Archive

Disclaimer

Posted 2:55pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

Disclaimer, by Renee Knight, is a thriller. Catherine Ravenscroft, after recently moving house with her husband, Robert, finds a book called The Perfect Stranger among her possessions. She has no recollection of buying the book. While reading it, she realises that the main character is a Read more...

Stranger in Strange Land, Jae Hoon Lee

Posted 2:52pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Ruby Heyward

Stranger in Stranger Land currently on display at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, is an atmospheric, moody installation by Korean artist Jae Hoon Lee. Lee (born in 1973) is a self-proclaimed “cultural wanderer”. His work features “observations” of Arab and Thai culture Read more...

Peanut Noodle Salad

Posted 2:47pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Sophie Edmonds

I thought I had escaped the joy of 21sts but, before I knew it, it was my own brother’s turn. He decided to have it at the local bowls club and invite 100 of his closest friends. Of course it went without saying I was volunteered to the catering post. Mum was a little ambitious on the menu Read more...

Procrastibaking: Vanilla Cupcakes

Posted 2:42pm Sunday 4th October 2015 by Sophie Edmonds

During my day at home being the world’s worst sick person, I not only managed to make a cake and a batch of meringues, clean the kitchen, vacuum the flat and write a blog post, I also whipped up some classic vanilla cupcakes for SPCA cupcake day. While there are oodles of recipes out there Read more...

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Posted 1:52pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Maya Dodd

Rating: 3/5 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is the second instalment of The Maze Runner series, following the survivors from the first film as they discover that the world outside the maze is just as dangerous as the one within it — if not more so. I first stumbled across Dylan O’Brien Read more...

People Places Things

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: 3/5 People Places Things follows Will Henry (Jemaine Clement), a Kiwi man who teaches at a local university in New York. He is also a graphic novelist and spends his evenings writing his own semi-autobiographical novel. During their five-year-old twins’ birthday party, Will walks in Read more...

13 Minutes

Posted 1:45pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Greta Melvin

Rating: 4/5 Underdogs and people who fight for the greater good are often portrayed as wholesome characters whose only flaw is that they care too much. Based on the true story of Georg Elser, a German man who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler, 13 Minutes is a carefully composed film that Read more...

6 Years

Posted 1:40pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Mandy Te

Rating: 3/5 Hannah Fidell’s 6 Years takes a beautiful and authentic approach to the demise of a young couple’s six-year relationship. However, it falls just short of capturing the same empathy from its audience. Melanie “Mel” Clarke (Taissa Farmiga) and Dan Mercer (Ben Read more...

DeadCore

Posted 1:35pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: 5/5 The first-person platformer is a very unstable genre. First person makes it disorienting — you can’t see your feet and the camera is often shaking. Games like Portal and Mirror’s Edge are examples of such first-person platforming where experimentation has paid off Read more...

Murder That Wasn’t: The Case of George Gwaze

Posted 1:31pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

Unusually for true crime, Goodyear-Smith takes the position that no crime actually happened. Charlene contracted HIV at birth from her mother. Both her birth parents died, and Charlene and her older sister Charmaine were adopted by their mother’s sister Sifso and her husband George. For Read more...

Art in Law XIV, Bare With

Posted 1:28pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Susan Nunn

The Dunedin School of Art and the University of Otago Law Faculty have collaborated to bring a twice yearly art exhibition to the corridors of the Richardson Building on the Otago campus. Initiated originally by Peter Stupples, the exhibitions are curated by Marion Wassenaar and have been running Read more...

Cinnamon Churros with Salted Caramel

Posted 1:24pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Sophie Edmonds

In my opinion, churros are some of the best doughnuts ever. Why, you ask? They have the greatest surface area to volume ratio, meaning more crispy, sweet, cinnamon bang for your buck. I recently (aka yesterday morning) came back from a trip to South America. Over there they make these slightly Read more...

Best and Worst Lyrics

Posted 1:09pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Basti Menkes

The poetic addition of lyrics to our music over time has resulted in some truly stunning lines of verse, as well as a few crimes against the human intellect. Basti Menkes shares some of the greatest and the most cringeworthy moments in our lyrical history. The Good Pink Floyd, Read more...

Etherwood - Blue Leaves

Posted 1:00pm Sunday 27th September 2015 by Veronika Bell

Rating: 4/5 Drum and bass is a genre of electronic music with heavy basslines and fast breakbeats, usually around the 160–180 bpm margin. Over the years, drum and bass has developed an unfair stigma in society that really pisses me off. There’s an unflattering conception of Read more...

Myrkur - M

Posted 2:16pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 3/5 In a genre of stylistic sameness and poor gender diversity, one-woman black metal outfit Myrkur is a welcome breath of fresh air. Danish muse Amalie Bruun has emerged at long last with M, her debut LP as Myrkur. After a promising EP last year, Myrkur’s first full-length album Read more...

Kadington - Don’t Kick the Cat, EP

Posted 2:09pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Veronika Bell

Rating: 4/5 The world of visual arts gave us Banksy, a mysterious graffiti artist who uses a distinctive stencilling technique and dark humour to critique modern life. Banksy’s iconic political and social commentary has appeared on walls and buildings around the world.  The music Read more...

Tales from the Borderlands

Posted 2:05pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Brandon Johnstone

Rating: 5/5 A Telltale Games masterpiece has almost become a cliché. Tackling some of pop culture’s largest franchises, from Back to the Future to The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, Telltale Games crafts surprisingly captivating stories while avoiding covering old ground or Read more...

The Mountain Story

Posted 2:00pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

Thr Mountain Story, by Lori Lansens, is a survival novel. On his 18th birthday, Wolf Truly takes a tram up the mountain he spent much of his adolescence exploring with his best friend Byrd. A year before, Byrd was in an accident on the mountain that Wolf feels responsible for. This, along with the Read more...

Z

Posted 1:53pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Simon Kingsley-Holmes

Classic "Any similarity to real persons or events is not coincidental. It is INTENTIONAL.” With one of film’s most baldly provocative opening statements, Costa-Gavras offers a thriller that hits the ground running. The audience is thrown full force into a poorly veiled Read more...

Straight Outta Compton

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Siobon Inu

Rating: 4/5 Before the film’s release, Straight Outta Compton was gaining traction and hype — with suggestions of Oscar nominations, and also criticism of the film’s erasure of domestic violence and abuse. Despite the main cast being unknown talents, the hype concerning Straight Read more...

A Walk in the Woods

Posted 1:46pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: 2/5 On this occasion, audience attendance was sadly indicative of the film’s quality. Based on travel writer Bill Bryson’s 1998 book, A Walk in the Woods recounts some of his 3500-kilometre tramp through the Appalachian Trail. Living a comfortable life in New Hampshire with Read more...

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Posted 1:42pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Mandy Te

Rating: 4/5 Based on the young adult novel of the same name, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl offers the audience a refreshing take on the on-screen adolescent journey — one that is amusing, self-aware and skillfully made. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is shown through the eyes of Greg Read more...

Coconut Chole Curry

Posted 1:39pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Kirsten Garcia

I'm blessed to live with an authentic Indian who teaches the Indian cooking classes at OUSA. I get one-on-one lessons when we flat cook, so I’ve come to master this curry business. As my first appearance in Critic, I’m going to share with you my ultimate crowd-pleaser meal. I Read more...

The (Un)happiest Place on Earth

Posted 1:32pm Sunday 20th September 2015 by Jess Taylor

As negative as it sounds, I’ve never been to the self-proclaimed “happiest place on earth”. But chances are, neither have you. As touristy and overrun as Disneyland sounds (in all of its five locations), the internationally known amusement park is a staple on almost all bucket Read more...

Rocket League

Posted 2:00pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Carl Dingwall

Rating: 4/5 You may remember a segment from Top Gear involving cars, a large soccer ball and an attempt to play soccer. Entertaining in its own right, it wasn’t enough for the developers over at Psyonix, who figured it would make a more entertaining game if you added rockets. Welcome to Read more...

Paying with their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

Paying with their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran, by John M Kinder, takes on the subject of disabilities caused by warfare and the treatment of disabled veterans throughout American history. Kinder begins with the treatment of disabled war veterans and chiefly focuses Read more...

Singles in Review | Issue 23

Posted 1:46pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Basti Menkes

Battles - “The Yabba” and “FF Bada” “Robot Rock” may be a Daft Punk song, but no band fits that description quite like Battles do. Since their 2007 debut album Mirrored, Battles have been blurring human and machine together in synth-infused blasts of Read more...

Ghosts of Electricity

Posted 1:43pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Basti Menkes

Ghosts of Electricity are a white-collar punk trio from Auckland. Critic caught up with frontman and principle songwriter Tim Fowler recently to discuss their great new album Trolls, the current New Zealand music climate, and trying to sound like Lana Del Rey. Tell me a little about the Read more...

We Are Your Friends

Posted 1:36pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Kirsty Gordge

Max Joseph’s music drama, We Are Your Friends, successfully captures the struggles of four young adults who have opted out of student loans and, instead, are attempting the get-rich-quick route. Following their attempts at wealth, aspiring DJ Cole (Zac Efron) and his friends, Ollie (Shiloh Read more...

Ricki and the Flash

Posted 1:34pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Maya Dodd

Rating: 4/5 Meryl Streep is not only an incredible actor with a great set of pipes, there is also just something unique about her that leaves me in awe. But, for me, nothing will ever top her performance as the stylishly cold Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. However, with impressive Read more...

Last Cab to Darwin

Posted 1:31pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Valu Maka

Rating: 3/5 Last Cab to Darwin is one of those circling-the-drain films that makes you reflect on your life and keeps you up at night with deep questions such as “what makes life worth living?”. Directed by Jeremy Sims, Last Cab to Darwin  follows Rex McRae (Michael Read more...

Ever the Land

Posted 1:27pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Ngarangi Haerewa

Rating: 2/5 Part of the quintessential cinematic experience is going into the cinema knowing next to nothing about the film. With such logic, I was halfway toward the ultimate cinema experience. While it was initially thrilling, Ever the Land was also disappointing. Directed by Sarah Grohnert, Read more...

Savoury Muffins

Posted 1:16pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by Sophie Edmonds

My best friend Sophie M loves savoury muffins. Like crazy loves. She will buy one almost every day to have for morning tea. In her muffin quests, she has come to be quite the connoisseur. I always get really nervous when I make them for her for fear they will not live up to her high standards. For Read more...

Tully Arnot - Grey Goo

Posted 1:10pm Sunday 13th September 2015 by James Thomson-Bache

"It’s an experimental space,” curator Chloe Geoghegan remarked on my arrival to the Blue Oyster’s most recently installed exhibition, Grey Goo. It certainly did feel that way as I stood there, an ominous hum playing around me and a McDonald’s burger shaking vigorously at Read more...

This War of Mine

Posted 2:53pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by George Elliott

Rating: 4/5 In the past decade, the video game industry has been disrupted by a revolution of sorts: the medium is being reclaimed from the potent forces of commercialisation. The rise of the independent developer, propelled by advances in digital distribution, the democratisation of software and Read more...

Singles in Review | Issue 22

Posted 2:46pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Basti Menkes

The Dead Weather - “I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)” The most experimental of all of Jack White’s bands is arguably The Dead Weather, in which he shares vocal responsibilities with Alison Mosshart of The Kills. The quartet makes scuzzy, psychedelic blues rock drenched Read more...

Legacy Music Group

Posted 2:41pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Daniel Munro

Dunedin has birthed some huge names in music, with acts like Six60 and The Chills enjoying not only national but international success. While certain acts have made it big outside our wee student city, hip-hop has not been among them. Lucas “Big Sima” Gunn asked us to “name a Read more...

Southpaw

Posted 2:36pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Alastair Reith

Rating: 3/5 Do we really need Southpaw? Do we really need a microwave reheat of another boxing film?  Despite the influx of Eastern European titans in recent years on the world stage, boxing in the United States remains a Black- and Latino-dominated sport, as it has been for decades.With Read more...

Women He’s Undressed

Posted 2:30pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Cameron Evans

Rating: 4/5 In Women He’s Undressed, director Gillian Armstrong goes beyond fashion and offers the audience a comprehensive insight into the life, motivations and tribulations of Australian, Orry Kelly — a costume designer whose success is unknown to most of Australia. Using an Read more...

She’s Funny That Way

Posted 2:25pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Ngarangi Haerewa

Rating: 0/5 She’s Funny That Way may have a clever turn of phrase (“squirrels to the nuts”), but that is not enough to save it from the depths of its own depravity. Set in the world of Broadway, She’s Funny That Way follows the love triangle between Read more...

Amy

Posted 2:21pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: 4/5 From the very beginning, Amy Winehouse was a true artist with a palpable talent. During the noughties, however, it was hard to miss Winehouse’s infamous rise and tragic decline. What we didn’t really see though, and what the documentary Amy strongly captures, is the Read more...

Alex Lovell-Smith … Travelling Alone, Sir …

Posted 2:14pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Loulou Callister-Baker

The theme of travel appropriately moves beyond the Dunedin Public Art Gallery down the road to the Alternative Space Gallery on Lower Stuart Street, where Alex Lovell-Smith’s … Travelling Alone, Sir … is currently on display. Alternative Space Gallery is an initiative where Read more...

Wanderings Works from the Collection

Posted 2:06pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Collection exhibitions can sometimes feel like a cop out, but if you have a collection why not play with it and put it on show? Following a theme of travel, the works in Wanderings shake off any gathered dust with their depictions of afar, of the other-worldly and of returning home after the Read more...

Banana Pancakes

Posted 2:02pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Sophie Edmonds

I stumbled across this trend of banana pancakes on the interwebs last week while procrastinating something chronic. I think I ate them for dinner three nights in a row, each one smothered in lush peanut butter, of course. I enjoyed mine this morning with some quick blueberry compote and some Read more...

Rich Man Road

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 6th September 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

Rich Man Road,by Ann Glamuzina, tells the separate stories of two immigrants to New Zealand. One morning the novice nun, Pualele Sina Auva’a, awakes to find that her friend and fellow nun, the elderly Olga Mastrovic, has died in the night. She has left behind a letter to Pualele, confessing Read more...

Bloodborne

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: 5/5 Anyone familiar with From Software’s action-adventure Souls games will know how much of a commitment they are. Rushing into them unawares will lead to frustration and despair, while patience, exploration and a level head will be well rewarded. Speaking as someone who clawed his Read more...

Singles in Review | Issue 21

Posted 1:48pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Basti Menkes

Triumphs - “Beekeeper” and “Solid Bones” Triumphs are a heavy instrumental duo from Dunedin, consisting of guitarist John Bollen and drummer Mathew Anderson. The bearded beaus are about to release their debut album, Beekeeper/Bastardknocker, on Monkey Killer Read more...

Ghosts of Electricity - Trolls

Posted 1:44pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Basti Menkes

Rating: 4/5 A punk band is a curious thing nowadays. Four decades ago, The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Ramones were raging against the establishment and the decadence of mainstream rock with their lo-fi, hard-hitting, no-nonsense blasts of musical anger. Sure the music was Read more...

The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream

Posted 1:31pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Bridget Vosburgh

The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream is a memoir by Katherine Norbury. After miscarrying a much-desired pregnancy, Norbury distracts herself from her grief with the writing of a man named Neil Gunn. One of Gunn’s novels, The Highland River, tells the story of a young man walking a river to its Read more...

Alison Embleton Presents The Merchant of Venice

Posted 1:29pm Sunday 30th August 2015 by Mandy Te

Mandy Te got the chance to talk to director, Alison Embleton, about her version of The Merchant of Venice and the process of adapting William Shakespeare for a modern audience. The Merchant of Venice will be showing from 2 to 5 September at St. Paul’s Cathedral Crypt. Student tickets are Read more...