Archive

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey (Film Fest)

Posted 3:54am Monday 15th August 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by James Miller and Constance Marks, (4/5). Stitch by stitch, the crafting of our most beloved Sesame Street companion is revealed in Being Elmo. Through this documentary we learn about Kevin Clash, a man whose arm and voice has brought him international fame. You may not recognise Read more...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Posted 3:52am Monday 15th August 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, (4.5/5). How to make a successful prequel to a disastrous first film: 1. Ignore original movie in its entirety. 2. Replace bad actors with good actors. 3. Ditch terrible ape costumes and go digital, employing Weta motion-capture. 4. Reboot.   Rise of the Read more...

Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

Posted 3:49am Monday 15th August 2011 by Ben Blakely

Directed/Written/Produced by: Ed Wood. Starring: Bela Lugosi, Tom Mason, Vampira, Tor Johnson, Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Duke Moore, Tom Keene. A terrible idea followed up with an even worse execution - that pretty much sums up this film. Many have labelled Plan 9 from Outer Space Read more...

Wild Swans

Posted 2:45am Monday 15th August 2011 by Sylvia Avery

Author: Jung Chang. Publisher: Flamingo, (4.5/5). Wild Swans is Jung Chang’s autobiography and follows the lives of three generations of Chinese women. The book begins with Jung Chang’s concubine grandmother and follows her struggle for independence during the upheaval of her Read more...

Pieter Hugo: Nollywood

Posted 2:37am Monday 15th August 2011 by Miriama Aoake

An Institute of Modern Art Touring Exhibition Upon entering Pieter Hugo’s Nollywood, my eye was first caught by the distinguished ebony head piece of Darth Vader, mounted heroically on a blank Nigerian canvas. The billboard above beckoned, and I followed.   With any Read more...

Norm and Ahmed

Posted 5:04am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Written by Alex Buzo, Directed by Kathryn Hurst, Staring Jimmy Currin and Thabo Tshuma. 3.5/5. Racism, the Polish-American Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel suggests, “is man’s gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.” Norm and Ahmed proves Read more...

Steve Kilbey (The Church) & Ricky Maymi (Brian Jonestown Massacre)

Posted 4:34am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Sam Valentine

with Kurt Shanks, Robert Scott and the Doyleys. Re:Fuel, July 30 2011. For a non song-writing instrumentalist, finding engaging and challenging songwriters with whom to forge and share a musical career is nothing short of a nightmare. For Ricky Maymi, founding member of the notorious Read more...

From Dust

Posted 4:31am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360. PS3, PC. 3/5. Superficially, From Dust would appear to be a “God” game. After all, you can literally carve great swaths of the earth as you see fit. Not limited to parting oceans, you might construct a vast wall out of cooling lava. Or even turn a tsunami into Read more...

F.E.A.R. 3

Posted 4:29am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC. 3/5. What have we learned, class? Yes. That's right. It can be tough to frighten a supernatural super-soldier wielding a trans-dimensional plasma cannon. Everything about F.E.A.R. 3 (and, to a some-what lesser extent, its predecessors), from its buddy-buddy Read more...

Norwegian Buns

Posted 4:27am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Niki Lomax

These buns are an excellent winter treat. They take a wee bit of time and effort so they are a good option for procrastinators. I have no idea what makes them Norwegian; maybe it’s that they are baked in a roasting dish so they are rip-apart-able? It’s a bit like in first year when the hall claimed Read more...

Cafe Review - The Food Department

Posted 4:23am Thursday 11th August 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

20 Malcolm St, behind Student Health, 3/5. Prices: Flat White: $4, Long Black: $3.50, Mocha: $5 Why I came here: Many of my friends had been urging me to try out this relatively new Dunedin cafe. Atmosphere: Noisy, dark and a bit cramped. Service: We were served quickly Read more...

Captain America: The First Avengers

Posted 12:45am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Nick Hornstein

Directed by Joe Johnston, (3/5). As its title hints at, this movie is the final appetizer for much-anticipated blockbuster The Avengers coming to a screen near you in 2012.   Captain America is an unashamedly old-fashioned film. The year is 1942, the look is sepia and the Read more...

Oranges and Sunshine

Posted 12:43am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Cameron Roling

Directed by Jim Loach, (4/5). Oranges and Sunshine is the debut feature film from Jim Loach, son of iconic director Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes the Barley). It deals with the story of the 'home children', who as orphans were relocated without choice from Britain to other parts of the Read more...

Precious Life

Posted 12:42am Tuesday 9th August 2011 by Dan F Benson-Guiu

Directed by Shlomi Eldar, (5/5). Talking about Palestine, renowned Israeli journalist and director of this film, Shlomi Eldar says it is “an hour’s drive away, but a world away.” Precious Life tells the story of Raida, a mother of four, the youngest of whom (Muhammed) suffers Read more...

Smokin’ Seventeen

Posted 11:37pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Sarah Maessen

Author: Janet Evanovich Smokin’ Seventeen is the latest instalment in the long-running Stephanie Plum series, a series that is a classic example of when an author didn’t know to stop. Evanovich jumped the shark long ago, as each book is more ludicrous and less plausible than the Read more...

Lure Gallery, 130 Stuart Street

Posted 11:35pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Hana Aoake

Located just down from the Octagon, Lure Gallery features the work of approximately twenty-five jewellers from around New Zealand. The space itself is a tranquil escape from the busy streets below, creating a strong sense of intimacy and warmth as golden light filters through its windows. Lure is a Read more...

IMPROS 11 – Late Night Improv

Posted 11:25pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Fortune Theatre Studio, (4/5). Comedy/Improv/General GCs Antisocial Tap have provided the Dunedin scene with a much needed injection of funny over the past few years. Their improvisation wing has really taken off, so to speak, and now has a new home at the Fortune Theatre Studio. Being Read more...

Do You Want to Hear a Secret?

Posted 11:23pm Monday 8th August 2011 by Jen Aitken

Directed and devised by Jacob McDowell. Devised and performed by Abby Howells, Dianne Pulham, Trubie-Dylan Smith and Jerome Cousins, (2/5). This is the first impression I had of Do You Want to Hear a Secret? -  ‘This weeks [sic] Allen Hall production is an experiment into the Read more...

Battles – Gloss Drop

Posted 5:09am Monday 8th August 2011 by Basti Menkes

It's 3 a.m. I'm 11 years old, sleep-deprived, watching C4. 'Battles – Atlas' appears onscreen. “What the fuck, Atlas? That Kiwi band who wrote that annoying song ‘Crawl’?! Wait. Ohhh, I see. What a stupid band name.” The thumping drums, alien keyboards and ultra-distorted vocals amuse me for a Read more...

Fair Ohs: Everything is Dancing

Posted 5:04am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Sam Valentine

Providing a down to earth, stylized and heavily Californian take on the choppy afro-rhythms and chiming guitars recently made popular by Vampire Weekend and Abe Vigoda, most listeners would be surprised to discover that rather than polo shirt-wearing upper class rich kids, Fair Ohs are simply three Read more...

Dungeons of Dredmor

Posted 5:02am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PC, OSX, (4.5/5). “Congratulations! You have died.” What a positive spin Dungeons of Dredmor places on every conceivable game consequence. It's never “game over” in Gaslamp Games' dungeon crawler; every hero who is mauled to death by bats, or dissolves their Read more...

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters

Posted 4:58am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, (2.5/5). Thank goodness Hal Jordan's ring is “the most powerful weapon in the universe”. If it were, say, the mere “best piece of murder-jewelry in the Virgo supercluster” then Rise of the Manhunters would be a bad game. Thankfully, the Read more...

Plenty 'o' Polenta

Posted 4:54am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Ruby the nutritionist

"I'm making polenta." "Placenta? What the FUCK man, I'm not eating an abortion!" The sweet response of my ultimate food critics; my flatmates. In fact, polenta has nothing to do with human reproduction. It is cornmeal, and it is epic in its golden deliciousness. You can get cornmeal from Read more...

African Cats

Posted 4:48am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Maddie Wright

Directed by: Keith Scholey and Alastair Fothergill, (4/5). Disney Nature’s African Cats is outstanding; think David Attenborough combined with The Lion King. The exquisite naturalness of the African savannah and its exotic inhabitants render digital animation and manipulative Read more...

Mrs Carey’s Concert

Posted 4:44am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Feby Idrus

Directed by: Bob Connelly and Sophie Raymond, (3.5/5). Mrs Carey’s Concert is one of those quintessential performing-arts films in which, through the power of music/dance/theatre/etc., a bad boy/girl finds out what makes him/her special and rises to the occasion and it’s all, like, Read more...

Copacabana

Posted 4:41am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

Directed by Marc Fitoussi, (4/5). Copacabana is a French comedy about Babou (Isabelle Huppert), a mother who is faced with a relationship break up between her and her daughter, Esmeralda (Lolita Chammah). Esmeralda is very unlike the free spirited gypsy of Victor Hugo’s novel. She is Read more...

Cars 2

Posted 4:40am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Zane Pocock

Directed by: John Lasseter, (3/5). Entering Rialto having watched the trailer for Cars 2, I just wanted to see the familiar characters of Cars back in the American west for a wee trip of nostalgia. But the trailer had scared me. After all, how many times have blockbusters turned out to be far Read more...

Film Festival

Posted 4:38am Thursday 4th August 2011 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday and runs until the August 21. Critic’s film editor Sarah Baillie gives a run down of our top ten picks for the festival. Make sure to head along, it only comes once a year! Project Nim   Perhaps it is just because I Read more...

Our Tragic Universe

Posted 4:08am Monday 1st August 2011 by Liam Dakin

Author: Scarlett Thomas, Publisher: Canongate, (4/5). Inside this teen-fantasy-adventure-esque cover (complete with cool black edged pages) is a story about Meg, a freelance author struggling to survive by teaching writing classes and reviewing popular science books. All the while she is Read more...

THE GRADUATE EXHIBITION

Posted 4:04am Monday 1st August 2011 by Hana Aoake

Oliver van der Lugt, Claire Mahoney & Tom Garden. Blue Oyster Art Project Space Traversing the alleyway entrance to the Blue Oyster art project space, one encounters the work of three very different artists, all of whom investigate a type of environment. The thread binding the show together is Read more...

Dunedin Playback Theatre Company: Not a Review, Just Some Thoughts.

Posted 4:13am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

Members: Sandra Turner, Miriam Noonan, Chrissy Hollamby, Karen Jacquard, Glenda Wallace and Penny Warren. Playback theatre is spontaneous theatre that aims to build community through telling personal stories and exposing shared experiences. This is a bold aim, and in today’s busy world Read more...

CAB SAV: A Savvy Cabaret

Posted 4:11am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Miriam Noonan

CAB SAV was devised and created in collaboration with its cast, and what a delightfully ‘savvy’ cast they were! A team of very passionate performers and producer and director Karin Reid created a wonderfully entertaining night that blended satire, music, dance, comedy and puppetry, drawing Read more...

Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See

Posted 3:39am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Richard Ley-Hamilton

If only given a few listens, Suck It and See could be easily misconstrued as an album swept along the tide of 60’s revivalism. Furthermore, those who have paid little attention to the Arctic Monkeys’ continual musical evolution might find the lack of a punk ethos on this album weighty Read more...

An Open Letter of Support

Posted 3:22am Thursday 28th July 2011 by David Large

Former Critic Editor & Radio One News Chap David Large Puts His Views In Writing As the sting goes, I've fucked off to Sydney but I still listen to Radio One, 91FM. It's the station that offered an alternative soundtrack during my years at the University of Otago. It’s the station that Read more...

LA Noire

Posted 3:19am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Toby Hills

Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, (4.5/5). My mum got into LA Noire. She isn't one of those “closet casuals” either. Never has she grasped a controller in concord so it is telling that the relaxed, assured style of Team Bondi’s 1940s detective game compelled even her to try Read more...

Cafe Review - Doc’s Coffee House

Posted 3:16am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Pippa Schaffler

Albany Street, to the left of the Clubs and Socs Building, (3/5). Prices: Flat White: $3.50, Long Black: $3, Mocha: $3.50 Why I came here: My flatmate and I were rushing to get out of the torrential rain and found ourselves right outside Doc’s. Atmosphere: Cute and Read more...

American Pie

Posted 3:12am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Considering pumpkin is so bloody cheap at the moment, it seems sensible to incorporate this orange wonder food into as many meals as possible. Starting, logically, with dessert. I’ve become quite obsessed with the idea of pumpkin pie recently, which I attribute to a combination of the fact that I Read more...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

Posted 3:06am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Niki Lomax

Directed by: David Yates, (4.5/5). [Spoiler alert: to anyone who has been living under a rock for the past decade and is yet to read a Potter book, be warned; the following review contains plot details.]   It’s fourteen years since the first Harry Potter book was published, Read more...

The Big Picture

Posted 3:05am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Tom Ainge-Roy

Directed by: Eric Lartigau, (3.5/5). The Big Picture centres on Paul Exben (Romain Duris), a successful lawyer with his own firm in Paris, a beautiful wife and two handsome children. From an outsider’s perspective the marriage appears to be going well, but tension is felt from the Read more...

The Conspirator

Posted 3:04am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Lauren Enright

Directed by: Robert Redford, (3/5). The Conspirator is a fantastic historical legal drama. Based on the 1915 drama The Birth of a Nation by D.W. Griffith, it tells the story of Mary Surratt, the only female co-conspirator charged with the Abraham Lincoln assassination and the first woman to be Read more...

The Reluctant Infidel

Posted 3:03am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Dan Benson-Guiu

Directed by: Josh Appignanesi, (3.5/5). Mahmoud (Omid Djalili) could be your average Brit. He’s an entrepreneur who hates cab drivers, walks around in soccer shirts, drinks beer and watches 70s music videos on MTV. He doesn’t need to be told that he isn’t a perfect Muslim by Read more...

The Forgiveness of Blood

Posted 2:58am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Loulou Callister-Baker

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Joshua Marston   Set in a small rural town in Albania, this film Read more...

POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Posted 2:58am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Lauren Hayes

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Morgan Spurlock   Get excited. POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Read more...

Medianeras

Posted 2:57am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Zane Pocock

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Dir: Gustavo Taretto   Medianeras, set in Buenos Aires, is an incredibly Read more...

Heartbeats

Posted 2:56am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Sarah Baillie

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens this Thursday, July 28, and is packed to the brim with exciting films from a range of genres. Critic was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at some of the films. Visit www.nzff.co.nz/Dunedin to check out the full programme, or grab one of the booklets Read more...

Troll 2

Posted 2:51am Thursday 28th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Written/Directed by: Drake Floyd. Starring: Michael Stephenson, George Hardy, Margo Prey, Connie McFarland, Robert Ormsby. The only thing that links this film to the original Troll is the title; there are in fact no trolls in this film. Instead, goblins rein supreme in this truly awful, Read more...

Reuben Paterson

Posted 11:32pm Monday 25th July 2011 by Kari Schmidt

Reuben Paterson's digital animation has a fundamental, primal attraction. It consists of a large silver, glittery screen on which a kaleidoscopic projection is playing. Like magpies, humans like glittery, shiny things (a fact Paterson has manipulated before, for example in his When the Sun Rises and Read more...

The Tutor

Posted 5:22am Monday 25th July 2011 by Ben Blakely

Fortune Theatre Mainstage. Written by Dave Armstrong. Directed by Patrick Davies Starring: Phil Vaughan, Jon Pheloung, Jake Metzger, (3.5/5), There was a warning attached to The Tutor telling us that it contained coarse language. In this respect it certainly delivered. The play opened Read more...

Frequency!

Posted 5:20am Monday 25th July 2011 by Jen Aitken

Devised and directed by Miriam Noonan. Devised and performed by Bronwyn Wallace, Feather Emma Shaw, James Caley, Luke Agnew, Nylla Tamati and Piupiu-Maya Turei, (3.5/5). Frequency! was pretty darn hilarious. With the loudest and raspiest laugh in the theatre, I was afraid I would put the Read more...

Full Moon Fiasco (Wel), Thought Creature (Wel), Killmore Girls (Dud) and Axe Handal (Dud)

Posted 4:49am Monday 25th July 2011 by Spencer Hall

Matinee Show at Re:Fuel, Sunday July 10. This was the first matinee show I've been to at Re:Fuel since the all-age metal gigs they used to have back when I was in highschool. Kicking things off was Axe Handal, drummer Rory MacMurdo (TFF, Brüer Grinder) with his laptop bandmate. Read more...