Archive

Film Festival Picks!

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival opened on Thursday night with Wes Anderson’s latest gem, the super-cute Moonrise Kingdom. Running from 26 June to 19 August, the film festival marks an annual academic slump in Sarah Baillie’s calendar – three weeks of not much study and lots of sneaky Read more...

Letters to Father Jacob

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

Letters to Father Jacob is a Finnish subtitled film set in the 1970s, about a thick-skinned ex-convict named Leila and her experience working with Father Jacob. The recipient of a life sentence (presumably murder, though it is never explicitly stated), Leila is given a pardon (much to her disgust) Read more...

The Dark Knight Rises

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Daniel Duxfield

The story picks up sometime after the end of The Dark Knight. “Batman” is a spurned memory from a darker time in Gotham City's recent history, and billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne is a recluse. Christopher Nolan starts this episode of the Batman legend by planting the seeds of this story in Read more...

The Forgotten Waltz

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Bradley Watson

Attraction works in mysterious ways, and we often find ourselves wanting things we cannot have. But what happens when we get what we want? What happens when our lust for our husband’s attractive, married friend shifts from fantasy to reality? What about his family, our family, and our marriage? At Read more...

Fun-Sized

Posted 2:15pm Sunday 29th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

It’s probably become obvious to those who regularly read Critic’s art section that the majority of exhibitions I write about are “official” ones. What I mean by this is that these exhibitions, curated by various art galleries around the city, feature New Zealand artists who are well established Read more...

Cheat's Carbonara

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Ines Shennan

From a young age I was mesmerised by spaghetti carbonara. My mother is in no way Italian, but she had a knack for producing the most lip-smacking bowls of pasta, overflowing with everything from olives, capers, and feta to the tongue-tickling saltiness of anchovies. It has remained a favourite Read more...

Home Brew

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Tom Tremewan

"Shot to our olds for bringing us into existence, Avondale and Otahuhu for raising us, our girls for loving us even when it’s not dole day, the bros for helping us not kill ourselves on those Sunday mornings and you cunts for buying this bullshit. Fuck the Prime Minister. Fuck the law force. Fuck Read more...

Dishonoured - PREVIEW

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Toby Hills

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC | Developer: Arkane Studios | Genre: Stealth, Action Why can my telepathy grant momentum to granite boulders and dead people, but not living ones? Why can my fireballs ignite moist fleshy alien-scum, but not the wooden floorboards beneath them? Why, video Read more...

A Land More Kind Than Home

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Lucy Hunter

A new pastor arrives in a small-town North Carolina, covers the windows of his church with newspaper, and puts a sign outside which reads Mark 16:17-18 – that’s the bit about speaking in tongues and daring snakes to bite you in the name of God. He leads services of faith healing, snake-wielding, and Read more...

Film Festival Preview: Shadow Dancer

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

British spy thriller Shadow Dancer has just the right amount of thrill, a good sprinkling of snooping, and not too much dramatic music, eavesdropping, or complicated spy networks. Collette, a young mother and member of a family heavily embroiled in the IRA, gets caught dropping a bomb in the London Read more...

Film Festival Preview: Undefeated

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Sarah Baillie

A “sports documentary” which is about much, much more than sport, Undefeated is a heartwarming story of personal relationships, struggles, and American football. Before coach Bill Courtney arrived at Manassas high school, their football team had been on a losing streak for as long as anyone could Read more...

A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære)

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Charlotte Greenfield

At first glance A Royal Affair screams “royal historical drama”, with all the sumptuous costumes, distractingly elaborate sets, stilted dialogue and wooden acting (paradoxically, often by the British acting elite) that the genre entails. Maybe it’s the Danish twist, but A Royal Affair some how Read more...

TED

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

From the creator of TV comedies such as Family Guy and American Dad, Seth MacFarlane (who also voices the main character of Ted) brings us this crude, rude and hilariously indecent film about a young boy who wishes for his teddy bear to come to life. His dream comes true, and the film flashes Read more...

Off the Wall

Posted 10:46am Sunday 22nd July 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

The Special Exhibitions Gallery of the Otago Museum is filled with colour, textiles, and ultraviolet light. It is being inhabited by the World of Wearable Art exhibition, otherwise known as “WOW”. WOW is a breathtaking demonstration of the imagination, originality, and ingenuity of the Read more...

Totally Boss Steak Sammies

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Ines Shennan

With more grunt than a humble ham sandwich but requiring little in the way of preparation, these steak sammies will quell that gnawing hunger. Flash-fried schnitzel simply flavoured with garlic and salt is the foundation of this stomach satisfier. It’s ideal because it’s relatively cheap and cooks Read more...

Sexuality In Music

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Whoever you are, wherever you are . . I’m starting to think we’re a lot alike. Human beings spinning on blackness. All wanting to be seen, touched, heard, paid attention to.” When I think of Odd Future, I think of #swag, chants of “free earl” (I think it worked?) and some more swag, never enough Read more...

Resistance: Burning Skies

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Robert Hill

PLATFORMS: PSVita | GENRE: FPSz The PSVita is here, and the game that gets the title of “First FPS on a dual-stick portable device” is Resistance: Burning Skies. However, those who already have the Vita (and I doubt many of you do) might want to give this one a miss. Story-wise, Read more...

Dunedin's Globe

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

Dunedin seems to have this great ability to hide wee treasures all throughout the city, with only the locals being in the know. From beaches to shops, you all know a nice secluded spot concealed from the world. On London Street, tucked up in a beautiful garden, is the Globe Theatre, one of these Read more...

Ping vs. Pong

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Yes, this is a review of an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. No, I have not recently (or ever) been to New York (don’t remind me, I’ll just get depressed). But while procrastinating writing my dissertation this week, I discovered the wonderful realm of online exhibitions. As Read more...

The Hut Builder

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Feby Idrus

It’s fair to describe Dunedin author Laurence Fearnley’s novel The Hut Builder as a portrait of the artist as a young Kiwi man. A character study rendered in luscious prose, The Hut Builder follows central character Boden Black from his early years as a 1940s rural Cantabrian with a love of poetry Read more...

Interview with Bill Gosden

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Jane Ross

Critic film reviewer Jane Ross caught up with Bill Gosden, Dunedin-born Director of the New Zealand International Film Festival, for a quick chat about his lifetime love of film and what to expect from this year’s NZIFF. Critic: So from where I’m sitting I think you probably have one of the Read more...

Rock of Ages

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Emma Scammell

Rock of Ages is a musical adapted from a popular Broadway show, set amidst the turbulent atmosphere of sex, drugs, and rock‘n’roll in the 1980s. The film follows small-town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and aspiring rock star Drew (Diego Boneta), both wannabe singers lured in by the seductive Miami Read more...

The Amazing Spider Man

Posted 5:14pm Sunday 15th July 2012 by Alec Dawson

The last film telling the story of Spider-Man’s beginnings was made only ten years ago. Since then, the huge success of the Batman and Avengers franchises, as well as the subversions of the genre through films such as The Incredibles and Kick-Ass, have developed a whole new set of expectations Read more...

Pulled Pork

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Ines Shennan

This heady, sticky, and rich slow cooked pork has been trending in the food world for some time now, and for good reason. Throw it together at midday and it will be ready to devour by dinnertime. This recipe is a cheat’s version, which I have adapted from a blog called “The Londoner”. Full of Read more...

Oh, Hey there

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Isaac McFarlane

Hello. My name is Isaac. I am the new Critic Music editor. I like cheese and crackers, Mario Ballotelli, jelly tip ice creams, the customer service at the Link dairy, and BYO Japanese. And I love music. Well, most types of music anyway. I probably won’t be writing about freeform jazz or country Read more...

Dragons Dogma

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PS3 & XBOX360 | Genre: RPG Here, for you to peruse at your leisure, is a typical session of Dragon’s Dogma: “Wolves are sensitive to fire. Wolves don’t like being burned. If you attack a wolf with some kind of incendiary spell or burning arrow it will do extra damage. They hunt Read more...

The Vibrator Play

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) Written by: Sarah Ruhl Directed by: Lara Macgregor Cast: Claire Dougan, Hilary Halba, Anna Henare, Nic Kyle, Chelsea McEwan Millar, Conrad Newport, and Jason Whyte When a play makes such overt reference to things of a sexual nature you Read more...

Ordinary But Not

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Frances Hodgkins “Kaleidoscope” Dunedin Public Art Gallery 28 April-28 October Even if you know nothing about New Zealand art, the name Frances Hodgkins probably rings a bell, and with good reason. Born in Dunedin in 1869, Hodgkins rose to fame in the early twentieth century, Read more...

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Josef Alton

Tom Ripley just wasn’t good enough. His Aunt Dottie told him so. Dottie raised him, so she should know. Tom’s parents drowned when he was a child. On a hot summer’s day when he was 12, in the middle of a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam, Dottie told Tom to fill up a thermos with ice water at a filling Read more...

Snow White and The Huntsman

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Sam Allen

Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman is a darker and more badass portrayal than other recent takes (Mirror Mirror) on this Brothers Grimm fairytale. Charlize Theron is brilliant in the role of sexy Queen Ravenna. She swans around in amazing gowns constructed of bird skulls and feathers, Read more...

Tortoise in Love

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Georgia Rose

Tortoise in Love is the story of one man’s very very slow pursuit of love. Tom is a gardener, and can discuss in detail the reproductive functions of hundreds of plant species, but is dumbfounded when it comes to talking to women. He finds himself in some cringe-inducing situations while trying to Read more...

Prometheus

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Kathleen Hanna

Ridley Scott directed the very first Alien film way back in 1979. Thirty-three years on, the franchise really needed him back. After six installments, each slightly but noticeably worse than the last, most fans probably expected the seventh to be Alien vs. Dead Horse. What we get is more like 2001: Read more...

Brave (3D)

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 8th July 2012 by Ella Borrie

Brave abandons Pixar’s usual bromance formula for the mystical realm of teenage angst. Set in ye olde Scotland, the story follows Princess Merida, voiced by Kelly Macdonald, and her glorious ginger hair*, as she attempts to break free from her royal destiny. The proverbial free spirit, Merida Read more...

Oreo Nom Nom Nom-ness

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Sasha Borissenko

Are those late night adventures to the 2-4 not doing it for you? Do their cupcakes feel a little worse for wear? Are you tired of the nacho cheese-chicken cordon bleu combination? Finding yourself wanting something a little more Nigella Lawson or Julia Child? There is nothing more comforting and Read more...

Shihad Beautiful Machine

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

“We give up that dream of being in America or we change our name and give it a go. Those were my options — Shit A or Shit B.” In this film chronicling the highs and lows of Shihad, Jon Toogood tells it like it is. Beautiful Machine traces the band’s twenty-three years of the good, the bad, Read more...

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Georgia Rose

From the director of Chocolat, Dear John and several ABBA film clips (I’m not joking) comes the film Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Based on a novel and adapted for the screen by the same guy who wrote the screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire, this film was always going to be a romantic story of triumph Read more...

Women In Love

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Feby Idrus

Despite its title, D.H. Lawrence’s 1920 novel Women In Love is not — I repeat, NOT — a romantic book. If anything, it gives romance of the roses-and-Valentines-Day variety a swift and decisive slap in the face. Though it is mostly about relationships between men and women, what Lawrence is really Read more...

Heart, Hand, Humerus

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Blue Oyster, 24b Moray Place 16 May – 16 June There’s something utterly enthralling about these paintings that you can’t quite put your finger on. The first thing I noticed was the breathtakingly beautiful use of watercolours. Williamson’s skillful merging of inky blue, dove grey Read more...

Post-Progressive Instrumental Dunedin Shoegaze

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Lukas Clark-Memler

What better way to finish up New Zealand Music Month than the grand final of the OUSA Battle of the Bands. With so much talent on show, and the extreme diversity of the line-up, from ska-punk to metal to “dance music for the insane”, the judges must have had a hell of a time crowning a victor. While Read more...

Max Payne 3

Posted 8:39pm Sunday 3rd June 2012 by Vimal Patel

I stumble into my room, which is more of a mess than a coke addict’s savings plan. Falling into the chair in front of my desk, I stare into the screen. It stares back at me with a look of pure contempt, taunting me with the question: why didn’t you like Max Payne 3? Just like the game itself, Read more...

Gnocchi Al Nonno

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Maeve Jones

Although relatively labour intensive, homemade potato gnocchi is incredibly cheap, very rewarding and shows that with a little time you can easily make restaurant quality meals on a student budget. “Al nonno” means served in a classic Italian tomato sauce “just like grandpa used to make.” It is Read more...

Dark Shadows

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Loulou Callister-Baker

I remember when Tim Burton brought out the new Alice in Wonderland film a few years ago – the pre-watch excitement, then the gradual slide into mediocrity which climaxed with the final, excruciatingly lame dance sequence. My expectations for Burton’s latest adventure, Dark Shadows, were low. Read more...

The Grey

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Taryn Dryfhout

In The Grey, Liam Neeson stars as yet another unlikely hero – the leader of a group of “blocky” working men who are trying to survive after their plane crashes in the middle of the icy Alaskan wilderness. If you have a fear of flying I suggest you sit this one out. The opening scenes leave little to Read more...

The Dictator

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Critic

This is Cohen’s third appearance as the lead in a film after the hit Borat and the less successful Bruno. The movie is closer in style to Borat than Bruno, although unlike Borat the movie is fully scripted. The movie follows North African dictator Admiral General Aladeen, ruler of the state Read more...

Chinese Takeaway

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Sam Allen

Chinese Takeaway opens with a Chinese man preparing to propose to his lover on a boat. This proposal is cut short when a cow falls from the sky and kills her. After seeing Jun (Huang Sheng Huang) thrown out of a taxi while watching aeroplanes, hardware shop owner Roberto (Ricardo Darin) Read more...

Midgets, Rap Music & Meth

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Lukas Clark-Memler

Some cities are synonymous with a musical movement. Seattle and grunge are as inseparable as Cobain and angst. Country music would hardly exist without Nashville, or at least it would be a hell of a lot less profitable. And some would argue that rap music came ‘straight outta Compton’ (see what I Read more...

A Clockwork Orange

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Alice McRae

The first thing you need to know about Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange is something that no-one ever told me: it’s amazing how much slang there is in the novel. Before I read it, all I knew was that it was a well-known book that had been adapted into a cult classic film with an epically named Read more...

Honey, how you thrill me

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Beaurey Chan

Gallery De Novo, 101 Stuart Street 18 May onwards Odd curlicues, elongated vines, mysterious coiling shapes emerging out of the darkness, splatters and drips and all sorts of misted forms presented through a matte and muted colour palette… Ben Webb's exhibition is a peculiar combination of Read more...

Sir Ian McKellen on Stage

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Bronwyn Wallace

We know all too well about the damage and devastation that has hit Christchurch over the last few years. Buildings remain dilapidated, and large sections of the city are still uninhabitable. Sir Ian McKellen, who’s been in and around New Zealand for the past decade filming the Lord of the Rings Read more...

Borderlands 2

Posted 7:40pm Sunday 27th May 2012 by Toby Hills

Platform: PC, PS3, Xbox 360 Genre: Shooter, RPG Borderlands 2 ostensibly contains all the ingredients necessary for a game to be tremendous, addictive fun. It begs to be assessed on its prettiness. The first Borderlands had a tendency to litter its desert fields with identical, Read more...