My guilty pleasure of 2018 was... You know what? I really liked that big stupid studio film Venom. It was the maddest superhero film I've seen since Spawn in the 90s. It had this very weird bromance between Tom Hardy and Venom, to the point where they kissed. Tom Hardy and this horrible, disgusting big tongued alien. It was bonkers and I yelped with joy through the whole thing.
The highlight of my year was... Plugging here, but probably releasing Dark Tourist on Netflix. Our team and production office was all based in New Zealand with a New Zealand team, and released it worldwide, at the same time, everywhere, on July 20th. [There was an] overwhelming response and I feel so proud of all the Kiwis involved, and the non-Kiwis we met on what ended up being a really wild ride. Also, seeing my nieces running their cross country and how all the kids were encouraging to each other. Adults could learn a lot from kids.
But the lowlight was... I think just all the background anxiety going on in the world. I think we all have our eyes set on America, it's unavoidable, and the crazy division coming out of there has just left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Each day some new mad, hateful thing happening. I mean, Trump did an election commercial this year demonising immigrants, and it was so racist even Fox pulled it off their broadcasting. It can be hard to just get on and have a nice day when things feel so.. unsettled. I think these holidays we've all got to look after each other!
One thing I did/read/watched this year that made me feel smarter was... A podcast called Stay Tuned with Preet. It's hosted by former US Attorney Preet Bharara. After getting fired by Trump, he started a podcast, and each week he explains in basic terms what the hell is going on in the United States. He's super smart, has a soothing voice, and makes me feel like I have a small grasp on US politics.
