Archive

Toy Story 3

Posted 11:19pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Lee Unkrich Hoyts, Rialto (4.5/5) The great thing about Toy Story 3 is that its makers haven’t succumbed to laziness. Buzz (Tim Allen), Woody (Tom Hanks), and the other toys retain their loveable personalities without being reduced to caricatures; the world hasn’t Read more...

Classic Film Review: Scarfies (1999)

Posted 11:08pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Max Segal

Directed Robert Sarkies (4/5)       Scarfies takes us back in time to the Dunedin of our slightly older siblings or cousins, one decade in the past. How much does Sarkies' stoner-comedy interpretation of the Dunedin uni-culture ring true for today's audiences?  Read more...

Out of Captivity

Posted 10:40pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Kate Macey

Authors: Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, Tom Howes, Gary Brozek Publisher: HarperCollins (3.5/5) Out of Captivity is, as the title kindly spells out, a book about captivity. More specifically it details the capture, five-and-a-half years of imprisonment within the Colombian jungle, and Read more...

Making a World of Difference: Inspiring Stories of the World's Unsung Heroes

Posted 10:39pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Anna Star

Author: Miles Roston Publisher: Esisle Publishing Ltd ( 4/5)     This book is a collection of stories that profile characters from diverse backgrounds and geographical contexts who are using their individual abilities to make positive change. The book attempts to Read more...

A Soldier’s Tale

Posted 10:38pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Anne Ford

Author: M. K. Joseph Publisher: HarperCollins (4.5/5) Set during the Allied liberation of Normandy in World War II, the story follows a British sergeant, Saul, who stumbles upon a French girl, Belle, in a small country village. Belle is about to be murdered by the French Resistance for Read more...

Copernicus, Darwin, & Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science.

Posted 10:37pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Jonathan Jong

Author: Friedel Weinert Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (4/5) In less than 300 pages, Professor Weinert pulls off the impressive feat of re-telling the story of three major chapters in the histories of astronomy, biology, and psychology, while also discussing the implications these Read more...

Seraphine Pick

Posted 10:36pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Hana Aoake

DPAG Until 26 September The Seraphine Pick exhibition at the DPAG requires the viewer to become a detective scouring through the large-scale survey of works to find threads of cohesive meaning or narrative.  Seraphine Pick is one of New Zealand’s most revered painters. Read more...

What is... X Factor?

Posted 10:16pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Simon Wallace

A Review of Battle of the Bands The atmosphere was kinetic for so early in the evening. Maybe it was the collective nerves, band members tense about not only their own performance, but what the competition would bring. Maybe it was the alcohol. Together, it elicited a potent mix of frenetic Read more...

Black Keys - Brothers

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Gearoid O'Sullivan

Nonesuch (4.5) I must confess, I wasn't familiar with the Black Keys’ sound prior to picking up this album, only recognising them by name. What a pleasant surprise it was. Apparently this is the sixth album by  talented duo Dan Auerbach (vocals, guitars) and Patrick Carney Read more...

Alan Wake

Posted 10:07pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Ashley Lavin

Xbox360 Exclusive (4/5) Alan Wake is an art game for men. Unlike Flower or Braid this game features amazing cinematics, menacing Darkness monsters (à la the Heartless and Nobodies in Kingdom Hearts) and without a doubt the best storyline for a game I have played this year. You Read more...

2010 Banff Mountain Film Festival

Posted 10:02pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Max Segal

Multiple Directors (4/5)     This year’s Banff Mountain Film Festival featured 12 adrenaline-pumping short films showcasing a variety of mountain and adventure sports. They might as well call this the “Is he gonna die? Film Festival” because that seemed Read more...

Sex and the City 2

Posted 9:56pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Michael Patrick King (1/5) We return to the sparkling lives of Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, and Charlotte two years after the previous film was set. Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is still married to Mr. Big, as are Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) to their Read more...

Genova

Posted 9:54pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Max Segal

Directed by Michael Winterbottom (3.5/5) Colin Firth stars in Genova as Joe, a man whose wife has recently died in a car accident, leaving him alone to raise his two daughters, Mary (Perla Haney-Jardine) and Kelly (Willa Holland). They temporarily move from Chicago to Genova, Italy, as Joe Read more...

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Posted 9:53pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Aleksandar Vuckovic

Directed by Mike Newell (2.5/5)     It is a cursed Hollywood trend that video-game-to-movie adaptations simply don’t work. Hitman, Farcry, and Max Payne are evidence of this. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the newest adaptation to hit the big screen and Read more...

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future

Posted 9:12pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Kathy Young

Author: Michael J. Fox Publisher: Hachette (1/5) In a brief 100 pages, Michael J. Fox tells his tale of how to be successful as a high school drop-out. Instead of a college education, Fox got life experience, which is just as well given his confession that he would have been loathe to Read more...

The Secret Speech

Posted 9:05pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by James Yap

Author: Tom Rob Smith Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (4/5) The Secret Speech is a crime fiction novel by the author of the acclaimed Child 44. In this sequel, we follow the tortured soul of Leo Demidov as he tries to atone for his crimes as a secret policeman under Stalin’s Read more...

Bait

Posted 9:03pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Sue Hui Ong

Author: Nick Brownlee Publisher: Piatkus (5/5) From the opening chapter of Bait, I knew that it was definitely a guy’s kind of book. There’s nothing like a gruesome killing and a colossal explosion to raise testosterone levels, and Nick Brownlee sure sets the pace in this, Read more...

Get Knotted

Posted 8:52pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Kathy Young

Author: Michelle Holman Publisher: HarperCollins (2/5) Get Knotted is the story of how Danny falls in love with her twin sister’s American partner’s brother. The twin is dead (she had breast cancer), and so is her partner, Patrick (he drowned). This leaves Danny trying to Read more...

James Bellaney - Natural Landscapes

Posted 8:42pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Hana Aoake

None Gallery James Bellaney’s performance-based art exhibition at None Gallery uncovered the unconscious element of Bellaney’s creative process. Bellaney is a fourth-year Painting student at the Dunedin School of Art and this was his first solo exhibition. This exhibition is Read more...

Ltt Review: Voyager VI

Posted 8:30pm Sunday 11th July 2010 by Jen Aitken

Directed by Jimmy Currin Devised and starring THEA152 Semester One students (2/5)     This Voyager installation was ambitious and inventive. This stream of THEA 152 students – approximately 25 people, I am going to guess – staged the murder trial of the Read more...