Archive

The Descendants

Posted 4:40pm Saturday 25th February 2012 by Lulu Sandston

Director: Alexander Payne The Descendants opens with Matt King (George Clooney) - the wealthy descendant of Hawaiian royalty - sitting with his comatose wife Elizabeth questioning how he is going to raise his two daughters, having been the “understudy” parent for the last decade. A rocky Read more...

The Artist

Posted 4:38pm Saturday 25th February 2012 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Director: Michel Hazanavicius You may think that the silent film genre is basically Fever Club in black and white - the background music increasing in intensity as a stray cougar approaches the object of your desire… It’s not. If you’re interested in film, you should reset those ideas and go Read more...

Hello Saucy

Posted 4:20pm Saturday 25th February 2012 by Ines Shennan

Move beyond frozen meals, mi goreng and toast, into a world of simple, delicious meals which you’ll enjoy cooking. Stock your freezer with meat as it comes on special, use vegetables in season and don’t buy one of those shitty $2 can openers, because tinned food is now your friend. Here are the Read more...

Definitive Cuts: Fabric Sculptures: Sebastian Reynard

Posted 4:01am Monday 17th October 2011 by Hana Aoake

AS IS, 377 Princes St Sebastian Reynard’s Definitive Cuts at AS IS features an assemblage of floating fabric sculptures dangling from the ceiling. It challenges our value system, making us question what art is, what craft is, and subverting the notion of what is Read more...

Blue Velvet (1986)

Posted 3:57am Monday 17th October 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed/written: David lynch Jeffrey Beaumont (MacLachlan) makes an unexpected return home from university (or “college”, as this is set in the US) after his father suffers a stroke while watering the garden. On the way home from the hospital, Jeffery comes across a human ear Read more...

Norwegian Wood

Posted 3:53am Monday 17th October 2011 by Frances Stannard

Director: Anh Hung Tran (3.5/5) Sometimes books should stay as books. Nothing undermines an original more than a failed attempt at a movie. But Norwegian Wood really does achieve the enthralling and damaging sense of the classic 1987 novel by Haruki Murakami.   It is Tokyo in the Read more...

The Orator

Posted 3:50am Monday 17th October 2011 by Eve Duckworth

Director: Tusi Tamasese I went into the Rialto having read many a good review for The Orator, even rumours of an Oscar nomination. I left not knowing if I had gone to see the same film.   If you want to watch a beautiful portrait of the intricacies of Samoan culture - its faith, its Read more...

Real Steel

Posted 3:41am Monday 17th October 2011 by Lauren Hayes

Director: Shawn Levy (3/5) Robots are always fantastically awesome, especially when blown up to titanic size on the big screen. Fresh from Hollywood, Real Steel is the latest blockbuster to cash in on the robot craze. It's a slick effort. The film is set sometime in the not-so-distant future, Read more...

The Smurfs

Posted 3:36am Monday 17th October 2011 by Daniel F. Benson-Guiu

Director: Raja Gosnell (3.5/5)   It started off as a smurfing good afternoon. With a Smurf combo in hand, we barged small children out of the way to get the best seats. A cool kids movie for the start of the holidays, young and old alike will be entertained by these little blue men (and Read more...

It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times

Posted 3:29am Monday 17th October 2011 by Sam Valentine

In the now established tradition, Critic presents our end of year recap; the best of music in two thousand and eleven. Props if you picked up on The Simpsons reference in the title. The Best Albums of 2011 Zomby – Dedication A dense, dark and well-produced take of some of Read more...

Pick of the Mothras

Posted 5:20am Monday 10th October 2011 by Critic

Every year, a brave few enter their amateur films into the OUSA Mothras, seeking fame, glory, and prestigious Mothra awards. All of the films will be screened between October 11 and 14 at the Church Cinema, Dundas St, but for now, we present our pick of the bunch.   Looking for Love in all Read more...

Director Profile - Quentin Tarantino

Posted 5:17am Monday 10th October 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

There are very few directors who can claim the accolades of an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and the Palme d’Or as well as multiple Emmy and Grammy nominations. When you add in the extra details that this one particular director is also a high school drop out with an IQ of 160 the Read more...

The Lion King 3D

Posted 5:16am Monday 10th October 2011 by Julia Hollingsworth

Director: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff (4/5) It’s a movie dear to the hearts of Gen Y-ers everywhere. For a time, if there was an occasion that required a group of children to shut up and be quiet, it was the movie that fit the brief; if there was a need for a new song to update the school Read more...

Shark Night 3D

Posted 5:14am Monday 10th October 2011 by Critic

Director: David R. Ellis (2/5) Shark Night 3D revolves around a group of college kids who decide to spend a weekend at their friend Sara’s lake house. What starts out as a fun trip takes a turn for the worse; when the star football player stumbles from the salt-water lake with his arm torn Read more...

27th Terrain: The Co-Ordinates of Home

Posted 5:10am Monday 10th October 2011 by Maya Turei

Bi-Cultural Theatre Class (3.5/5)    27th Terrain: the Co-ordinates of Home was a devised piece by the Bi-Cultural Theatre class. I enjoyed myself a lot. Sometimes I didn't quite understand it, but I definitely had a good time. Personally I think that devised theatre is best created Read more...

Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People - Bryce Galloway

Posted 5:08am Monday 10th October 2011 by Sarah Maessen

(4/5) I think the first port of call for this review is to point out that this book is not about sex (apart from the occasional reference) or hideous people (as far as the sparse photographs show). It is an abridged collection of the first 37 issues of Bryce Galloway’s fanzine. Generally Read more...

Boredom, You Conqueror - Ink Mathematics

Posted 5:06am Monday 10th October 2011 by Sam Valentine

(3/5) Dunedin isn’t exactly short on fine purveyors’ of the sonically heavy. Hell, Made in China, Soulseller and Mountaineater can all be downright punishing, while this year’s battle of the bands winners’ A.F.F.C.O might be the sludgiest and angriest band in the entire Read more...

The Hunter - Mastodon

Posted 5:04am Monday 10th October 2011 by Basti Menkes

(2.5/5) After hitting their commercial and creative stride with 2009's celestial Crack the Skye, American heavy metal outfit Mastodon return with their most vanilla album to date. Felicitously titled The Hunter, this back-to-basics approach to their very own progressive sludge style seems Read more...

Date Cups

Posted 5:02am Monday 10th October 2011 by Niki Lomax

I cannot take credit for these. Much to everyone’s delight, one of my flatmates has recently taken it upon himself to become a baking king. This is a significant turn around from previous years where his aversion to following recipes led to some strange kitchen concoctions. Most Read more...

Samin Son - Hammer Piece

Posted 5:00am Monday 10th October 2011 by Hana Aoake

None Gallery, 24 Stafford Street It is difficult to articulate the sense of anguish and pain reflected in Samin Son’s Hammer piece. I felt as though I were submerged inside Son’s subconscious, as if no words would be adequate to describe how such an intense experience affected Read more...