Sam Brooks is a playwright, journalist and critic. Email him on sam@thespinoff.co.nz
Sam Brooks heads along to Meatstock 2020, and finds himself questioning the symbiotic relationship between meat-eating and machismo.
To All The Boys I've Loved Before was the Netflix hit of 2018, but the sequel feels designed to replicate the success of the original without half as much heart.
Sam Brooks talks to artists in this year's New Zealand Festival of the Arts about the work they’re making and what collaboration means to them.
Sam Brooks watched today's NFL Super Bowl and recaps the moments that mattered.
Sam Brooks watches Netflix's Miss Americana, the new Taylor Swift documentary – and finds it light on revelation, heavy on image rehabilitation.
Sam Brooks makes the case for raising your kids on the exquisite Japanese anime films, which have just landed on Netflix.
On its 20th anniversary, Sam Brooks looks back on The Sims, the safest space for an entire generation of gamers.
Now that the new year is well and truly underway, how can you make the most of your time and feel good about it? Sam Brooks has you covered.
Twenty-two years ago, Lucy Lawless wasn't just playing Xena, she was part of one of SNL's greatest ever sketches. Sam Brooks pays tribute to Stevie Nicks Fajita Round-Up.
She's an Oscar-winning actress, a widely hated celebrity and founder of one of the most successful wellness brands in the world. And all your jade egg jokes make no difference at all.
Avenue 5, the new show from The Thick of It and Veep genius Armando Iannucci, veers off-course after an ambitious launch, writes Sam Brooks
Sam Brooks covers how long it’ll take to binge some of the most bingeable shows – and how to prepare to for it.
Is there a more empathetic show on television than the British teen comedy-drama Sex Education? Unlikely, writes Sam Brooks.
Sam Brooks went to the FOMO 2020 festival in Auckland, and was relieved to find it was more than just the final time that Lizzo will ever perform at 7:20pm.
In the year 2000 there was no Netflix or Amazon Prime or On Demand; the 'too much TV' era was still years in the future. So what did we watch instead?
Another year, another avalanche of television to keep track of. Sam Brooks rounds up all the shows you'll want to watch this year – new, returning, and local.
Summer reissue: Ten years on from its first episode, Sam Brooks revisits all the wild, dumb, and plain terrible things that happened on Glee.
Sam Brooks steps back in time to 2009, the year of Now! That's What I Call Music 31. What did his younger self think of those songs – and do they still hold up today?
Sam Brooks digs into his childhood to present his magnum opus: a ranking of all 151 OG Pokémon.
With Falling Inn Love, New Zealand gets its very own Netflix romcom – so how accurate is its depiction of small town NZ? Sam Brooks investigates.
Sam Brooks reviews the second season of You, the surprise Netflix hit of 2018 that made toxic masculinity fun and watchable, and it finally finds the depth to earn that fun.
Sam Brooks reviews Netflix's The Witcher, a wildly fun adaptation of the Polish fantasy novels of the same name.
Culture editor Sam Brooks saw a midnight screening of the new Star Wars film last night. These are his fast reckons.
Holidays are stressful, and it can be real easy to lash out. Here's a list of easy things to do to make sure you don't come off like a Grinch this festive season.
Google just released what New Zealanders looked for the most in 2019, and it says a lot about us. Not all of it is good.
Sam Brooks interviews Cecily, the local singer behind surprise sleeper hit 'Thinking 'Bout Me'.
