ARE THERE ANY GREAT NZ MOVIES?

Whenever I'm asked if there are any great New Zealand movies I don't know where to start. Not because there are so many I don't know which ones to choose first, but because the short answer is "No, not really" There are certainly not many I would call "great".

 

If I had to pick my favourites from the past 50 years, I can only think of three that I really liked and thought were exceptional.

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls000380472/

 

 Goodbye Pork Pie (1980)

Dumped by his girlfriend, a man joins a reckless youth in a stolen yellow mini and they drive the length of New Zealand, attracting cops and media attention, determined to get to Invercargill.

    Director - Geoff Murphy

    Stars - Tony Barry, Kelly Johnson, Claire Oberman

Bad Taste (1987)

The population of a small town disappears and is replaced by aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.

Director - Peter Jackson 

Stars- Terry Potter, Pete O'Herne, Craig Smith

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

 

A national manhunt is ordered for a rebellious kid and his foster uncle who go missing in the wild New Zealand bush.

    Director - Taika Waititi
   
Stars - Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rima Te Wiata

 

A CIA MOVIE

 I've been watching mostly old movies lately because let's face it, modern movies are utter rubbish. 

"Three Days of the Condor" is a 1975 American spy thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Robert Redford, along with Faye Dunaway. It was based on the 1974 novel Six Days of the Condor by James Grady. 

With the benefit of half a century of hindsight, this movie is quite revealing. It features a secret deep state division of the CIA, who think nothing of killing anyone who poses a threat to their plans. The movie is set in New York, and these CIA operatives work from an office in the Twin Towers. 

They use computers and phone systems to monitor people, and have little fear of being exposed, because they control mainstream media outlets like The New York Times.

Unlike most modern movies it's quite engrossing and entertaining!

TOUGH GUYS DON'T DANCE

This movie is from 1987, and it is based on a Norman Mailer book, it got terrible reviews, and many people consider it to be appalling. In some ways it is, but I have to say I still think it is one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen.

I recently watched it again, and still found it enthralling. Yes the acting is a bit odd, but compared to the limp, woke, turgid crap that passes for movies these days, this is a work of sheer genius.

The reviews are terrible, but ignore them, reviewers don't know shit from chewed dates. And this movie is definitely chewed dates!

This review is quite entertaining really: https://film-authority.com/2021/03/24/tough-guys-dont-dance/

 "Tough Guys Don’t Dance is trash, but it’s amusingly self-important trash, a film that lays open the vanities and miscalculations of the creative force behind it"

"For bad movie fans, it’s a masterpiece of over-ripe dialogue, ridiculously melodramatic situations, and rabid, macho posturing that curdles the moment it hits the screen. Over 30 years later, we’re still talking about Tough Guys Don’t Dance"

 

MASONIC MOVIES

At some point in nearly every movie there will be a scene with a black and white checkered floor.

Often it's the floor of a cafe or bar, but they can be anywhere. In "F1 The Movie" it was the floor of a laundromat. Even the original Matrix movie has it's own tributes to Freemasonry. 

 

Most music videos tend to have them as well. 

https://exposingthematrix.blogspot.com/2012/03/masonic-checkerboardduality-symbolism.html
 

 

What exactly does the Mosaic Pavement represent in Masonry?

In short, it represents the moral fallibility of mankind.
 

https://masonicfind.com/the-checkered-tile-in-freemasonry

WHEN MOVIES WERE MOVIES

 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of my favourite movies, I remember seeing it when it came out in 2008, and watching it again now, it's hard to believe it's 17 years old. David Fincher is a great director, and sometimes Brad Pitt is a great actor too. 

I wonder if there will ever be any great movies again, or will the movie industry just continue to collapse like the music industry - https://yts.mx/.../the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-2008

 

I'm into watching Formula 1 racing, and the only new movie in 2025 that I had any interest in checking out was "F1", again staring Brad Pitt. In all honesty it was the first movie this decade I really wanted to see, because I think the movie industry has totally lost the plot, and I'm not interested in watching lame and gay, woke garbage. F1 is very much an old school 80's style movie, but the action is spectacular, and I enjoyed it.