Archive

New York style soft pretzels

Posted 9:43pm Sunday 3rd August 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

The other Saturday i woke up. Well, i say “woke up” – in reality I was barely conscious and still a bit drunk from the night before. I felt like death. After a few more hours of remaining in the horizontal position, I dragged my tragic ass out of bed, put in my contacts and on some pants and Read more...

Profile: New Zealand Child Poverty 101

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Stacey Kennedy of Choose Kids

“Child poverty;” “vulnerability;” “income gap.” Buzz words, right? Phrases thrown around by the radical lefties? There are 285,000 children living in poverty in New Zealand, yet so many of us New Zealanders seem content to ignore the problem, or worse, to deny it altogether. Unfortunately “us Read more...

Strange Harvest

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Dunedin cold-wave duo Strange Harvest have been busy finishing their third full-length album. A few weeks removed from the studio Justin Walshaw catches up with Critic’s Adrian Ng. Did both of you come from musical backgrounds? Was there a particular moment that made you want to do music? Read more...

Download of the Week: The River Jones - The River Jones (NZ)

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

The River Jones are a four-piece from Christchurch. Noisy, post-punk, emo. Reminds me of a combination of Sonic Youth and Slint. Their live shows are spectacular. You can get their album at a name-your-price download from theriverjones.bandcamp.com. Read more...

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A- A Sunny Day In Glasgow began as a recording project in 2006, between friends Ben Daniels and Ever Nalens. Since their inception the band has seen countless line-up changes, albeit always centered around the songwriting prowess of Ben Daniels. Sea When Absent is the group’s third Read more...

New this week / Singles in review

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Perfume Genius - Queen Perfume Genius is the moniker for Seattle musician Mike Hadreas. “Queen” is the lead single from his third album, Too Bright, set to be released in September later this year. A beautiful, sprawling ballad, “Queen” is grandiose and at the same time dangerous. Read more...

Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A This year marks the 100-year anniversary of WWI, making it a crucial moment in our generation’s cultural memory. With the last veteran of the Great War having passed away in 2012, our memorials of this event become increasingly about remembrance instead of respect. As time moves on, Read more...

52 Tuesdays

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Wow. Words almost fail me. 52 Tuesdays was filmed over the course of one year, entirely on Tuesdays, to watch the mother-daughter relationship evolve, as Billie’s mother becomes James, her second father. Teen Billie is fairly naive to begin with, but gets totally derailed from herself when Read more...

Locke

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

I know what you are thinking. If the film is just Tom Hardy’s face as he drives and talks on hands-free, how interesting could it be? The answer: RIVETING. And, no, that’s not sarcasm. We follow Ivan Locke on a literal journey to a hospital one night, but more importantly on a figurative one Read more...

Night of the Living Dead

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Alex Campbell-Hunt

Classic Film The mother of all zombie movies and, in my view, the most effective and terrifying, with the possible exception of 28 Days Later; NOTLD did a lot with a small budget, few special effects, few locations and a small cast. The grainy, shaky home-footage look gives it an immediacy Read more...

Words and Pictures

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: B- Like a lot of bad rom-coms, they really should have ditched the rom-com angle altogether and focused on the much more interesting subplots. Handsome English teacher Jack Marcus (Clive Owen) is having a pretty crummy time, having not been able to write anything worth Read more...

The Face of Love

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: B+ This movie is like combining American Beauty with Misery, and the plot from The Great Gatsby. With Robin Williams, too, as the same creep-next-door from One Hour Photo. Nikki (Annette Bening) is traumatically widowed when her husband of 30 happy years drowns beside her, but Read more...

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Baz Macdonald

Rating: A I remember the first time I saw Gollum, and knew that there was something special happening. He was different to other CGI creations; there was something far more complex happening in his movements and expressions. Now, of course, we know that special element was the use of Read more...

Lolita

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Andrea Reed

Lolita is Nabokov’s best-known novel. Written about 60 years ago, the novel now is being promoted in the Central Library’s showcases as a crucial modernist text. But what characterises modernist fiction? It appears, on the whole, that modernist authors explore styles and themes that engage in moral Read more...

Pulled Pork Burgers

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Sophie Edmonds

Here is my third addition to the growing tradition of Burger Sunday at my flat. Last Friday I had a sibling date with my brother. Basically I bribed him with free burgers in order to make me feel like less of a loner. We visited this new place in Ponsonby Central, Burger Burger, where I Read more...

Paul Maseyk

Posted 10:15pm Sunday 27th July 2014 by Hannah Collier

Dunedin Public Art Gallery Exhibited until 30 November One Pot Wonder is literally a one-pot wonder, as there is one pot (it stands at about two metres tall), and it makes you wonder. Along with the rest of the survey exhibition, which is equally as wondrous. The exhibition as a Read more...

Interview: Ryan Johnson - Great White Shark Expert

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Zane Pocock

You moved from New Zealand to South Africa to pursue your career looking at the Great White Shark? Well, I was primarily a zoologist and I finished my undergrad work and I suffered from what a lot of Kiwis suffer from – you want to go off and see the big world – but I wanted to carry on with my Read more...

Interview: I Am Giant

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

I Am Giant are back in New Zealand for a nationwide tour. They touched down in Dunedin on 18 July to play at student bar Re:Fuel. With a new album under their belt and a lot of excitement brewing, Adrian Ng caught up with the band right before the craziness began. How long has it been since Read more...

Download of the week: Glass Vaults - Glass EP (NZ)

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

The Glass EP is the debut offering from Wellington group Glass Vaults. Revolving around the songwriting of Rowan Pierce and Richard Larsen, the EP is five tracks of beautiful, ambient, psychedelic wonder. You can get the EP as a name-your-price download from glassvaults.bandcamp.com. Read more...

Ought - More Than Any Other Day

Posted 5:12pm Sunday 20th July 2014 by Adrian Ng

Rating: A Ought are a four-piece based in Montreal, More Than Any Other Day is their debut release. The record is an interesting conglomeration of different musical spare parts and personalities. Whilst taking cues from art punk forefathers such as Television, The Talking Heads, Wire, Slint Read more...