Archive

Citizen Kane

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Classic Film Sure, Orson Welles died an alcoholic, morbidly obese fruitcake suffering from a Hollywood induced depression, but that takes nothing away from the fact he wrote, produced, directed and starred in what is largely regarded to be the greatest film of all time. Citizen Kane is the Read more...

Lone Survivor

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: B- A war movie has to have something to say to warrant its creation. It shouldn’t be all right for moviemakers to exploit war, and especially true stories of it, as a way of filling an hour and a half blockbuster with explosions and loud noises. Lone Survivor sits right on the line Read more...

Le Weekend

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A+ Le Weekend is about an aging couple, Nick and Meg, played by Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan, taking a long-overdue second honeymoon to Paris, trying to recreate a time in their lives when they were happy, in love, and blissfully unconcerned with the future. The cast are Read more...

Cloud Atlas

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Julia Gilchrist

Cloud Atlas is David Mitchell’s third novel. His first won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and his second – along with Cloud Atlas itself – was short listed for the Man Booker Prize. So I was expecting great things when I first picked this book up. I was not disappointed. The novel is Read more...

Zine of the Week

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Staff Reporter

By Valerie Morse 15 A5 Pages - Cartoons and Text AVAILABLE AT BLACKSTAR BOOKS Viewing Copy at Critic Office Can’t Hear Me Scream holds a special place in New Zealand for anarchist-inspired librarians and would-be activists, so it seems a fitting place to start this column. While Read more...

Random Reproductions

Posted 5:30pm Sunday 23rd March 2014 by Zane Pocock

Brett McDowell Gallery Exhibited until 27 March 2014 Since the start of the month, the Brett McDowell Gallery on Dowling Street has exhibited the latest in an on going series of digital archival reproductions from Richard Killeen. Killeen is perhaps one of the country’s foremost modernist Read more...

Interview: Deborah Lambie

Posted 3:19pm Monday 17th March 2014 by Josie Adams

Deborah Lambie is a stereotype-smasher. She’s a medical student here at Otago, a beauty queen, and an award-winning speaker. Josie Adams sat down to talk to her about the jet-setting life of a pageant pro: talents, inner beauty, and demilitarised zones. Why did you enter Miss New Zealand? Read more...

Download of the week: Eskimo Eyes - I Can't Think (NZ)

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

My friend Daniel told me some sad news the other day. Ike Zwanikken’s house recently caught fire and a large portion of his possesions were destroyed. Ike Zwanikken creates beautiful, lo-fi electonic music under the moniker Eskimo Eyes. His amazing EP I Can’t Think is available as a name-your-price Read more...

New this week

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Hey! Do you like free stuff? This week we are giving away Clap Clap Riot’s new album, titled Nobody/Everybody. We’ve got it on compact disc and apart from a very small coffee stain, it’s in pretty fine condition. So how do you win? Just email music@critic.co.nz with your name and you will be entered Read more...

Speedy Ortiz - Real Hair

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Peter McCall

Grade: A- On Real Hair, the follow-up EP to their excellent 2013 LP Major Arcana, Speedy Ortiz once again prove that they’re not just rehashing ‘90s indie rock, but taking all the irony, angular guitar lines and fuzz that characterised that decade, and making it their own. Yes, they sound Read more...

Profile: Ian Henderson

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

The Dunedin music scene is currently undergoing quite a resurgence; at the forefront of that is Ian Henderson. Owner of Fishrider Records, he has over the past few years released a slew of local talent, helping Dunedin music find a more international audience. Ian talks to Adrian Ng about the Read more...

Thief

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: B Over the last couple of weeks the video game industry has been overwhelmed by mass layoffs. Eidos Montreal laid off a large number of their staff, Irrational Games laid off over 100 people and Disney Interactive laid off 700 people. Understandably, these lay offs have concerned Read more...

Mexican Meatball Soup

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Who needs a man to warm you on these increasingly chilly Dunners nights when you have Mexican meatballs? It seems to be every Thursday that the girls of 5C have a romantic dinner together, with smooth jazz for lovers, wine, and balls of meat. The consumption of dinner was punctuated with comments Read more...

Non-Stop

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Simon Broadbent

Grade: B- Almost the first shot of Non-Stop is Neeson’s grizzled Air Marshal pouring whisky into his morning coffee, so you know you’re dealing with gritty Neeson, not Love Actually Neeson. But then he sentimentally touches the picture of his daughter taped to the roof of his car, so you know Read more...

Classic Film | Misery (1990)

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Despite having over 30 of his novels adapted for the big screen, only one Stephen King movie has ever won an Oscar, and that is Misery. Misery invites the audience into the home and mind of perhaps King’s most perplexing creation: Annie Wilkes. Annie is a clean-living, conservative nurse, whose Read more...

Winter's Tale

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Grade: E I have limited space for this review, so I’ll just go ahead and start my list of “A Thousand Things Wrong with Winter’s Tale,” and we’ll see how far we get. Big number one: cast. Colin Farrell couldn’t sell the main character, a thief named Peter Lake, for a moment. With only his two Read more...

Blue Is the Warmest Colour

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Nick Ainge-Roy

Grade: A+ Blue Is the Warmest Colour, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, has been praised by some as the best movie of 2013, as well as unanimously winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes and being nominated for a BAFTA and Golden Globe. After watching the film myself, it was easy to see why. Read more...

Captain America: Winter Soldier

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Brandon Johnstone

Ed Brubaker’s first two comic book-arcs of Captain America tell the story of the Winter Soldier, a Soviet assassin and super-spy tied to Steve Rogers’ past. Published in 2006, this book was the subject of much controversy, as it became clear within a few issues that there was a very real possibility Read more...

Pearler

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th March 2014 by Hannah Collier

“I am an Expressionist painter. I rarely plan a painting or do preparatory drawing. I commence the work with a quick wash of strong, primary colour and then begin to hurriedly paint figures of people, animals and hybrid creatures. I add crude marks for volcanoes, hills, sea, buildings, boats, Read more...

Interview: Charlotte Blake

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Jessica Thompson Carr

23-year-old Charlotte (Char) Blake is a young family woman and student who will be shaving her hair off at the University of Otago’s Pacific Island Research Student Support Unit on March 18. Jessica Thompson Carr caught up with her for a chat. What was your inspiration for taking part in Read more...

Interview: Rupert Smiles

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Hannah Collier

I have kind of been in this polygamous relationship with art and fashion for a few years now, so naturally I try to merge the two whenever I can. This week, I’ve had a really new and major obsession with handbags … as art. I simply can’t get past that moment when Kanye gave Kim a Hermes Birkin with Read more...

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: A- Being a folk singer-songwriter in 2014 is not an easy path to tread. When you’re working within a genre where nothing really extravagant is left to bring to the table, it’s difficult to set yourself apart from the rest. Burn Your Fire For No Witness, however, manages to do just Read more...

Real Estate - Atlas

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Peter McCall

Grade: A- Atlas is Real Estate’s first record in three years, the follow up to 2011’s Days. Having enjoyed the last album’s dreamy, guitar-noodley, nostalgia-inducing vibes, I was looking forward to hearing the new one. But whereas Days was lazing-on-a-sunny-afternoon, Atlas is Read more...

Artist Profile: Kane Strang

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

With his third album currently in the making, local songwriting genius Kane Strang talks to Adrian Ng, sharing insights into his songwriting process, his experience recording overseas, and of course giving us an update on his highly anticipated record. You’re always carrying a notebook Read more...

Download of the week: Arthur Ahbez - Gold (NZ)

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Psychedelic folk from Auckland based, acoustic guitar virtuoso Arthur Ahbez. From haunting ballads to vast, acid tempered instrumentals; Gold is available for free download, for a limited time at arthurahbez.bandcamp.com Read more...

New this week

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Adrian Ng

It’s issue three now, and though we’ve been extremely lucky in terms of sourcing content, submissions are always welcome. So if you’re a musician wanting your music to be heard or a band wanting a little bit of press, please don’t be shy. Even if you just want to talk about music, hanging out Read more...

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: A - Often it is not until we are presented with something radically new in tone that we realise how similar everything else feels. Over the last generation we had access to a vast library of games, but I wonder if one was to sit down and categorically analyse many of these games in Read more...

Spaghetti and meatballs

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

No student food column would be complete without a mince meal. And, of course, no post about spaghetti and meatballs would be complete without as many meat-and-balls innuendos as possible either. So I am going to go ahead and say that I frequently crave meaty balls and I love to gobble them up at Read more...

The Railway Man

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Grade: C+ The Railway Man is a film adaptation of Eric Lomax’s memoir about the time he was in the British Army in Singapore when it was invaded in 1942. His company surrendered as prisoners of war, only to be tortured and dehumanised on the Burma railway construction effort. I was prepared Read more...

Gremlins (1984)

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Cult Film For many, Gremlins is but a distant memory; an 80s entertainment fog at the back of our minds, occasionally spurting out images of microwaves, Christmas trees and blood to our consciousness. You know you’ve seen it, but the details are hazy and the imagery vague. Let me refresh you. Read more...

Robocop

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: B When I heard that the 1987 B-grade action film Robocop was going to be rebooted, the last thing I expected was to be challenged intellectually – especially considering the premise of the film. Robocop is set in the near future where a debate is raging about what the role of Read more...

Labor Day

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Ashley Anderson

Grade: B+ What would you do if a convicted murderer asked you to take him to your home? This is the situation Adele (Kate Winslet) and her son Henry (Gattlin Griffith) find themselves in when they meet prison escapee Frank (Josh Brolin) in the supermarket. As Frank stays with them over the Read more...

Life of Pi

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Mat Daniel

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is the 2002 winner of the Man Booker Prize, among other awards. Martel’s output has been relatively scarce, with Life of Pi standing as his most popular work. His novel was allegedly inspired when he read a review of Moacyr Scliar’s novella Max and the Cats, which tells the Read more...

Top five art blogs

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

Over The Netoverthenet.blogspot.co.nz This is a daily art blog written by New Zealand’s most well known contemporary art collectors. This is always my go-to – Jim and Mary Barr certainly have their fingers on the pulse. Leg of Lamblamblegs.wordpress.com Another New Zealand art Read more...

Sedition and the commercialisation of digital art

Posted 4:35pm Sunday 9th March 2014 by Zane Pocock

There’s a new kid on the block for serious art collectors and desktop background enthusiasts alike, and it’s frighteningly addictive. Sedition, which aims to “turn screens into art,” is fast becoming a leader in both the digital art movement and the concept of art editions in general. The idea is Read more...

Interview: Chloe Geoghegan, Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Loulou Callister-Baker

With her first exhibition opening as Director of the Blue Oyster Art Project Space just last Tuesday; Chloe Geoghegan is set to bring an exciting, fresh breath of life to Dunedin’s art scene. Loulou Callister-Baker caught up with Chloe to discuss Oxford, irrigation and Read more...

Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Peter McCall

Grade: B + If this record had come out seven years ago, it would’ve been a solid fixture in my CD collection; wedged right between A Lesson in Crime and From Under the Cork Tree. With the angst of emo’s old generation like Sunny Day Real Estate and Built to Spill, and the pop-punk energy of Read more...

St. Vincent - St. Vincent

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Grade: A When an album is self-titled it usually signals an attempt at a self-defining statement. The cover of St. Vincent’s fourth album depicts Annie Clark perched atop a pink throne; deadpan, confident and menacing. With her hair now dyed a blonde-grey and styled in eccentric fashion, she Read more...

Download of the week: Perfect Hair Forever - VOID (NZ)

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

Infectious, bedroom pop punk from Auckland. Perfect Hair Forever produce adrenaline pumping, angst-ridden songs, coupled with a lo-fi sheen. Released late last year, VOID is available for free download at crystalmagic.bandcamp.com/album/void Read more...

Artist Profile: Clap Clap Riot

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

As part of their four-date New Zealand tour, Auckland based indie-rock band Clap Clap Riot play Chick’s Hotel on 15 March. Stephen Heard and Dave Rowland talk briefly to Adrian Ng about the band’s new album Nobody/Everybody, touring life, and Rock N’ Roll. Did you all come from quite a Read more...

New this week

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Adrian Ng

For how long exactly is an album, or track, considered new? Keeping up can become quite a time consuming task, though nonetheless a rewarding one. Media is so readily available now; we have the ability to consume at a very high rate. For me, it’s hard to not get carried away on an endless wave of Read more...

Banished

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: A - It’s not often that you can call a game literary. In my opinion, it has only been in the past generation of games that developers have truly cracked into gaming’s potential to reveal and analyse truths about the human condition. The human condition, of course, is a very broad Read more...

Chipotle Chicken Tacos with Homemade Flour Tortillas

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Sometimes I feel like Mexican food is really just an excuse to bring out Corona and tequila. Which isn’t a bad thing, mind you, but while we’re at it, replace the fatty, cheesy Tex-Mex with this vibrant and flavourful, fresh alternative. My favourite dish at the moment is chipotle chicken tacos with Read more...

I, Frankenstein

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Grade: C A huge number of people work to produce a film. When I watch a film as horrendously written as I, Frankenstein, this is all I can consider. How is it that a huge number of industry professionals worked on this project and, yet, not one person put up their hand and said “Excuse me, I Read more...

Saving Mr. Banks

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Grade: A - Exquisite performances and a powerful story make this film a success. You may be familiar with the classic 1964 Disney film Mary Poppins. The 2013 film Saving Mr. Banks invites you to become familiar with the tormented artists responsible for producing such an uplifting and Read more...

12 Years A Slave

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Tim Lindsay

Grade: A+ “I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” While 12 Years a Slave is expertly (and beautifully) set in 1840s America, it is not a very comfortable film to watch. Steve McQueen’s (Shame and Hunger) film has garnered a raft of Oscar nominations and accolades, a testament to Read more...

Dallas Buyers Club

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Rosie Howells

Grade: A - Dallas Buyers Club tells the true story of Ron Woodrof, an HIV-positive hillbilly given 30 days to live and with no availability of effective medicines to change his fate. In a desperate attempt to extend his expiry date, and make a little money on the side, Woodrof begins Read more...

Empress Dowager Cixi

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Bridget Vosburgh

Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, a retelling of her own family’s history through the female line, was (and presumably still is) an eminently readable and fascinating book. With her latest work, Empress Dowager Cixi, she again showcases her gift for retelling great big chunks of history in an accessible and Read more...

When Your Neighbour’s Problems Become Your Own

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014 by Hannah Collier

The Blue Oyster Art Project Space on Dowling Street - recently re-located, re-furbished and re-directed - is the coolest little gallery I’ve been to in Dunedin. Comfortably minimalistic with its smaller sized rooms, unpolished wooden floors, white walls and warm light, Blue Oyster is the perfect Read more...

Download of the week: Kane Strang (NZ)

Posted 6:57pm Sunday 23rd February 2014 by Adrian Ng

Based in Dunedin, Kane Stang is the city’s resident songwriting genius. When he is not drunkenly stammering in manic rock band Dinosaur Sanctuary, he is writing clever, interestingly crafted, psych-pop songs. Released last year, A Pebble and a Paper Crane is available for free download at Read more...