Archive

Monsieur Linh and his Child

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Lucy Hunter

Monsieur Linh is the only person who knows his name, because everybody who used to know it is dead. He arrives by ship from an unnamed country in Indo-China to France, clutching a small suitcase of meagre possessions, and his new-born granddaughter, Sang diû, who weighs less than the suitcase. His Read more...

Your Sister’s Sister

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

I’m not sure if Your Sister’s Sister is a romantic comedy or not, but whatever its classification, it’s a great watch. The film opens with Jack (Mark Duplass) struggling to recover from the loss of his brother, and making an ass of himself at a subsequent memorial party. His best friend Iris Read more...

Hysteria

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Ashlea Muston

Hysteria, set in London in the 1880s, follows the story of the ever-spirited young Doctor Mortimer Granville prior to his discovery of the vibrator and its medical benefits. Mortimer (Hugh Dancy) continually seeks betterment in the medical profession, and is enamoured with the breakthrough science Read more...

On The Road

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Dan Benson-Guiu

This adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s novel immerses us in a time period that is short but alive with change. It is the postwar era, and we are introduced to a small group of budding writers who are part of a culture which, as a whole, seems lively and creative. Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) is not feeling Read more...

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Beaurey Chan

I don’t know about you, but there’s something about tentacles that freak me out. Sea creatures in general are scary: sharks, jellyfish (Finding Nemo has a lot to answer for), flesh-eating piranhas, and so on – the whole lot are evil harbingers of doom as far as I’m concerned. But while Deep Sea Read more...

FTL - Review

Posted 4:25pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 by Toby Hills

In a quantum instant, a single broadside torpedo slips through the rickety space-cruiser’s momentarily downed shields, and ignites the oxygen recirculator. Immediately, the grizzled captain shuts down the blast doors and opens the ship’s port and stern airlocks, evacuating the gaseous contents from Read more...

Moonrise Kingdom

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

Set in the 1960s, Moonrise Kingdom is about a couple of New England kids who cross paths at a summer camp and fall head-over-heels in love. Suzy comes from an upper-class family of lawyers, while Sam is an orphan who is constantly in and out of foster homes. Before leaving the camp, they make a pact Read more...

The Expendables 2

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Critic

The Expendables 2 revolves around a group of mercenaries, the Expendables, who are enlisted by a Mr Church to retrieve a lost package from a downed plane. What seems like an easy job takes a wrong turn when one of their crew is murdered during the operation. Determined to seek revenge, the Read more...

Wunderkinder

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Lulu Sandston

Wunderkinder, set in the Ukraine in 1941, follows three young musical Wunderkinder, or child prodigies, who are bound by their love of music. Violinist Hanna Reich (Bridgette Grothum) is German, while pianist Larissa Brodsky (Imogen Burrell) and violinist Abrascha Kaplan (Elin Kolev) are Jewish. Read more...

Prawn, Spinach and Lemon Spaghetti

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Ines Shennan

This simple pasta dish marries prawns with smoked paprika and tart lemon, wrapping the lot up in a rich cream sauce. If you’re a seafood fan but can’t get down to your nearest waterway armed with fishing artillery or face the price that blue cod and salmon fetch at the supermarket, then stock up Read more...

Yvonne Todd: Wall of Seahorsel

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

Curated by Melbourne arts writer Serena Bentley, “Wall of Seahorsel” is a showcase of the most recent works of one of New Zealand’s most respected contemporary photographers. Yvonne Todd is an award-winning artist based in Auckland. She has become well known for her photographs, which utilise the Read more...

Here is some Music

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

‘Over and Out’ – MalesMales have just released their debut EP for free, because, you know, YOLO right? Not sure if this is the single, but it should be. Not that the other songs aren’t just as good, but “Over and Out” is one of those rare songs that sounds completely full, finished, and realised. Read more...

Hero

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

The latest Stage South reading to grace the Fortune Theatre Studio stage is Hero, directed by Erica Newlands. A haunting and beautiful play by Arun Subrmaniam, a New Zealand playwright, Hero takes us on a journey to Malaysia, where the first political assassination took place. Patrick Davies Read more...

Defender’s Quest - REVIEW

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Toby Hills

"Grinding” doesn’t sound like a great way to spend one’s time, does it? A mule in a medieval mill did a lot of grinding – of grain – to turn it into the coarse, unrefined flour that was the serfs’ staple food supply. That gameplay mechanic, as popular as it has historically been in classic Japanese Read more...

The Driver’s Seat

Posted 4:57pm Sunday 16th September 2012 by Lucy Hunter

The Driver’s Seat follows Lise, a nondescript woman of little importance, and her own way of reasoning inside a mind which seems to have got the whole world the wrong way round. The book opens with Lise freaking out at a shop assistant for suggesting she buy a stain-resistant dress – “Do you think I Read more...

Pancetta Macaroni Cups

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Ines Shennan

This week we pay homage to my lifelong friend, cheese. When I was a young, spritely thing, Saturday lunchtime saw a steady stream of cheese melts flow from oven to table (not literally, mind you). I stuck with the classic cheese and oregano combination, while my mother would get all inventive with Read more...

Dunedin’s Gig Heydey

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Caleb Wicks

Whenever I go to a gig these days I leave feeling a little disappointed. It’s not that the bands can’t play, or that the venue is shit, or even that I can’t stand the people who are at the gig, even though those are often problems too. What I am continually disappointed by is the lack of atmosphere Read more...

Total Recall

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Sam McChesney

Going into this, I was very sceptical. The original Total Recall (1990) was a classic Paul Verhoeven glossy violence-fest, not to mention one of Arnie’s best films (though admittedly this is a bit like saying that Harry is one of the hottest royals); remaking it was a dangerous game. Plus I’d heard Read more...

Hope Springs

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Michaela Hunter

Hope Springs is best described as a quirky comedy for the 30-plus demographic. Meryl Streep is a dazzling yet obvious choice as housewife Kay, and Tommy Lee is well cast as her somewhat dim-witted husband Arnold. The plot is simple: Kay feels trapped in their stale marriage, but Arnold is Read more...

Bernie

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Sam McChesney

Lots of films get laughs by poking fun at hicks. However, few do so in as affectionate and poignant a way as Bernie, a quirky sleeper hit in the vein of Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. Set in Carthage, Texas – which, as its townsfolk reliably inform us, is in the non-liberal, non-Mexican part of the Read more...

Little Sister

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Feby Idrus

There are two sentences – or beginnings of sentences, anyway – in Julian Novitz’s psychological thriller Little Sister that encapsulate everything this novel is about. The first, “To live is to battle with trollfolk”, from Henrik Ibsen, is quoted by the alarmingly volatile teenager Shane. The second Read more...

White Noise

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Do you guys know about the iTunes visualiser? If you do, nod vigorously – we are on the same page. For those who don’t, I am about to change your life. Press Ctrl+T the next time you’re playing a song in iTunes, and VOILA! Colours, sunbursts, fireworks, rainbows galore! The first time I was Read more...

Heroes

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

Directed by Lara Macgregor | Written by Gerald Sibleyras | Translated by Tom Stoppard | Featuring Peter Hayden, Geoffrey Heath and Simon O’Connor The Fortune Theatre does a fantastic job of balancing out the programming for its seasons, making sure there’s something for everyone, and Read more...

Resident Evil 6 - PREVIEW

Posted 4:03pm Sunday 9th September 2012 by Toby Hills

Resident Evil 5 was like a rousing game of impromptu beach volleyball: sand underfoot, a baking sun above, and a loyal partner by your side at all times. No matter how many prolapsed eyeballs and massive crocodiles it contained, the game had a hard time invoking fear in the bones of its players. It Read more...

Coconut Chicken

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Ines Shennan

My mother would often quip that “necessity is the mother of invention”. I vehemently hated this phrase when I was younger, mostly because it meant things weren’t going my way and a novel solution was needed. That old idiom came to mind one evening when my pantry was bereft of spices and I was Read more...

Darksiders II

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Toby Hills

Darksiders II is the The Amazing Spider-Man of the video game world: endlessly derivative, and pretty unnecessary, but undeniably effective nonetheless. It is an action-adventure, beat-em-up puzzle game with RPG and platform elements – a pick’n’mix of fundamental mechanics that everyone finds Read more...

Tik Tok

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Beaurey Chan

The first thing I heard upon entering this exhibition was “This is freaky!” (uttered by a young girl of about five or so, who was there with her mother). The second thing, which immediately followed the first, was “What the fuck is this?” (which earned the teenage speaker a dirty glare from the Read more...

Fifty Shades of Grey

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Harriet Hughes

At first, reviewing Fifty Shades of Grey was a bit exciting. I’ve never read an erotic novel before, so immediately thought OMG where are the dirty bits. However it wasn’t long before an unpleasant relationship started to develop between this book and I. Meet Anastasia Steele. She is 21 and Read more...

What is Music?

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Music means so many different things to so many different people. But it can also be produced in so many different forms for so many different reasons. More specifically, it can basically be split up into live music and recorded music. It should be simple, right? Make great sounds with your Read more...

Darling, Let’s go to the ballet!

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

Last week the Royal New Zealand Ballet graced our town with their TOWER Season of Cinderella, a classic story brought to life by a talented and delightful company. The creative spin on the timeless rags-to-riches love story brought a breath of fresh air to the Regent stage. Every aspect of the Read more...

Cheerful Weather for a Wedding

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Emma Scammell

Cheerful Weather for a Wedding is, ironically, not that cheerful at all. The film follows the painstakingly dull Dolly (Felicity Jones), who on her wedding day realises that she is entering a loveless marriage orchestrated by her overly possessive mother. In the lead-up to the wedding Read more...

I Wish

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Andrew Oliver

I Wish is a joyful and inspiring journey into the wonders, concerns, and childhood imaginations of two young Japanese brothers on a mission to reunite their broken family. Real-life brothers Koki and Ohshiro Maeda effortlessly play onscreen brothers Koichi and Ryunosuke, under the guidance of Read more...

Take this Waltz

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

In a world full of tacky rom-coms and second-rate vampire movies, Take This Waltz is a breath of fresh air. The film centres around Margot (Michelle Williams) and her relationships. A travel writer, Margot is growing restless in life and in her marriage of five years to Lou (Seth Rogen), a Read more...

The Bourne Legacy

Posted 5:17pm Sunday 2nd September 2012 by Sam McChesney

Should I even be comparing this to the first three Bourne films? It has no Matt Damon, a completely different supporting cast, and a new director (although Tony Gilroy was screenwriter for the original trilogy). The plot has nothing to do with the search for identity which animated the first three. Read more...

Step Up 4: Miami Heat

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

In the fourth installment of the Step Up franchise, we find ourselves in Miami (which means lots of bikinis and bleached hair). We meet Emily, the daughter of a wealthy property shark (Hollywood veteran Peter Gallagher), who falls for Ryan, a guy from the wrong side of the tracks. Shockingly, Ryan Read more...

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Critic

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter unsurprisingly revolves around Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. During his childhood Lincoln witnesses the death of his mother at the hands of a vampire. Nine years later, he makes the acquaintance of a man named Henry Sturgess. Henry makes a Read more...

Le Chef

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Caleb Wicks

French comedy Le Chef follows the struggles of veteran chef Alexandre (Jean Reno) and his second in command Jacky (Michael Youn) as they try to juggle home life with their love of cooking. This tricky situation is further exacerbated by the interfering son of Alexandre’s retired business partner Read more...

The Campaign

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Andrew Oliver

The Campaign pits Will Farrell against Zach Galifianakis in a vulgar, violent, and ferocious political satire that will leave Will Farrell fans laughing out loud for an one-and-a-half hours straight, and everyone else disgusted and disturbed. Will Farrell is Cam Brady, the slimy, Read more...

Braised Leeks with Sweet Lentils and Gravy

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Ines Shennan

Leeks are phenomenally cheap at the moment, and are a great flavour base for meals. Typically I would slice the whites into rounds and add them to risotto or pasta. This recipe, from spectacular food blog Sprouted Kitchen, honours the otherwise humble vegetable and makes them the protagonist of the Read more...

Tone Deaf

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Tom Tremewan

I don’t play any musical instruments. I’m uncoordinated, have short arms, and despise sucking at something I don’t have an inherent knack for. Basically, I can’t get over my fear of failing at something I love so much. This is one aspect of me, and one aspect of my relationship with music. Another Read more...

Baldur’s Gate I and II: Enhanced Editions

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Toby Hills

Developer: Overhaul Games (Bioware) Genre: Role-playing Platforms: PC, iPad, OSX, Android (tablets) Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition is a satisfactorily vague title for a massive overhaul. It’s an obvious attempt to smooth out all the lumpy bumps between the two games and two expansions Read more...

Passages

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

In the past few years, Allen Hall Theatre has made a name for itself in the verbatim theatre world. Hilary Halba and Stuart Young have championed this contemporary theatre form in Otago, recently showcasing a trilogy of incredibly touching works: Gathered in Confidence, Hush, and Be | Longing. This Read more...

The Art of Fielding

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Josef Alton

The Art of Fielding reads like a wicked change-up. The pages flip fast as the narrative creeps closer to the plate, but as the crux of the novel draws near it’s difficult to judge the arch the themes arrive on. Is Chad Harbach’s debut novel about baseball or a University campus? Has he revamped Read more...

EX, WAI & ZEE

Posted 4:26pm Sunday 19th August 2012 by Beaurey Chan

www.bit.ly/IOJCZj It was pretty much inevitable that this exhibition would interest me, considering that it deals with two of my favourite topics: language (hello, English major) and art (hello, editor of what section again?). On a very basic level, it might appear that words and images are Read more...

Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Maeve Jones

After hearing earlier this week about one Dunedin flat’s dessert of stingray, maple syrup, and ice cream, I thought it might be time to let up on the culinary innovation and return to the classics. Warm, hearty sticky date pudding just cannot be beaten on a cold, wintry Dunedin night. To find a Read more...

Collaborate bitches!

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

I have become obsessed with the idea of musical collaboration. Possibly because of my incredibly fan-boyish nature that renders me incredibly nervous and awkward whenever I encounter one of my idols, e.g. Grayson Gilmour, I have a massive love for a lot of artists and the music they produce. That’s Read more...

SCP-087

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Toby Hills

SCP-087 is a never-ending, descending collection of thirteen flights of stairs on which a number of scary “things” happen. I say “things” because SCP-087 prides itself on being procedurally generated. A scary “thing” could happen on the second flight down, or nothing could happen for a painfully Read more...

Slender

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Toby Hills

Slender has you hunting down pages scrawled in the dark, some pinned to trees in a forest made of lots of other trees, while being stalked by an unseen threat. Themes are beginning to emerge in these horror games. In this case the monster is the Slenderman, a sort of modern mythical creature forged Read more...

Hide

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Toby Hills

Hide opens with a spacebar-shaped rectangle next to four typical directional buttons. The spacebar is labelled as allowing the player to “hide”, but really it’s an utterly useless crouch button. Squatting slightly closer to the freezing snow that makes up the game’s environment does not fool the Read more...

We the Living

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Staff Reporter

“ …too strong to compromise, but too weak to withstand the pressure… who cannot bend, but only break.” Many Russian authors have a tortured relationship with their motherland, but for Russo-American author Ayn Rand, Soviet Russia was an object of hatred. This, her first novel, was written Read more...

Bits and Bobs

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Tetris is what my mind immediately conjured up when I first saw Suel Novell’s art installation Zoom. Obviously it was a foolish and uniformed first instinct, but it’s not hard to see why I immediately leaped to that conclusion. Novell’s installation consists of a series of small, interlocked Read more...

The Devil in Me

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Beaurey Chan

The irony of walking into Unipol for the first time ever for the sole purpose of reviewing an art installation was not lost on me. Besides being interestingly unusual, however, the setting of Siobhan Wootten’s The Tao of Avery really did make the artwork that much more impressive. Walk into Unipol Read more...

Interview with Alyx Duncan

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Jane Ross

New Zealand-born director Alyx Duncan took time out from the busy international film festival circuit to speak to Jane Ross about her debut feature film, The Red House, which is screening at the NZIFF this Friday at 6pm at Rialto. You describe The Red House as a fictional essay in which you Read more...

Magic Mike

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

If you like shimmering well-oiled abs and perfectly tanned man-buttocks, then Magic Mike is the film for you. Magic Mike is based loosely on Channing Tatum’s life as a teenage stripper before he made it as an actor in Hollywood. Set in Florida, the movie follows 19-year-old Adam (Alex Read more...

Bel Ami

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 12th August 2012 by Brittany Travers

I am studying French, so was excited to see a modern-day film interpretation of Guy de Maupassant’s Bel Ami. However, from the first close up of Robert Pattinson’s pouty lips I knew sitting through the film would be torture, and it was. This film is firm evidence that casting Pattinson as the lead Read more...

Whole Mushroom and Ham Tart

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Ines Shennan

The inspiration for this savoury tart came from a gorgeous Auckland café called Little and Friday, which sadly is no more than a welcome daydream when I’m in Dunedin. So when I venture to the humid north a trip to Little and Friday is always on the cards. My first true love was the dizzyingly cheesy Read more...

Always Read The Label

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Yes, New Zealand has some pretty amazing music, but we have some pretty amazing music labels floating around as well — some in plain sight, some a little better hidden. Most geographically relevant to our cold little enclave of Dunedin would be the revered Flying Nun Records, the original home of Read more...

OSCURA

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Toby Hills

In Oscura you play, in established platform-game tradition, as a small mammalian everyman who plies a noble trade. Not a bandicoot plumber, I’m afraid, but a non-specific rodentish creature who attends to the lighthouse on a fantastical island. One day the bulb is shattered, unleashing shadowy Read more...

The Grand Duke

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

After 11 long years of “The Really Authentic Gilbert and Sullivan Performance Trust” presenting the famous works in Dunedin, they are winding things up with the big finale work The Grand Duke. W S Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan began writing their comedic operas in the late nineteenth century, Read more...

Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Loulou Callister-Baker

The New York-based, Serbian-born performer Marina Abramović is one of the most important artists of the second half of the twentieth century. Since Abramović’s career began in the 1970s she has continued to use performance art to enthrall, shock, seduce, and explore the possibilities of Read more...

Chasing Ice

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Sarah Baillie

[FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW] National Geographic photographer James Balog was a climate change skeptic before he saw for himself the immense recession of glaciers he had photographed on separate occasions. This moment of realisation led Balog to set up the extensive “extreme ice survey” (EIS) Read more...

Barbara

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Loulou Callister-Baker

[FILM FEST PREVIEW] Barbara is set in the German Democratic Republic, informally known as East Germany, during the 1980s. Barbara (Nina Hoss), a doctor working in Berlin, has been banished to a countryside hospital after she expressed her wish to leave the GDR. In this hospital she works Read more...

Late Bloomers

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

Late Bloomers chronicles the lives of Mary (Isabella Rossellini) and Adam (William Hurt), who have been married for 30 years. A series of life events and an episode of memory loss prompt retired teacher Mary to undergo a medical exam, which in turn stimulates a lot of contemplation about her Read more...

ZINEFEST 2012

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Josef Alton

Glue Gallery - 26 Stafford St Friday August 10th 5pm-9pm & Saturday August 11th 10am-6pm THE ZINE MINUS THE MAG: THE UBIQUITOUS, TRASHY, PRETTY, TINY TAILORED TREASURE OF WORDS, SITTING RIGHT UNDERNEATH THE NOSE ON YOU. Zines. They’re in cafes, pubs, boutiques, and dairies. You Read more...

A Study in Vivacity

Posted 4:49pm Sunday 5th August 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Sensory overload is the first thing that comes to mind when you first encounter Micci Cohan’s stunning collage artworks. There’s so much going on in each piece that looking at them can be a jarring and overwhelming experience. Sizzling colours practically pop off the page, energetic squiggles and Read more...

Soy and Ginger Dumplings

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Ines Shennan

When eating at Dunedin’s Japanese restaurants, dumplings are a favourite choice of mine. The art of balancing them between chopsticks while dunking them in the provided dipping sauce is comparable to the art of making them yourself – seemingly daunting, but remarkably easy after you’ve done it once. Read more...

Mixed Messages

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Ally Embleton

Have you ever made a mixtape? Like, a real one? Maybe you sat eagerly by the stereo, waiting for your song to play, winding the take-up reel on the cassette by hand so you could get that perfect transition timing. Or sat in a locked bedroom with your friends playing a “borrowed” tape/CD from a Read more...

Travis Kooky

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

"The constraints of the theatre are only limited to your creativity… and your lack of budget.” Hitting the stage this week at Allen Hall Theatre is Travis Kooky and the One Problem, an original work by Rosie Howells, a second-year student at Otago who is becoming renowned around campus for Read more...

The Last of Us - PREVIEW

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Toby Hills

With The Last of Us, developer Naughty Dog replaces the lush temple vistas, charmingly witty characters, wholesome fun and will-they-won’t-they dynamics of their previous franchise Uncharted with lush overgrown cities, gloomy-but-still-likable characters, brutal strangulations, and adult Read more...

Watch Dogs - PREVIEW

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Toby Hills

Watch Dogs, another intriguing title from this year’s E3, is about killing people using Facebook. Aiden Pearce, the painfully generic protagonist, wields dystopian “Google-goggles” to identify his target. In an instant, a juicy fact is revealed about every person he scans: “HIV positive”, “charged Read more...

Film Festival Picks!

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival opened on Thursday night with Wes Anderson’s latest gem, the super-cute Moonrise Kingdom. Running from 26 June to 19 August, the film festival marks an annual academic slump in Sarah Baillie’s calendar – three weeks of not much study and lots of sneaky Read more...

Letters to Father Jacob

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

Letters to Father Jacob is a Finnish subtitled film set in the 1970s, about a thick-skinned ex-convict named Leila and her experience working with Father Jacob. The recipient of a life sentence (presumably murder, though it is never explicitly stated), Leila is given a pardon (much to her disgust) Read more...

The Dark Knight Rises

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Daniel Duxfield

The story picks up sometime after the end of The Dark Knight. “Batman” is a spurned memory from a darker time in Gotham City's recent history, and billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne is a recluse. Christopher Nolan starts this episode of the Batman legend by planting the seeds of this story in Read more...

The Forgotten Waltz

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Bradley Watson

Attraction works in mysterious ways, and we often find ourselves wanting things we cannot have. But what happens when we get what we want? What happens when our lust for our husband’s attractive, married friend shifts from fantasy to reality? What about his family, our family, and our marriage? At Read more...

Fun-Sized

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

It’s probably become obvious to those who regularly read Critic’s art section that the majority of exhibitions I write about are “official” ones. What I mean by this is that these exhibitions, curated by various art galleries around the city, feature New Zealand artists who are well established Read more...

Cheat's Carbonara

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Ines Shennan

From a young age I was mesmerised by spaghetti carbonara. My mother is in no way Italian, but she had a knack for producing the most lip-smacking bowls of pasta, overflowing with everything from olives, capers, and feta to the tongue-tickling saltiness of anchovies. It has remained a favourite Read more...

Home Brew

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Tom Tremewan

"Shot to our olds for bringing us into existence, Avondale and Otahuhu for raising us, our girls for loving us even when it’s not dole day, the bros for helping us not kill ourselves on those Sunday mornings and you cunts for buying this bullshit. Fuck the Prime Minister. Fuck the law force. Fuck Read more...

Dishonoured - PREVIEW

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Toby Hills

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC | Developer: Arkane Studios | Genre: Stealth, Action Why can my telepathy grant momentum to granite boulders and dead people, but not living ones? Why can my fireballs ignite moist fleshy alien-scum, but not the wooden floorboards beneath them? Why, video Read more...

A Land More Kind Than Home

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Lucy Hunter

A new pastor arrives in a small-town North Carolina, covers the windows of his church with newspaper, and puts a sign outside which reads Mark 16:17-18 – that’s the bit about speaking in tongues and daring snakes to bite you in the name of God. He leads services of faith healing, snake-wielding, and Read more...

Film Festival Preview: Shadow Dancer

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

British spy thriller Shadow Dancer has just the right amount of thrill, a good sprinkling of snooping, and not too much dramatic music, eavesdropping, or complicated spy networks. Collette, a young mother and member of a family heavily embroiled in the IRA, gets caught dropping a bomb in the London Read more...

Film Festival Preview: Undefeated

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

A “sports documentary” which is about much, much more than sport, Undefeated is a heartwarming story of personal relationships, struggles, and American football. Before coach Bill Courtney arrived at Manassas high school, their football team had been on a losing streak for as long as anyone could Read more...

A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære)

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Charlotte Greenfield

At first glance A Royal Affair screams “royal historical drama”, with all the sumptuous costumes, distractingly elaborate sets, stilted dialogue and wooden acting (paradoxically, often by the British acting elite) that the genre entails. Maybe it’s the Danish twist, but A Royal Affair some how Read more...

TED

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

From the creator of TV comedies such as Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane (who also voices the main character of Ted) brings us this crude, rude and hilariously indecent film about a young boy who wishes for his teddy bear to come to life. His dream comes true, and the film flashes Read more...

Off the Wall

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

The Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Otago Museum is filled with colour, textiles, and ultraviolet light. It is being inhabited by the World of Wearable Art exhibition, otherwise known as “WOW”. WOW is a breathtaking demonstration of the imagination, originality, and ingenuity of the Read more...

Totally Boss Steak Sammies

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Ines Shennan

With more grunt than a humble ham sandwich but requiring little in the way of preparation, these steak sammies will quell that gnawing hunger. Flash-fried schnitzel simply flavoured with garlic and salt is the foundation of this stomach satisfier. It’s ideal because it’s relatively cheap and cooks Read more...

Sexuality In Music

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Whoever you are, wherever you are . . I’m starting to think we’re a lot alike. Human beings spinning on blackness. All wanting to be seen, touched, heard, paid attention to.” When I think of Odd Future, I think of #swag, chants of “free earl” (I think it worked?) and some more swag, never enough Read more...

Resistance: Burning Skies

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Robert Hill

PLATFORMS: PSVita | GENRE: FPSz The PSVita is here, and the game that gets the title of “First FPS on a dual-stick portable device” is Resistance: Burning Skies. However, those who already have the Vita (and I doubt many of you do) might want to give this one a miss. Story-wise, Read more...

Dunedin's Globe

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

Dunedin seems to have this great ability to hide wee treasures all throughout the city, with only the locals being in the know. From beaches to shops, you all know a nice secluded spot concealed from the world. On London Street, tucked up in a beautiful garden, is the Globe Theatre, one of these Read more...

Ping vs. Pong

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Yes, this is a review of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. No, I have not recently (or ever) been to New York (don’t remind me, I’ll just get depressed). But while procrastinating writing my dissertation this week, I discovered the wonderful realm of online exhibitions. As Read more...

The Hut Builder

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Feby Idrus

It’s fair to describe Dunedin author Laurence Fearnley’s novel The Hut Builder as a portrait of the artist as a young Kiwi man. A character study rendered in luscious prose, The Hut Builder follows central character Boden Black from his early years as a 1940s rural Cantabrian with a love of poetry Read more...

Interview with Bill Gosden

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Jane Ross

Critic film reviewer Jane Ross caught up with Bill Gosden, Dunedin-born Director of the New Zealand International Film Festival, for a quick chat about his lifetime love of film and what to expect from this year’s NZIFF. Critic: So from where I’m sitting I think you probably have one of the Read more...

Rock of Ages

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Emma Scammell

Rock of Ages is a musical adapted from a popular Broadway show, set amidst the turbulent atmosphere of sex, drugs, and rock‘n’roll in the 1980s. The film follows small-town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and aspiring rock star Drew (Diego Boneta), both wannabe singers lured in by the seductive Miami Read more...

The Amazing Spider Man

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Alec Dawson

The last film telling the story of Spider-Man’s beginnings was made only ten years ago. Since then, the huge success of the Batman and Avengers franchises, as well as the subversions of the genre through films such as The Incredibles and Kick-Ass, have developed a whole new set of expectations Read more...

Pulled Pork

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Ines Shennan

This heady, sticky, and rich slow cooked pork has been trending in the food world for some time now, and for good reason. Throw it together at midday and it will be ready to devour by dinnertime. This recipe is a cheat’s version, which I have adapted from a blog called “The Londoner”. Full of Read more...

Oh, Hey there

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Hello. My name is Isaac. I am the new Critic Music editor. I like cheese and crackers, Mario Ballotelli, jelly tip ice creams, the customer service at the Link dairy, and BYO Japanese. And I love music. Well, most types of music anyway. I probably won’t be writing about freeform jazz or country Read more...

Dragons Dogma

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PS3 & XBOX360 | Genre: RPG Here, for you to peruse at your leisure, is a typical session of Dragon’s Dogma: “Wolves are sensitive to fire. Wolves don’t like being burned. If you attack a wolf with some kind of incendiary spell or burning arrow it will do extra damage. They hunt Read more...

The Vibrator Play

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) Written by: Sarah Ruhl Directed by: Lara Macgregor Cast: Claire Dougan, Hilary Halba, Anna Henare, Nic Kyle, Chelsea McEwan Millar, Conrad Newport, and Jason Whyte When a play makes such overt reference to things of a sexual nature you Read more...

Ordinary But Not

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Frances Hodgkins “Kaleidoscope” Dunedin Public Art Gallery 28 April-28 October Even if you know nothing about New Zealand art, the name Frances Hodgkins probably rings a bell, and with good reason. Born in Dunedin in 1869, Hodgkins rose to fame in the early twentieth century, Read more...

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Josef Alton

Tom Ripley just wasn’t good enough. His Aunt Dottie told him so. Dottie raised him, so she should know. Tom’s parents drowned when he was a child. On a hot summer’s day when he was 12, in the middle of a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam, Dottie told Tom to fill up a thermos with ice water at a filling Read more...

Snow White and The Huntsman

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Sam Allen

Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman is a darker and more badass portrayal than other recent takes (Mirror Mirror) on this Brothers Grimm fairytale. Charlize Theron is brilliant in the role of sexy Queen Ravenna. She swans around in amazing gowns constructed of bird skulls and feathers, Read more...