frothing to get my hands on the book. / AC
Conclave (in cinemas)
"The premise is gossipy priests," I explained to my boyfriend, separating him from the recently released video game Path of Exile II. We were going to see Conclave, the new Ralph Fiennes movie about all the Catholic Cardinals gathering to choose the next pope. Fiennes is Dean Cardinal Lawrence, responsible for convening the election process, but not without his own ideas about what direction the global church should go in. Questions of how progressive the church should be, the role of women and queer people, the increasing population of Catholics in Africa and Latin America compared to declining traditional power centres in the US and Italy linger at the edges. Really, though, this is a drama about ambition, with a sparse colour scheme of white, red and black, bouncy sound design, lush vestments, huge amount of emotion conveyed by twitches of Fiennes' face and yes – gossipy priests. It's the perfect blend of fun (you may have seen the memes about the vaping priest) and political. / Shanti Mathias
Broomgate (CBC podcast)
A podcast about curling doesn’t seem like it will be the most interesting thing, but this story of a scandal that rocked the world of curling is gripping. The star of the show isn’t the sport or the people involved, but broom heads and the sweeping techniques that changed how the game was played during the 2015/2016 season. Full of the same intrigue you’d expect from any series revealing a bombshell kind of truth, there are business rivalries, heroes and villains and the near destruction of the sport at the heart of it. Hosted by comedian and former curler John Cullen, it’s a six-part series. Cullen is involved, referring to himself as “patient zero” of broomgate as he was one of the first curlers to use the new broom heads. / Anna Rawhiti-Connell
‘Balearic Beat’ playlists (Spotify)
This summer I finally cracked the code for putting on background music in social settings (that doesn’t involve spending hours carefully putting together a playlist then getting the pip because no one’s even listening to it), and the secret word is “Balearic”. Named for the group of famous party islands off the coast of Spain (Ibiza et al), it’s not so much a genre as it is a state of mind, a way of life, a movement started by linen-clad DJs in the 1980s playing eclectic, cosmopolitan, breezily danceable sets on the beach at sunset. If you want to cultivate that vibe at home (or in your shop, cafe etc) all you have to do is type “Balearic” into Spotify, put one of the playlists on shuffle (I recommend this one curated by ultimate taste merchants Numero Group) et voila, your DJ duties are done and all your guests will think you're a suave and sophisticated host. Also good for putting on while cooking, doing a puzzle or otherwise pottering. / Calum Henderson
Join us live in 2025
We have four fantastic live events in 2025. Join us in Auckland and Wellington for The Spinoff Live.
Auckland at Q Theatre: Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club Party, February 13 and Gone by Lunchtime Live, April 9.
Wellington at the Hannah Playhouse: The Fold Live, February 20 and The Spinoff Book Club, March 13.
Why you should watch: The Traitors UK (ThreeNow)
The best reality series of them all is back, along with a fresh cast hoping to scheme and plot their way to a huge cash prize. For those yet to discover the delights of The Traitors, it’s a murder-mystery game that takes a group of strangers, chucks them in a Scottish castle and asks them to knock each other off. Those secretly chosen as Traitors are responsible for “murdering” the other players one by one, while the rest become Faithfuls, who must turn detective to expose the Traitors, before they themselves are murdered. This year’s players are clued up on the game and out to win at whatever cost, which gives the season a more prickly vibe than we’ve seen before – but it’s still gloriously compelling television, each episode filled with ridiculous theatre, fascinating human psychology and nailbiting cliffhangers. Even if you don’t like reality TV, it’s worth giving The Traitors a whirl.
You might also like: Reckon you could win The Traitors? Check out this expert’s guide to beating the Faithful, while this piece floats all the conspiracy theories about this season’s players (contains spoilers).
Why you should watch: Better Man (in cinemas now)
A movie about the life of musician Robbie Williams, except that Williams is played by a chimp? It sounds ridiculous, but Alex Casey watched the new movie Better Man and found herself bawling, in a good way. “Rendered by our own Wētā FX, the fact you are watching a CGI chimp barely registers once Williams’ remarkable story starts to unfurl. I had definitely forgotten how absurd it was by the time I was sobbing into my sweet and salty popcorn as a young forlorn (chimp) Williams sang ‘Feel’ on the bleak streets of Stoke-on-Trent because his (human) father left him,” she writes. “Just like Williams’ mawkish music, Better Man wears its chimp heart on its chimp sleeve, and not everyone will be a fan… It is audacious and weird, sinking its teeth deep into mental illness, ambition, loss and addiction, while also delivering some of the most memorable pop hits of the early 2000s.”
More pop culture reads from The Spinoff:
At last, some great news: The Friday Poem is saved!
From the warmth of our puffer jackets, Alex Casey and I kicked the year off by whinging about the summer that never was.
Gabi Lardies strolls through the worst Google reviews of New Zealand’s best walks.
It happens to the best of us: this week’s Help Me Hera reaches out to a reader who has already broken four of their five new year’s resolutions.
“Was Twin Peaks the greatest television show ever made? Of course it was, and there will never be anything like it ever again.” With today’s news of director David Lynch’s death, this 2017 piece from Angela Cuming looks back on the importance of Twin Peaks.
We Live in Time: a London romance of ‘rare honesty’
Critics are raving about the incredible on-screen chemistry of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in We Live in Time. This decade-spanning, deeply moving romance follows Almut and Tobias through snapshots of their life together – from difficult truths to joyful moments cherished. In cinemas from January 23rd. Book tickets now.
Why you should watch: The Pitt (Neon)
Fans of a tense, frenetic medical drama will love Neon’s new series The Pitt, which takes place in a cash-strapped emergency department of a Pittsburgh hospital. ER star Noah Wyle climbs back into his scrubs to play Dr. Michael "Robby" Rabinavitch, a brilliant doctor who remains troubled by the traumatic experiences of working through the Covid-19 pandemic. The twist with The Pitt is that it plays out in real time: 15 episodes over 15 hours, with the entire series unfolding over one hospital shift. With Wyle in the lead role, comparisons with ER are inevitable (even the widow of ER creator Michael Crichton is suing the team behind The Pitt for making an uncredited ER spinoff), but if you want a compelling depiction of the challenges of a busy inner-city hospital, The Pitt should do the trick.
Before we pop off…
Congratulations to Leisa Elliott of Canterbury, who was recently named the winner of the “Ugliest Lawn in the World” competition.
Tickets for the 2025 Dunedin Fringe Festival are now on sale – check out the jam packed programme here as the festival celebrates its 25th year.
Here’s everything you need to know if you’re heading to Luke Combs’ Eden Park shows in Tāmaki Makaurau this weekend.
“A taking over of our town by Hollywood”: Oamaru is currently being transformed into 1800s California, as the Netflix series East of Eden (starring Florence Pugh) rolls into town.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
