Archive
Dunedin Youth Orchestra |Romantic Underground Concert
Posted 1:07pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe
Do you find the concept of classical music enticing, but don’t yet feel like you have enough grey hairs, or cough lollies in your pockets, to fit in with the usual classical concert crowd? Are you vaguely interested, but don’t want to give up two hours getting a numb bum sitting in the Read more...
Review: Dunedin Symphony Orchestra - Dvorak and Brahms
Posted 1:02pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe
Following the last DSO concert, which proved to be a very pleasant evening with my dad (even if he was stingy on the ice cream front), I managed to find a friend to accompany me to the most recent event. I am 85 percent sure she forgot she was supposed to be coming, as when I arrived at her flat to Read more...
Critic Interviews: Rudeism
Posted 12:50pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Lisa Blakie
Dylan Beck is a good friend of mine and I got to know him before he became Rudeism, a Twitch stream extraordinaire who has over 35,000 followers and can turn anything into a videogame controller. I sat down with him to ask about his newfound popularity and creative genius. When did you Read more...
Miranda Parkes: The Merrier
Posted 12:43pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Waveney Russ
Photo credit: Miranda Parkes: the merrier’ installation view featuring antibody banner; push me; (all 2017) courtesy Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena. Photo: Iain Frengley. The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship comes around once a year, and when it does, Christmas comes Read more...
Kalinka
Posted 12:37pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Diana Tran
Rating: 4/5 Kalinka is an honest and thoughtful portrayal of the true experiences of André Bamberski in his quest to find justice for his daughter Kalinka, who was raped and murdered. While spending the summer with her mother and stepfather, Dr Dieter Krombach, Kalinka suddenly dies of an Read more...
Apple Tree Yard
Posted 12:34pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Shaun Brinsdon
Rating: 3.5/5 Following the likes of successful BBC mini-series like Happy Valley comes Jessica Hobbs’s Apple Tree Yard. Based on the novel of the same name, Apple Tree Yard centres on Dr Yvonne Carmichael (Emily Watson), a scientist who is unhappy in her marriage. She begins an affair with Read more...
The Secret History
Posted 12:29pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Zoe Taptiklis
The Secret History is difficult to place into a temporal setting. Initially, based on the characters’ diction and the elaborate descriptive passages, I thought it was set in the ‘50s. The excessive use of home phones, the ones wired to the wall, made me think it was the ‘70s. Read more...
Cinnamon Rolls to Warm Your Poor Student Souls
Posted 12:26pm Sunday 10th September 2017 by Liani Baylis
I love bringing you guys my own recipes and shit, but I’ve discovered yet another amazing blog. I’m absolutely frothing over veganricha.com at the moment and these cinnamon rolls make me want to marry the clever little lass. During my non-vegan years, I had a go-to cinnamon roll Read more...
The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses
Posted 2:15pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Lisa Blakie
Rating: 5/5 The Symphony of the Goddesses tour started in 2012 after the 25th anniversary celebration of the Legend of Zelda at E3 2011. Playing for just one night in Auckland (on a SCHOOL night too!), I was determined to go; it had been a dream to see this show live since I heard the orchestral Read more...
The Case of the Missing Body
Posted 2:14pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Zoe Taptiklis
It has been a treat reading this book. It took me under an hour to read, but it’s taken days to digest. Imagine not knowing what your body is. I’ve always said that I have parsnip legs; they’re long and effing pale, wide at the top, tapering out into teeny little toes Read more...
The Haunting
Posted 2:09pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Alex Campbell-Hunt
Rating: 3/5 This is an… interesting movie. A late ‘90s entry in the Haunted House genre, it is imprinted in my memory because I vividly recall as a kid being torn between wanting to see it and thinking that it was going to be terrifying. More specifically, I remember making it as far Read more...
Okja
Posted 2:06pm Sunday 3rd September 2017 by Samuel Rillstone
Rating: 2.5/5 I found Okja to be less of a revolutionary film exposing the capitalist meat industry and more of a low ruckus. The cast boasts such powerhouses as Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Lily Collins, all of whom create vibrant and intriguing performances. Even the young talent, the Read more...
A Comprehensive Guide to Games Where You Can Pet Animals
Posted 1:04pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Lisa Blakie
Recently, my general feeling towards life has been that animals are the only pure things left in this year of general chaos. I don’t know about you, but I’ve personally changed my settings on Facebook to see posts from “Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary”, “Cool Cat Read more...
The Big Sick
Posted 12:56pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Shaun Brinsdon
Rating: 4/5 The Big Sick opened with great acclaim from critics and viewers alike. The film is based on the true story of how Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani began their relationship. They wrote the screenplay of the film together and Nanjiani plays himself, while Gordon delegated her role to Read more...
Atomic Blonde
Posted 12:54pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Todd Johnstone
Rating: 5/5 This movie will leave you feeling like you have just been continually hit in the face for two hours – but in a good way. I didn’t expect much going into it; I knew that it was directed by one of the directors of John Wick, so the action scenes and stunts were likely to be Read more...
The Lost Daughter
Posted 12:50pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Jessica Thompson
"Books, once they are written, have no need of their authors." Nobody knows who Elena Ferrante really is. An Italian writer, she (could be a he, but everyone assumes…) is mainly famous for her coming of age Neapolitan novels. Ferrante has been named one of the 100 Read more...
Gratis: A Q + A with Carisma
Posted 12:45pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Bianca Prujean
This week, Critic takes a journey deep inside the Argentinian discotheque with Buenos Aires-based DJ/producer duo, Carisma. Carisma recently dropped their long-awaited full length album, Gratis. Out on Dengue Dancing Records, Gratis features nine tracks of heavily pulsed crunch beats, arpeggiated Read more...
Vegan Cupcakes that Are to Kill For (Just Not Sentient Beings)
Posted 12:40pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Liani Baylis
A couple of weeks back, I shared my favourite cupcake recipe with you. I feel very passionate about said recipe, so I never mustered the courage to try “veganise” it. I’ve done it with other recipes, but that one I hold dear to my heart. Then, like a guardian angel, along comes Read more...
Dunedin’s Coffee Cup Art Trail
Posted 12:37pm Sunday 20th August 2017 by Waveney Russ
Latte art is dead. Do you think I ask to be presented with a sweet cat whose face I must suck into inexistence if I want to enjoy the five-dollar stimulant that, at this point, I chug back as if medication? Ephemeral. Transient. In an effort to clog my life with anything mildly resembling artwork Read more...
Shin Hanga (新版画)
Posted 12:12pm Sunday 13th August 2017 by Waveney Russ
Early 20th century Japan is a total cultural divergence from a tiny South Island town like ours, but the McDowell gallery has been authentically transformed into a perfect haven for the impressionistic prints of a pre-war age gone by. Shin-hanga (literally meaning “new woodcut Read more...
Nutshell by Ian McEwan
Posted 12:05pm Sunday 13th August 2017 by Zoe Taptiklis
Ian McEwan claimed fame from the world of non-literary oriented folks when Kiera Knightly had sex in a library, a scene that won the novel, and movie, Atonement, a permanent place in the collective memory of popular culture. I confess, I’ve tried to read Atonement several times, and I never Read more...
Ov Pain
Posted 12:03pm Sunday 13th August 2017 by Reg Norris
I’m not from here. Most of the people from where I’m from migrate north to the oily plains of Melbourne. It’s a rite of passage and sign of artistic commitment, or the need for restaurants open after 10pm, departure lounges teeming with tortured fortune seekers, or the guarantee of Read more...
To the Moon
Posted 11:59am Sunday 13th August 2017 by Lisa Blakie
Rating: 5/5 I’ve been on a bit of a story-rich indie game high recently. Oxenfree, Cibelle and Ladykiller in a Bind to name a few. This is definitely due to their accessibility. The most that these games cost is only around $20, they are available for both Windows and Mac, and can be Read more...
Dunkirk
Posted 11:56am Sunday 13th August 2017 by Callum Post
Rating: 4/5 Having directed some of the biggest movies of the last decade (such as Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy), the Christopher Nolan brand has become synonymous with imaginative, mind-bending success. But now that he’s decided to make his mark on the war genre, as have so many Read more...
The Thirty-Nine Steps
Posted 1:24pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Nick Ainge-Roy
Written at the start of the First World War while John Buchan was bedridden by illness, The Thirty-Nine Steps is a classic of the crime fiction genre. It stars Richard Hannay as the archetypal action hero. Returning from Africa after several years working as a mining engineer, Hannay intends on Read more...
Long Way North
Posted 1:20pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Diana Tran
Rating: 4/5 Long Way North is about a 15-year-old rebel who runs away from home after getting yelled at by her father. And it is so much more. Sasha’s journey has all the elements that make for a jolly adventure: unresolved family tensions, a potentially dangerous cute boy, a sassy barmaid, Read more...
War for the Planet of the Apes
Posted 1:17pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Todd Johnstone
Rating 4/5 Seeing an orang-utan and a gorilla riding horseback into battle is a great sight; it’s pure CINEMA. War for the Planet of the Apes embraces these strange sights. After all, the main character in the film is a highly intelligent chimp who talks, surrounded by a troop of slightly Read more...
Critic’s Ultimate Guide to Peanut Butter
Posted 1:14pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Liani Baylis
My heart genuinely goes out to those unfortunate enough to be cursed with a nut allergy - I’m sorry. That does, however, mean more peanut butter for me. You don’t die and I get more PB all to myself - there can be no loser. I thought this week I’d shake it up a bit as an ode Read more...
Italian Inspirations Review: Taking Dad to the DSO
Posted 1:03pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe
Sadly, it’s always a struggle to find somebody to claim the second ticket of my double DSO pass. My friend pool of Western Art Music fans (the “WAM-fam”) is on the light side, and is significantly diminished once you remove those who are members of the orchestra, so have no need Read more...
That No I.d. Friend And The Story Of Jay-z
Posted 1:01pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Grimm Selfie
In July 2017, Jay-Z released his long awaited return with the album 4:44. Like any good story there’s a person behind the elevator miss-haps, sipping lemonade in the shadows, that makes things happen. In this case it’s a person known as No I.D. It’s an odd thing when we listen Read more...
Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Posted 12:55pm Sunday 6th August 2017 by Lisa Blakie
The title says it all. Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator (DDADDS) is a Dad dating simulator where you are a Dad looking to date other Dads. Yes, it’s as good as it sounds. I’ve been looking forward to this game for quite some time because I love games that focus on building Read more...
Art Week Cover Competition
Posted 2:23pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Critic
Art Week is approaching and to celebrate, Critic wants artists to send us your artwork. We will choose a piece to go on the cover of Critic for the week, plus you get prizes! The magazine prints at 300ppi so please send high-resolution images. If your work is digital you need to send it at Read more...
Bleaker House By Nell Stevens
Posted 1:15pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Jessica Thompson
“I am scared that the life I want to lead, the life of a writer, is inevitably built on loneliness, and I need to know if I can hack it.” Bleaker House is Nell Steven’s first novel and she hit the nail on the head. The book is messy, unpredictable, and absolutely Read more...
‘Extrait d’Image’ – Lisa Reihana
Posted 1:09pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Waveney Russ
‘Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique’ by Joseph Dufour is wallpaper. Spectacular, exceptionally rare, two-hundred-year-old wallpaper. Flagged as ‘armchair tourism’, the wallpaper depicts the over twenty different indigenous groups that Captain James Cook or Louis Antoine de Read more...
Hungover Pancakes (Minus The Guilt)
Posted 1:02pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Liani Baylis
Eating less or no animal products has become increasingly trendy – very #2017 if you will. Brainstorming content for this week’s article got me thinking. What do you do if Sunday morning you’ve mastered eggs, hauled that hangin’ ass out of bed to impress your lass, only to Read more...
Despite the Falling Snow
Posted 12:54pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Gem MacDuff
Rating: 2/5 Despite a plot that anyone with half a brain could predict, your heart would have to be made of cement not to fall in love with Sam Reid’s earnest portrayal of the male lead in Shamim Sarif’s Cold War drama, Despite the Falling Snow. Reid plays the warm young Alexander, Read more...
The Journey
Posted 12:50pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Rossana Boni
Rating: 4/5 Based on true events, The Journey depicts how political rivals Martin McGuiness and Ian Paisley finally hammered out a peace accord after forty years of conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the ‘Troubles’. As the respective leaders of Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein Read more...
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Posted 12:45pm Sunday 30th July 2017 by Lisa Blakie
Do we really need another Breath of the Wild review circulating out there? Probably not. But I think I had a different experience to everyone else who has played this game, because I hated it when I first started it. The Legend of Zelda is a franchise I will love unconditionally forever. Ocarina Read more...
Critic Reviews: Spring Break
Posted 9:21am Monday 24th July 2017 by Sam Fraser-Baxter
It was a typically arctic night, as just over a thousand scarfies flooded into the Union Hall for OUSA’s Spring Break event on the Thursday of Re-O week. The event was touted by OUSA as an act of solidarity; a collective ‘fuck you’ to winter. They couldn’t have timed it Read more...
Critic Interviews New Zealand’s Funniest Comedian: Rhys Darby
Posted 1:35pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Joe Higham
Touching on his time in the NZ Army, his belief in reincarnation, his comedy heroes and more, Rhys Darby had a chat to Critic as he returns to New Zealand and Australia for his new Mystic Time Bird tour. Joe Higham: How's the tour going so far? Rhys Darby: Great, yeah, fantastic. Only Read more...
Gilead
Posted 1:30pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Jessica Thompson
It took longer than I’d expected for me to get into this book. Marilynne Robinson has proven herself a talented, tender and transportive writer in her other novels, and over the years she has received a veritable feast of awards. Published in 2004, Gilead was the winner of the 2005 Read more...
Finger Paintings
Posted 1:27pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Waveney Russ
Envision cruising in through the Octagon and walking straight up to ‘La Débâcle’ by Claude Monet (if you know where to find it that is, thanks Dunedin Public Art Gallery), then shoving your hands onto the oil painting’s exterior; your Fatty-Lane-grease-infused digits Read more...
As Good as Real Coconut Yoghurt, But Made a la StudyLink
Posted 1:22pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Liani Baylis
The ‘health’ industry appears to be a rich kids’ game. Forgive me that StudyLink is all a girl’s got going right now – amirite? I’m determined to eat well (booze aside), but every time I step into the supermarket I reconsider the nutritional value of the dust Read more...
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Posted 1:16pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Todd Johnstone
Rating: 3/5 We witnessed Peter Parker’s long-awaited entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in last year’s Captain America: Civil War. Homecoming sees Tom Holland return as the third leading man to don the Spidey-suit, and lead what is essentially a teen high-school movie set Read more...
My Cousin Rachel (2017)
Posted 1:14pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Rossana Boni
Rating: 2/5 Channelling (poorly) his inner Guillermo del Toro with a disproportionate amount of candles, chiaroscuro and murder-mystery piano motifs, South African Director Roger Michell (Notting Hill, The Mother) gives us a new version of Daphne du Maurier’s twisty novel. The story that Read more...
This Boring Man
Posted 1:08pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Grimm Selfie
Back in November 2016, Johnny Marr, guitarist and cofounder of The Smiths, released his autobiography ‘Set the Boy Free’. It’s a book that spans his entire life, but of course focuses on how he came to knock on Morrissey’s door, and together change indie Read more...
Little Nightmares: Reviewed By A Pro and a Friend of a Pro
Posted 1:04pm Sunday 23rd July 2017 by Lisa Blakie
I played this game with a group of friends and it was terrifying and fantastic fun! There was a lot of screaming and cooperation from everyone in the room, and I even needed emotional support near the end when I was too afraid to face the final spook creature (I don’t want to be too specific Read more...
Sunroom – Trudy Lane (16 June – 1 July)
Posted 2:00pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Waveney Russ
Staring at the sun as a child seemed a formidable challenge, akin to holding your breath at the bottom of a pool, only with a greater chance of permanently damaged corneas. Enter digital artist Trudy Lane. Like switching from a BSc to a BA, Lane endeavours to transport us to that sun gazing end goal Read more...
The Panopticon
Posted 1:55pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Jessica Thompson
I studied this book for an English paper last semester and thought it was worth a review. Set in Scotland and with Edinburgh vernacular to match, the Panopticon is a sharp novel that examines the lives of the down and outs, the uncontrollable criminal youths and the doomed-to-fail losers of the Read more...
Aquawhatta?
Posted 1:51pm Sunday 16th July 2017 by Liani Baylis
If, unlike me, you’re not up with the vegan or frugal kids, you’re in for the biggest PSA of your young life, so stay seated and prepare to be mind-blown. I kept hearing about this thing called “aquafaba” and I was like TF is that? Turns out, it’s a magical liquid Read more...
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