Archive

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour

Posted 12:34pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is the ultimate page turner. Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize as well as being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Joshua Ferris writes with fluidity, clarity and with a unique voice unlike any I’ve read before.  The novel settles around Paul Read more...

Skyfall

Posted 12:30pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A+ Skyfall is like one of those optical illusions - do you see a duck or rabbit? In Skyfall, people see what they want to see. Fans of the old school see only betrayal of the core Bond formula, with no gadgets in this film other than “a gun and a radio.” But many, like me, Read more...

The Birds

Posted 12:25pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: B+ Ka-KAW!! Hitchcock created this enduring 1963 classic that is still quite scary by today’s standards. The action centres on the Californian town of Bodega Bay, whose residents find themselves being attacked by (spoiler alert) birds. It starts with people only being pecked by a Read more...

The Conjuring 2

Posted 12:23pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ The Conjuring 2 is by the same director who made the Insidious movies, so as you’d expect, it scores very high on the shit-my-pants-o-meter. The trailer alone made me lose some sleep, and apparently someone actually died of a heart attack while watching the movie. If you like Read more...

Bad Neighbors 2 — Sorority Rising

Posted 12:19pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Jessica Thompson

Rating: B+ Let’s call this a progressive comedy for a modern age. Neighbors 2, In the spirit of the first film, opens with tubby wubby Mac (Seth Rogen) and his wife Kelly (Rose Byrne) attempting sex as exhausted parents.  The film begins gross, gets grosser, and ends kinda Read more...

Why do we need…Robotic pets

Posted 12:14pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Anthony Marris

Humans have always had a relationship with animals. From practical uses, like seeing-eye “dogs,” to the gimmicky, like courier “pigeons”, this constantly developing sector will alter the course of humanity. Robotic pets are, exactly as the name implies, manmade animals (or Read more...

Lawrence Arabia — Absolute Truth Tour

Posted 12:03pm Sunday 10th July 2016 by Lucy Hunter

One of New Zealand’s finest songwriters is coming to Dunedin to play for us at the Maori Hill Coronation Hall on Friday. Lawrence Arabia has won two of New Zealand’s most prestigious music awards: the Taite Music Prize and an APRA Silver Scroll. His fourth album “Absolute Read more...

Gumbo

Posted 12:56pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

This lil ol’ recipe originates from Louisiana, USA. You may have noticed it in Disney’s Princess and the Frog. It revolves around Tiana’s Dad’s gumbo and I was always curious keen to try it. My first taste of it was actually from Nova. It was hearty and delicious. This cold Read more...

Nine Photographs - Laurence Aberhart

Posted 12:50pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Robyn Maree Pickens

New Zealand soils are notoriously low in selenium, a mineral that photographer Laurence Aberhart uses (with gold) as a toner when developing his photographs, to create warmth in the shadows. Viewing his photographs in the flesh, one has a sense that these flickers of captured light have been made by Read more...

Uniform

Posted 12:47pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Jess Taylor

Rocking up fashionably late, as always, to the Blue Oyster Art Project Space on Dowling Street, I am pleased to see the front door flung open invitingly, with small groups of people milling around in the front room. I enter the space where this month’s exhibition opening is unfolding, eager to Read more...

Calling to the Universe - Hex

Posted 12:42pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Wellington based Hex are essentially my dream band. The trio recently released their album Calling to the Universe and from my first listen I found myself completely submerged by quicksand vocals and slippery guitars. Hex are Liz Mathews on drums, Kiki Van Newtown on bass, and GG Van Newtown on Read more...

Cradle

Posted 12:39pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Campbell Calverley

Rating: A- I have been waiting for Cradle to be released for a long time. It is an interesting narrative game that lived up to some of my expectations and fell short of others. It is proof that good writing, a dedicated art style, and a focus on atmosphere can be enough to make a game great. Less Read more...

Go Set A Watchman

Posted 12:37pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Jessica Thompson

There are some stories that hurt to read. They really can cut you up for a while. Go Set A Watchman is in my top ten on the heartbreak book list for a number of reasons. Written before the famous To Kill a Mockingbird but published as a sequel, it is accepted as being Mockingbird’s first Read more...

Notes to Eternity

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A An intensely moving doco about the Palestinian struggle, but also much more than that. When the film begins by interviewing the most vocal members of a pro-Israel protest, you know it isn’t going to pull any punches. It tackles all the difficult issues head-first, with the Read more...

Dante’s Peak

Posted 12:30pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B+ Was this anyone else’s favourite movie as a kid? For me it even overtook Jurassic Park at one point. (Though it just occurred to me that many of this year’s freshers weren’t born yet when it was released... holy christ). In my flat we bought a projector in lieu of a Read more...

Angry Birds Movie

Posted 12:28pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: C+ It’s pretty common knowledge that most movies adapted from video games are shit, (Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat, any Sonic the Hedgehog film). Despite this, they are still being made; a fact that I am biased towards being happy about because I bloody love video games. Something that Read more...

The Great Maiden’s Blush

Posted 12:25pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Anonymous Bird

Rating: B+ This recent New Zealand film follows two women, Aila (Renee Lyons) and Bunny (Miriama McDowell), as they both embark upon single motherhood. Aila is an isolated older woman, lover of gardens and failed classical pianist. Her desperately wanted newborn daughter needs to have a risky Read more...

Why Do We Need...Transhumanism?

Posted 12:20pm Sunday 29th May 2016 by Anthony Marris

Transhumanism is both a philosophy and a movement which explores how technology can be used to enhance people, essentially to better mankind. These enhancements include surgically inputting processors on the brain to increase cognitive function, or replacing lost limbs with vastly improved bionic Read more...

Daddy Jong’s Jaeyuk bokkum

Posted 1:15pm Sunday 22nd May 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

I was a sous chef in a kitchen where I learned this recipe. This is courtesy of my Korean friend, known as Daddy Jong. I was a bit stuck on what to write for the Critic this week, and he offered to make this dish from his homeland. According to people who have lived with him in the past, Read more...

The Obliteration Room — Yayoi Kusama

Posted 1:10pm Sunday 22nd May 2016 by Monique Hodgkinson

Fresh and sparkling at the DPAG this week is Yayoi Kusama’s The Obliteration Room, or polka dot madness, as I prefer to think of it. This exhibition takes the form of a domestic interior - a house complete with living room, study, kitchen, and Kmart-worthy chic décor. The only Read more...