Archive

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...

Piranha II: The Spawning (1981)

Posted 1:20am Friday 1st July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Director: James Cameron. Starring: Tricia O’Neil, Steve Marachuk, Lance Henriksen, Ricky Paull Goldin.  If you’re concerned that you haven’t seen the first installment of the Piranha series, do not worry. You are not in any danger of missing any vital pieces of Read more...

Designers to Watch

Posted 1:03am Friday 1st July 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Tis the season to be scarfie Aren’t these cosy numbers just so alluring? Bleemweaver is a bright, happy and imaginatively-woven textile range by Brianna Lee Martin. Combining her skills in weaving and design, this talented artist creates unique textiles entirely handmade in the Read more...

Machine of Death: a collection of stories about people who know how they will die

Posted 12:46am Friday 1st July 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Various; Eds. Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo, & David Malki “This book, unlike most others, started its life as an off hand comment made by a bright green Tyrannosaurus Rex”   The book is based on a comic from Ryan North’s Dinosaur Comics in which T-Rex Read more...

Selected Works from Quadrant Gallery

Posted 12:43am Friday 1st July 2011 by Hana Aoake

To enter Quadrant Gallery is to experience a serene, mesmerising atmosphere. Located on Moray Place, Quadrant showcases and sells jewellery, sculpture and other such objects. Immediately I was hypnotised by Nicole McLaren’s apocalyptic sculptures, which are constructed from ceramic, plaster and Read more...

My First Attempt

Posted 11:54pm Monday 30th May 2011 by Bronwyn Wallace

Theatre As Is. Jimmy Currin, Luke Agnew, Feather Shaw and Hahna Briggs, (4/5). As I arrived at Allen Hall Theatre, joining an already eager audience in the foyer, My First Attempt was giving nothing away. This latest piece from the Theatre As Is was devised “using chance operations by Read more...

Marrow Zine's May Release Launch Party

Posted 7:36am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Sam Valentine

May 14, Re:Fuel Bar. With Thundercub, Black Yoghurt, Surgical Department, Max Waots, Nicole Van Vuuren (DJ).  “The little zine that could?” With the current flood of self-produced gig guides (INK), comic collections, (DUD), culture mags (Crop) and zines, Dunedin’s Read more...

Die Antwoord - $O$

Posted 7:33am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Kari Schmidt

From their Afrikaans accents, wack dance moves, insane videos, rapping skills, attitude, sex appeal, haircuts, fashion, names, use of rats, incorporation of South African references (e.g. tokoloshes, fish paste, racial culture) and the female gaze, there is nothing that doesn’t appeal to me about Read more...

Cult Classic: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Posted 7:30am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, Xbox I'm still not certain what the elder scrolls actually are. Old rolled-up papers, presumably with something mega-important written on them. I guess. If the third in the seventeen-year old series, Morrowind, doesn't ring a bell then maybe the forth will: 2006's Oblivion. No? What Read more...

Lume

Posted 7:29am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX, (2.5/5). I payed $8.13 for Lume, which follows from prices listed in round US dollar figures. As cheap as Steam's prices tend to be (I got Portal 2 for about $62.73, give or take $3.09), I can't say that Lume was worth it. The question then becomes then what to say about an Read more...

Homage to a domestic goddess

Posted 7:27am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Niki Lomax

Nigella Lawson is the only deity I worship. This being the food issue, I felt a reasonable amount of pressure to write something awesome. I ended up deciding that the most awesome thing/person of all is Nigella Lawson. Thus in the food column this week I pay homage to Nigella Lawson, a true Read more...

Source Code

Posted 7:24am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Director: Duncan Jones, (4/5). Source Code is 2011's Inception but with less ambiguity and fewer close ups on Leonardo DiCaprio’s concerned, faraway gaze (just kidding, love you Leo). Bird’s-eye view and panning shots of Chicago open this action/sci-fi gift of a Read more...

Queen of the Sun

Posted 7:23am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Gareth Barton

Director: Taggart Siegel, (3.5/5). One of the hardest things to do with documentary filmmaking is find the perfect “talent”. Talent in a documentary is the person or people who represent the face of the film, building the story with their dialogue, and, importantly, creating an Read more...

King George VI: The Man Behind the King's Speech

Posted 7:20am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Lauren Hayes

No director credited, (2/5). You can't blame a guy for trying to cash in on The King's Speech. The film was massive, winning an awful amount of awards. It doesn't take a movie mogul to realise that the real-life “spinoff “ could make a serious quick buck, especially amidst Read more...

Water for Elephants

Posted 7:16am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Director: Francis Lawrence, (3/5). Water for Elephants combines two fantasies – running away to the circus and a forbidden romance – offering itself as the ultimate escapist movie. The story: hopeful student Jacob Jancowski (Robert Pattinson) is about to finish veterinary school Read more...

Bad Taste (1987)

Posted 7:14am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Ben Blakely

Written/Directed by: Peter Jackson. Starring: Terry Potter, Peter O’Herne, Craig Smith, Mike Minett, Peter Jackson and Doug Wren Imagine if your dad and a bunch of his mates got together and decided to film a Mothra. It’s kinda naff cause it’s your dad and he’s a bit naff and Read more...

No More Fat Pants

Posted 6:30am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Melissa Letica

Fat pants. The Warehouse’s finest. Whatever you call them, I think they are disgusting. You know what I’m talking about; those dirty grey fleecy-lined track pants that everyone seems to be sporting these days. Retailing for $8.50 during the holy grail of yellow dot sales, a recently conducted survey Read more...

Teetering Precariously

Posted 6:27am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Ines Shennan

Here goes a rant on a particular craze that a small minority seem to mindlessly follow on campus. As Peter Griffin would say, it’s really grinding my gears. Let me preface this by saying it is not the item itself which causes me to do double-takes, but rather the times and places in which this item Read more...

Sweet Valley Confidential - Ten Years Later

Posted 6:15am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Ilka Fedor

Author: Francine Pascal. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, (3.5/5). This is a must-read if you ever read the Sweet Valley High series. Set 10 years on, twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield from sunny Sweet Valley, Southern California, are now archrivals. Jessica, the ever flirtatious, popular and Read more...

Atheist Manifesto – The Case Against Christianity, Judaism and Islam

Posted 6:13am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Stefan Fairweather

Author: Michel Onfray. Publisher: Arcade Publishing. (5/5). In a modern world that is (sadly) still bombarded with the irrationality of religion, Onfray’s Atheist Manifesto book is a welcome read, arming the rationalist with arguments, counter-arguments, and facts to rebut the Read more...

SUJI PARK: That which opens.

Posted 6:10am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Hana Aoake

BRETT MCDOWELL GALLERY. Closes May 26. The question which I often ask myself when encountering any ceramicist’s work is how have they transferred a medium which is thousands of years old and which always appears to me to be static into something dynamic.   Suji Park is an Read more...

Let There Be Capping Show

Posted 6:07am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Chad Huffington

Main sketch written by: Thom Adams, Rest of the show performed/written by ensemble cast. Directed by: Alex Wilson and Trubie-Dylan Smith. Assistant Director: Aaron Mayes, (5/5). By the time you read this, Capping Show will probably be completely sold out – because it sells out Read more...

Fight the Fat

Posted 6:05am Thursday 26th May 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Arthur Meek, Directed by Lisa Warrington. Staring Hilary Halba and Ben Blakely, (2/5). This show sees Laurel (Halba) and Ben (Blakely), two down-and-out actors kicked out of a theatre-in-education programme, struggle to get the “money and mandate” to re-launch their Read more...

Beastwars Preview

Posted 6:33am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Sam Valentine

Beastwars are the result of a barbaric and brutal world sliding into the abyss. Where we see war and disaster surrounding us on all sides. Where half-truths and hidden agendas lurk behind every act of the world’s eroding empires. And where all these things are channelled into righteous and Read more...

MEN FROM ANOTHER PLANET

Posted 6:31am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Isaac McFarlane

State Of Mind subscribe to a different reality than the rest of us; a reality that involves ridiculously heavy bass, a ridiculously energetic full-noise set and, to top it all off, dancing spacemen. Yes, fucking spacemen. Dressed from head to toe in reflective black material, they sauntered up to Read more...

CULT CLASSIC: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Posted 6:29am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: Nintendo 64 It's become a cliché to criticise each new Zelda release as being just like all the rest. “Yawn”, they chorus. “You start off as some sort of fey-leaf elfin dude in a forest wearing green pyjamas. You find the wooden sword and shield, hack some plants Read more...

Bangai-O HD: Missle Fury

Posted 6:28am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: XBLA (Dreamcast), (3/5). Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury is arcade-y almost to the point of absurdity. Developer Treasure sets a mature example by presenting mecha that seem to run on carbon neutral bio-ethanol, regaining health from fruit. I guess they had to do all they could to offset the Read more...

Granny’s Tupperware

Posted 6:26am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Niki Lomax

My granny has an impressive Tupperware collection. Cylindrical containers, rectangular containers, square containers, triangular containers, massive ones, miniature ones, white ones, brown ones, blue ones, green ones, jelly moulds… you name it, she’s probably got two. As a kid I assumed all grannies Read more...

Thor

Posted 6:23am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Matt Chapman

Directed by Kenneth Branagh, (1.5/5). You might think that Viking gods, hammers of mass destruction, “Frost Giants”, and rainbow bridges to outer space would make for a pretty awesome movie. I thought that too. Damn. Thor, directed by Kenneth Branagh, seemed poised to blow my mind with Read more...

Mars Needs Moms

Posted 6:22am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Simon Wells, (2.5/5). Mars is named after the Roman god of war and is often described as the "Red Planet" due to the iron oxide in its surface. A mother is a woman who has given birth to or raised a child in the role of a parent. Mars Needs Moms is a 3D computer-animated film about a Read more...

Arthur

Posted 6:20am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Alec Dawson

Directed by Jason Winer, (2/5). Russell Brand and Helen Mirren make for an intriguing pair to place in a film together. Given that one is famous for playing a drunk rock star and the other the Queen, I went into this film with some interest. Unfortunately they are given dull typecasts Read more...

Heartbreaker

Posted 6:18am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Pascal Chaumeil, (3.5/5). My first foreign rom-com, and it was simply charming. It’s no Love Actually or Notting Hill, but it sure was a pleasant way to spend two hours. Think afternoon delight; not necessary, but you’re really glad it happened.   A Read more...

Lesbian Vampire Killers

Posted 6:16am Wednesday 25th May 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Phil Claydon. Starring James Cordon, Mathew Horne, MyAnna Buring, Paul McGann. Having only heard the title of this film, I expected a B-grade movie with fairly low production values, lots of blood and gore, and acting that was a wee bit shit. I guess I was expecting something akin Read more...

The Mystique of Menswear

Posted 7:11am Thursday 19th May 2011 by Jonathan Jong

This last week, three things popped up in my RSS aggregator which have been in the back of my mind ever since. The first was an article about the appalling working conditions at a large Chinese factory, which had led seven workers to commit suicide. The second was Isaac Likes’s blog post entitled, Read more...

Tyranny – I Keep You Thin

Posted 6:40am Thursday 19th May 2011 by Stefan Fairfield

Author: Lesley Fairfield, Publisher: Walker Books, (3/5). This is a quick read, a graphic novel about a teenage girl’s battle with the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It’s a story of how a young woman spirals from a picture of good health to the depths of Read more...

Dragon Ball books 1-16

Posted 6:37am Thursday 19th May 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Akira Toriyama, Publisher: Vizbig, (5/5). Dragon Ball is the creation of the prolific manga writer/illustrator Akira Toriyama. It was successful from the start and went on to sell a record-breaking 120 million copies, was made into a television series, continued with Dragon Ball Z and Read more...

Graffiti in Chernobyl

Posted 6:34am Thursday 19th May 2011 by Hana Aoake

In the last few years, images have surfaced of street art in the abandoned city of Chernobyl, which was victim to a nuclear explosion in 1986 after a reactor malfunctioned. Like Hiroshima, the desolate landscape in Chernobyl highlights the city’s process of being moulded and manipulated, but in a Read more...

Fiona Amundsen: First city in history.

Posted 6:33am Thursday 19th May 2011 by Hana Aoake

Dunedin Public Art Gallery At 2:45am on August 6, 1945 a B-29 under the command of Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, a twenty-nine year old veteran pilot, began to roll down a runway on Tinian Island to take off on its historic mission to Hiroshima.   The title of New Zealand artist Fiona Read more...

God of Carnage

Posted 5:04am Thursday 12th May 2011 by Jen Aitken

Directed by Lara MacGregor. Starring Phil Vaughn, John Glass, Claire Dougan and Barbara Power. Written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, (4/5). Carnage: the killing of a large number of people. Although God of Carnage did not actually present on stage the killing of a Read more...

Feastock; The Arrival of the Invercargill Sound

Posted 11:44pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Sam Valentine

Say the word “Invercargill” to many musicians, and you’ll probably get a rather mixed response. But standing amongst the damp, leafy surroundings of 3 Fea Street, in secluded Pine Hill, I was struck by an interesting concept. Has the country’s most southern city better known for, um, well let’s be Read more...

Outland

Posted 11:42pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: XBLA, PSN, (4/5). Outland is alchemy. Take a sickle's worth of Mario Bros 2D platforming, and heat in a geothermal pool with the polarity mechanic most famous in Ikaruga. Distill a generous ounce of Metroid's adventuring with a batch of art and sound design reminiscent  of Shadow Read more...

Hector: Badge of Carnage: Episode 1 - We Negotiate With Terrorists

Posted 11:41pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: IOS, MAC, PC, (3.5/5). A trend is developing, and it's kind of frustrating. Twice this year I've had to admit that - despite proudly displaying the juvenile shades that are kind-of-sort-of crippling the industry's artsy potential - I really appreciate it when games like Bulletstorm and Read more...

Three Mince Recipes

Posted 11:37pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Leah Hamilton

Mince is really cheap, isn't it? Doesn't taste too shabby either. Well, unless your flatmate, like mine, simply fries it and serves it plain on gooey rice. Mmmm. To save you all from Mincezilla, here are three delicious recipes that will put your mince to good use. Enjoy! Chilli Con Carne Read more...