Pop CultureMay 20, 2024

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

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

If you love feral robots: Atlas (Netflix, May 24)

Look, if you thought This is Me…Now: A Love Story was Jennifer Lopez at her most intense, then prepare yourself. Netflix’s new film Atlas sees Lopez play Atlas Shepherd, a “brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence”. Atlas meets a renegade robot (with whom she shares “a mysterious past” – the mind boggles) and with humanity’s future resting entirely in her hands (may the robots save us all), JLo has to trust the very technology she’s always been so suspicious of. Based on a true story, I believe.

If you love Selling Sunset: Buying London (Netflix, May 22)

With the huge success of shows like Selling Sunset and Buying Beverly Hills, it was only a matter of time before Netflix’s glitzy real estate reality format travelled across the Atlantic. Buying London is a glossy series that follows the personal lives of a group of high-end London estate agents, as they try to sell a variety of fancy multi-million dollar properties. Think Made in Chelsea meets Location, Location, Location, but with a lot more snazzy marble bathtubs.

If you love snacks: Snackmasters (TVNZ+, May 23)

Kim Crossman and Tom Sainsbury present season two of Snackmasters (Photo: SPP)

It’s the return of the series that pulls back the cheese curtain and reveals the hidden truths about your favourite snacks. Hosts Tom Sainsbury and Kimberly Crossman are back to challenge New Zealand chefs to deconstruct some iconic treats – this season includes Wattie’s Baked Beans, Burger Rings and Arnott’s Iced Animals – and recreate them as close to the original as possible. Guest chefs this season include Peter Gordon, Gareth Stewart and Jess Daniell. FYI: don’t watch this while you’re hungry.

If you love a heartfelt British comedy-drama: Trying (Apple TV+, May 22)

Rafe Spall, Esther Smith and Imelda Staunton star in this warm and charming British comedy about 30-somethings Jason and Nicki and their journey to adoption and parenthood. The fourth season hits Apple TV+ this week, but it’s worth starting at season one to see just how Jason and Nicki tackle the absurdities of the adoption process, which are often complicated by their quirky families and colleagues. There’s plenty of humour here, but also lots of compassion and heart about the challenges of infertility and adoption.

If you love a little bit of country: Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance (Neon, May 25)

Hot on the heels of Beyonce’s record-breaking country album, documentary Call Me Country explores the history of country music in America. Featuring a variety of musicians and experts, the documentary highlights how artists like Beyonce and Lil Nas X are challenging the country music genre, and delves into the long and established history of Black musicians in Nashville.

The Rest

Netflix

Princess Power (May 20)

Rachel Feinstein: Big Guy (May 21)

4 Kings II (May 21)

I am not Big Bird (May 21)

Buying London (May 22)

Toughest Forces on Earth (May 22)

A Clean Sweep (May 23)

Tires (May 23)

Illusions for Sale (May 23)

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (May 23)

Ice Age 5: Collision Course (May 23)

Ladies Man (May 23)

The Way of the Lone Wolf (May 23)

Jurassic World Chaos Theory (May 24)

Mulligan (May 24)

Old Henry (May 24)

Seven Orifices (May 24)

Felony (May 24)

Mulligan: Part 2 (May 24)

My Onigirl (May 24)

Atlas (Starring JLo) (May 24)

Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (May 25)

Bros (May 25)

TVNZ+

The Rookie S2 (May 20)

Border Security (May 20)

Joanna Lumley’s Spice Trail Adventure (May 22)

American Sniper (May 22)

The Imitation Game (May 22)

Silver Linings Playbook (May 22)

Snackmasters NZ S2 (May 23)

Fire Country (May 23)

Evil (May 23)

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-Kun (May 24)

86 Eighty-Six (May 24)

Assassination Classroom (May 24)

Black Clover (May 24)

Dr. Stone (May 24)

The Duke Of Death And His Maid (May 24)

Haikyu!! (May 24)

I’ve Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years And Maxed Out My Level (May 24)

Konosuba – God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! (May 24)

Mob Psycho 100 (May 24)

The Quintessential Quintuplets (May 24)

The Rising Of The Shield Hero (May 24)

Belushi (May 25)

ThreeNow

Timeless S1-2 (May 23)

Selena & Restaurant (May 24)

Gaga Chromatica Ball (May 26)

Neon

Mr. Mayor S1 & S2 (May 21)

Jett (May 23)

Great Photo Lovely Life (May 21)

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (May 22)

Sniper: G.R.I.T. – Global Response & Intelligence Team (May 22)

Tamara Drewe (May 23)

Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House (May 24)

Call Me Country: Beyoncé & Nashville’s Renaissance (May 25)

The Quick and the Dead (May 26)

Prime Video

The Time Traveller’s Wife (May 21)

The Test S3 (May 24)

The Blue Angels (May 24)

Disney+

Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of X-Men ’97 (May 22)

Chip ‘n’ Dale: Park Life: Season 2: New Episodes (May 22)

Pauline: Season 1 (May 22)

Mickey Mouse Funhouse: Season 3 (May 22)

The Kardashians S5 (May 23)

The Beach Boys (May 24)

Apple TV+

Trying S4 (May 22)

Hayu

Love Undercover (May 10)

AMC+

Off Script with the Hollywood Reporter (May 24)

This post is made possible by our friends at Nando’s.

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Cohen Holloway’s life in TV (Image: Tina Tiller)

Pop CultureMay 18, 2024

‘Stop laughing, I’m trying to kill someone’: Cohen Holloway on playing a serial murderer

My Life in TV

Guest writer

Cohen Holloway’s life in TV (Image: Tina Tiller)

The star of Dark City: The Cleaner takes us through his life in TV, including the VHS revolution and the John Campbell impression that started it all.

Best known for his comedic roles, Cohen Holloway says he struggled at times to maintain the stone cold facade of serial killer on the set of Dark City: The Cleaner. “You’re trying to keep in the zone of being a serial killer, but then someone will go ‘oh, I loved you in Eagle vs Shark’,” he says. “And then they start laughing and I’m like ‘stop laughing, I’m trying to kill someone’.”

Playing the role of Joe Middleton, unassuming cleaner at the local police station by day and twisted serial killer by night, Holloway says he often found it “quite weird” playing such a disturbed character. “It was pretty surreal,” he says. “You almost wanted to go home have a shower every night, and then you’d just have all these evil thoughts in the house by yourself.”

Cohen Holloway in Dark City: The Cleaner. (Image: Supplied)

Still, with its deadpan one-liners and ridiculously gruesome set pieces, the Dark City script came with enough slashes of dark humour to satisfy Holloway’s comedic inclinations. Although he’s popped up in everything from Facelift to Find Me a Māori Bride, Fresh Eggs to Rūrangi, Holloway says Joe Middleton is by far the most exciting and challenging role he’s ever had.

“Being the lead role and having to turn up to work with a certain standard and level of professionalism has felt very grown up,” he says. “Every day shooting it was amazing, even if I felt quite repulsed at myself.” Thankfully, a slightly less repulsive task was looking back at his own life in TV, including the power of VHS, his first gig on The Strip, and John Campbell impression that started it all.

My earliest TV memory is… My mum and dad are huge fans of Coronation Street, and I remember the whole house had to be quiet when it was on. You’d hear that trumpet [actually a cornet!] and me and my brother would look at each other and know we had to shut up. When we got a bit older we started watching it too and I just remember being like “…what is this show?”

The show I would rush home from school to watch was… Me and my brother would watch whatever kids TV programme was back on in those days, whether it be Jason Gunn or Olly Ohlson. Every Friday there would be Asterix, which was a cartoon. That was so good.

My first TV role was… The Strip. I was playing a love interest and I was so nervous, just fresh out of drama school into this role for three days. I had no idea of the process or what was going on. And now I’m in Dark City with Robbie [Magasiva] again so it’s like a Strip reunion.

A TV moment that haunts me is… I’ll never forget when VHS came around, and just how amazing it felt to go down to the local video store and pick a movie. Especially if you missed out on it the fist time because you were too young. We begged Dad to watch Jaws and he finally let us watch it when Mum was out on night shift. I found it really scary, but then I showed it to my kids recently and they just cracked up the whole time.

My earliest TV crush was… Probably Daisy Duke. I saw an episode of Dukes of Hazzard on Jones about half a year ago and I suddenly saw all these flaws in the show. She’s on top of the track and then she jumps on to the orange car, and you could see it was very clearly a male stunt double.

My favourite New Zealand television ad of all time is… I do love the classic Mainland cheese commercials – “good things take time” – they are just great.

My TV guilty pleasure is… Sadly these days it’s all sport. Anything Black Caps or Hurricanes or All Blacks or the Warriors. I can also get sucked into watching reels for hours.

My favourite TV character of all time is… Robin Williams as the alien Mork from Mork and Mindy. I couldn’t stop laughing every time he drank with his finger and those multiple personalities that he that he had.

My most well-known impression is… Probably John Campbell on Facelift. That was the character they were looking for at the time so I did it and got the job, and then they kept asking me if I could do a bunch of other people… Richie McCaw, Winston Peters, Tana Umaga. Anyone with brown eyes or who was Māori, basically.

My most-watched television show is… Sadly, The Mandalorian because my kids love it. I’ll be making dinner while they are watching it and I’ll just get hooked.

A show that I’ll never watch, no matter how many people say I should is… Dark City: The Cleaner. Terrible, I heard it has got the computer porn guy from Eagle vs Shark in it and he’s a real dick.

The very last thing I watched on television was… I was channel surfing the other day and I got stuck watching the Sevens in Vancouver, it was pretty mean.

Watch Dark City: The Cleaner Wednesday nights on Sky Open.