Archive

Sarah’s Key

Posted 11:34pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, (4/5). I haven’t read the best-selling novel by journalist Tatiana de Rosnay on which this film is based, but going by what director Gilles Paquet-Brenner has produced, my guess is that it would be well worth it. Like most Holocaust films, this will bring Read more...

Mozart’s Sister

Posted 11:26pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Nick Hornstein

Directed by René Féret, (2.5/5).   Mozart’s Sister portrays the life of Anna Maria Mozart (nicknamed “Nannerl”), who was denied a similar path to that of her younger brother, Wolfgang. In the beginning, she is still performing, though overshadowed and sidelined as Read more...

Fast Five

Posted 11:17pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Matt Chapman

Directed by Justin Lin, (3.5/5). We’ve come a long way since 2 Fast 2 Furious, and Fast Five wants to make that known. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster return for the fifth installment in the Fast and the Furious series, and Justin Lin returns as director. Yet, Lin takes a Read more...

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (3D)

Posted 11:14pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Jon Chu, (4/5). I am not afraid to admit it; I am in love with Justin Bieber. Knowing little about the phenomenon of Bieber fever but thinking it would be hilariously awesome to go and see “the Justin Bieber movie”, I headed down to Hoyts, 3D glasses in hand. Little did I Read more...

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Posted 11:11pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed and written by John Cameron Mitchell. Starring: John Cameron Mitchell, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin, Michael Pitt. Hedwig is in a bit of a slump. She’s on tour with the band the Angry Inch, but the gigs they play aren’t in flashy arenas; they are in fast food and Read more...

Style shepherds

Posted 10:13pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Eloise Callister-Baker

In New Zealand we seem to be living in the time of choice, so why do we limit our outfits to clothing that will blend into a crowd? Why do girls enjoy oversized off-the-shoulder knits with black tights; why do boys save up for their Lower jeans and black t-shirts? It seems that there is such a Read more...

Queen gives McQueen the royal seal of approval

Posted 10:10pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Sarah Burton, quiet achiever of the House of McQueen; what a stunner of a dress. Make that plural sorry, dresses, even if they were curiously similar - you’d swear the latter was a refinement of the first. But when Westminster’s at stake, hell, why not? As the newest addition to the Royal Read more...

From Under the Overcoat

Posted 9:44pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Charlotte Doyle

Author: Sue Orr. Publisher : Vintage, (3/5). You are told all your life to never judge a book by its cover, but secretly everyone does. The cover of From Under the Overcoat by Sue Orr isn’t exactly the most appealing. It first gave me the impression that it would be a light-hearted, Read more...

Sacha Lauchlan: Dunedin sculptress

Posted 9:40pm Monday 9th May 2011 by Elaine Stevens

While Dunedin's art scene may attract less attention than our famous music scene, promising young graduates from the Dunedin School of Art have the potential to reverse the “underground” nature of Dunedin art. One such artist is sculptress Sacha Lauchlan, the inaugural winner of the Feldspar Award, Read more...

Critic reviews the Easter Weekender

Posted 5:02am Monday 9th May 2011 by Sam Reynolds

Warning, warning, warning; the monotonous sounds of MC Beau bounce across a wave of moving bodies, all swaying in time to the rhythmic wop wop of Nero’s beat. The crowd only stops moving for a split second to catch the Foreign Beggars MC as he jumps off a speaker; once he’s back on stage the Read more...

Mortal Kombat

Posted 4:59am Monday 9th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, (4/5). Some fool somewhere said that videogames couldn't possibly get any more violent. That's exactly what they said at the beginning of the twentieth century and look where we ended up. Despite the series being as old as I am, Mortal Kombat hasn't yet Read more...

Portal 2

Posted 4:57am Monday 9th May 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, MAC, XBOX 360, Playstation 3, (5/5). I can feel it, like ten-thousand drummers marching in a cool valley miles from my ajar bedroom window. An amazonian torrent of internet memes. So many memes. But to focus on the individual moments Valve has created in Portal 2 would be to ignore Read more...

Foccacia

Posted 4:55am Monday 9th May 2011 by Niki Lomax

There’s something very satisfying about making bread from scratch. Getting dough under your fingernails is totally worth the hassle. The last time I did this was in February during the post-earthquake bread shortages. I was kneading for Christchurch, sort of. This week I decided to make some Read more...

Cafe Review - Allpress Espresso

Posted 4:53am Monday 9th May 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

12 Emily Siedeberg Place – just beside the BNZ car park, (4/5). Prices: Flat White: $4.00, Long Black: not offered on menu, Mocha: $4.50   Why I came here: A friend and I were on our way to Ombrellos but changed our minds when we saw all the people outside Allpress.   Read more...

Paul

Posted 4:47am Monday 9th May 2011 by Nell O'Dwyer-Strang

Directed by Greg Mottola, (4/5). Paul is the newest brainchild of genius comic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the all-round awesome guys behind the classics Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. This time, Frost and Pegg play British sci-fi nerds Clive and Graeme who are on a road trip around the United Read more...

Oceans

Posted 4:39am Monday 9th May 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Jacque Perin and Jacque Cluzard, (1/5). Attenborough must be rolling in his…oh wait, he’s still alive. In that case, may he never ever, ever see Disney Nature’s most recent release Oceans; it will surely send him to an early grave.   Attempting to be a Read more...

Rio

Posted 4:37am Monday 9th May 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Carlos Saldanha, (3.5/5). I opened the heavy door to the room where the sound of the commercial world was coming from. I then edged my way past rows of velvet red seats. Once I sat down, I realised there were three people in front of me. It looked like a mother with curly blonde Read more...

Scream 4

Posted 4:34am Monday 9th May 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Directed by Wes Craven, (4/5). The Scream franchise gets another outing courtesy of director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson. The requirement of staying true to the self-aware nature of the first three entries, while still providing semi-serious horror scares, while at the same time forging Read more...

World Cinema Showcase

Posted 4:32am Monday 9th May 2011 by Sarah Baillie

The World Cinema Showcase begins on the 5th May 2011, and runs until 18th May. As always, there’s a stunning range of films with over 30 screening during the fortnight at Rialto. Unfortunately, each film screens only a few times, so be sure to check out the full timetable online so as not to miss Read more...

The Room

Posted 4:29am Monday 9th May 2011 by Alec Dawson

Directed by Tommy Wiseau, (5/5). Move over Troll 2 and Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Room is the pinnacle of the so-bad-it’s-funny film. Tommy Wiseau is credited with starring in, directing, writing, producing and executive producing the film, although he’s barely done any of them well Read more...

The Last House on the Left (1972)

Posted 4:22am Monday 9th May 2011 by Hamish Gavin

Directed by Wes Craven Just like most video nasties, The Last House on the Left didn’t deserve to be banned for thirty odd years in the UK or wherever. It’s a fantastic piece of low budget horror filmmaking in which raw production values add gritty realism to a tale of rape and Read more...

Literary lust and the Blue Oyster buzz

Posted 3:51am Monday 9th May 2011 by Eloise Callister-Baker and Libby Fraser

We fashionistas are still ever so slightly affected by overtures of the iD high, which means glorious insights of “the week that was” are still steamrolling along. This week Eloise Callister-Baker shares the down low on the über cool fashion-meets-photography Blue Oyster gig while Libby Fraser Read more...

Cartoon Movement

Posted 6:19am Thursday 5th May 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Various authors. www.cartoonmovement.com (3/5). Another website you should take a look at if your bag is already too heavy to be dragging a book around is Cartoon Movement. It describes itself as “the internet's #1 publishing platform for high quality political cartoons and comic Read more...

The Essayist

Posted 6:07am Thursday 5th May 2011 by Steve French

Author: Various. http://essayist.tumblr.com/ http://thedocumentarian.tumblr.com/ (4.5/5) A lot of the writing on the internet is trash. There are only so many lists (cracked.com) or poorly written blogs (shit you come across in Stumble) you can read before you start craving a well-written Read more...

The Detainment of Al Weiwei

Posted 6:02am Thursday 5th May 2011 by Hana Aoake

Since April 3, Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been detained by the Chinese authorities for “economic crimes”. Given his international fame and robust charisma he seemed inviolable, but perhaps that was the point of detaining him: to stamp out the idea that any individual is greater than Read more...

Preview: God of Carnage

Posted 5:55am Thursday 5th May 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton, directed by Lara MacGregor. Starring: Claire Dougan, John Glass, Barbara Power and Phil Vaughan. April 29 – May 21 at the Fortune Theatre. Staged around the world to rave reviews and with a spate of awards under its belt, comedy God Read more...

Wounds to the Face

Posted 4:16am Wednesday 27th April 2011 by Clare Thomson

Directed by Jennifer Aitken, Starring Joel Rees and Hana Aoake, (3.5/5). My thoughts, as I watched scenes from Wounds to the Face, kept returning to Antonin Artaud’s precept that words should have the same significance in theatre as they do in dreams. According to the five-minute crash Read more...

FASTER THAN LIGHT

Posted 2:05am Wednesday 27th April 2011 by Isaac McFarlane

The mysterious new kid on the block The New Zealand electronic music scene is a strange beast. From the sustained success of Shapeshifter to the boom and bust of Mt Eden Dubstep, many acts flirt with excellence only to fall on the wrong side of the success-mediocrity divide. But we have a new Read more...

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Posted 11:47pm Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Windows, MAC, Linux, (4.5/5). What's the quickest route to disrupt the tension in any horror videogame, or for that matter any scary media? Top marks if you said combat, because any direct encounter with the relentlessly stalking depraved shadows immediately undermines any fear Read more...

Gobtron

Posted 11:45pm Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: iPod touch, iPhone, (2.5/5). Gobtron opens by flashing up a faux-ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating of “I for Immature”. I ask you, what could possibly be more mature than a majestic, mountain sized, hot-pink, fluffy, rectangular pig monster, enduring Read more...

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

Posted 5:42am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Sharin Shaik

I love Sunday brunch. It’s the highlight of my week. My whole week is spent searching for cool recipes that I can try out on Sunday morning. Okay, so maybe I have no life. But hey, don’t judge! Today I would like to share with you a recipe for lemon ricotta pancakes. These pancakes are so Read more...

Cafe Review - The Good Earth

Posted 5:38am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Pip Schaffler

765 Cumberland Street, across the road from St David’s Lecture Theatre, (4/5). Prices: Flat White: $4.00, Long Black: $3.50, Mocha: $4.80   Why I came here: The sun pouring through the large windows looked appealing   Atmosphere: Relaxed, contemporary, smart Read more...

Just Go With It

Posted 5:33am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Critic

Directed by Dennis Dugan, (1/5). Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison crew has been a bit hit and miss when it comes to making comedy films, their repertoire consisting of Little Nicky, Joe Dirt, Mr Deeds and of course, Grandma’s Boy. There are plenty of others, but these ones hit the mark with Read more...

Sucker Punch

Posted 5:30am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Frances Stannard

Directed by Zack Snyder, (0.5/5). A 13-year old boy’s wet dream, this movie is reminiscent of being put through the pain of watching someone play Xbox. Sure, the player is having fun but you, the spectator are not! Here’s the film’s premise: evil stepfather sends girl to a Read more...

Rio

Posted 5:28am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Carlos Saldanha (3.5/5). I opened the heavy door to the room where the sound of the commercial world was coming from. I then edged my way past rows of velvet red seats. Once I sat down, I realised there were three people in front of me. It looked like a mother with curly blonde hair Read more...

Hop

Posted 5:26am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Phoebe Harrop

Directed by Tim Hill. (3/5). In hindsight, Hop was perhaps the most ridiculous movie I’ve ever been to. Don’t get me wrong; it made for an enthralling and delightful 90 minutes. But it’s hard to take something seriously that has, as its premise, the idea that unbeknownst to Read more...

Barbarella (1968)

Posted 5:23am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Roger Vadim. Starring: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O’Shea When a film is set in 40,000 AD you know it’s going to be a treat, especially when it was made in the Sixties. With more outlandish costumes than Lady Gaga, the movie has all the fashion you Read more...

Afternoon tea with the Cooper sisters

Posted 4:28am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Libby Fraser

An iDeal location, just above Dada in Moray Chambers, the Coopers (and that's TAMSIN, not TRELISE) have a perfect partnership of lovely luxe goodies for you to scope out in the impending Easter break. Ahead of their joint showcase at the iD Fashion Week show on Friday night, designer sisters Read more...

iDiDiDiDiDiDiD you???

Posted 4:26am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

What a week. Fashion in full fantastic force right here in wee old Dunedin. Who would have thought we’d make it to the high-flying “People and Parties” societal pages of vogue.com.au? Thanks Damien Woolnough and your “surprisingly stylish city” concession. Damn right we are. There were fabulous Read more...

Fosterling

Posted 4:03am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Feby Idrus

Author: Emma Neale. Publisher: Vintage (3/5) Dave—there’s no such thing as yetis.” But what if there were? And how would we react? These are the questions behind Emma Neale’s new novel Fosterling. Bu, the main character, is found in a remote forest after falling and Read more...

Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Posted 4:01am Tuesday 26th April 2011 by Stephen Fairweather

Author: Gregory Maguire. Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers (5/5) When I finished reading Wicked at 2.30am the other morning, I felt like a gold seeker panning a river and finding the mother lode. Not that I suggest good novels are as rare as gold nuggets, but this book will move you in ways Read more...

She Walks in Beauty

Posted 7:09am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Created by and staring Maya Turei and Bronwyn Wallace (4.5/5) Two girls enter into a relationship with each other. One is bisexual, the other a religious heterosexual. But love is love and they have it for each other, so what do you do?   The staging for this piece was simple but Read more...

Lonely Hearts

Posted 7:07am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Created by Luke Agnew, Staring Martyn Roberts and Audrey Morgan, (4/5). Lonely Hearts took the modern day activity of chatting online and revealed, hilariously, the reality behind a chat between a 17 year old schoolgirl and a “19” year old boy (aka a 43 year old man who lives with Read more...

Forty Hour Theatre

Posted 7:02am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

This week’s Lunchtime Theatre marked the birth of what will hopefully become an Allen Hall Theatre tradition; the Forty Hour Theatre competition. Submissions and proposals were called for and two winners were chosen; their challenge was to make a 15-20 minute piece of theatre in only forty hours! Read more...

Panda Bear - Tomboy

Posted 6:38am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Sam Valentine

Over the last decade Panda Bear has made quite the name for himself in the independent music scene. Between his work with Animal Collective and his solo albums Young Prayer (2004) and the critically acclaimed Person Person Pitch (2007), he has covered pop, noise, ambient and everything in between. Read more...

Bass Drum of Death – GB City

Posted 6:37am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Sam Valentine

In the running for both the best and worst band name of all time, Mississippi two-piece Bass Drum of Death (BDOD) fuse garage and pop in a haze of stoned energetic brilliance on their debut album GB City. Fitting both the musical and social aesthetics of the current American garage revival Read more...

Burial – Street Halo

Posted 6:35am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Eddie Johnston

Last month Burial, Four Tet and Thom Yorke released their incredible collaboration and, to be honest, I thought nothing would beat it in 2011. But a few weeks ago it was announced that Burial would be releasing new material and, lo and behold, I was proven wrong! The new 12” Street Halo (or Read more...

Dino Run

Posted 6:31am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: MAC, PC, LINUX (3/5). Subtitled “Escape Extinction”, here is a short list of the paleontological inaccuracies in Dino Run: #1 Contrary to the lush pasture Pixeljam has created, there was no grass in the late Cretaceous period. #2 tyrannosaurus rex and triceratops were not Read more...

Cult Classic - Planescape: Torment

Posted 6:29am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: LINUX (5/5). The Nameless One's golden armour is not inexplicably polished to a mirrored-sheen. He does not ride into battle on a small but plucky caramel-coloured mare, trading blows with troll-bandits to heroically save the spice-merchant. He certainly does not go on rodent-killing Read more...

Moroccan Carrot Soup

Posted 6:27am Thursday 14th April 2011 by by Ines Shennan

There is nothing greater than soup. Okay, a bold claim perhaps, but soup on a dismal grey Dunedin evening in our “character-rich” but ultimately freezing flat is pretty satisfying. A favoured technique to increase our core body temperature is to lock ourselves in the kitchen (which is also our Read more...

Reefer Madness (1936)

Posted 6:25am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Louis Gasnier. Starring: Dorothy Short, Kenneth Craig, Lillian Miles, Dave O’Brien, Thelma White. A green menace is silently attacking the youth of 1930’s America. It’s name…marihuana! Yes, it was a different world back then. You could spell marihuana with an h Read more...

Battle: Los Angeles

Posted 6:22am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. (2/5). It’s a challenge to fit the many cinematic faux pas and clichés that Battle: Los Angeles exhibits into 350 words, but I’ll give it my best shot…with a vengeance.     Battle: Los Angeles tells the story of a Read more...

Red Riding Hood

Posted 6:20am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. (1/5). This movie provides the perfect platform on which to rant about everything Hollywood. It's hard to believe this piece of shit was directed by the same person who gave birth to Lords Of Dogtown, but her more recent disaster (yup, Twilight) is a much more Read more...

The Names of Love

Posted 6:19am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Lauren Enright

Directed by Michel Leclerc. (2.5/5). The Names of Love (Le Nom des Gens) is a story of how people can bridge opposite sides of the political spectrum through human relationships. Sara Forestier plays Baya, a French girl with an Algerian father. She was brought up by her mother to have left wing Read more...

Gaiety at the House of G and a bit of Lonely love

Posted 5:50am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

‘Twas Wednesday the 6th and iD Fashion Week was truly in full swing.   As part of the Starlight Shopping, a regular feature of iD week, various shops released some sweet deals for locals to delight in. The iD theme for the House of G (aka Glassons) was presumably “woodland Read more...

Blood Safari

Posted 5:37am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Ilka Fedor

Author: Deon Meyer. Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks (2.5/5) Deon Meyer is apparently “the best crime writer in South Africa” according to the review on the back of this book.  Set in the “lowveld” near Kruger National Park in South Africa, Blood Safari is Read more...

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Posted 5:35am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Leah Hamilton

Author: Michael Chabon. Publisher: Fourth Estate (4/5) The Yiddish Policemen's Union is a great tongue-in-cheek book about two homicide detectives who set out to solve a rather interesting murder. Meyer Landsman, homicide detective #1, is a recently divorced, scrawny alcoholic who doesn't sleep. Read more...

April Fools Day:

Posted 5:32am Thursday 14th April 2011 by Hana Aoake

Resident artists, Dowling St project After walking up such an enormous staircase, excited about what lay inside, I found myself leaving filled with disappointment. Gazing across any group show rarely makes me feel as though I have just been defibrillated. However, upon leaving I had barely any Read more...

The Most Massive Woman Wins

Posted 4:24am Monday 11th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Written by Madeline George, Directed by Charlotte Waalkens. Starring: Rina Cohen, Miriam Noonan, Victoria Bernard and Tarn Felton (2.5/5). Four women have decided to take the plunge and get liposuction. The goal for all is obvious – get rid of the fat. Each woman tells us how they have Read more...

A Model Millionaire

Posted 4:22am Monday 11th April 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Oscar Wilde, Adapted for the stage and directed by Vickie Cross. Starring Trubie-Dylan Smith, Samuel Irwin , Kathryn Hurst, Abby Howells, Hannah Port and Lyndon Katene. (4/5) This adaptation of Wilde’s short story was imaginative, thoughtful and very quaint. It was a joy to Read more...

They are a pop band

Posted 3:47am Monday 11th April 2011 by Henry Feltham

The fourth Lines of Flight show was the last event of the Fringe Festival. The avant-garde hate it when you’re early, so I arrived during Pumice’s set, which was tinkly and disjointed, then paid vague attention to Rosy Parlane’s laptop soundscapes, while engaged in the more urgent task of getting Read more...

Bassnectar

Posted 3:44am Monday 11th April 2011 by Lisa McGonigle

March 24, 2011. Sammy’s. Sometimes, for no identifiable or discernible cause, a night just doesn’t come together. To employ a perhaps cloyingly Forrest Gump-esque analogy, it’s like making bread. You might follow the same recipe each time, but sometimes the loaf comes out Read more...

Bassnectar

Posted 3:44am Monday 11th April 2011 by Lisa McGonigle

March 24, 2011. Sammy’s. <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman Italic"; panose-1:2 2 5 3 5 4 5 9 3 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"?????? Pro W3"; Read more...

Dinner Date

Posted 2:34am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Toby Hills

Platform: PC (2/5). In Dinner Date’s unnecessary tutorial, Stout Games tries to make it clear that your interactivity in the game is somewhat limited. Big text banners crowning the screen read “In Dinner Date you do not play as yourself”, “Nor do you play as the main Read more...

Gnocchi comes to the Deep South; Finally.

Posted 2:29am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Niki Lomax

It appears I may have been living under a very large antipodean rock my whole life. On a recent trip to Melbourne, it was suggested by my fabulously food-wise Melbournian friend that we go out for some gnocchi. I stared at her quizzically and replied, “what, is that Japanese or something?” Her Read more...

Cafe Review - Lex’s Espresso

Posted 2:26am Thursday 7th April 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Inside the Union Building, in the foyer of Union Hall. (3/5). Location: Inside the Union Building, in the foyer of Union Hall.   Prices: Flat White: $4.00, Mocha: $4.00, Long Black – not offered.   Why I came here: Was in the Link and felt too lazy to leave the building Read more...

My Wedding and Other Secrets

Posted 3:45am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Nicole Muriel

Directed by Roseanne Liang. (3.5/5). Chinese New Zealander Emily (Michelle Ang) is a disappointment to her family. Ignoring her parents’ ambitions for her career as a doctor, she's enrolled herself in film-making school. Things get really bad when she falls for the man of her dreams, James Read more...

Limitless

Posted 3:43am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Neil Burger. (3/5). Limitless is another action/techno-thriller packed burger on the McFilm production line which director Neil Burger (get out!) was managing with his clipboard while dressed in his cute McFilm uniform. “What is in this McFilm burger?” you ask, looking at Read more...

Get Low

Posted 3:40am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Aaron Schneider. (3/5). I would have to describe this film as a pleasurable stroll in the woods; uneventful, but you’re glad you went along anyway. The performances are honest and calmly understated and while the script and story could use some work, the cinematography and acting Read more...

Certified Copy

Posted 3:38am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by JAbbas Kiarostami. (4/5). French films are always quite beautiful and this one is no exception, with a stunning performance by Juliette Binoche which won her the Best Actress award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The emotion on her face makes you giggle then vaults you into the Read more...

Pink Flamingos (1972)

Posted 3:36am Tuesday 5th April 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by John Waters. Starring: Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Edith Massey, and Danny Mills. A movie based on a battle for the ‘Filthiest Person Alive’ is bound to push the boundaries of cinematic taste; this film is not suitable for those weak of stomach or Read more...

Urgent Competition Update

Posted 5:30am Monday 4th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

Now, just to clarify, the beautiful Madame Hawke journal giveaway was not a hoax. It is as real as ever. And you can of course get your hands on a copy by sending in a little piece of fashion literature, a snippet of your style thoughts on anything you like! Unleash some serious love/hate/utter Read more...

International names set for Dunedin Fashion Week

Posted 5:18am Monday 4th April 2011 by Mahoney Turnbull

In case you’re not completely up with the iD goss, Akira Isogawa is an outstanding designer, hailing from Oz, who will be making an appearance as an international guest designer at iD Fashion Week. Hoorah! But that’s not all. Mr Stefano Sopelza will also be gracing Dunedin with his sultry Read more...

Day Walks of New Zealand – Canterbury and Kaikoura

Posted 4:34am Monday 4th April 2011 by Stefan Fairweather

Author: Mark Pickering. Publisher: Penguin (3/5) Most New Zealanders take it as a given, if not a birthright, the access we have in this country to a plethora of walks (aka tramps for the newbie foreign students reading this). But it would be interesting to ask somebody, say in Read more...

Master of Reality

Posted 4:31am Monday 4th April 2011 by Johnny Panadol

Author: John Darnielle. (4/5) Master of Reality is part of the long-running 33 1/3 series, in which each new entry is written by a different author about classic album of their choosing. John Darnielle has written his tribute to the Black Sabbath album in the form of a diary kept by a sixteen-year Read more...

Art and Fashion

Posted 4:23am Monday 4th April 2011 by Hana Aoake

Historically speaking, art and fashion vastly overlap and often seamlessly influence each other. What initially comes to mind is Manet’s portraits of fashionable Parisian life in the late nineteenth century, Salvador Dali’s extensive collaborations with fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, Andy Read more...

Hullapolloi

Posted 2:49am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

Footnote Dance Company (Wellington), 5/5. This beautiful and unsettling collaboration between Footnote Dance Company, Jo Randerson and Kate McIntosh dissected the child-like and self-conscious dynamics of a group. The figures, covered from head-to-toe in different coloured lycra bodysuits, Read more...

Once Was

Posted 2:45am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Lauren Enright

The Theatre As Is (Dunedin). By Jimmy Currin and Dell McLeod assisted by Richard Huber, 3.5/5. Once Was is presented in a cosy upstairs space, with chairs or couches as seating options. The stage space has the lighting exposed and is bare except for one chair and two layers of mesh that is hung to Read more...

Mates and Lovers

Posted 2:43am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Jen Aitken

Fabulous Arts Aotearoa (Wellington). Directed and written by Ronald Trifero, 4/5. Mates and Lovers (inspired by the book Mates and Lovers: A History of Gay New Zealand by Chris Brickell, a lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Otago), invites us to ponder how the past speaks to the Read more...

Love You Approximately

Posted 2:42am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Maya Turei

The Clinic (Christchurch), 3/5. Love You Approximately (with the really cute tagline “a virtual love story”) was all about long distance relationships. The play consisted of two characters using Skype, Facebook and phone calls to grow and nurture their budding relationship. Pere Read more...

The Upbeats Live with Jess Chambers

Posted 1:35am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Callum Valentine

March 19th 2011, Urban Factory Within the annals of drum and bass, the Upbeats have carved out their own niche. A curious mix of everything from neurofunk to dubstep, the pair often defy expectations. From their initial success in 2004 with their self-titled debut recording, they have progressed Read more...

Idiot Prayer

Posted 1:33am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Sam Valentine

After only a short year of existence, Dunedin trio Idiot Prayer are set to add their considerable sonic weight to the cities musical landscape. Comprising effortlessly punishing drummer Sam Brookland, bassman David ‘Local’ Ager and vocalist/frontman Tim ‘Tiddy’ Smith, the group’s boundary pushing, Read more...

Atom Zombie Smasher

Posted 1:28am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX, LINUX. (4/5). You can't help it; the gut reaction to guts being forcibly removed by a stumbling horde of on-screen undead will always be “what would I do in this situation?” Atom Zombie Smasher lets you answer that question, not as an individual deciding between Read more...

Potluck Desserts

Posted 1:25am Tuesday 29th March 2011 by Niki Lomax

Potlucks are invariably a good time. Booze, banter and fuckloads of food. Sometimes, however, figuring out what to contribute can be a tricky business - what will impress and be delicious, yet also be quick and not extravagant? In an attempt to solve this dilemma, here are a couple of suggestions Read more...

Unknown

Posted 5:10am Monday 28th March 2011 by Matt Chapman

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. (4/5). Jaume Collet-Serra's action-thriller Unknown is similar in feel to Pierre Morel's 2008 film, Taken, except with a great deal more mystery thrown in. Liam Neeson stars as Martin Harris, who, after being involved in a freak accident, wakes up from a coma to Read more...

Tamara Drewe

Posted 5:08am Monday 28th March 2011 by Maya Turei

Directed by Stephen Frears. (3/5). Tamara Drewe is pretty sweet. The story seems predictable, but then leads you on until you think it's all sussed before surprising you with something totally unpredictable. It is wonderfully silly and heart-warmingly sickening in the best possible way. Read more...

Never Let Me Go

Posted 5:06am Monday 28th March 2011 by Lauren Hayes

Directed by Mark Romanek. (5/5). It may look like an ordinary British romance, but don't let this fool you; Never Let Me Go is a film about clones. Based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go unfolds in a world that seems familiar but isn't quite our own. The human race is living Read more...

Blue Valentine

Posted 5:03am Monday 28th March 2011 by Sarah Baillie

Directed by Derek Cianfrance. (5/5). Blue Valentine documents the heart-breaking story of every married couple’s worst fear: falling out of love. Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) meet when they are young and carefree. Six years on, their marriage is falling apart and they Read more...

Mommie Dearest (1981)

Posted 4:58am Monday 28th March 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed by Frank Perry. Starring: Faye Dunaway, Mara Hobel, Diana Scarwid. Based on the book of the same name by Christina Crawford, Mommie Dearest depicts the bizarre life of Joan Crawford as her daughter saw it. The film begins with a typical morning for Joan Crawford. After a 4am wake-up Read more...

The Human Mind

Posted 4:11am Monday 28th March 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Robert Winston. Publisher: Bantam Books (4/5) The Human Mind captivates the reader with the characteristically informative, entertaining and fascinating style Robert Winston has become renowned for. The moustachioed presenter of the TV series “The Human Body” this time focuses Read more...

One Day

Posted 4:08am Monday 28th March 2011 by Eve Hermansson

Author: David Nicholls. Publisher: Hodder & Staughton (3/5) The relationship between Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley begins the way many do in the fine institution we call university: an attempted hook-up following a drunken party. It’s the Eighties, the two have just graduated and the future Read more...

Desi Liversage, Bloodlines and Bloodstains

Posted 4:05am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

Dunedin School of Art. (It’s super close to campus. Another reason to procrastinate!) Desi Liversage uses the medium of textiles to express and expose the darker colonial heritage of South Africa during the second Boer war. This installation was inspired by Liversage’s grandmother’s Read more...

Colleen Altagracia

Posted 4:02am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

The emptiness of full pockets, The Blue Oyster, Tuesday, March 22, 2011. The sombre white walls of the Blue Oyster further added to Altagracia’s performance of The emptiness of full pockets last Tuesday. Performers stood completely still as persons dressed in contamination suits filled their Read more...

The Branch presents Half

Posted 4:01am Monday 28th March 2011 by Hana Aoake

George Street, Friday, March 18, 2011. Dunedin collective The Branch’s one-night-only exhibition/performance Half was a five-star feast for the senses. The Branch is a collective of eight young artists, musicians and filmmakers and this was their third collaborative project. Upon first entry Read more...

Merz & More: A Selection of Sights, Sounds, Films & Trivial Acts

Posted 4:41am Monday 21st March 2011 by Jen Aitken

from Dr Jonathan W. Marshall’s Museum of Bad Taste “Ceci n’est pas une artist”   In Merz and More Dr. Jonathan W. Marshall took us on a guided tour of a computer hard-drive and video and music collection. Presenting a selection of audiovisual and audio recordings Read more...

Rebecca Black – Friday. Single

Posted 4:18am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

IS THIS THE WORST SONG EVER WRITTEN? Thought Justin Bieber was the antichrist? Clearly you’ve haven’t heard thirteen year old Rebecca Black’s latest single “Friday”. Currently a Youtube sensation (topping nine million views to date), Black has taken taste to a new Read more...

Bright Eyes - The People's Key

Posted 4:16am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

“Dear Conor Oberst. You will need more than zany samples to escape the emotional songwriting heartthrob box you have previously been so keen on.” (2/5) Clearly forgetting he announced his wishes to “retire” the Bright Eyes moniker in 2009, and after a small solo detour, the eternal Read more...

Chase & Status - No More Idols

Posted 4:14am Monday 21st March 2011 by Sam Valentine

Drum and Bass heads mainstream. Mixed results. (3/5) Giving its eternal affinity with the singles format, the “dance” album can be an interesting concept. Of course, many crossovers have been made with an elite few artists successfully making the transition from the club to the couch. Read more...

Inside a Star-Filled Sky

Posted 4:12am Monday 21st March 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX (4/5) Very few games are “by” one guy. Novels are by an author, songs and paintings by an artist, films are scaffolded by a single-minded vision, i.e; “directed by”. But videogames, feats of virtual engineering, are by necessity often created by Read more...

Chilli Bean Roast

Posted 4:08am Monday 21st March 2011 by Johanna Tonnon

This is a recipe I adapted from one of those Watties recipes from the supermarket. The recipe called for a few basic Watties ingredients, such as baked beans, spinach and Frozen Potato Roasters, plus some eggs. I wanted to add more colour and taste so I swapped the baked beans for chilli beans, the Read more...