Archive

How Should a Person Be?

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Mandy Te

In 2012, critics praised Sheila Heti’s second novel, How Should a Person Be? The New York Times named it their most notable book of 2012 and magazines such as The New Republic (who once published the works of Virginia Woolf) and the New York Observer placed this novel on their “Best Books of 2012” Read more...

Beef and mushroom burgers with homemade buns

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Last week a boy who fancied me bought me a cookbook. Not just any cookbook, but the ultimate in burger-making glory cookbook. If the book wasn’t so spectacular I would have taken offence at this blatant attempt to get me to make him the ultimate sandwich. Riding on the current hipster food trend of Read more...

Download of the week: The Canals - Young Napolean EP (NZ)

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

The Canals are an intriguing new project from right here in Dunedin. Four tracks long, the Young Napoleon EP was written and recorded by Robbie Motion, who is also from post-punk noise outfit Not From Space. The Canals seem to have a significantly more pop objective and boasts a bit of a Brit-pop Read more...

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Rating: A Captivated by the wild blur that is Parquet Courts’ second album Light Up Gold, an initial listen of Sunbathing Animal may throw you off guard. While the album’s opening song, “Bodies,” in tone and yelping vocal style, hints at their previous album, preceding songs show definite Read more...

Artist Profile: Glass Owls

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Glass Owls are an alternative pop act from Auckland centered around the songwriting talents of Anthony Metcalf and Tomas Nelson. Having just released their debut album, Out From The Darkness, Adrian Ng caught up with guitarist Anthony Metcalf. Did you come from a musical background? What Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Spoon - Do You It’s been four years since their last album, Transference, and Spoon are finally making a return. “Do You” is the second single from their upcoming album titled They Want My Soul. An upbeat, summery track, “Do You” finds Spoon retracing familiar ground, but a kind of Read more...

Sniper Elite 3

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B I’m not a sociopath (I swear) but there is something truly satisfying in games about achieving a stunningly executed headshot. I’m not sure what exactly it is, perhaps the skill involved in lining it up and timing the shot perfectly, or maybe more disturbingly, it’s the clear Read more...

Suji Park - Anu

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Hannah Collier

Brett McDowell Gallery Exhibited until 16 July 2014 My introduction to Suji Park’s work was serendipity, and I’ve been emotionally involved with her sculptures (and photography) ever since. I was in my friend’s apartment and he had his recently purchased Park positioned on a table Read more...

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: F Since 2007, the Transformers franchise has gotten progressively more offensive in every way: offensive to your senses, offensive to your sensibilities, and offensive to your intelligence. Transformers: Age of Extinction is the culmination of those cinematic sins; making it one of Read more...

What We Do in the Shadows

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Sydney Lehman

Rating: A It did my heart good to see that Nosferatu hadn’t lost his touch. Vampires have become a staple offering of Hollywood flicks in recent years. I haven’t cared much for the ones that sparkle, the ones that are super-cool and drink blood like they’re shooting heroine, nor for the Read more...

22 Jump Street

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Ben Tomsett

Rating: A Anyone who has ever seen a sequel of almost any comedy movie ever made knows not to expect great things. They are usually a rehash of what worked the first time, though less original and less funny (see The Hangover Part II). What made 22 Jump Street such a great sequel was that Read more...

Edge of Tomorrow

Posted 6:52pm Sunday 13th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A Edge of Tomorrow is one of those films that people will try and describe to you with 100 different similes, and though the film is “like” many different things, the truth is that it combines these factors to create a unique and gripping movie. Edge of Tomorrow, based on the Read more...

Interview: Peter Dunne - United Future Leader

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Zane Pocock

You were the President of the University of Canterbury Students’ Association, so obviously you would care a bit about student politics. What do you see as the biggest issues for students at the moment? Why should students vote for you; what would you do about those issues? Well, if I go back Read more...

Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

The queen of tumblrcore returns with her sophomore album boldly titled Ultraviolence, perhaps a reference to Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange? Thus, the pop culture collage that is Del Rey’s music continues. In all honesty, it’s almost easier to start asking what isn’t a reference when analysing Read more...

Giveaway: Arcee - The Cool Zone EP

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Local rapper Arcee is giving away two copies of her debut EP, both of which will be signed by the artist herself. To be in to win, keep an eye on the Critic Facebook page this week for details on how to enter. Her EP launch takes place on 12 July and it’s free entry, so if you’re a hip-hop Read more...

Alex G - DSU

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Peter McCall

Rating: B+ Though DSU is Alex Giannascoli’s first album to be released on Brooklyn-based label Orchid Tapes, it’s the sixth to be uploaded to the 21-year-old’s Bandcamp page (where you can get it for free!). I first heard Alex G’s music through a girl I used to follow on tumblr who would post Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time The Sun Comes Up The second single from her upcoming album Are We There Yet. Sharon Van Etten crafts yet another melancholic folk song, this time over an affected drum machine. Her voice is full of substance and carries a heaviness that is beautiful, as well Read more...

Wolfenstein: The New Order

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- It is strange to think that first person shooters (FPS) are barely 20 years old, especially considering how prevalent they have become. Yet it was only in 1992 that ID Software released the very first FPS, Wolfenstein 3D. Since then, many games have made steps to evolve the genre. Read more...

Brian Alexander - Coppertone

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Hannah Collier

Mint Gallery Exhibited until 10 July 2014 Dunedin artist Brian Alexander unveils yet another solo exhibition in Dunedin at Mint Gallery this week – Coppertone. Combining influences from his original designs as well as other topics of the female form, the exhibition is comprised of 18 Read more...

This is not the end of the book

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Feby Idrus

Rumours of the death of the book have been grossly exaggerated. In this book-length discussion, Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carrière celebrate the book by delving into its history and speculating on its inevitable future, since, as Eco says early on: “The book is like the spoon […] Once invented, it Read more...

A million ways to die in the west

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Ben Tomsett

Rating: B- This is really the sort of movie that could have gone straight to DVD and had exactly the same impact as it did in the cinema. Seth MacFarlane’s second feature film is nowhere near as funny or memorable as Ted. MacFarlane plays the lead role of Albert Stark, a nerdy sheep farmer Read more...

X-Men: Days of future past

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- Every franchise, regardless of its pedigree, makes a misstep at some point. Undoubtedly, that moment for the X-Men film franchise was 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. However, unlike every other franchise, X-Men has narrative concepts, such as mutants that can time travel, that allow Read more...

Maleficent

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Rating: A+ Disney has outdone itself yet again by making the old-school “good girl gone bad gone good” movie into something completely refreshing. Be that as it may, this is a remake of the old animated Sleeping Beauty (1959) classic, but thankfully with a completely new and engaging twist. Read more...

The fault in our stars

Posted 1:08pm Sunday 6th July 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A Of the big movies released over the break, perhaps the dark horse of these was The Fault in Our Stars. It’s an absolutely spot-on film adaptation of the New York Times number-one best-selling young adult novel by vlogbrother John Green, and it’s exciting that two more of his novels Read more...

Interview: Majella Cullinane, 2014 Burns Fellow

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Anonymous Bird

What was it like receiving the Burns Fellowship/how did you actually go about getting it? Well, the Burns Fellowship comes around every year. I was pretty unsure whether I was going to apply for it or not, ‘cause I have been in New Zealand for just over five years, and it’s New Zealand’s oldest Read more...

Swans - To Be Kind

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Basti Menkes

Rating: A+ Since their inception in the 1980s, experimental rockers Swans have attracted many superlatives: biggest, loudest, darkest, heaviest. To many folk, Michael Gira and company epitomise music as an extreme experience. Whether percussively punishing as they were in the ‘80s, or gothic Read more...

Download of the week: Salad Boys - Salad Boys (NZ)

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Salad Boys are a band from Christchurch, and this album features some incredible chill-out pop songs. Featuring members of T54, the guitar playing is magnificent. Eight songs, lo-fi, dreamy and fun. Sometimes surfy, sometimes upbeat, bringing to mind Flying Nun glory days. Salad Boys is now Read more...

Pop Strangers - Fortuna

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Popstrangers are serious about this music thing, and so they should be. Since 2012 not only have they signed to Carpark Records, they’ve also made the bold decision of moving all the way to London. With a slew of strong singles since then (“Country Kills,” “Don’t Be Afraid”), I’ve found myself Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up The second single from her upcoming album Are We There Yet. Sharon Van Etten crafts yet another melancholic folk song, this time over an affected drum machine. Her voice is full of substance and carries a heaviness that is beautiful, as Read more...

Super Time Force

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- After five minutes of scrolling through Reddit posts, you’ll be certain that the world’s about to end – what with all the doom and gloom that abounds online. The trolls of the Internet have infected everything with a disgusting degree of cynicism and negativity. Unfortunately, when Read more...

Chipotle Chicken Burgers

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

I made up this recipe over the summer after I was inspired by a delicious Ferg Burger I ate. Ever since I made these for my family it has become one of Mum’s staple meals on the weekly rotation. My brother, who usually loves these burgers, actually complained about the frequency of their appearance Read more...

Rio 2

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B- People love animated musicals; why else does Disney practically run the entertainment industry? A great Disney musical is like a grand opera with a huge orchestra and people singing their feelings into the sky. But if Disney musicals are like operas, Rio 2 is like Top 40 pop music. Read more...

Godzilla

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- For those unfamiliar with one of film’s longest living monster icons, the eponymous creature first appeared in the 1954 Japanese film Godzilla. A lizard mutated to colossal proportions by radiation, Godzilla allowed Japanese moviemakers to express their concerns about mutagenic Read more...

The Stepford Wives

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Cult Film No, I am not referring to the 2004 Nicole Kidman monstrosity that left us all cold and more than a little bit confused. The original 1975 The Stepford Wives was everything the remake was not – brave, tense and extremely unnerving. Unlike the (attempted comedy) of Frank Oz’s remake, Read more...

Chef

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: B- One should always be wary of a film that was written, produced and directed by the starring actor, and Chef is no exception. Jon Faverau is the guilty party in question, as he occupied all the major production roles to bring us a film we could quite frankly do without. The story Read more...

Street Style | Issue 13

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Helen & Grace

Jamie (Microbiology and Commerce) Wearing Beau Coops boots, Ruby dress and coat.. Lydia (Commerce) Wearing New Balance shoes, Levi Jeans, Witchery jersey and Zara coat. Read more...

The Observer

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Emma & Liam

RUBY’s Autumn/Winter 2014 collection, “The Dreamers,” was inspired by the cult classic films of director Sofia Coppola and the rebellious youths of the 1968 student riots in Paris. Having taken over RUBY in 2008, designer Deanna Didovich has seen the label grace its first catwalk at New Zealand Read more...

Saga

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Anonymous Bird

Saga is the new comic book series from Brian Vaughan, who wrote Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, and Runaways. He was part of the scriptwriting team for Lost, seasons three through five, and he’s currently show-runner for Under the Dome, a TV series based around the 2009 Steven King novel. I’ve not read Read more...

Form and Void

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 25th May 2014 by Hannah Collier

Mint Gallery Exhibited until 29 May 2014 “Form and Void presents a study in contrasts by staking out a liminal territory between cadence and dissonance, presence and absence, potentiality and actuality. While eschewing iconographic elements, the work of this collection continues to engage Read more...

Interview: Michael Woodhouse - National Party MP

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Carys Goodwin

Michael Woodhouse is a National Party list MP based in Dunedin. He takes care of both Dunedin North and South, and is the Minister of Immigration, Veterans’ Affairs, and Land Information. He is also Assistant Minister of Transport. Why should students vote for you? What do you want to do for Read more...

Download of the week: Sheep, Dog and Wolf - Ablutophobia EP (NZ)

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Sheep, Dog and Wolf is the project of prolific New Zealand musician Daniel McBride, recorded in 2011 when he was only 17. He says, “My name is Daniel McBride, 17 years of age, and Ablutophobia EP is the result of nine months on-and-off recording in a tiny little studio I’ve managed to set up Read more...

The Phoenix Foundation - Tom's Lunch EP

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A- In the fall of 2013, New Zealand pop heavyweights The Phoenix Foundation released their sprawling double album Fandango to widespread acclaim. The album featured two drummers, with longtime member Richie Singleton leaving the band in the midst of making the album to focus on Read more...

Artist Profile: Millie Lovelock

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Millie Lovelock is one part of space-pop duo Astro Children and also my bandmate in Trick Mammoth. This year she travelled to Montreal as part of the University’s exchange programme. An influential presence on the Dunedin music scene, I asked Millie some questions about her trip and what we can Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Adrian Ng

Quirke - Break a Mirrored Leg “Break a Mirrored Leg” is the lead single from the British producer’s debut EP Acid Beth. A swirling mish-mash of sounds, like machine parts. The track blends driving rhythm with well-executed dynamics. The result is a cold, dark soundscape which is Read more...

Child of Light

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A- The gaming industry was born in Japan, and there it lived for several decades. But it wasn’t long before western developers began to spring up by the handful, and now the power has shifted and the bulk of development happens in western countries. Because of these distinctions in Read more...

Corn Fritters

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

In my third year, if our flat was a country, its national dish would have been corn fritters. Corn fritters for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Last year I came home rather drunk, tripped over my feet and left my knees outside on the concrete. The first thing to come to my attention was not the Read more...

Transcendence

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Sydney Lehman

Rating: B Transcendence raises a lot of questions. Why was no one prosecuted for the excessive law breaking? How did the terrorists and the FBI become buddies? Why am I so bothered by the slow-mo shot of water droplets falling off a sunflower? Johnny Depp is the smartest computer geek Read more...

Bad Neighbours

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B It’s been 20 years since the heyday of the Frat comedy, but it seems that this genre is without a bottom. Bad Neighbours tells the story of a married couple Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly (Rose Byrne) who have just had their first child and bought a house, when a frat moves in next Read more...

The Fly (1986)

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Cult Film Cast your minds back, to a time before computers, when filmmakers where stretching the minds and imaginations of millions of moviegoers without the help of CGI. It’s getting harder and harder to remember such a thing, especially as such effects become cheaper and easier for any Read more...

Sunshine on Leith

Posted 4:32pm Sunday 18th May 2014 by Rosie Howells

Rating: B+ You may know the Proclaimers as those Scottish guys who sang “I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked a thousand miles before I’m at your door.” Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. Turns out they have heaps of other songs, and are really Read more...