Archive

Loving

Posted 1:07pm Sunday 2nd April 2017 by Maisie Thursfield

Rating: 2/5 Some people are not interesting enough to have a film made about them. Richard and Mildred Loving are perfect examples of those types of people.  Loving follows an interracial couple that marry in 1958 upon discovering that Mildred is pregnant. Wow, the proposal that every Read more...

Kong: Skull Island

Posted 1:02pm Sunday 2nd April 2017 by Marlee Partridge

Rating: 4.5/5 Set just after the Vietnam War, a team of soldiers, led by Samuel L. Jackson, are tasked with escorting a group of geologists to Skull Island. Tom Hiddleston features as an ex-British Intelligence agent who specialises in tracking. Thankfully, the love story within this film is NOT Read more...

Corn Fritters

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 2nd April 2017 by Liani Baylis

As the new kid on the block, I was a bit worried about how I was going to lure you into actually reading this section. Then I remembered what bonds Scarfies only slightly less than diesels and regret—brunch! This recipe is an ode to being perpetually poor, but pay-waving eggs bene anyway and Read more...

Wide Sargasso Sea

Posted 1:44pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Zoe Taptiklis

Rating: 4/5 This book lives on my bookshelf, in a case, with a plaque underneath: ‘A Modernist Triumph of Femme Freedom’. In 1969, Jean Rhys published Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel and intervention to Jane Eyre, much like the prequel and intervention of my flatmate telling me I am Read more...

Open Air, Still Life

Posted 1:40pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

If you’re new to art history and can’t tell your Rembrandts from your Renoirs or your Monets from your Manets — no stress, it’s all good. But you’d probably benefit from learning the name Frances Hodgkins, who was one of our country’s most famous artists and a Read more...

PlayStation VR

Posted 1:35pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Brandon Johnstone

Rating: 3.5/5 We are truly in the midst of a Virtual Reality (VR) renaissance. In the grand scheme of things the technology is in its infancy, but the days of Nintendo’s nausea-generator Virtual Boy are firmly behind us and the new generation of VR headsets are finally on the market. Not to Read more...

Madam Woo Dunedin

Posted 1:30pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Hugh Baird

When looking for an eatery in Dunedin to truly satisfy the taste buds, it’s hard to look past Madam Woo. Founded by Michelin star chef Josh Emett and well renowned and respected restaurateur Fleur Caulton, Madam Woo is one of (if not) the best Asian eateries in town. Madam Woo has a strong Read more...

Strange Dreams

Posted 1:27pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Reg Norris

Album: Strange Dreams Artists: Motte Some time back there was a memorable performance in my hometown; someone was using loops to construct a soundscape of weird vocals. I can’t remember the name of the group, but I do remember the Hitchcockian scene as the loud repetitive squawking Read more...

A Street Cat Named Bob

Posted 1:20pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Maisie Thursfield

Rating: 4/5 James Bowen sits playing guitar and singing “Beautiful Monday” in a busy Covent Garden street. People are walking past this homeless man, but no one looks at him, he seems invisible. Then Bob, the cat, enters his life and things start to change. It is actually Read more...

Gold

Posted 1:16pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Marlee Partridge

Rating: 3.5/5 The latest flick featuring our shirtless cowboy, Matthew McConaughey, has an almost disturbing difference to the toned Texan we grew accustomed to in Magic Mike. Set during the decline of mineral mining, Gold is loosely based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal, where Read more...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Posted 1:13pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: Cult Classic In March 1997, the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released. Little did the cast, crew, and creators know that this supernatural teen TV show would turn out to be incredibly successful, hailed by both critics and fans. In fact, Buffy went on to inspire many Read more...

Riverdale

Posted 1:09pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Saskia Bunce-Rath

Rating: 3.5/5 Riverdale is a new show from the CW based (loosely) on the Archie comics and is streaming on Netflix. It’s set in a town illuminated by neon lights that has been rocked by the recent death of beloved high school jock Jason Blossom. Archie (played by New Zealand’s own Read more...

Housekeeping

Posted 2:30pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Jessica Thompson

"Having a sister or a friend is like sitting at night in a lighted house. Those outside can watch you if they want, but you need not see them."   Following the lives of Ruthie, the narrator, and her young sister Lucille in the fictional town of Fingerbone, Idaho, Housekeeping by Read more...

A Nest in Town

Posted 2:23pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I—glimpse what seems to be the nest of a giant bird? Currently on display on Moray Place is A nest in town by Motoko Watanabe; a mass of crumpled folded sheets and dense brown foliage packed behind the rear window of the Dunedin Public Art Read more...

Mozart at the Monkey Bar...?

Posted 2:17pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe

The freshly re-carpeted floors, brand new acoustic panelling, and music stands neatly aligned across the stage are certainly a dramatic change to the décor of the recently refurbished Monkey Bar, and new home of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. No longer will thumping bass and drunken laughter Read more...

The OA

Posted 2:11pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Saskia Bunce-Rath

Rating: 5/5 The OA. Wow. What a divisive show. If you read the reviews online they oscillate wildly between people who think it’s the worst show since Lost, and people who’ve spent hours drawing diagrams and probably gesticulating wildly about how great it is. I went into this show Read more...

Alone in Berlin

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Shaun Brinsdon

Rating: 2/5 Alone in Berlin is based the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel (named Otto and Elise Quangel in the film) who, after their son dies in 1940 while fighting in WW2, silently protest by writing postcards criticizing Hitler and the Nazi regime and urging others to protest against it. Read more...

Big Little Lies

Posted 2:02pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by George Hellriegel

Rating: 4.5/5 Based on the bestselling novel by Lianne Moriarty, Big Little Lies showcases a star-studded cast, including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern. The characters are placed in a perfect world of seaside mansions and upper-middle-class Read more...

Dramaworld

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: 4/5 Claire Duncan (Liv Hewson) is a fangirl. The 20-year-old college student is obsessed with K-drama (Korean drama TV shows). She knows all the ins and outs of the genre, and hangs excitedly on every line, cliffhanger and dramatic turn the shows throw her way. Stuck between work and Read more...

Review: Chandeliers

Posted 3:35pm Monday 13th March 2017 by Marlee Partridge

Dunedin has long been renowned for its glass speckled sidewalks, Speight’s branded jumpsuits, and echoing chants of “fuck Arana”, but it could soon be known for an entirely, less alcohol-fuelled reason: Chandeliers. No, not the ceiling sort, or the drinking game; the Dunedin-based, Read more...

10 Quick Questions with Flavia Rose

Posted 2:19pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

Flavia Rose is an emerging artist and creative raised in Dunedin and based in Wellington. She sat down with Critic’s Art Editor, Monique Hodgkinson, for ten quick questions about all things whimsical and lovely. Describe your artistic style in three words. Delicate, whimsical, Read more...

Sweet & Sour Pork

Posted 2:06pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Kirsten Garcia

My SO repeatedly went out for takeaway over the summer break when he was too tired to cook from work. The ridiculous thing is that every time he would get exactly the same thing, from the same place: Sweet and Sour Pork. Seriously, the restaurant probably knows it’s him by his voice when he Read more...

Final Fantasy XV

Posted 1:57pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Chris Lam

Rating: 2.5/5 For thirteen hours, I have watched four cosmopolitan titans of men slide through the air like greasy hamburgers. Ignis clicks his gloved fingers and a meal of bacon and eggs materialises. He sits silently as Noctis picks at it with a fork. Prompto proceeds to writhe on the ground. Read more...

‘Beautiful Mire’ -The River Jesters

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Reg Norris

I had to throw away the bean metaphor. It wasn’t working. I was trying to say something about the bleak future of modern rock. Can anything really exciting and new come out of this genre? And by saying new I don’t mean NEW NEW because rock ‘n’ roll is locked down to Read more...

Manchester by the Sea

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Jaxon Langley

Rating: 3.5/5 Kenneth Lonergan is famed for exploring grief in his films. His previous film, Margaret, was a character study of a high school girl who is traumatised after witnessing a woman hit by a bus. She begins to over-involve herself in the case as she can’t comprehend why no one is Read more...

Logan

Posted 1:43pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Brandon Johnstone

Rating: 5/5 Set in the year 2029, years after the events of 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan brings the story of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (AKA Logan AKA James Howlett) to its logical conclusion. Fully embracing the ever-deepening growling bitterness in Jackman’s Read more...

iBoy

Posted 1:36pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: 1/5 I don’t know about you, but when a Netflix original rolls my way, I tend to get pretty excited. Netflix has a habit of picking up cool, interesting shows and movies that wouldn’t necessarily get funding from conventional studios. I trust Netflix with my viewing pleasure. Read more...

T2: Trainspotting

Posted 1:31pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Siany O’Brien

Rating: 4.5/5 T2: Trainspotting is everything a sequel should be. It has the original cast and director (Danny Boyle), and is a continuation of the original story set 20 years later, but it still has the same charm as its predecessor. For all you who were scarred by the first film, fear not! T2 Read more...

1Q84

Posted 1:21pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Anna Linton

Murakami is known for writing more similar to a corporealized acid trip than contemporary fiction. In 1Q84 (one-q-eighty-four) surrealism and dystopia combine to fuel a fustercluck equal parts modern love and old-fashioned vengeance set against the backdrop of Tokyo. In maintaining the thematic Read more...

Vietnamese “Summer” Rolls

Posted 1:28pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Kirsten Garcia

You’ve heard of Spring Rolls, but have you tried Summer rolls? If you visited the Dunedin Noodle Market last week, you might have seen these at one of the stalls. Makes 24 rolls Ingredients 24 Rice Paper Wrappers 200g Frozen Shrimp  Lettuce leaves (butter Read more...

The Last Guardian

Posted 1:22pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: 4.5/5 I think The Last Guardian was inevitably going to be a bit disappointing. Its director, Fumito Ueda, has such previous games under his belt as ICO, a puzzle platformer with a dedicated cult following, and Shadow of the Colossus, an abstract adventure game that is considered to be Read more...

When Breath Becomes Air

Posted 1:16pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Zoe Taptiklis

I might be biased when it comes to reviewing When Breath Becomes Air: my degrees in Neuroscience and English are the same as Paul Kalanithi’s, his favourite books are my favourite books, his fascination with identity matches mine, and his notions of mortality, while far more informed, are Read more...

Dunedin Murals: A Snapshot

Posted 1:11pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Poppy Henderson

During recent years, the urban art scene has taken Dunedin by storm. Our buildings are becoming a canvas for internationally renowned street artists, who have been flocking from all over the world to make their multicoloured mark. These unusual artworks are a far cry from the graffiti-style tags or Read more...

Fifty Shades Darker

Posted 12:58pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Florence Dean

Rating: 2.5/5 This saucy flick follows the ridiculous relationship of Anastasia Steel/Ana (Dakota Johnson) and Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). James Foley deserves half a clap on the back for accomplishing the, not very hard, task of making this film slightly better than the last. I couldn’t Read more...

Moonlight

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Jaxon Langley

Rating: 5/5 This film was originally based on a play called In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, written by Tarell Alvin McCraney to cope with his mother’s death by AIDS. Indie filmmaker Barry Jenkins stumbled upon this hidden piece of greatness and adapted the long-shelved play into one of Read more...

Silence

Posted 12:51pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Saskia Bunce-Rath

Rating: 2/5 Silence is Martin Scorsese’s latest offering, it’s about two priests (portrayed by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) who travel to 17th century Japan to find out what happened to their mentor (Liam Neeson) and help spread the Catholic faith.  I could tell from the Read more...

Toni Erdmann

Posted 12:43pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Jaxon Langley

Rating: 5/5 “It isn’t a comedy - I’m not sure why people think it is” speaks the confused Maren Ade of her acclaimed film. It is at times uproariously funny, but also achingly sad. Toni Erdmann is an unexpected deadpan delight that’s worthy of your time. After the Read more...

Track of the Week

Posted 12:38pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Erin Broughton

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 24.0px; font: 15.0px 'Fira Sans Light'} This week we’re pleased to present our first Track of the Week for 2017, carefully selected by Erin Broughton, MD.  Erin knows her stuff. As the Music Director at Radio One, she trawls Read more...

Music Interview: Still // Alone

Posted 12:22pm Sunday 5th March 2017 by Bianca Prujean

Penelope Trappes and Stephen Hindman are The Golden Filter, a UK-based electronic duo who hail from Australia (Trappes) and the US (Hindman). Their latest sonic offering is STILL // ALONE, an album that is divided into two distinct parts, and was recorded in old studio spaces across the Read more...

OM MANI PADME HUM

Posted 1:03pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

My first glimpse of this work was an unexpected one: while chatting with a friend in Nova. I was thoroughly preoccupied with my cappuccino and not ready to be introduced to my new favourite contemporary art piece, but there it was, unavoidable —OM MANI PADME HUM by Tiffany Singh, towering Read more...

Introducing the Music Editors

Posted 12:59pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Bianca Prujean

SIDE A: Welcome to the first 2017 issue of the music section. Your previous music editor, accomplished writer and journalist, songwriter of New Zealand’s most beloved band, and voice of a generation: Millie Lovelock, has vacated her post at Critic. Big shoes to fill… Who am I? Read more...

A Little Life

Posted 12:46pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Jessica Thompson Carr

Rating: 10/10 Very few books make me cry out loud. Internally, sure, a few have broken my heart, and safe to say I am no longer a whole person after a childhood of Charlotte’s Web and every last book in an epic series, but I don’t remember the last time I actually wept into my pillow Read more...

Thumper

Posted 12:41pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: 4.5/5 Rhythm games are usually defined by musical melodies. With the Hero games, whether they are of the Guitar, DJ or Band variety, you are tasked with recreating a specified popular song, with the effect of getting to feel like you are on stage with one of your musical idols. Even in Read more...

Lion

Posted 12:37pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Florence Dean

Rating: 5/5 An emotional rollercoaster well worth the ride. Garth Davis did a stellar job directing his first feature film, the cinematic adaptation of Saroo Brierly’s autobiography ‘A Long Way Home’.  This uplifting true story follows the adorable 5-year-old Saroo Read more...

Crazyhead

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Ceri Giddens

Rating: 3.5/5 Bright and raunchy, Crazyhead is Britain’s latest addition to the urban fantasy genre. It stars Cara Theobold as Amy, a mousy twenty-something bowling alley worker who is also a ‘seer’ of demons, and Susan Wokoma as the larger-than-life personality Raquel: a demon Read more...

The Great Wall

Posted 12:30pm Sunday 26th February 2017 by Brandon Johnstone

Rating: 4/5 The Great Wall is a Chinese-US co-production, marketed heavily to Western audiences as an intense, gritty action film. About ten minutes into the film it becomes pretty clear that this is a bold-faced lie. Set during the gunpowder-fueled Song Dynasty, Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal star Read more...

Teriyaki Quorn & Tofu Donburi

Posted 1:00pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

For all the vegans, if Quorn isn't already your friend, it will be. The Quorn pieces are the closest plant based product I have found that resembles the texture of chicken. There is also a "mince" product too, you can find them both in the frozen products aisle at your Read more...

Observations

Posted 12:55pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

This Dunedin exhibition showcases some of the local artistic talent incorporating varied styles but all figurative in form. If you didn’t manage to get to the show you can still easily access these artists if not directly via the gallery. People will always love paintings for their Read more...

Freedom

Posted 12:42pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Lucy Hunter

The most unsettling things are the most familiar —the more you know somebody the stranger they seem. And nothing is more familiar than family. Patty Berglund is an ex college basketball star and fanatically perfect mother. She bakes cookies on all her neighbours’ birthdays and never Read more...

Dear Amy

Posted 12:39pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

Helen Callaghan’s debut novel Dear Amy is one hell of a ride. Callaghan writes from the perspective of Margot, a teacher at the local college and also the writer of the Dear Amy help column in the local paper. Typically she deals with mundane relationship issues until one day she receives a Read more...

Harry Styles — Going solo & Another Man

Posted 12:35pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Four days ago Harry Styles posted three blank white photographs to his Instagram, a day later he revealed three covers for Another Man magazine. Two of the covers feature Styles in a dog collar (not the priest kind), staring broodily into the camera, in the third he is dressed in a turtleneck Read more...

Dunedin Symphony Orchestra

Posted 12:32pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Ihlara McIndoe

When an audience with a mean age of seventy energetically jump out of their seats in enthusiastic applause at the end of a work, you know it’s been a good performance. Associate Professor of Music, Anthony Ritchie’s composition Gallipoli to the Somme traces the journey of Dunedinite Read more...

Riven: The Sequel to Myst

Posted 12:29pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: CLASSIC To round off the year, I would like to be indulgent and review something slightly different. Riven: The Sequel to Myst is my single favourite game of all time. In the game, you have been transported by your friend Atrus through a Linking Book – books that spirit people away Read more...

SOMA

Posted 12:26pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B+ SOMA is a first-person science fiction horror game that was released online in late 2015. Its story begins with its protagonist Simon Jarrett waking up in his apartment to a phone call from a doctor about an appointment for a brain scan later that day. After searching his apartment and Read more...

Why do we need...more women in STEMM?

Posted 12:21pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Anthony Marris

By rights, this piece should be titled “How do we recruit, retain, and recognise women in STEMM”, but I was not clever enough to devise a snappy title that sums it up in eight words. STEMM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Medicine – all vital Read more...

Chasing Great

Posted 12:13pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Hugh Baird

Rating: A+++++++ After watching Richie McCaw's latest film Chasing Great, I’ve come to the careful conclusion that the man pisses excellence. He was dux of his high school, he flies planes and helicopters, and he is now widely regarded as our greatest All Black of all time. Despite all Read more...

Bridget Jones’s Baby

Posted 12:10pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Not Hugh Baird

Rating: B+ So there I found myself, on my lonesome sitting in the movie theatre with about nine younger women and twenty seniors all staring at me, wondering what the hell I was doing with my life. I must say, in the midst of my hangover I was thinking the same thing. I slumped low into my seat Read more...

2001: A Space Odyssey

Posted 12:08pm Saturday 8th October 2016 by Jac Aske

Rating: F--- I want to preface this by saying that I only saw this movie because my Dad got a Kubrick box set from The Warehouse and said we had to watch it. It’s about some astronaut guys who are on a spaceship going somewhere and it sucks. I don’t care how fancy a director Stanley Read more...

The Good Place

Posted 11:28am Saturday 8th October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A- In the pilot episode of The Good Place, Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) is sitting in a perfectly pleasant waiting room. Michael (Ten Danson) calls her into his office and explains that she has died, and she is now in the afterlife. He assures her that she is in “The Good Read more...

Gnocchi

Posted 1:50pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

Viva la Pasta. If you want to expand your pasta dishes beyond the 95 cent budget spirals, give this a go. Gnocchi, pronounced knock-e, are little potato pillows. They're a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. The most time consuming part of this was rolling and cutting the dough. You Read more...

Blaine Western’s ’Grammars’

Posted 1:45pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

What do a greyscale hand poised mid-click, a brick wall, and large concrete arches laid on a gallery floor all have in common? When I entered this exhibition I had absolutely no clue. But apparently Visiting Artist Blaine Western did, the guy who curated Masques, one of the latest shows at the Read more...

The Sandman

Posted 1:41pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

If you’ve ever been curious about graphic novels but aren’t interested in the superheroes or serialised never-ending issues of comics, I would highly recommend Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. It tells the story of Dream of the seven Endless, essentially the god of dream world. The other Read more...

Girl at War

Posted 1:37pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

When you grow up surrounded by war, how do you continue through life once the war is over? This question hangs over Ana in her adult years. She grew up in Zagreb and spent her youth, the development years, calling the war-torn country of Croatia her home. Now in America, Ana struggles with her past Read more...

Why do we need…social media/networks?

Posted 1:33pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Anthony Marris

This question has constantly plagued me. I have always maintained that I have no need for a social media/network (sm/n) account of any form. I firmly believe, in the spirit of 15th century Dutch scholar Eramus, that in this new land of complete observation, the person without any links to sm/n Read more...

Inside

Posted 1:28pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A I was 17 when I played Limbo for the first time. I remember sitting on the floor in front of the TV at my friend’s house, eagerly playing this beautiful and creepy puzzle game. Since then, I have replayed the game multiple times. I was told that I would like INSIDE, but had not Read more...

Don’t Breathe

Posted 1:22pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B There was a lot of buzz about this being the best American horror movie in decades, or some such. Personally I wouldn’t go that far; however, a lot of the film was very effective.  The quick summary of Don’t Breathe is that it’s like a darker version of Home Read more...

Pete’s Dragon

Posted 1:19pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: B+ Pete’s Dragon is a wonderfully wholesome story that made me cry in the first five minutes. The film is a remake of the 1977 musical that I haven’t seen, but I’m sure this 2016 reimagining of Pete’s Dragon is much better. It follows a young boy Pete and his Read more...

Free State of Jones

Posted 1:14pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Max Olson

Rating: B- Being a history student and massive Matthew McConaughey fan, I thought I would take myself to see the new Gary Ross film, Free State of Jones. Set in Mississippi during the latter half of the American Civil War (1863-1865), the film is based on the true story of Newton Knight, a poor, Read more...

Nerve

Posted 1:12pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B If you were invited to play a game where strangers were invited to watch and film you complete dares decided by them, in order for you to win money, would you choose to be a watcher, or a player?  Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is the awkward high school photographer, with a crush Read more...

I think you think too much of me — Eden

Posted 1:06pm Saturday 1st October 2016 by William Sharp

Those of you who are searching for a deep and emotional musical venture will become enthralled by this new star in the indie-pop scene. Jonathon Ng, known since early 2015 as EDEN (previously the Eden Project) has shone his deep blue hues across the indie pop scene through his new EP album: I Think Read more...

Beef Empanadas

Posted 1:08pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

I loved these growing up, my mum makes the best ones. It was a good day when I got to bring these for school lunches. Empanadas are little Spanish savoury pies with nice flaky pastry. You can use premade pastry if you are short for time.  Makes: 10-12 empanadas Serves: Read more...

The Port Collective

Posted 1:03pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

Here we see a mix of painting, printmaking, and ceramics influenced by the artists’ environment and daily life in Port Chalmers. There is a coherency to this collection of work - along with a lyrical and wistful feeling. End of Days Man with Flax Low Fly Zone  Dave Read more...

Sex Criminals (VOL. I)

Posted 12:54pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Sex Criminals is about Suzie and her extraordinary ability to freeze time upon orgasm. Growing up, she spends a lot of her time alone in her orgasm induced solitude until in adulthood, she meet Jon, has sex with him, and they discover they both have the same ability. They form an instant bond (how Read more...

Faith (VOL. 1)

Posted 12:50pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Valiant Comics’ recent volume follows the adventures of Faith, a telekinetic super heroine. She’s a big comic book nerd now living her dream as super lady flying through the air, kicking ass and saving lives. Previously Faith was a part of the supergroup Harbinger Renegades, but has Read more...

My Chemical Romance — A Retrospective

Posted 12:48pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

October 23rd will mark the tenth anniversary of My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, the mid-2000’s most seminal, explosive and morbid rock opera. Fans ride or die for My Chemical Romance, even now they have broken up, and after four courageous albums and years of blood, sweat and Read more...

No Man’s Sky

Posted 12:43pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: C- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS ANGRY SPOILERS. Cut me into pieces and rocket me into deep space, this game was a mistake. Hype has been surrounding No Man’s Sky since it was first announced in 2013, and has only increased as more gameplay trailers have been released. Players could Read more...

Why do we need...MMORPG's?

Posted 12:41pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPG’s) are online based games that allow players to engage with each other cooperatively or aggressively. The most recent MMORPG to hit the markets was No Man’s Sky, a game boasting over eighteen quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) Read more...

Preacher (TV Series)

Posted 12:36pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A- Preacher is an adaptation of the popular graphic novels of the same name that came out earlier this year. Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) is an ineffectual preacher in a small southern American town. His goal is to find God, despite no longer actually feeling as though he’s in a Read more...

Sully

Posted 12:33pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: A- In the filmic reincarnation of that famous “2009 Miracle on the Hudson”  where Captain “Sully” Sullenberger made a successful emergency water landing after hitting a flock of geese soon after takeoff—director Clint Eastwood makes some effort to keep Read more...

The Shallows

Posted 12:24pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: B- Upon deep reflection, I have decided that watching The Shallows is much like eating McDonalds for dinner, both of which I did in the last week. What I mean is that both events (the film and the fast food eating) possessed equal amounts of enjoyment, critical thought, and Read more...

Blood Father

Posted 12:22pm Saturday 24th September 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ It’s harder to enjoy Mel Gibson’s movies now that his various forms of insanity are out in the open. Every time he loses his shit on screen, you can’t help but wonder how much of it is really “acting”—and it’d be nice to travel back in time Read more...

10 of the 11 not so secret herbs & spices

Posted 2:20pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

This week, I did an experiment to recreate Colonel Sander’s infamous fried chicken. At 65 years old, and on a benefit income, Colonel Sanders built what would become the second largest fast food chain in the world. The recipe was one of the biggest trade secrets of our time, until it was Read more...

Animal Advocates-Art in Law XVI

Posted 2:16pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

The Faculty of Law and the Dunedin School of Art collaborate biannually on the Art in Law Collections displaying exhibitions by Dunedin School of Art senior students and graduates. Animal Advocates curated by Marion Wassenaar comprises of works by four artists Rachel H. Allan, Daniel Bloxham, Read more...

A Visit from the Goon Squad

Posted 2:13pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is about people who chase their dreams, people who lose track of them, folk who fall off the bandwagon and who sometimes never quite make it back on again. Simultaneously a short story collection and a novel, Egan’s book is an interweaving of Read more...

Harry Potter & the Cursed Child

Posted 2:11pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Picking up where the epilogue of the seventh Harry Potter novel left off, we see adult Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley sending their children off to Hogwarts. Their middle child, Albus Severus (what a burden of a name), is anxious about his journey to Hogwarts, despite reassurances from his parents. Read more...

Dvorak's New World | Dunedin Symphony Orchestra

Posted 2:09pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Ihlara McIndoe

With a full house last Saturday, the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Nicholas Braithwaite and featuring the virtuosity of pianist Michael Houstoun, performed a spectacular concert of Jack Speirs’ Fanfare; Beethoven’s Leonora Overture No. 3; Bartok’s Piano Concerto Read more...

“Shut Up Kiss Me” —Angel Olsen

Posted 2:05pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

On September 2, Angel Olsen released her album My Woman, a swinging, soaring, 1960s-esque pop masterpiece. “Shut Up Kiss Me” is the album’s killer single. The song is infectious, Olsen delivering her vocals slow and deliberate at first, singing “I ain’t hanging up Read more...

Hyper Light Drifter

Posted 2:01pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: A+ Hyper Light Drifter completely passed me by when it was released near the beginning of this year. I was already familiar with images of its protagonist: a caped, androgynous adventurer, in a world defined by 16-bit pixel art and heavily contrasting colours. I had heard that it was Read more...

Why do we need…E-Commerce?

Posted 1:59pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

Ebay, Trademe, Amazon, Alibaba… all names we are familiar with, sites designed to allow consumers and merchants to come together and exchange goods for a fair and reasonable price. E-Commerce comes in four main forms: consumer to consumer (Trademe), business to consumer (Rebel Sport, Read more...

David Brent: Life on the Road

Posted 1:56pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: C+ David Brent: Life on the Road follows David Brent (Ricky Gervais) from The Office and his newfound existence as the lead singer of his band “Foregone Conclusion”. The whole movie is basically like “remember how David makes really questionable jokes? Here’s Read more...

The Fall

Posted 1:54pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: A+ Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) is a young Romanian-born girl in a 1920s Los Angeles hospital with a broken arm. She fell picking oranges at an orchard her parents work on. She barely speaks english, has a strong and healthy imagination, and spends her time wandering around the hospital Read more...

Bad Moms

Posted 1:51pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B Amy (Mila Kunis) is a young mother who works part time, takes care of her children, and does the housework. She’s stressed, busy, and always late. After a considerably terrible day, she defies the PTA president Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate), and decides to quit being a good mom. Read more...

Poi E: The Story of Our Song

Posted 1:49pm Saturday 17th September 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: A One of the great things about this documentary is how well it places you in this period of New Zealand’s history. This is approximately the period that my earliest memories of New Zealand come from (or a few years earlier): the era of Crowded House, the Son of a Gunn show, the Read more...

Bobotie & Yellow Rice

Posted 1:19pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

My first taste of Bobotie and Yellow Rice was at a charity dinner with all African cuisine. This is a South African dish. My flatmate from Zambia also made it for dinner once. Both times I've had it, it was nothing but delicious and memorable, so I had a crack at making it myself.  If Read more...

3 x 4 — Lisa Reihana

Posted 1:14pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Carolijn Guytonbeck

Take the opportunity to view some work from one of New Zealand’s current 'it' artists, Lisa Reihana. Milford Gallery are showing a range of her magnificent staged photographic portraiture work.  Distinct themes of mythology and colonisation run through the Māori descended Read more...

The Story of Your Life

Posted 1:11pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Jack Blair

Ted Chaing examines, through the eyes of Louise Banks (a linguist tasked with decoding the language of an alien species known as the Heptapods), how understanding language means more than simply understanding a conveyed message. As The Story of Your Life progresses, and Louise applies a theory of Read more...

The Nature of Jade

Posted 1:08pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Although technically classified as a YA novel, The Nature of Jade is one of those rare books which holds something inspiring and beautiful for readers of all ages. This book has been one of my firm favourites for years now, because of its captivating and accessible writing style, unexpected and Read more...

Puberty 2 — Mitski

Posted 1:04pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

I have been sitting on US artist Mitski’s latest offering for a while now, not because I didn’t think it would be good, but because I knew it would be too good for any mood that wasn’t the right mood.  Mitski’s songs have a particular tendency to tunnel through you Read more...

Abzû

Posted 1:01pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: B+ Giant Squid is an indie game studio founded by Matt Nava, the art director who also worked on the critically-acclaimed Journey and Flower, both of which rank among my favourite games. Giant Squid’s first game Abzû was announced back in 2014 at Sony’s E3 press Read more...

Why do we need...WeChat?

Posted 12:55pm Saturday 10th September 2016 by Anthony Marris

WeChat is the Chinese multi-platform social networking app produced by Tencent which is dominating inside the Great Firewall. Available on both Android and iPhone, it makes common social media sharing apps like Messenger, Snapchat, WhatsApp and Instagram look like glorified telegraph Read more...