Sam Brooks is a playwright, journalist and critic. Email him on sam@thespinoff.co.nz
Sam Brooks, lifelong gamer, lost himself on a virtual battlefield in the days after his mother’s death. He reviews a book by a kindred spirit.
Sam Brooks reviews Mean Mums, the new sitcom from Three that manages to make putting a great show together look easy.
Before Big Little Lies, there was Desperate Housewives. Sam Brooks lists all the truly terrible things these women did over eight seasons.
Inheritance plays as part of The Basement Theatre's Matariki season this week. Sam Brooks talks to one of its creators about what the show wants to say.
Sometimes it’s a joke. Sometimes it’s a zombie reality show. And sometimes it’s a ten week celebrity dancing competition.
A new production of Once, the musical based on the 2007 film opens in Auckland tonight. Sam Brooks talks to the director Jesse Peach about putting the New Zealand premiere on its feet.
Sam Brooks reviews Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fuelled, an exercise in mining nostalgia for diminishing returns.
After 15 seasons, pretty much every doctor on Grey's Anatomy should be fired or in jail.
This month marks the 20th anniversary of Driver, a game whose innovations pioneered some of gaming's biggest present-day trends. Sam Brooks takes a look at the groundbreaking game's launch – and the series' unfortunate decline.
Our three month celebrity charity journey is over! Sam Brooks power-ranks the finale of Dancing with The Stars.
Tomorrow, A Fine Balance opens in Auckland, marking a historic collaboration between two pillars of Auckland theatre. Sam Brooks talked to two of the team – Amit Ohdedar and Ahi Karunharan – about the show.
E3 is the biggest week of gaming news of the year – which means it's easy to lose track of everything that's been announced. Sam Brooks rounds up them all up in one convenient place for you.
She has scores of credits to her name, awards galore, she's an ONZM, and she stars in the cabaret Delicious Oblivion, opening tonight in Auckland. Jennifer Ward-Lealand talks to Sam Brooks about her most memorable roles.
"It's the semi-final of Dancing with the Stars! And so soon!" said nobody. Sam Brooks power-ranks the penultimate episodes of Dancing with the Stars. Everybody danced twice tonight! The theme for …
Sam Brooks goes to a ‘lads lunch’ expecting the worst – and somehow gets the advertised ‘good vibes’.
Sam Brooks talks to internationally-acclaimed opera singer Sandy Piques Eddy about the ins and outs of maintaining her voice, and how having a baby changed her career – in a way you wouldn’t expect.
It's week eight of Dancing with the Stars, and (some of) our favourite celebs from past seasons return! Sam Brooks power-ranks the contestants.
Sam Brooks reviews Total War: Three Kingdoms and finally finds the definitive Romance of the Three Kingdoms game.
A new book details the long-running fight between Matt Blomfield and Cameron Slater.
They're not tiny dancers, they're Elton John sized! Thank the lord! Sam Brooks power-ranks week seven of Dancing with the Stars.
Ten years on from its first episode, Sam Brooks revisits all the wild, dumb, and plain terrible things that happened on Glee.
At over five hundred million streams, Ava Max is proving to be one of the biggest popstars of 2019. Not only that, writes Sam Brooks, she might actually be the most perfect.
All four seasons of Laura Linney cancer-comedy The Big C drops on Lightbox today. Sam Brooks writes about the series' surprisingly uplifting journey through a woman's nightmare.
To celebrate the release of her third album, Dedicated, here's our guide to becoming a Carly Rae Jepsen fan. A Carly Rae Jepstan, if you will.
It's week six of Dancing with the Stars, and the cream has risen from beneath the crop! Sam Brooks power-ranks the contestants.
Sam Brooks has a transcendent experience at the part of the Auckland Writers Festival grown-ups never hear about: the school sessions.
