Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s NYC...

Ivy and Theo, the picture-perfect couple who have successful careers, great kids, and an enviable sex life. But underneath the façade of the perfect family is a tinderbox.

Set against the grit of post-war Wales, MR BURTON is the extraordinary true story of a working-class boy destined for greatness and the teacher who saw it first.

In May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.

A broker of lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten them breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive.

An interrelated, multistory horror epic about the disappearance of high school students in a small town.

From the makers of Fantail and Baby Done, Workmates is a funny, heartfelt love story starring Sophie Henderson and Matt Whelan as Lucy and Tom, best friends, theatre-makers and co-workers. When an accident threatens to shut down the tiny, underfunded theatre they've built together and Tom wants out, Lucy realises she would do anything to save the theatre and keep her friend… who she might be in love with.

Starring Oscar nominees Naomi Watts and Bill Murray, alongside Bing the Great Dane, THE FRIEND is an unexpected and heartwarming journey through love, friendship, grief.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2024-25 Live in HD season comes to a close with Rossini's effervescent comedy. Russian mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina headlines a winning ensemble as the feisty heroine, Rosina, alongside American tenor Jack Swanson, in his Met debut, as her secret beloved, Count Almaviva. Moldovan baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky stars as Figaro, the ingenious barber of Seville, with Hungarian bass-baritone Peter Kálmán as Dr. Bartolo and Russian bass Alexander Vinogradov as Don Basilio rounding out the principal cast. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts Bartlett Sher's madcap production.

Step into a night of music, romance, and celebration with André Rieu’s Waltz the Night Away! An all-new summer concert captured live from the stunning Vrijthof Square in his beloved hometown of Maastricht is coming to cinemas! Each night, the Vrijthof transforms into a grand ballroom as André and his Johann Strauss Orchestra invite audiences of all ages to waltz under the stars.

When Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is exiled to the island of Procida, he captures the attention of the local postman, Mario. The power of language and poetry opens Mario's mind and expands his horizons, and soon, he wishes to use the newly discovered power of words to woo the beautiful Beatrice.

Dame Robin White may well be one of New Zealand's most significant living artists, but Dame Gaylene Preston resists that kind of overbearing narrative in her new film. The nearest she comes might be a scene when the seventy-something artist considers one of her iconic 1970s paintings, the kind that sell well as framed prints in public gallery gift shops. "This is me as a young painter trying to figure out how to paint," she muses. Surrounding that moment are scenes shot in recent years in Aotearoa, Japan and Kiribati, where White lived for much of the 1990s. We see her as she is now, working at the height of her artistic powers, still energetically moving her practice forward, often with artistic collaborators from other cultures and artistic traditions. We gain an insight into her Baha'i faith-driven belief in peace and shared humanity. This is a masterclass in less-is-more story telling.

Sora's richly conceived teen characters exist on the precipice of adulthood...After a practical joke aimed at the wealthy, possibly corrupt principal is branded an act of terrorism, a state-of-the-art surveillance system is installed, forcing an uneasy magnification of the students' backgrounds. Sora establishes the dramatic parameters of his totalitarian world: a quietly dystopian Tokyo in which everything from advertisements projected on clouds to casual racism is widely accepted. There's a nihilistic streak...between the menace of natural disaster and the welcomed authoritarianism of their principal. Two stories play out in parallel: the student body's reaction to surveillance and shifting dynamics within the friend group. Sora's methodical visual approach allows not just observation, but rumination...As the characters gradually recognize and oppose these forces, affection and mutual understanding begin to guide the movie's moral compass. — Siddhant Adlakha, Joysauce.com

One of the most iconic films in the history of not only Hong Kong cinema, but in the history of action cinema in general, Hard Boiled heavily inspired modern action films such as the John Wick franchise. Standing against the test of time it is still as enjoyable and entertaining as it was when it originally reached international audiences in the early 90s. Chow Yun-fat having a gun fight with gangsters in an exploding hospital while carrying a baby and singing a lullaby simultaneously is something that must be seen to be believed. Hard Boiled was legendary action director John Woo's last film before decamping to Hollywood. Here, he is at the peak of his powers. With a cast featuring Chow Yun-fat (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Tequila, the rule bending police officer that is too trigger happy for his own good and Tony Leung (In the Mood for Love) as Andy, the undercover cop deep in the triad's inner circle. Together they go up against a gang of arms smugglers in a ruthless gun-fu bullet ballet with no boundaries in sight. — Jordan Salomen

Childhood friends Chandan (Vishal Jethwa), a Dalit, and Shoaib (Ishaan Khatter), a Muslim, dream of joining the police. They believe that in doing so, the poverty and discrimination they endure based on caste and faith will be behind them. However, when only Chandan is selected, their friendship is put to the test. Spanning several years and culminating during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film depicts the impossible realities many marginalised youths face in India, while illustrating the deeply entrenched stigmas held by those in power. As university, a sales job, and even a game of cricket pose challenges, Chandan and Shoaib overcome these obstacles with an unwavering determination. Inspired by a true story and thematically personal to writer-director Neeraj Ghaywan, Homebound gives a voice to some of India's most oppressed communities. The film never shies away from the circumstances Chandan and Shoaib have little control over, while their refusal to be defined by antiquated ideologies is emblematic of today's youth. As both young men strive to better their lives for themselves and their families, their enduring spirits are nothing short of remarkable. — Madison Marshall

Recreating the scene of a racist firebombing of the recent past, an independent film production pushes the limits of vérité as a real Qur'an is burnt up with the set. The arty filmmakers are satisfied in capturing the honest reactions of their Islamic extras-pain, fury, disbelief-but they've also lit the fuse to a conspiracy that will enact the public debate between freedom of expression and religious respect in an intimate, paranoid mystery.

The world of Kabuki, the elaborately stylised, male Japanese theatrical tradition, is the setting for director Sang-il Lee's epic melodrama of artistic ambition, rivalry and betrayal. It is an adaptation of a Japanese bestseller by Shuichi Yoshida, and weaves in stunning stagings of classic Kabuki tales that wowed audiences at this year's Cannes edition.

"I'm so sorry, it's just the two of us today." This is nurse Floria's constant refrain as she darts from one emergency to the next, understaffed for an evening in which the ward is already bulging at capacity. It's a manic peek behind the hospital curtain of a particularly busy day of nursing life. Clocking in with Floria at the beginning of the shift and never leaving her for a second, the camera shuttles through a hectic flurry of bodily fluids, uncooperative patients, fastidious procedures, impatient colleges, small victories, and painful failings.

What is love? The age-old question finds a contemporary and adult declination in Dag Johan Haugerud's final chapter to his Sex Dreams Love trilogy, premiered to universal acclaim at the Venice Film Festival 2024. Long, bright Oslo summer days form the backdrop as two medical colleagues, one straight, the other gay, follow parallel trajectories in the games of love, attraction, sex and empathy. Meeting by chance on a ferry, the two describe their searches for intimacy. Marianne is into dating and is looking for love, Tor is looking for sex - by cruising for men on dating apps as he rides to and fro on the ferries. Through Haugerud's effortlessly unpredictable writing, the ferry turns into a magic vessel where the destinies of these two take unexpected turns… With Love, Haugerud questions conventions with detached humor, yet he always treats his characters with profound compassion, delivering an eloquent and moving masterpiece on human relationships in the 21st century. — Paolo Bertolin

When young New Zealanders were mobilised as soldiers and sent across the globe to join the frontlines of Britain's fight against Nazi Germany, the turbulence of the Second World War travelled back into South Pacific living rooms. Distance and death became everyday realities for Kiwis at home - and caused griefs that were at times taboo and suppressed. Dame Gaylene Preston frames seven women, including her own mother, against a black background that creates a stage for their candid, unadorned and surprisingly intimate wartime recollections, as they look back from the 90s in interviews conducted by oral historian Judith Fyfe. The acclaimed documentary, which combines these shared testimonies with personal photographs and newsreel clips, conveys the immense pressure to conform to the value of stoic sacrifice for the cause under the scrutinising eye of neighbours, and reveals lesser-seen layers of resilience. Marriages in the first flush of romance were cut short, pregnancies were navigated alone, conscientious objectors were met with ostracisation and American servicemen scorned, in a nation united around support of their boys in combat overseas - a state of affairs in which women were often granted little voice, as they took on more labour, and absorbed life-changing losses. — Carmen Gray

When a heartbroken wife suspects her husband of cheating, she decides not to confront him and instead hires a "mistress dispeller"-a specialist in ending extra-marital affairs. For a fee that can start at tens of thousands of dollars, this professional will adopt a false identity and involve themselves in the social circle of the client's husband and his lover, eventually befriending the mistress and influencing her to end the affair of her own accord. As economic and cultural norms have shifted in China, this occupation is just one facet of a burgeoning new "love industry" where all manner of relational services can be outsourced.

Familiar locations and the stretches between them can seem warped in surreal ways during wartime. The Ukrainian fighters of the 3rd Assault Brigade can only inch through the few thousand meters remaining to retake a village, measuring the distance by pauses between explosions and enemy trenches. Mstyslav Chernov, a multiformat journalist whose prior documentary 20 Days in Mariupol won an Academy Award, has chronicled Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine since it began. He joins frontline troops in their perilous 2023 counteroffensive push to fly the blue and yellow flag over Andriivka - if, amid the widespread destruction, there is any brick remaining to raise it from. Reclaiming the village's name is considered enough, in a struggle that is as much for self-determination as it is for territory. Battle footage from helmet cameras makes for a queasily immersive experience in a film also haunted by reflections, as men who say they never wanted to become soldiers discuss their lives through a lens of uncertain survival. This is not a trumpet for glory, but a demonstration of resilience in the face of impossibility. — Carmen Gray

This raw, engaging directorial debut feature from rising star, Harris Dickinson (Babygirl, Triangle of Sadness), offers a sympathetic portrait of a homeless drug addict. Mike (Frank Dillane) has hit rock bottom and is trying to put his life back together after a stint in prison. Through a freewheeling narrative, Urchin effectively captures the rollercoaster of emotions and setbacks that come with addiction, a declining mental state and dealing with a world that at times can lack empathy for the mentally ill. Frank Dillane's performance is the highlight as he carries the character through repeated incidents of self-destruction followed by attempts to claw his way back into the rat race. At times hilarious and other times terrifying, Mike is someone you've seen before, someone that you see on the street causing drama, the prospective employee coming to job interviews with big gaps in their CV, your friend that is sweet and outgoing but also an expert on self-sabotage. While the film doesn't offer any answers, it paints a realistic portrait that wants to help others understand the trap of poverty and addiction. — Jordan Salomen

If there is a worthy screen prophet for today's anxious era, when existential dread has returned to a Europe trapped in endless cycles of revolution and societal breakdown, it would have to be Hungarian auteur Béla Tarr. His mysterious, storm-pelted visions, in black-and-white long shots of sad beauty and slow time, take us inside desolated outposts that seem to be the last stop-off spots on reason's inexorable and hellish descent. It is winter when we enter the unnamed and poorly maintained town that is the setting of Werckmeister Harmonies, one of his best-loved masterpieces, co-directed with his longtime collaborator Ágnes Hranitzky and based on a 1989 novel by László Krasznahorkai. Tavern drunks hint at something amiss in the planetary spheres, before a ragtag circus carting a stuffed whale carcass arrives, along with a shadowy demagogue whose enigmatic presence is enough to stir up the discontented locals to riot. The violent unrest is observed by János (Lars Rudolph), a mail carrier and dreamer obsessed with musical theory, who is at a loss to fully grasp the group hysteria as it takes hold - or to plan an easy escape. — Carmen Gray

Catalan filmmaker Patricia Font takes us to 1930s Spain by way of real-life educator Antonio Benaiges, assigned to teach in the small village of Bañuelos de Bureba. Intertwined with these flashback sequences are scenes from present day Catalonia and Burgos where Ariadna, the granddaughter of one of Antonio's pupils, seeks to locate ancestral remains at the mass graves of La Pedraja. Antonio's leftist leanings and critiques of the new Francoist government anger the more conservative townsfolk, particularly the town mayor. This is despite his daughter being one of the pupils benefiting most from the free expression encouraged by Antonio's Freinet method teachings. Meanwhile, Ariadna teeters between hope and despair in her search for closure - a human vessel embodying the plight of a nation still wrestling with the consequences of a brutal conflict. The closing credits remark that the remains of 12,000 people have been exhumed across the country. Like Ariadna, the film attempts to seek answers from the horrors of a war that took place almost a century ago - one driven by political sentiments that feel unsettlingly familiar as some of today's most powerful nations shift towards fascism. — Matt Bloomfield

In It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Amy Berg's rapturous documentary about Buckley's extraordinary rise in the '90s and his tragically cut-short life, we hear Buckley sing in every conceivable context: in clubs, in stadiums, in the recording studio, and when he's just sitting around.