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Pop CultureMarch 3, 2025

New to streaming: What to watch on Netflix NZ, Neon and more this week

Guest writer

We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+

If you love family-friendly TV: Secrets at Red Rocks (Neon, March 9)

Jam-packed with adventure, thrills and fantasy, Secrets at Red Rocks brings to life the Celtic myth of the selkie and transports it to the awe-inspiring landscape of Aotearoa. The adaption of Rachael King’s beloved book features rising star Korban Knock as Jake, an eccentric 12-year-old who finds a magical sealskin and unwittingly unleashes a spell that threatens to destroy his family. Filmed on Pōneke’s rugged coast, Jake must muster up the courage to face this unexpected danger before it’s too late. Like Under the Mountain and Whale Rider, Secrets at Red Rocks will be sure to capture the imagination of the whole whānau.

If you like nature documentaries with a twist: Endangered Species Aotearoa (TVNZ+, March 3)

Comedian Pax Assadi and conservationist Nicola Toki are back to track down our most at-risk critters. The season kicks off with “armchair wildlife enthusiast” Assadi and Toki visiting Tiritiri Matangi Island to witness the banding and release of the adorable tītipounamu – Aotearoa’s smallest bird. Endangered Species Aotearoa “lifts viewers up with humour,” wrote Tara Ward in her review last year, “and then brings us back to earth by reminding us that as far as the planet goes, we’re up the freshwater creek without a paddle.”

If you enjoy offbeat documentaries: When the Cows Come Home (DocPlay, March 3)

It’s been seven years since Costa Botes’ last feature, but the icon of local independent filmmaking is back with When the Cows Come Home. Premiering at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival, Botes focuses his lens on farmer-philosopher Andrew Johnstone’s unique relationship with Tilly and Maggie, two cows he saved from slaughter. Described as the “most Kiwi film ever”, When the Cows Come Home explores human-animal commooonication, farming and the whims of fortune. This wonderfully idiosyncratic documentary about Johnstone and his bovine besties is sure to stand out from the herd.

If you like crime-comedy capers: Deli Boys (Disney+, March 6)

In this riotous new outing from Vice star Abdullah Saeed, the pampered lives of Mir (Asif Ali) and Raj (Saagar Shaikh) are upended when their convenience store magnate father dies in a freak accident. The Pakistani-American brothers soon discover that their father’s convenience store empire was a front – the actual family business has been dealing in drugs with a side of murder. À la Michael Corleone it’s now time for the reluctant (and incompetent) mafiosos to take up their fathers mantle in the criminal underworld.

If you like tear-jerking K-drama: When Life Gives You Tangerines (Netflix, March 7)

Set on the picturesque Jeju Island, the “Queen of K-pop” IU and Park Bo-gum star in the hotly-anticipated K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines. Across four seasons from the 1960’s to the present day, the K-drama follows Ae-sun, a dream-filled rebel and Gwan-sik, a smitten square peg. With the tagline “Dedicated to you. Still blooming, always dreaming,” expect When Life Gives You Tangerines to shatter your heart into a thousand pieces and then put it all back together.

Pick of the Flicks: The Conquest of Everest (DocPlay, March 6)

The first successful summit of Mount Everest in 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay is the stuff of legend, but few know that fellow Kiwi mountaineer George Lowe was there to film the expedition. Shot in majestic technicolour, the Oscar-nominated documentary The Conquest of Everest chronicles the history, the preparation and first ascent of the Goddess Mother of the World. One critic described the scene where Hillary and Norgay return from the summit of Everest as “one of the grandest, most throat-choking moments” they’d ever witnessed in film.

The rest

Netflix

Hot Wheels Let’s Race: S3 (March 3)

Andrew Schulz: LIFE (March 4)

The Watchers (March 4)

Larissa: The Other Side of Anitta (March 5)

Medusa (March 5)

With Love, Meghan (March 5)

The Leopard (March 5)

Tyler Perry’s Beauty in Black S1 P2 (March 6)

Love is Blind: Sweden: S1: After the Altar (March 6)

CHAOS: The Manson Murders (March 7)

When Life Gives You Tangerines (March 7)

Nadaaniyan (March 7)

Delicious (March 7)

Plankton: The Movie (March 7)

Formula 1: Drive to Survive S7 (March 7)

TVNZ+

Anger Management (March 3)

Hard Quiz S6 (March 3)

Endangered Species Aotearoa S2 (March 3)

Cold Case: Brett Fraser (March 3)

Get Carter (March 4)

Laid (March 7)

Hard Quiz (March 7)

Dope Girls (March 8)

Double The Money (March 8)

My Best Friend’s Wedding (March 8)

Coraline (March 9)

Limitless (March 9)

Neon

T.I.M (March 3)

Australia’s Open (March 3)

Billionaire Blooms (March 3)

The Watchers (March 3)

The Parenting (March 3)

Vida the Vet (March 3)

Who is Luigi Magione? (March 4)

Bonnie And Clyde (March 5)

It Ends With Us (March 6)

The Gentlemen (March 7)

The Baldwins (March 7)

Gold Rush S15 (March 7)

Aussie Gold Hunters S9 (March 7)

Show Dogs (March 8)

2001: A Space Odyssey (March 9)

Secrets at Red Rocks (March 9)

Prime Video

Hounds of War (March 4)

The Nanny S1-S6 (March 4)

Practical Magic (March 6)

Picture This (March 6)

Disney+

Daredevil: Born Again (March 5)

Deli Boys (March 6)

Another You (March 7)

Doctor Odyssey: Midseason Return (March 8)

Grey’s Anatomy: Season 21: Midseason Return (March 8)

Apple TV+

Immediate Family (March 3)

Hayu

Denise Richards and Her Wild Things (March 5)

Acorn/AMC+/Shudder

Satranic Panic (AMC+, Shudder, March 3)

Living with Chucky (Shudder, March 3)

The Retaliators (Shudder, March 3)

T-Blockers (Shudder, March 3)

Recipes for Love and Murder S2 (Acorn TV, March 3)

Dark Winds S3 (AMC+, March 9)

DocPlay

When the Cows Come Home (March 3)

The Conquest of Everest (March 6)

Keep going!

A green background with all 10 Taite Prize nominees collaged in black and white

The Taite Music Prize nominees for 2025

Pop CultureMarch 3, 2025

And the Taite Music Prize shortlist for 2025 is…

Alex Casey

Senior writer

The Taite Music Prize nominees for 2025

Last week, we reviewed all 81 albums nominated for the Taite Music Prize. Today, the shortlist has landed.

Now in its 16th year, the Taite Music Prize has become one of the highest accolades in New Zealand independent music. Championing “bold and boundary-pushing albums”, the award is named after the late music journalist Dylan Taite. “He had impeccable taste and the clout to get almost any interview, including the last one Bob Marley gave on TV,” wrote Max Johns in the intro to his review of all 81 longlisted albums last week. “His style was something else.”

This morning, the 10 nominee that have made the 2025 Taite shortlist have been announced. Let us take a quick look at the albums vying for the prize.

Te Whakamiha, by Anna Coddington

“Quality,” our Taite-head Max Johns said in his mini-review of Coddington’s eighth album. “Poppy, bilingual funk that I’ll happily bounce uncomprehendingly along to.” In terms of previous accolades, Coddington already won the APRA Silver Scroll last year for lead single ‘Kātuarehe’, which The Listener’s Graham Reid described as “an overt tribute to Prince’s sassy funk for the dance floor.”

Dangerous Day To Be A Cold One, by DARTZ

“It’s also a dangerous day to be a ramshackle Kiwi pub-slash-music venue,” The Rolling Stone wrote in their four star review. “Their raucous punk rock songs are made for the live setting, to be performed wildly in front of a packed pit of ecstatic revellers.” Johns elaborated for us on the “smart dressed up as stupid” second album: “you’re yelling along to a punk song about ripping summertime bongs, then find yourself covering the housing crisis and Treaty breaches.”

Out Of My Head, by Delaney Davidson

“Out Of My Head has a spacious, unshowy atmosphere,” Johns wrote. “Its light country base draws broadly on blues and rock, with some near-cosmic touches. Tap your toes, hum along, and expect to hear new things on your 50th and 100th listens.” Despite being written in the midst of the pandemic, critics elsewhere noted the “freedom and joy” and “theatrical feel”.

Great Haunting, by Earth Tongue

Their perfect weekend playlist might ooze with “cheesy disco gold” but Earth Tongue’s Great Haunting sits somewhere closer to “fuzzed-up doom metal with an old school psychedelic aura and plenty of gothic influence,” wrote Johns. Praising their myth making and horror movie influences, RNZ’s Tony Stamp said “the vision that runs through their output, musically and visually, feels complete, and compelling.”

Soft Power, by Fazerdaze

“Fazerdaze’s smart bedroom pop returns, just a little quieter and more introspective,” wrote Johns. “Bring your high expectations, just remember that everyone grows up.” In another four star review, Rolling Stone said this: “the Aotearoa artist broadens her lush sonic palette with heavier synths, electronics, and scuzzy rock touches, pushing the boundaries of her indie-pop while retaining the raw intimacy that defined her quietly brilliant earlier work.”

Amelia Murray, aka Fazerdaze. (Photo: Frances Carter)

The Rose Of Jericho, by Georgia Lines

The debut album from the Mount Maunganui born pop artist has been called “so raw and delicate that you immediately feel the heartache which had to be overcome to make it” and “a memorable debut that will define her image for some time to come.” Here on The Spinoff, Johns said “you’ll hear performances that few people could match and you’ll hear reasons for this album’s chart success.”

Blue Dreams, by Holly Arrowsmith

“Feels like this album’s quiet personality would shine through on repeat,” wrote Johns, who cursed himself with a one-listen-only rule. Elsewhere, RNZ called it an “an immediately impressive collection made with evident care” and filled with “wandering, philosophical songs.” In a ‘your favourite artists favourite artist’ scenario, Mousey even shouted out Arrowsmith’s “Canterbury country sound” in her perfect weekend playlist for is.

Sabotage, by Mel Parsons

Scoring yet another four star review from Rolling Stone, Mel Parsons’ sixth album Sabotage has been called “tight, fat-free collection of her trademark alt-country and indie folk” and some of her best work to date. “On Sabotage she blends in a wisp of folk, replacing the rockier edge we’ve heard from her previously, and it’s a successful evolution,” wrote Johns for us. “This is a high-grade album, serious, understated and perfectly pitched.”

WAEREA by MOKOTRON

“The deep bass gets me dad-dancing and the sound of the koauau raises goosebumps,” wrote Johns of MOKOTRON’s album, described elsewhere as “delivering nine tracks of pure dark Māori bass”. “The point was to put a flag in the ground for Māori Bass music,” Mokotron told The Spinoff last year. “As the logical next step in the evolution of dance music in this country and the ongoing cultural renaissance of our people.”

Leatherman & the Mojave Green by Troy Kingi

The eighth instalment in Kingi’s ambitious project to make 10 albums in 10 genres in 10 years, Leatherman & the Mojave Green “hits hard, taps into America’s indigenous history and spirituality, and sounds like a party,” wrote Johns. “Surely the only album ever to open with a line about “charging through the rectal area” Extra for experts: watch Troy Kingi’s Desert Hīkoi on TVNZ+ for a behind-the-scenes look at the album coming together.

Winners of the 2025 Taite Music Prize, the Auckland Live Best Independent Debut Award, and the NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism Award will be announced on April 15.