Archive

Layers of Goodness

Posted 4:00am Monday 15th August 2011 by Niki Lomax

My flatmate is a bit of a genius when it comes to vegetarian lasagne. General flat consensus: mince is good, but pumpkin and feta is great. This may have something to do with the fact the majority of our flat is vegetarian, or at least vege-flexible (i.e. doesn’t eat meat usually, but is partial to Read more...

Biutiful

Posted 3:57am Monday 15th August 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, (3.5/5). In Biutiful, Innarritu presents a dark story set amongst the labyrinth-like streets of Barcelona. The film is cyclic, both beginning and ending with death. We watch Uxbal (Javier Bardem), who is the father of two young children and the husband Read more...

Page One: inside the New York Times (Film Fest)

Posted 3:55am Monday 15th August 2011 by Sam McChesney

Directed by Andrew Rossi, (4/5). Page One is the story of an institution in decline, hurt by plummeting advertising revenue and enforced layoffs. It is also shamelessly biased, towards both the New York Times and traditional print media in general. Its protagonists are portrayed as heroic Read more...

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (Film Fest)

Posted 3:54am Monday 15th August 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by James Miller and Constance Marks, (4/5). Stitch by stitch, the crafting of our most beloved Sesame Street companion is revealed in Being Elmo. Through this documentary we learn about Kevin Clash, a man whose arm and voice has brought him international fame. You may not recognise Read more...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Posted 3:52am Monday 15th August 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, (4.5/5). How to make a successful prequel to a disastrous first film: 1. Ignore original movie in its entirety. 2. Replace bad actors with good actors. 3. Ditch terrible ape costumes and go digital, employing Weta motion-capture. 4. Reboot.   Rise of the Read more...

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Posted 3:49am Monday 15th August 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed/Written/Produced by: Ed Wood. Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tom Mason, Vampira, Tor Johnson, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene. A terrible idea followed up with an even worse execution - that pretty much sums up this film. Many have labelled Plan 9 from Outer Space Read more...

Wild Swans

Posted 2:45am Monday 15th August 2011 by Sylvia Avery

Author: Jung Chang. Publisher: Flamingo, (4.5/5). Wild Swans is Jung Chang’s autobiography and follows the lives of three generations of Chinese women. The book begins with Jung Chang’s concubine grandmother and follows her struggle for independence during the upheaval of her Read more...

Pieter Hugo: Nollywood

Posted 2:37am Monday 15th August 2011 by Miriama Aoake

An Institute of Modern Art Touring Exhibition Upon entering Pieter Hugo’s Nollywood, my eye was first caught by the distinguished ebony head piece of Darth Vader, mounted heroically on a blank Nigerian canvas. The billboard above beckoned, and I followed.   With any Read more...

Norm and Ahmed

Posted 5:04am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Alex Buzo, Directed by Kathryn Hurst, Staring Jimmy Currin and Thabo Tshuma. 3.5/5. Racism, the Polish-American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel suggests, “is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” Norm and Ahmed proves Read more...

Steve Kilbey (The Church) & Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre)

Posted 4:34am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Sam Valentine

with Kurt Shanks, Robert Scott and the Doyleys. Re:Fuel, July 30 2011. For a non song-writing instrumentalist, finding engaging and challenging songwriters with whom to forge and share a musical career is nothing short of a nightmare. For Ricky Maymi, founding member of the notorious Read more...

From Dust

Posted 4:31am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360. PS3, PC. 3/5. Superficially, From Dust would appear to be a “God” game. After all, you can literally carve great swaths of the earth as you see fit. Not limited to parting oceans, you might construct a vast wall out of cooling lava. Or even turn a tsunami into Read more...

F.E.A.R. 3

Posted 4:29am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC. 3/5. What have we learned, class? Yes. That's right. It can be tough to frighten a supernatural super-soldier wielding a trans-dimensional plasma cannon. Everything about F.E.A.R. 3 (and, to a some-what lesser extent, its predecessors), from its buddy-buddy Read more...

Norwegian Buns

Posted 4:27am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Niki Lomax

These buns are an excellent winter treat. They take a wee bit of time and effort so they are a good option for procrastinators. I have no idea what makes them Norwegian; maybe it’s that they are baked in a roasting dish so they are rip-apart-able? It’s a bit like in first year when the hall claimed Read more...

Cafe Review - The Food Department

Posted 4:23am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

20 Malcolm St, behind Student Health, 3/5. Prices: Flat White: $4, Long Black: $3.50, Mocha: $5 Why I came here: Many of my friends had been urging me to try out this relatively new Dunedin cafe. Atmosphere: Noisy, dark and a bit cramped. Service: We were served quickly Read more...

Captain America: The First Avengers

Posted 12:45am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Nick Hornstein

Directed by Joe Johnston, (3/5). As its title hints at, this movie is the final appetizer for much-anticipated blockbuster The Avengers coming to a screen near you in 2012.   Captain America is an unashamedly old-fashioned film. The year is 1942, the look is sepia and the Read more...

Oranges and Sunshine

Posted 12:43am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Cameron Roling

Directed by Jim Loach, (4/5). Oranges and Sunshine is the debut feature film from Jim Loach, son of iconic director Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley). It deals with the story of the 'home children', who as orphans were relocated without choice from Britain to other parts of the Read more...

Precious Life

Posted 12:42am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Dan F Benson-Guiu

Directed by Shlomi Eldar, (5/5). Talking about Palestine, renowned Israeli journalist and director of this film, Shlomi Eldar says it is “an hour’s drive away, but a world away.” Precious Life tells the story of Raida, a mother of four, the youngest of whom (Muhammed) suffers Read more...

Smokin’ Seventeen

Posted 11:37pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Janet Evanovich Smokin’ Seventeen is the latest instalment in the long-running Stephanie Plum series, a series that is a classic example of when an author didn’t know to stop. Evanovich jumped the shark long ago, as each book is more ludicrous and less plausible than the Read more...

Lure Gallery, 130 Stuart Street

Posted 11:35pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Hana Aoake

Located just down from the Octagon, Lure Gallery features the work of approximately twenty-five jewellers from around New Zealand. The space itself is a tranquil escape from the busy streets below, creating a strong sense of intimacy and warmth as golden light filters through its windows. Lure is a Read more...

IMPROS 11 – Late Night Improv

Posted 11:25pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Fortune Theatre Studio, (4/5). Comedy/Improv/General GCs Antisocial Tap have provided the Dunedin scene with a much needed injection of funny over the past few years. Their improvisation wing has really taken off, so to speak, and now has a new home at the Fortune Theatre Studio. Being Read more...

Do You Want to Hear a Secret?

Posted 11:23pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Directed and devised by Jacob McDowell. Devised and performed by Abby Howells, Dianne Pulham, Trubie-Dylan Smith and Jerome Cousins, (2/5). This is the first impression I had of Do You Want to Hear a Secret? -  ‘This weeks [sic] Allen Hall production is an experiment into the Read more...

Battles – Gloss Drop

Posted 5:09am Monday 8th August 2011 by Basti Menkes

It's 3 a.m. I'm 11 years old, sleep-deprived, watching C4. 'Battles – Atlas' appears onscreen. “What the fuck, Atlas? That Kiwi band who wrote that annoying song ‘Crawl’?! Wait. Ohhh, I see. What a stupid band name.” The thumping drums, alien keyboards and ultra-distorted vocals amuse me for a Read more...

Fair Ohs: Everything is Dancing

Posted 5:04am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Sam Valentine

Providing a down to earth, stylized and heavily Californian take on the choppy afro-rhythms and chiming guitars recently made popular by Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda, most listeners would be surprised to discover that rather than polo shirt-wearing upper class rich kids, Fair Ohs are simply three Read more...

Dungeons of Dredmor

Posted 5:02am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX, (4.5/5). “Congratulations! You have died.” What a positive spin Dungeons of Dredmor places on every conceivable game consequence. It's never “game over” in Gaslamp Games' dungeon crawler; every hero who is mauled to death by bats, or dissolves their Read more...

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters

Posted 4:58am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, (2.5/5). Thank goodness Hal Jordan's ring is “the most powerful weapon in the universe”. If it were, say, the mere “best piece of murder-jewelry in the Virgo supercluster” then Rise of the Manhunters would be a bad game. Thankfully, the Read more...

Plenty 'o' Polenta

Posted 4:54am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Ruby the nutritionist

"I'm making polenta." "Placenta? What the FUCK man, I'm not eating an abortion!" The sweet response of my ultimate food critics; my flatmates. In fact, polenta has nothing to do with human reproduction. It is cornmeal, and it is epic in its golden deliciousness. You can get cornmeal from Read more...

African Cats

Posted 4:48am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Maddie Wright

Directed by: Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, (4/5). Disney Nature’s African Cats is outstanding; think David Attenborough combined with The Lion King. The exquisite naturalness of the African savannah and its exotic inhabitants render digital animation and manipulative Read more...

Mrs Carey’s Concert

Posted 4:44am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Feby Idrus

Directed by: Bob Connelly and Sophie Raymond, (3.5/5). Mrs Carey’s Concert is one of those quintessential performing-arts films in which, through the power of music/dance/theatre/etc., a bad boy/girl finds out what makes him/her special and rises to the occasion and it’s all, like, Read more...

Copacabana

Posted 4:41am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Marc Fitoussi, (4/5). Copacabana is a French comedy about Babou (Isabelle Huppert), a mother who is faced with a relationship break up between her and her daughter, Esmeralda (Lolita Chammah). Esmeralda is very unlike the free spirited gypsy of Victor Hugo’s novel. She is Read more...

Cars 2

Posted 4:40am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by: John Lasseter, (3/5). Entering Rialto having watched the trailer for Cars 2, I just wanted to see the familiar characters of Cars back in the American west for a wee trip of nostalgia. But the trailer had scared me. After all, how many times have blockbusters turned out to be far Read more...

Film Festival

Posted 4:38am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday and runs until the August 21. Critic’s film editor Sarah Baillie gives a run down of our top ten picks for the festival. Make sure to head along, it only comes once a year! Project Nim   Perhaps it is just because I Read more...

Our Tragic Universe

Posted 4:08am Monday 1st August 2011 by Liam Dakin

Author: Scarlett Thomas, Publisher: Canongate, (4/5). Inside this teen-fantasy-adventure-esque cover (complete with cool black edged pages) is a story about Meg, a freelance author struggling to survive by teaching writing classes and reviewing popular science books. All the while she is Read more...

THE GRADUATE EXHIBITION

Posted 4:04am Monday 1st August 2011 by Hana Aoake

Oliver van der Lugt, Claire Mahoney & Tom Garden. Blue Oyster Art Project Space Traversing the alleyway entrance to the Blue Oyster art project space, one encounters the work of three very different artists, all of whom investigate a type of environment. The thread binding the show together is Read more...

Dunedin Playback Theatre Company: Not a Review, Just Some Thoughts.

Posted 4:13am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

Members: Sandra Turner, Miriam Noonan, Chrissy Hollamby, Karen Jacquard, Glenda Wallace and Penny Warren. Playback theatre is spontaneous theatre that aims to build community through telling personal stories and exposing shared experiences. This is a bold aim, and in today’s busy world Read more...

CAB SAV: A Savvy Cabaret

Posted 4:11am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Miriam Noonan

CAB SAV was devised and created in collaboration with its cast, and what a delightfully ‘savvy’ cast they were! A team of very passionate performers and producer and director Karin Reid created a wonderfully entertaining night that blended satire, music, dance, comedy and puppetry, drawing Read more...

Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See

Posted 3:39am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Richard Ley-Hamilton

If only given a few listens, Suck It and See could be easily misconstrued as an album swept along the tide of 60’s revivalism. Furthermore, those who have paid little attention to the Arctic Monkeys’ continual musical evolution might find the lack of a punk ethos on this album weighty Read more...

An Open Letter of Support

Posted 3:22am Thursday 28th July 2011 by David Large

Former Critic Editor & Radio One News Chap David Large Puts His Views In Writing As the sting goes, I've fucked off to Sydney but I still listen to Radio One, 91FM. It's the station that offered an alternative soundtrack during my years at the University of Otago. It’s the station that Read more...

LA Noire

Posted 3:19am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, (4.5/5). My mum got into LA Noire. She isn't one of those “closet casuals” either. Never has she grasped a controller in concord so it is telling that the relaxed, assured style of Team Bondi’s 1940s detective game compelled even her to try Read more...

Cafe Review - Doc’s Coffee House

Posted 3:16am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Albany Street, to the left of the Clubs and Socs Building, (3/5). Prices: Flat White: $3.50, Long Black: $3, Mocha: $3.50 Why I came here: My flatmate and I were rushing to get out of the torrential rain and found ourselves right outside Doc’s. Atmosphere: Cute and Read more...

American Pie

Posted 3:12am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Considering pumpkin is so bloody cheap at the moment, it seems sensible to incorporate this orange wonder food into as many meals as possible. Starting, logically, with dessert. I’ve become quite obsessed with the idea of pumpkin pie recently, which I attribute to a combination of the fact that I Read more...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Posted 3:06am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Directed by: David Yates, (4.5/5). [Spoiler alert: to anyone who has been living under a rock for the past decade and is yet to read a Potter book, be warned; the following review contains plot details.]   It’s fourteen years since the first Harry Potter book was published, Read more...

The Big Picture

Posted 3:05am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by: Eric Lartigau, (3.5/5). The Big Picture centres on Paul Exben (Romain Duris), a successful lawyer with his own firm in Paris, a beautiful wife and two handsome children. From an outsider’s perspective the marriage appears to be going well, but tension is felt from the Read more...

The Conspirator

Posted 3:04am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Lauren Enright

Directed by: Robert Redford, (3/5). The Conspirator is a fantastic historical legal drama. Based on the 1915 drama The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith, it tells the story of Mary Surratt, the only female co-conspirator charged with the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the first woman to be Read more...

The Reluctant Infidel

Posted 3:03am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Dan Benson-Guiu

Directed by: Josh Appignanesi, (3.5/5). Mahmoud (Omid Djalili) could be your average Brit. He’s an entrepreneur who hates cab drivers, walks around in soccer shirts, drinks beer and watches 70s music videos on MTV. He doesn’t need to be told that he isn’t a perfect Muslim by Read more...

The Forgiveness of Blood

Posted 2:58am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Joshua Marston   Set in a small rural town in Albania, this film Read more...

POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Posted 2:58am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Lauren Hayes

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Morgan Spurlock   Get excited. POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Read more...

Medianeras

Posted 2:57am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Zane Pocock

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Gustavo Taretto   Medianeras, set in Buenos Aires, is an incredibly Read more...

Heartbeats

Posted 2:56am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Visit www.nzff.co.nz/Dunedin to check out the full programme, or grab one of the booklets Read more...

Troll 2

Posted 2:51am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Written/Directed by: Drake Floyd. Starring: Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Margo Prey, Connie McFarland, Robert Ormsby. The only thing that links this film to the original Troll is the title; there are in fact no trolls in this film. Instead, goblins rein supreme in this truly awful, Read more...

Reuben Paterson

Posted 11:32pm Monday 25th July 2011 by Kari Schmidt

Reuben Paterson's digital animation has a fundamental, primal attraction. It consists of a large silver, glittery screen on which a kaleidoscopic projection is playing. Like magpies, humans like glittery, shiny things (a fact Paterson has manipulated before, for example in his When the Sun Rises and Read more...

The Tutor

Posted 5:22am Monday 25th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Fortune Theatre Mainstage. Written by Dave Armstrong. Directed by Patrick Davies Starring: Phil Vaughan, Jon Pheloung, Jake Metzger, (3.5/5), There was a warning attached to The Tutor telling us that it contained coarse language. In this respect it certainly delivered. The play opened Read more...

Frequency!

Posted 5:20am Monday 25th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

Devised and directed by Miriam Noonan. Devised and performed by Bronwyn Wallace, Feather Emma Shaw, James Caley, Luke Agnew, Nylla Tamati and Piupiu-Maya Turei, (3.5/5). Frequency! was pretty darn hilarious. With the loudest and raspiest laugh in the theatre, I was afraid I would put the Read more...

Full Moon Fiasco (Wel), Thought Creature (Wel), Killmore Girls (Dud) and Axe Handal (Dud)

Posted 4:49am Monday 25th July 2011 by Spencer Hall

Matinee Show at Re:Fuel, Sunday July 10. This was the first matinee show I've been to at Re:Fuel since the all-age metal gigs they used to have back when I was in highschool. Kicking things off was Axe Handal, drummer Rory MacMurdo (TFF, Brüer Grinder) with his laptop bandmate. Read more...

An Open Letter of support

Posted 4:47am Monday 25th July 2011 by Dudley Benson

from New Zealand musician Dudley Benson regarding the future of Radio One 91FM As an independent artist originally from Christchurch, having been based in Auckland for the last five years and now living in Dunedin, I have spent a significant amount of time and energy working with and listening Read more...

Infamous 2

Posted 4:45am Monday 25th July 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Platforms: Playstation 3, (4/5). Infamous 2 is a slick sequel to the 2009 open world action adventure game. It manages to stay true to the elements that made the original a success, while adding enough new features and contains a well enough scripted plot to keep things interesting. While the Read more...

Hungry and Frozen

Posted 4:42am Monday 25th July 2011 by Laura Vincent

This week Critic is lucky enough to have a guest contributor - Laura Vincent of popular food blog hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com. Laura started food blogging when she was a broke student, so she understands the pain of loving butter but having no money. Check out her blog for other delicious recipes Read more...

The Company Men

Posted 4:39am Monday 25th July 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by: John Wells, (3.5/5). The Company Men focuses on three men who lose their jobs at the beginning of the recession due to corporate downsizing. Each man considered himself irreplaceable, and after giving their life to their work they find themselves stranded, struggling to find Read more...

Beyond

Posted 4:38am Monday 25th July 2011 by Eve Duckworth

Directed by: Pernilla August. (4/5). Previously seen in the Millennium trilogy, Noomi Rapace lives up to her newfound fame in Beyond, a domestic drama centred on alcohol abuse and misguided love. Set in Sweden, Rapace plays Leena, a wife and mother who has spent years shaking the painful Read more...

Kung Fu Panda 2

Posted 4:37am Monday 25th July 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by: Jennifer Yuh, (3.5/5). Kung Fu Panda 2 is a visual power-punch despite its sloppy narrative footwork. It opens with a marvelous animation technique influenced by Chinese paper cutting, the first of three different types of animation used in this visually expert and creative Read more...

Potiche

Posted 4:35am Monday 25th July 2011 by Michaela Hunter

Directed by: François Ozon, (4/5) Based on a play from the Seventies, Potiche (“Trophy Wife”) is set in 1977 in provincial France and revolves around the struggles of Suzanne Pujol (Catherine Deneuve) and the dysfunctional relationships of the Pujol family. When her husband Robert Read more...

Screwjack

Posted 3:53am Monday 25th July 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Hunter S Thompson, (4/5), Screwjack is a small collection of three short stories. Initially only 300 collector’s copies and 26 leather bound books were published, and one could expect to pay upwards of a thousand dollars for a copy.   The book is introduced by Read more...

Ralph Hotere: Zero to Inifinity

Posted 3:51am Monday 25th July 2011 by Hana Aoake

The Hocken Gallery, Cnr Anzac Ave & Parry Street Ralph Hotere is New Zealand’s most revered living painter. Zero to Infinity consists of fifty works and incorporates a broad range of Hotere’s paintings from his celebrated milestones, to his political works to his lesser-known Read more...

My Manifesto

Posted 12:05am Tuesday 12th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

On the State of Theatre at the Start of Semester Two, 2011. Having recently returned from Melbourne, I am distressed. I saw a play, Sarajevo Suite. It was amazing, mind-altering in its simplicity and beauty. It was on at a theatre called La Mama which is an old house converted into a theatre, Read more...

THE TUTOR

Posted 12:03am Tuesday 12th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Dave Armstrong, directed by Patrick Davies Fortune Theatre. The Tutor comes to us from the nationally acclaimed and award winning writer of Bro’ Town and Seven Periods With Mr Gormsby (which if you haven’t seen you should), Dave Armstrong. The Tutor depicts the Read more...

Lady Gaga. Born This Way.

Posted 11:25pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Amelia Pond

What I want from a Lady Gaga album is something that you can learn all the words to and then sing as you bounce violently around your living room after one too many glasses of goon. (I was actually busted doing this very thing by an unexpected visitor quite recently.) ‘The Fame’ delivered that, but Read more...

An open letter of support

Posted 11:20pm Monday 11th July 2011 by James Milne

from James Milne aka Lawrence Arabia regarding the future of Dunedin's Radio One. "To whom it may concern, This is a note in support of the ongoing work of Radio One within the context of the OUSA and the Dunedin community as a whole. Over the past eight years as a professional Read more...

Trenched

Posted 11:17pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: XBLA, (4.5/5). Because WWI trenches, as games teach us over and over again, were loads of fun. And kind of had a steam-punk vibe to them, which is always cool. The style of Double Fine's Trenched, pushes those ideals as far as they can reasonably be expected to go in an alternate Read more...

Duke Nukem Forever

Posted 11:15pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Platforms: PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, (2.5/5). It’s finally out. Duke Nukem Forever. A game we’ve all been waiting fifteen long years for, ever since we first cast our eyes on the almighty landmark of first person shooter history, the granddaddy of interactive violent video Read more...

Falafelicious Falafel

Posted 11:13pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Sharin Shaik

First week back and no doubt everyone is already missing mum’s well-stocked fridge. No need to settle for Indomee or baked beans just yet. This week Critic brings you a simple and delicious recipe for homemade falafel. This recipe is so easy, not to mention more filling and healthier than instant Read more...

Cafe Review - St Daves Cafe

Posted 11:08pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Inside St Daves on the corner, (2/5). Prices: Flat White: $3.70, Long Black: $3, Mocha: $4.20   Why I came here: I needed a study break during exams and this was the closest place open on the weekend.    Atmosphere: Busy and tired.   Service: Not Read more...

My Afternoons With Margueritte

Posted 11:06pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Director: Jean Becker, (4/5). The title of this quaint and charming French film translates into English as ‘Dunderhead’. I’m not sure which title I prefer, but I think the English one captures the mood of the film slightly more. Though to assume that the only thing in Read more...

Bridesmaids

Posted 11:04pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Director: Paul Feig, (4/5). You’ve probably already heard about Bridesmaids: it’s been touted as ‘The Hangover for women’ and audiences, mainly female, are flocking to it in hordes. So is Bridesmaids as funny as the publicity implies? The short answer is yes. But Read more...

Bad Teacher

Posted 11:02pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Madeleine Wright

Director: Jake Kasdan, (2/5). You can be certain that with Bad Teacher – keeping in mind the title, the seductive advertising campaign and of course, Cameron Diaz – what you see is definitely what you get. Diaz stars in her stereotypical role as Elizabeth, a school teacher with a Read more...

Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon

Posted 11:01pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Gareth Barton

Directed by: Michael Bay, (4/5). The thing I love about the Transformers movies and the original, awesome, cartoons is that despite being a race of super advanced robots they always end up fighting with swords. First things first, the biggest change in this latest of money-makers is that Megan Read more...

Blacula (1972)

Posted 10:56pm Monday 11th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by: William Crain. Staring: William Marshall, Vonetta McGee, Thalmus Resulala. Long before Edward, Bill and Eric graced us with their undead presence there was Blacula. African Prince Mamuwalde (Marshall) meets with the one and only Count Dracula to arrange the end of slave trade. Read more...

One Day

Posted 4:31am Monday 11th July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Author: David Nicholls, (4.5/5) One Day is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. It begins in Edinburgh in 1988 with two recently graduated uni students having what they assume will be a one-night stand. Immediately I felt like the target demographic. This one night fling turns Read more...

GLUE GALLERY: 26 STAFFORD STREET

Posted 4:27am Monday 11th July 2011 by Hana Aoake

Sometimes even walking into a contemporary art space can be a daunting experience. Contemporary art venues have a tendency to feel inaccessible. However, Glue Gallery and Shop, a new space located on Stafford Street, is designed specifically to address this issue. Having a strong community Read more...

Voyager Seven

Posted 4:17am Monday 11th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

THEA152 Technology Class, (4.5/5). The point of the “Voyager” assignments is to get the THEA152 students to work together and create a show displaying all of the skills they have learnt over the past semester. Sometimes these shows can be technological but dull. Sometimes they can Read more...

Hangman – Sampler CD Review

Posted 3:54am Monday 11th July 2011 by Basti Menkes

Otherwise untitled, this 6-track sample album from Auckland quartet Hangman attempts to pick up from where other funk-rock groups left off. The hip-hop vocals are reminiscent of Zack de la Rocha, the Red Hot Chili Pepper-style basslines are faintly catchy, and the pornographic wah-wah Read more...

Chickstock

Posted 3:51am Monday 11th July 2011 by Sam Valentine

With music’s often perceived reliance on alcohol (both for performance and paycheques), Chickstock - an all ages, nonprofit event run for local high school acts - proved refreshingly naïve. Organised by the dedicated Jessica Young, under the guise of the Chicks Project, with ten local high school Read more...

To-Fu: The Trials of Chi

Posted 3:45am Monday 11th July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: iOS, (2/5). You're a simple block of tofu. The ninjutsu discipline to which you are totally dedicated does not look kindly on the superficial practises of faux-meat meals: such as the tofurkey or the toficken. Humbleness is of utmost importance, as represented by the simple red Read more...

Firefly Hero

Posted 3:44am Monday 11th July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: iOS, (4/5). Trute? Flumpet, maybe? In any case, It's irrelevant what I call the solo, synthesized instrument, of brassy and fluty timbre, that provides the musical context for Firefly Hero. Just like the game's visual style, fundamental mechanics and 'story', it is as simple and Read more...

Study Comfort Food

Posted 3:41am Monday 11th July 2011 by Johanna Tonnon and Susie Krieble

Thanks to everyone who contributed recipes this semester. I hope volunteers and readers have a very merry exam season and a happy winter break. Baking/cooking/eating is an amazing procrastination technique during exams and this week Johanna Tonnon and Susie Krieble bring you some brilliant Read more...

Cafe Review - The Church

Posted 3:37am Monday 11th July 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

50 Dundas St, beside Alhambra field, (1/5). Prices: Flat White: $4, Long Black: $3, Mocha: $4   Why I came here: After hearing everything from rave reviews to disturbing diatribes I thought it was time for a friend and me to provide our own verdict.   Atmosphere: One Read more...

Hook, Line and Sinker

Posted 3:33am Thursday 7th July 2011 by Michaela Hunter

Directed by Andrea Bosshard and Shane Loader, (3/5). Prior to viewing this film, I was impressed by its grassroots origins; it was shot over 5 weeks with a crew of 12, a cast of 100, in 35 different locations, on a cash budget of less than $40,000 and self-distributed to 47 screens around the Read more...

Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil

Posted 3:31am Thursday 7th July 2011 by Madeleine Wright

Directed by Mike Disa, (2/5). When a movie screens at 4pm every day during the week with no alternative, it’s a fairly safe bet that the average age of the target market is somewhere between 7 and 14. Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil fits this model perfectly. It had everything a modern Read more...

The Hangover Part II

Posted 3:28am Thursday 7th July 2011 by Nick Hornstein

Directed by Todd Phillips, (4/5). Disclaimer: If you haven’t watched the The Hangover (2009), go and do so before reading this. With The Hangover earning more than $467 million worldwide – the top grossing R-rated comedy of all time – it was no surprise that director Todd Read more...

Reflections of the Past

Posted 3:25am Thursday 7th July 2011 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Alexander Roman, (1.5/5) Morbid curiosity and a long time obsession with the film Heavenly Creatures lured me to Rialto to see this documentary about the Parker-Hulme murder case of 1954. A film with the potential to be a fascinating exploration of this dark stain on New Read more...

The Wizard of Gore (1970)

Posted 5:04am Wednesday 6th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Director: Herschell Gordon Lewis, Starring: Ray Sager, Judy Cler, Wayne Ratay. I first came across The Wizard of Gore when it was mentioned in the movie Juno and I decided I needed to know more. Could this be the goriest movie ever? I intended to find out. The premise is pretty Read more...

Looking swell while studying up a storm

Posted 4:22am Wednesday 6th July 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Campus Perspective La Femme Exams + fashion. Not a wholly happy combination. In fact, a damn hard equation to nut out. Exams are like the fatal bullet of bogan-esque brutality, reducing even the most elegant to debased forms of style, especially with this haphazard weather of late. Read more...

The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul

Posted 4:04am Wednesday 6th July 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Deborah Rodriguez, Publisher: Bantam, (1/5). I will admit it from the outset; I didn’t finish this book. It looked like a light, easy read, probably about women with troubles finding friendship. My first mistake was to browse the back. A quote caught my eye: “as if Read more...

Justin Spiers: Castleland.

Posted 3:58am Wednesday 6th July 2011 by Hana Aoake

Blue Oyster Project Space With the potential to both repel and capture the viewer, Justin Spires’ photographs in his Castleland exhibition enable the viewer to feel as though they are sneaking into and infiltrating an array of fortresses. Castleland is formulated around the purpose of a Read more...

Michaela Cox: Nightgarden

Posted 3:55am Wednesday 6th July 2011 by Hana Aoake

Temple Gallery Climbing a wiry staircase, through a seemingly enchanted garden, one walks into the Temple Gallery. A former synagogue, Temple Gallery has a feeling of spirituality. This sensation is furthered by Michaela Cox’s romantic and mythical works in her current exhibition, Read more...

Beastwars w/ Operation Rolling Thunder and Kahu

Posted 1:34am Friday 1st July 2011 by Sam Valentine

Chicks Hotel Saturday May 21 With wild, possessed eyes and a gruff white beard, Beastwars frontman Matt Hyde is the living embodiment of his music. Possessing a guttural roar, akin to that of a demonic warlock, his dominating presence is impossible to ignore. Controlling the attention of the Read more...

Brink

Posted 1:33am Friday 1st July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, (3.5/5). I can't stress enough how much better Brink would have been had it had no cutscene-heavy story, or if it had even scrapped the single player entirely. The plot is fundamentally solid; an isolated idealised city called “The Ark” Read more...

Aloo Gobi

Posted 1:31am Friday 1st July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Curry has always been our flat “go-to” meal when we are lazy and the fridge is looking sad. It’s ideal winter comfort food. Aloo Gobi (“aloo” meaning potato and “gobi” meaning cauliflower) is particularly ideal for winter as the more ritzy vegetables become rapidly less appealing both in appearance Read more...

Cafe Review - The Fix

Posted 1:29am Friday 1st July 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Ground floor of The Innovation Centre (opposite St Dave’s) – i.e. that glass building you check yourself out in as you walk past, (5/5). Prices: Flat White: $4, Long Black: $3.50, Mocha: $4 Why I came here: I’ve been before; the coffee is perfect and right on campus. Atmosphere: Read more...

From Time to Time

Posted 1:24am Friday 1st July 2011 by Hana Aoake

Director: Julian Fellowes, (2/5). Previously responsible for such thrilling titles as The Young Victoria, Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, writer and director Julien Fellowes delivers his second feature film, From Time to Time. Based upon the novel The Chimneys of Green Knowe by Lucy M. Boston, Read more...

Your Highness

Posted 1:23am Friday 1st July 2011 by Hana Aoake

Director: David Gordon Green, (3/5). Despite the terrible reviews this film received, I convinced myself to go and see Your Highness for the mere purpose of seeing Natalie Portman’s ass. I was mildly amused by aspects of this film, although in saying this I am a person who is easily Read more...

Tracker

Posted 1:21am Friday 1st July 2011 by Theo Kay

Director: Ian Sharp, (3.5/5) As I sat through a barrage of historical drama trailers, I began to wonder whether Tracker would rise to deliver a captivating and original piece of film fit for Aotearoa’s growing list of classics. Or would it fall into a formulaic category like so many Read more...