Archive

A Street Cat Named Bob

Posted 1:20pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Maisie Thursfield

Rating: 4/5 James Bowen sits playing guitar and singing “Beautiful Monday” in a busy Covent Garden street. People are walking past this homeless man, but no one looks at him, he seems invisible. Then Bob, the cat, enters his life and things start to change. It is actually Read more...

Gold

Posted 1:16pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Marlee Partridge

Rating: 3.5/5 The latest flick featuring our shirtless cowboy, Matthew McConaughey, has an almost disturbing difference to the toned Texan we grew accustomed to in Magic Mike. Set during the decline of mineral mining, Gold is loosely based on the true story of the 1993 Bre-X mining scandal, where Read more...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Posted 1:13pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: Cult Classic In March 1997, the first episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was released. Little did the cast, crew, and creators know that this supernatural teen TV show would turn out to be incredibly successful, hailed by both critics and fans. In fact, Buffy went on to inspire many Read more...

Riverdale

Posted 1:09pm Sunday 26th March 2017 by Saskia Bunce-Rath

Rating: 3.5/5 Riverdale is a new show from the CW based (loosely) on the Archie comics and is streaming on Netflix. It’s set in a town illuminated by neon lights that has been rocked by the recent death of beloved high school jock Jason Blossom. Archie (played by New Zealand’s own Read more...

Housekeeping

Posted 2:30pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Jessica Thompson

"Having a sister or a friend is like sitting at night in a lighted house. Those outside can watch you if they want, but you need not see them."   Following the lives of Ruthie, the narrator, and her young sister Lucille in the fictional town of Fingerbone, Idaho, Housekeeping by Read more...

A Nest in Town

Posted 2:23pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I—glimpse what seems to be the nest of a giant bird? Currently on display on Moray Place is A nest in town by Motoko Watanabe; a mass of crumpled folded sheets and dense brown foliage packed behind the rear window of the Dunedin Public Art Read more...

Mozart at the Monkey Bar...?

Posted 2:17pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Ihlara McIndoe

The freshly re-carpeted floors, brand new acoustic panelling, and music stands neatly aligned across the stage are certainly a dramatic change to the décor of the recently refurbished Monkey Bar, and new home of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra. No longer will thumping bass and drunken laughter Read more...

The OA

Posted 2:11pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Saskia Bunce-Rath

Rating: 5/5 The OA. Wow. What a divisive show. If you read the reviews online they oscillate wildly between people who think it’s the worst show since Lost, and people who’ve spent hours drawing diagrams and probably gesticulating wildly about how great it is. I went into this show Read more...

Alone in Berlin

Posted 2:07pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Shaun Brinsdon

Rating: 2/5 Alone in Berlin is based the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel (named Otto and Elise Quangel in the film) who, after their son dies in 1940 while fighting in WW2, silently protest by writing postcards criticizing Hitler and the Nazi regime and urging others to protest against it. Read more...

Big Little Lies

Posted 2:02pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by George Hellriegel

Rating: 4.5/5 Based on the bestselling novel by Lianne Moriarty, Big Little Lies showcases a star-studded cast, including Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern. The characters are placed in a perfect world of seaside mansions and upper-middle-class Read more...

Dramaworld

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 19th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: 4/5 Claire Duncan (Liv Hewson) is a fangirl. The 20-year-old college student is obsessed with K-drama (Korean drama TV shows). She knows all the ins and outs of the genre, and hangs excitedly on every line, cliffhanger and dramatic turn the shows throw her way. Stuck between work and Read more...

Review: Chandeliers

Posted 3:35pm Monday 13th March 2017 by Marlee Partridge

Dunedin has long been renowned for its glass speckled sidewalks, Speight’s branded jumpsuits, and echoing chants of “fuck Arana”, but it could soon be known for an entirely, less alcohol-fuelled reason: Chandeliers. No, not the ceiling sort, or the drinking game; the Dunedin-based, Read more...

10 Quick Questions with Flavia Rose

Posted 2:19pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Monique Hodgkinson

Flavia Rose is an emerging artist and creative raised in Dunedin and based in Wellington. She sat down with Critic’s Art Editor, Monique Hodgkinson, for ten quick questions about all things whimsical and lovely. Describe your artistic style in three words. Delicate, whimsical, Read more...

Sweet & Sour Pork

Posted 2:06pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Kirsten Garcia

My SO repeatedly went out for takeaway over the summer break when he was too tired to cook from work. The ridiculous thing is that every time he would get exactly the same thing, from the same place: Sweet and Sour Pork. Seriously, the restaurant probably knows it’s him by his voice when he Read more...

Final Fantasy XV

Posted 1:57pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Chris Lam

Rating: 2.5/5 For thirteen hours, I have watched four cosmopolitan titans of men slide through the air like greasy hamburgers. Ignis clicks his gloved fingers and a meal of bacon and eggs materialises. He sits silently as Noctis picks at it with a fork. Prompto proceeds to writhe on the ground. Read more...

‘Beautiful Mire’ -The River Jesters

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Reg Norris

I had to throw away the bean metaphor. It wasn’t working. I was trying to say something about the bleak future of modern rock. Can anything really exciting and new come out of this genre? And by saying new I don’t mean NEW NEW because rock ‘n’ roll is locked down to Read more...

Manchester by the Sea

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Jaxon Langley

Rating: 3.5/5 Kenneth Lonergan is famed for exploring grief in his films. His previous film, Margaret, was a character study of a high school girl who is traumatised after witnessing a woman hit by a bus. She begins to over-involve herself in the case as she can’t comprehend why no one is Read more...

Logan

Posted 1:43pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Brandon Johnstone

Rating: 5/5 Set in the year 2029, years after the events of 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan brings the story of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (AKA Logan AKA James Howlett) to its logical conclusion. Fully embracing the ever-deepening growling bitterness in Jackman’s Read more...

iBoy

Posted 1:36pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: 1/5 I don’t know about you, but when a Netflix original rolls my way, I tend to get pretty excited. Netflix has a habit of picking up cool, interesting shows and movies that wouldn’t necessarily get funding from conventional studios. I trust Netflix with my viewing pleasure. Read more...

T2: Trainspotting

Posted 1:31pm Sunday 12th March 2017 by Siany O’Brien

Rating: 4.5/5 T2: Trainspotting is everything a sequel should be. It has the original cast and director (Danny Boyle), and is a continuation of the original story set 20 years later, but it still has the same charm as its predecessor. For all you who were scarred by the first film, fear not! T2 Read more...