Archive

The Jungle Book



Posted 1:05pm Sunday 8th May 2016 by Jessica Thompson

Rating: A The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau, is a noble re-invention of the whimsical Disney animated version that stemmed from the classic books by Rudyard Kipling.  Raised by a family of wolves in the Indian jungle, the hero of the story, the human boy Mowgli (played by Neel Read more...

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Posted 1:02pm Sunday 8th May 2016 by Halaevalu Maka

Rating: A If your life was made into a movie which actor or actress would you want to play you?  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, was originally inspired by the true story of Kim Barker and her biography ‘The Taliban shuffle: strange days in Read more...

John Dies at the End

Posted 12:55pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Lucy Hunter

I quite like insects. I don’t mind them on me unless I can feel the weight of them. If one is stuck somewhere I will administer a gentle transport of cardboard over glass jar and dispatch the creature outside. However, while reading John Dies at the End, I developed a fear of bugs. If you are Read more...

A deep and tumbling kind of laughter - John Ward Knox

Posted 12:52pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

It would be easy to mistake the current exhibition at the Hocken Gallery for an empty space, so diminutive is the scale of John Ward Knox’s paintings. Yet what a deep and tumbling kind of laughter lacks in size, it makes up for in the intimacy, skill, and sheer beauty of the Read more...

Murtabak

Posted 12:47pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

This week I’m going Southeast Asian on you all with one of my favourite street foods. The name comes from the Arabic word for folded. It’s essentially roti with minced meat, and a scrambled egg folded inside. It can be eaten by itself, with curry or even just tomato sauce. You have to Read more...

Lightsabers

Posted 12:40pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Anthony Marris

Described by the revered Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi as an elegant weapon for a more civilised age, the lightsaber is a blade of energy which can deflect blaster bolts, cut through steel and sever the odd limb or two. Fandom website Dorkly ranked the lightsaber as the coolest fictional weapon in a Read more...

That Dragon, Cancer

Posted 12:36pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: A When you hear that a game has tackled the heavy topic of a child battling with cancer, it’s understandable you’d be skeptical. It’s likely to be emotionally manipulative, or merely uncomfortable rather than honest, or just corny. That Dragon, Cancer is none of these Read more...

Teenage Fans

Posted 12:34pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Yesterday I sat thinking about my thesis as I listened to Sandy Hsu’s “Teenage Girls” on repeat. It’s a tender song, but rough around the edges, recorded in a bathroom with some lo-fi piece of recording equipment that manages to capture Hsu’s crystal voice but muffle Read more...

Eye in the Sky

Posted 12:31pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: A- Before seeing Eye in the Sky, a fairly topical military thriller that centres on the arguments around and ramifications of using drones in modern warfare, I had pretty high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed.  Dame Helen Mirren leads a pretty star-packed cast (Alan Read more...

Orphans & Kingdoms

Posted 12:28pm Sunday 1st May 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: A It’s an interesting coincidence that both of the new Kiwi movies currently showing cover similar subject matter - both involve juvenile delinquents getting into a dangerous predicament alongside a reclusive adult, with everyone eventually bonding and becoming better Read more...