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...

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...

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...

The Chimes


Posted 1:34pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Hayleigh Clarkson

I had high hopes for this novel. Anna Smaill’s The Chimes was long listed for the Man Booker Prize in 2015 and the New Zealand media went crazy for it, touting Anna as the next Eleanor Catton. Despite everyone else loving this novel, I found it to be dull and tedious with a shallow Read more...

The Lady In The Van

Posted 1:39pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Lucy Hunter

Rating: A When Lady in the Van opened with Maggie Smith driving a van in the ‘70s in England, I was clawing at my seat with the claggy white smugness of it. It seems like every year Maggie Smith does a twee, baby-boomer-bait comedy piece to drag a group of people to the cinema who will only Read more...

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict

Posted 1:43pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Andrew Kwiatkowski

Rating: A I’ll be up front - I loathed the character that is the subject of this documentary. However, it must be said that the film itself is very, very well made. If, like me you had never heard of Peggy Guggenheim, the short version is that she was the real-deal rock’n’roll Read more...

Mahana

Posted 1:45pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Lisa Blakie

Rating: C+ Mahana is the New Zealand film adapted from Witi Ihimaera’s novel Bulibasha: King of the Gypsies. Successful New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison plays Tamihana aka. the World’s Grumpiest Grandpa, who is the patriarch controlling literally every aspect of the Mahana Read more...

Hail Caesar

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Nita Sullivan

Rating: A- The latest goofy flick by the Coen Brothers provides multitudes of spazzy plotlines, weird humour and wtf moments. Following a day in the life of ‘Hollywood fixer’ Eddie Mannix (played superbly by Josh Brolin), Hail Caesar’s ramshackle plot serves up random portions Read more...

Firewatch

Posted 1:55pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by James Tregonning

Here’s a quick history of popular video games. It starts with the arcade, with players putting quarters into machines over and over, beating high scores and paying for the privilege. These arcade games developed out into what is now arguably the largest entertainment industry in the world. For Read more...

New Track: “Your Best American Girl” - Mitski

Posted 2:23pm Sunday 20th March 2016 by Millicent Lovelock

I’ve come to know Mitski as the princess of propulsive sadness, and her new track, “Your Best American Girl” doesn’t disappoint. Like most of her songs, it’s a slow burn running into a scorching, explosive chorus. Mitski slips us into the body of the song with a soft, Read more...