New Years' Eve fireworks explode off the Sky Tower in central Auckland at midnight. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Richard Robinson.
New Years' Eve fireworks explode off the Sky Tower in central Auckland at midnight. New Zealand Herald Photograph by Richard Robinson.
New Year’s Eve 2022
(TVNZ 1, 2, Duke and TVNZ OnDemand)
On Saturday night we wave goodbye to 2022 and welcome in 2023. New Year’s Eve is a big party night and if you’re celebrating with friends or family at home you’d be well advised to flick on the telly at 11.50pm to ring in the official countdown.
TVNZ is broadcasting and streaming the big moment live across all its channels. While it’s a shame there’s no big multi-hour extravaganza variety show as in the past, this 25-minute show still promises plenty of celebrity cameos, comedy and the best seat in the country to enjoy the fireworks displays.
You’ll get to see the rapture of fireworks exploding from the top of the Sky Tower. This five-minute show is always an awe-inspiring display. But of more excitement is the fact that TVNZ is also live broadcasting Aotearoa’s first-ever drone show. If you’ve ever seen footage of what these drones can be programmed to do you’ll know how mindblowing they are.
Having recently rocked the world with their tell-all doco, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, now turn to the stories of others. This one, however, is unlikely to result in anywhere near as much scandal. Unless you’re one of those folks who spent a month ruining the lawn of parliament earlier this year.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Netflix documentary series Live to Lead. Streaming from Saturday.
The high-profile couple has produced this seven-part, inspiration-inducing documentary series. It sees a worthy batch of extraordinary leaders reflecting on their lives, legacies and the change they hope to spark in the world. The show talks to people like the former U.S. Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, climate change activist Greta Thunberg, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and our very own PM, Jacinda Ardern.
The idea of the show is that by highlighting people who have dedicated their lives to making the world a better place you’ll find your own personal inspiration to bring with you into the new year.
The latest animated movie from the magical folks at Disney has been called “visually wonderous”, and an “absolutely gorgeous genre fest”. So, it’s a surprise that it was a bit of a flop when it sailed on to cinema screens a month or so back. However, now that it’s landed on Disney+ it is far more likely to be discovered as a hidden treasure.
Scene from Strange World, streaming now on Disney+.
The movie is a pulpy sci-fi adventure that follows a famous family of explorers as they fantastically voyage into uncharted lands and incredibly strange worlds. At the heart of the movie, among the mind-boggling landscapes and crazy space critters, is a classic father-son dynamic that revolves around choosing your own path in the world.
Unusually for Disney, they overplayed their hand with the familial relationship part of the story. Most critics have agreed that the film drags when it focuses on warming your heart instead of stimulating your wonder. When it shifts back to the family making their way across the bizarre, alien world, it really takes off.
Still, one critic described it as “fast, fun, and full of freaky creatures”, which is as good as you can hope for from a school holidays movie.
