What to watch in NZ this weekend

A quiet sci-fi night

Arrival

2016 · 1h 56m

Prime Video subscription

Choose this when you want to spend the evening working something out.

A linguist, played by Amy Adams, is asked to make contact after alien spacecraft arrive on Earth. The useful question for your evening’s choice is how much attention you want to give it. Arrival makes language, memory, and the difficulty of understanding another mind part of its mystery.

Give it the longer, quieter slot in your weekend. The tension comes from uncertainty rather than a constant run of action scenes. It is the pick here for viewers who like comparing interpretations afterwards, and a less natural fit for a room where everyone wants to keep chatting.

A brisk, visually busy comedy

The Grand Budapest Hotel

2014 · About 1h 40m

Disney+ subscription

A compact choice for people who enjoy elaborate plans going wrong.

Ralph Fiennes plays Gustave, a hotel concierge whose friendship with lobby boy Zero is swept into a dispute over an inheritance and a stolen painting. Wes Anderson frames the chase through a carefully arranged world of hotel corridors, uniforms, trains, and mountain scenery.

Pick this over Arrival when you want a quicker comic rhythm and a lot to look at. The tidy presentation sits alongside a darker story about the world outside the hotel changing. That combination makes it a better adult comedy pick than an automatic choice for a young family.

A family film with a mystery

Paddington 2

2017 · 1h 43m

Rent or buy

The family pick when you want jokes, a mystery, and a clear emotional thread.

Paddington takes on odd jobs to buy Aunt Lucy a pop-up book, then has to deal with its theft. That small, understandable goal gives the larger comic set pieces something to return to. Hugh Grant’s theatrical Phoenix Buchanan brings a different sort of mischief to the Brown family’s world.

This is the easiest starting point in the list for a mixed-age Sunday afternoon. It runs comfortably under two hours and gives younger viewers a concrete mystery to follow. Apple’s NZ listing rates it G; check the listing’s details when deciding what suits your household.

A local comedy with a rough edge

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

2016 · 1h 41m

Rent or buy

Choose the New Zealand bush when you want a change from another city-set story.

Julian Dennison’s Ricky and Sam Neill’s Hec become the subjects of a manhunt in Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Barry Crump’s story. The odd-couple setup gives you two very different ways of looking at the same predicament, with the bush making their dependence on each other unavoidable.

At 101 minutes, it fits the same evening slot as The Grand Budapest Hotel. Choose it for a local setting and humour built around friction between people. Its warmth comes with grief, coarse language, and some disturbing scenes; the Apple NZ listing carries a PG rating.

A series to start in under an hour

Slow Horses

2022 · Season 1, episode 1: about 54m

Apple TV subscription

Start with one episode when a whole film feels like too much commitment.

River Cartwright is sent to Slough House, a dumping ground for MI5 officers who have made serious mistakes. Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb runs the team. Their damaged professional pride gives the spy plot a different texture from stories about agents who always seem to have the right answer.

The first episode is the shortest commitment in this list. Try that before deciding to spend more of your weekend on the series. The appeal is the clash between spy-thriller stakes and an abrasive workplace. Apple’s NZ listing rates the show 16, so this is the adult series option.