Ferguson finally fucks off

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013

The big news in sport over the last week has been the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. We’ve been here before – Ferguson announced his retirement at the start of 2002 only to perform a U-turn at the end of the season – but this time it’s for realsies. Ferguson’s Read more...

Editorial | Issue 11

Posted 2:26pm Sunday 12th May 2013

So here I am again, filling in for another editorial. No sooner had I walked out the Critic door than I was abruptly yanked back through it, sustaining slight damage to my right rotator cuff in the process. No matter; the role’s sex appeal makes its menial pay and questionable social value Read more...

Five foreign-language films that should have won Best Picture (this century alone)

Posted 4:00pm Sunday 5th May 2013

Everybody knows that the “World Series” of baseball is anything but; in reality, it’s a competition held between the winners of two different American baseball leagues. The competition’s name is often (and rightly) ridiculed, the perfect embodiment of America’s mentality vis-à-vis the world. Read more...

Iron Man 3 (3D)

Posted 3:14pm Sunday 28th April 2013

Much like the prodigious production of Marvel superheroes themselves, a veritable avalanche of Marvel films has been unleashed in recent times. This century alone, 27 Marvel superhero films have assaulted New Zealand cinemas. Some of them – The Avengers and The Amazing Spider-Man – were damn good. Read more...

The Croods 3D

Posted 5:13pm Sunday 21st April 2013

I’m at least 15 years older than this movie’s target audience. That’s fine though, because as innumerable sanctimonious reviewers love to point out, a good kids’ film should also appeal to adults. Maybe it’s because kids are stupid, so their opinions don’t really signify much. Maybe it’s because a Read more...

Rust and Bone

Posted 5:49pm Sunday 14th April 2013

Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts), an unemployed man in his mid-twenties, hitches into town with his five-year-old son. He crashes at his sister’s squalid abode, and finds work as a nightclub bouncer. One night he breaks up a fight – a girl, Stéphanie (Marion Cotillard), is bleeding, so he gives her a ride Read more...

Still the best place to defecate on campus

Posted 4:40pm Sunday 7th April 2013

Renovations to the University’s staff club facility are expected to run about $150,000 over budget, bringing the total cost of the project above $750,000. The building is more than a century old, having opened in 1907, and has been the staff club since 1980. Because of the club’s highly Read more...

ODT fails to clean up rubbish journalism

Posted 4:40pm Sunday 7th April 2013

The Otago Daily Times has officially jumped the shark, reporting on the efforts of a heroic Dunedin trash vigilante. A full eight days before April Fools’, the ODT ran a story entitled “Rubbish dumper made to clean up.” The story was penned by the same reporter responsible for February’s Read more...

Minimum wage plummets!

Posted 4:40pm Sunday 7th April 2013

Student wage slaves are set to be worse off after a raft of changes to the minimum wage, student loans and Kiwisaver came into effect on Monday 1 April. The minimum wage went up to $13.75 per hour, an increase of 25c. However, the minimum student loan repayment rate increased from 10 per cent to 12 Read more...

Standbys stood down

Posted 4:40pm Sunday 7th April 2013

Air New Zealand has decided to scrap its popular standby flights system from 6 May. The system, which was introduced last year, allowed passengers to catch last-minute flights around the country for $69-$89. The move will hit Dunedin flyers particularly hard, with the lack of competition in Read more...