Archive

The Bling Ring

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 3/5 Sometimes real life events feel like they happened purely in order to be made into movies. The Hollywood Hills burglaries of 2009 were one of those events. A bunch of teenagers robbing the houses of celebrities is clearly the premise for a great film, and the stage was well set Read more...

Pervert’s Guide to Ideology

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Alex Wilson

Rating: 4/5 It’s hard to think of a film at this year’s Festival that is so perfectly equal parts educational and offbeat as this small Irish production about a Slovenian philosopher deconstructing some of the most influential films of the past 50 years. Slavoj Žižek is our phlegmatic guide Read more...

Mood Indigo

Posted 3:48pm Sunday 1st September 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rating: 4/5 Let me start by saying that I haven’t enjoyed a film this much in a really long time, which is high praise indeed considering it was my fourth Film Festival movie in a week. Whimsical, surreal and heart-breaking, it was everything you’d expect from Michel Gondry, the director Read more...

Interview: Richard Ley-Hamilton

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Loulou Callister-Baker

At the age of 22, Richard Ley-Hamilton has already created a name for himself as a prominent Dunedin musician, performing and making music for an array of interesting bands. Richard also works part-time at a record store, and by the end of November he will have finished his honours dissertation in Read more...

Loved up and ‘Appy

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Raquel Moss

Don’t you hate it when your significant other plays relationship games with you? Like the ever-popular “figure out why I’m angry, or else” move, or the infuriating “do you think that guy’s hotter than me?” test. Answer correctly, or risk the silent treatment. Forget all that, now there’s an Read more...

Earthbound (1994)

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

For our generation, gaming nostalgia is largely related to the console you had as a child. Did you have a Sega or a Nintendo 64? A PlayStation or an Xbox? The answer to this question will likely dictate whether you are a Mario fan, or a Crash Bandicoot fan, or – God forbid – a Sonic fan. Due to the Read more...

Plants vs. Zombies 2 - It’s About Time

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 8/10 Popcap’s 2009 game Plants vs. Zombies is arguably the greatest casual game of all time. The fact that the game is easy to get into for brief snippets, but also offers increasingly difficult challenges that could have you playing for hours, makes it accessible and loved by Read more...

Asian Dub Foundation - The Signal And The Noise

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 3.5/5 “They’re like a British Rage Against The Machine. They work punk guitars and politically-charged lyrics into dub, reggae, world music and rap. This rainbow-coloured music collective both condemns racial violence and breaks down the walls between ethnic terminology. Shit is Read more...

Moderat - II

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 Moderat is a portmanteau, both in name and personnel, of Berlin-based electronic acts Modeselektor and Apparat. As its title suggests, II is the supergroup’s second album together, following its eponymous 2009 debut. Like its predecessor, II sees the two outfits marrying their Read more...

Mull It

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Kirsty Dunn

Even though spring is almost upon us, I figure Dunedin still has a few chilly nights up its sleeve during which a bit of mulled action will go down a treat. If you haven’t had a go at making your own (or worse yet, if you’ve never even sampled the stuff – tsk tsk), now’s the time; have a farewell Read more...

Free Will

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Lucy Hunter

Sam Harris explains, in 83 pages, the illogic of free will. Our society functions on the assumption that we all have it: without free will, any claim to justice, morality, personal accomplishment, intimate relationships (and virtually anything else we care about deeply) seems ridiculous. Free will Read more...

Ukiyo-e, The Floating World

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Charlotte Doyle

The woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), which features rolling, white-tipped waves, has become a legendary emblem of Japanese art. Having been heavily appropriated by artists such as Manet, Gaugin and Van Gogh, the influence of the distinctive woodblock Read more...

Now You See Me

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Tamarah Scott

Rating: 2/5 When you watch the trailer for Now You See Me, you get the distinct impression that the film might actually have some merit. The trailer features Morgan Freeman’s melodic voice promising a cryptically intriguing film about illusionists. The film itself, however, could not have Read more...

Only God Forgives

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: 2/5 The crime thriller genre is rarely graced with the artistic flair that Nicholas Winding Refn brings to his films, but his previous works Drive and Bronson are proof that it can be done well. His latest film Only God Forgives, however, is an example of it being done very poorly. Read more...

The House of Radio

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Rosie Howells

The Regent Theatre - Octagon Saturday 24 August 1pm Rating: 3/5 The House of Radio is the newest delight from French documentarian Nicholas Philibert. Philibert spent half a year filming the inhabitants of France’s public radio station, allowing the viewer to gain a better insight Read more...

Which Way is the Front Line From Here?

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rialto Cinema - Moray Place Monday 19 August 4:45pm, 8:30pm Tuesday 20 August 8:30pm Rating: 3.5/5 Which Way is the Front Line From Here? is a documentary that explores the life and work of world renowned war photographer Tim Hetherington. Through Hetherington’s footage, Read more...

The Weight of Elephants

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Rosie Howells

Rialto Cinema - Moray Place Monday 19 August 12pm Rating: 3.5/5 The Weight of Elephants is a dramatic film set in rural Invercargill, directed by New Zealand born and raised but Denmark-based Daniel Joseph Borgman. The story follows 11-year-old Adrian (Demos Murphy), a sensitive and Read more...

The East

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Jonny Mahon-Heap

Rating: 4/5 A rare environmental-political thriller, The East represents one of the bigger-budgeted and more purely enjoyable options from the 2013 film festival. It’s a curious combination of The Departed meets Martha Marcy May Marlene, and combines the best talent from American indie cinema Read more...

Us and the Game Industry

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Baz Macdonald

Rialto Cinema - Moray Place Friday 23 August 6:30pm Rating: 2/5 The video game industry is currently nearing the end of a transitory period. The transition isn’t happening within the industry, but rather in how people outside of the industry perceive it. It is a transition toward an Read more...

Pussy Riot: A Punk Rock Prayer

Posted 4:47pm Sunday 18th August 2013 by Josef Alton

Rating: 3/5 It’s a story that has begged to be told outside of the news media. Maxim Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner’s Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer is an intriguing documentary that tells the story of how and why three young activists were arrested and prosecuted for publicly opposing the Russian Read more...