Archive

Step Up 3D

Posted 4:34am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by John Chu Hoyts 1.5/5 The opening sequence of this third installment of the Step Up series is one of those candid camera interview montages, with the characters talking about what dance means to them. They’re speaking from the heart: there’s no doubt the Read more...

Skin

Posted 4:33am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Sarah Baillie

Directed Anthony Fabian Rialto 4/5 kin is a biographical film about the life of Sandra Laing, a ‘coloured’ child born to white parents during the apartheid era in South Africa. Despite her skin being distinctly darker than her parents, an unusual phenomenon, Sandra Read more...

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Posted 4:31am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Aleksandar Vuckovic

Directed by Daniel Alfredson Rialto (3/5)       The Girl Who Played with Fire is a Swedish crime thriller and sequel to the highly acclaimedThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.    The film picks up where the original left off, with Lisbeth Salandar Read more...

Mirror

Posted 4:13am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Jonathan Jong

Author: Jeannie Baker Publisher: Walker Books (4/5)  There is something unspeakably happy-making about illustrated children’s books that are unapologetically forthright in their social messages. Jeannie Baker’s latest – Mirror – tells what is Read more...

How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog

Posted 4:12am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Jonathan Jong

Author: Chad Orzel Publisher: Oneworld (4/5) Particle-wave duality is not the doctrine that photons and elections (etc.) are simultaneously waves and particles. Neither are they really particles with wave-like properties or really waves with particle-like properties. Rather, Read more...

A Life on Gorge River – New Zealand’s Remotest Family

Posted 4:11am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Brittany Travers

Author: Robert Long Publisher: Random House (2/5)      This book tweaked my interest ever since the author, Robert Long, was given a rock star’s welcome at the Dunedin Public Library, where he launched this début book. It’s the sort of story Read more...

Inherent Vice

Posted 4:10am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Henry Feltham

Author: Thomas Pynchon (4/5)    When you are famous for writing difficult books, there will always be a handful of people who are going to be put off when you write a noir detective thriller, set in seventies surf-hippie Los Angeles (where, incidentally, Pynchon – age Read more...

Interview with Larry Matthews - Owner of {lanyop} lagniappe small art gallery

Posted 4:06am Monday 23rd August 2010 by Staff Reporter

Tucked away behind Mou Very bar on George Street is {lanyop} lagniappe small art gallery, an offbeat and unique art space that is only open when the sun goes down. Gallery-goers view works by candlelight while being serenaded by live piano. Critic talks to owner Larry Matthews. What was the Read more...

Something Quartet - preview

Posted 5:01am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Logan Valentine

This week I had the pleasure of hearing the track ‘Toilet Doorhandles’, an advance release from the Something Quartet’s forthcoming album. Just to fill you in, the Something Quartet are usually a Septet who squash half of Dunedin’s music scene into a band. Bugs is the lead music director of the Read more...

The Twitch - Time For Change

Posted 5:00am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Raymond Sawkins

Rangi Records / Border Music (4.5/5) Well, if you know anything about The Twitch, you will know they are experts at putting maximum attitude into everything they wave their wand at. This piece of pure Rock ‘n’ Roll magic is no exception. Just looking at the cover will Read more...

Crackdown 2

Posted 4:54am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Damien Khalsa

Platforms: Xbox 360 ( 3/5)       Crackdown 2 is a sequel to Crackdown, one of the first sandbox games on the Xbox 360. Crackdown was an odd game in that few reviewers gave it better than average reviews, but it nevertheless appeared on their lists of personal Read more...

Chilli, Garlic & Prawn Vermicelli

Posted 4:49am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Tien-Yi Toh

I think it’s time for another pasta recipe. This is the dish that I am most proud of, even though I am not sure that I have the right to be proud of something that isn’t an original idea. I watched Jamie Oliver make something like it on TV once so I just followed the basic rules and Read more...

Cemetery Junction

Posted 4:43am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant Coming soon to DVD 3/5    Quite a surprise from the Gervais/Merchant team, this film actually wants to be taken seriously. You wonder if earnest is a good choice for these guys to make; after all, their success has been in Read more...

Killers

Posted 4:29am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Max Segal

Directed by Robert Luketic Playing at Hoyts, Rialto (3/5) Kutcher and Heigl are back at it again in a slightly younger and lamer version of Knight And Day. Most audiences are not buying that a Kutcher-type character would be into a 'young', Heigl-type. And let's face it, we Read more...

Certified Copy

Posted 4:28am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami NZIFF (4/5) Certified Copy is an enchanting reflection on the nature of art, relationships, marriage, and – in a wider sense – reality.    James Miller (William Shimell) is a British academic who is in Tuscany promoting his Read more...

NZ International Film Festival 2010

Posted 4:23am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Max Segal

Another NZ International Film Festival has come and gone, and our film-watching stamina has been put to the test. For two-and-a-half weeks they've thrown eight or ten films per day at an enthusiastic public, eager for a break from the usual Hollywood fare. What was the result? Did you see as Read more...

Second Nature: the Inner Lives of Animal

Posted 4:22am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Mariya Semenova

Author: Jonathan Balcombe Publisher: MacMillan (4.5/5)    Second Nature is an engaging and inspiring must-read for everyone, from animal lovers to anthropocentric sceptics. The author, Jonathan Balcombe, is a biologist with a great body of knowledge about animal Read more...

Pretty Monsters

Posted 4:21am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Kelly Link Publisher: Text Publishing (4/5)    If you are looking for something short and bittersweet, this is the book for you. Pretty Monsters is a collection of short stories featuring everything from your childhood nightmares – werewolves, aliens, Read more...

the Bookseat

Posted 4:19am Tuesday 10th August 2010 by Jonathan Jong

Product: the Bookseat Manufacturer: Emerging Products Website: www.thebookseat.com Retailer: University Bookshop (5/5)      Even among gadget geeks, there is often some unease over reading accessories. They somehow seem to go one step too far: Read more...

True Blood

Posted 4:24am Monday 2nd August 2010 by Lauren McEwan Nugent

Prime Wednesday 9.30 pm (4/5) In the small southern U.S. town of Bon Temps, vampires have ‘come out of the coffin’, making their presence known to the world. After the discovery of synthetic blood, they’re thankfully able to nom on something other than humans. Naturally Read more...