Archive

Why Do We Need.... Artificial General Intelligence

Posted 12:56pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Anthony Marris

The creation of an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), a synthetic self-aware intelligence that is capable of replicating, and ultimately exceeding human thought processes has been both the dream and concern of scientists, programmers, engineers, and futurists for decades. Prominent minds like Read more...

Fallout 4

Posted 12:47pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: A- Bethesda Studios game director and executive producer Todd Howard recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Game Developer’s Choice Awards for his incredible contribution to open world gameplay and the gaming industry as a whole. Bethesda is extremely well known for Read more...

Behaving Yourself At Gigs

Posted 12:43pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

The Dunedin music scene is now living in a post-Chick’s Hotel wasteland. We’ve lost our best venue, the venue where there were gigs worth going to, and it’s going to take a while to get back on our feet. But, when we do, we’re going to have to have gigs in Read more...

Sleepless in Seattle

Posted 12:42pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: A- I last rewatched this epic 1993 romance on Easter weekend, when TV2 was running old movies all day for the public holidays, and to be honest, it was as good as when I watched it the first time.  90s movie romance power couple Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are the two leads in Read more...

The Lion King

Posted 12:35pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Samuel Rillstone

Rating: A+ Disney's The Lion King brought a whole new generation into the world of heart-crushing, soul destroying feelings over a death in an animated movie. Mufasa’s death (I would say spoiler alert but I mean, c’mon) to me is one of the most emotionally heart-wrenching pieces Read more...

Kung Fu Panda III

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: B For whatever reason the original Kung Fu Panda was quite an obsession for me.  When it was released in 2008 one of my Mum’s friends had lent us some illegal copies of new release films to cure our boredom over weekends. When I saw Kung Fu Panda for the first time, Read more...

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Posted 12:28pm Sunday 17th April 2016 by Jessica Thompson

Rating: A+ I never used to be a fan of New Zealand films, though I could see their value, they seemed to follow their own rules that I didn’t understand (seeming a bit too small budget for my liking), until I saw Hunt for the Wilderpeople.  Directed and written by the glorious Taika Read more...

Bubblegum Industrial Fashion Shower

Posted 12:46pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Lucy Hunter

“As well as being good friends we’re artistically compatible,” says Christian McNab on his relationship with collaborator Nikki Cain. Bubblegum Industrial Fashion Shower was an exhibition involving performance, music, painting, video, and garments made by Nikki and Christian. It is Read more...

Reservoir Dogs

Posted 12:42pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Tom Lord

Rating: A+ I am proud to say that this is one of the few reviews I have written that is completely unbiased and impartial. And by that, of course, I mean the opposite – this film is just too damned good to be impartial.  At 99 minutes it is the perfect length for nearly any Read more...

Batman v Superman

Posted 12:38pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: D Ok, so, Batman v Superman was just terrible. During the exhausting 2hr 31m runtime, the film follows the plight of both an unpopular Superman and ageing Batman as they initially battle each other, and then combine forces to take down a villainous Lex Luthor. To be honest, I walked out Read more...

My Big Fat Greek Wedding II

Posted 12:36pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Jess Alsop

Rating: C+ I made the mistake of rewatching the first My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) the night before I saw this, and it honestly set my hopes far too high. In one of the least coherent films I’ve seen in a while, Toula (Nia Vardalos) and her husband Ian (John Corbett) are getting ready to Read more...

45 Years

Posted 12:33pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: A Kate and Geoff Mercer are about to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. A few days prior to the party, Geoff receives a letter. The body of his former girlfriend, Katya, has been found in the Swiss Alps - perfectly preserved in the ice, into which she fell 50 years ago. (Possible Read more...

Dutch Babies

Posted 12:21pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Kirsten Garcia

It all started with an episode of Bob’s Burgers. They stop at a diner and rave over these pancakes called Dutch Babies.  My BF is Dutch so I asked him what they’re like  and he has no idea. The next morning, I’m stalking Chrissy Teigen on insta and I find a post from Read more...

Tracks

Posted 12:15pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Jessica Thompson

This is the first travel book I have ever fallen in love with. I haven’t read many in my time—growing up in a family of mountaineers makes the climbing books strewn about the house too ordinary to appear interesting enough to devour — and the ones I have perused were always too Read more...

Undertale

Posted 12:13pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: A+ Within gaming circles, there is an ongoing debate about what it is that makes games important and unique among other forms of media. With reference to gameplay, these arguments usually focus on the dissonance between a game’s ludic elements (the ‘game’ part of the Read more...

Why Do We Need...drones?

Posted 12:11pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Anthony Marris

Previously I have mentioned UAVs (drones) used in a military setting. I am not a fan of them. Now my attention is on civilian UAVs, the cute and cuddly version compared to their military brethren. But not really. UAVs have so much great potential. Search and rescue, agriculture, conservation, law Read more...

I’ll Forget 17 — Lontalius

Posted 12:05pm Sunday 10th April 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

Lontalius (Eddie Johnston) uses repetition in all the right ways. I’ve been waiting on his album I’ll Forget 17 since its debut single “All I Wanna Say” came out in 2015. Each time Johnston sings “all I have to offer is my love, it’s not enough” I find Read more...

Winston’s Birthday

Posted 1:56pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Tom Lord

Rating: A Going to anything at the Fortune Theatre is always exciting – there’s just something about walking in through the doors of the delightfully Gothic church and into the theatre that secretes anticipation. Indeed, the beautifully constructed set of Winston’s Birthday, Read more...

An

Posted 1:51pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Jess Alsop

Rating: B+ Ever had doriyaki before? I haven’t, but from what I now know, they are little pancakes filled with sweet bean paste (called an). In An, doriyaki shop manager Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) hires Tokue (Kirin Kiki), a little old lady who makes the best an he’s ever Read more...

A Bigger Splash

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 3rd April 2016 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Rating: B- Imagine if Spring Breakers was directed by Woody Allen. This movie is a bit like that, but sadly isn’t as interesting as the description makes it sound.  Tilda Swinton plays Marianne Lane, a Bowie-esque rock star who is vacationing on an idyllic Italian island, with her Read more...