Nadine, the central character in The Edge Of Seventeen, is the kind of character that could only appear in an American coming-of-age teen tragicomedy — nerdy, awkward, angsty, uncomfortable. The film is the story of Nadine’s unbearable — her comfortable,…
There are maybe half a dozen films to be found inside Passengers, the new rom-space-com starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. The problem with Passengers is that none of them are the film that its trailer tries to sell. Warning:…
News about this film spread fast on its release overseas, so you may well have already read a lot about Passengers. Even so, I’m not going to give anything away here, so if it’s an unspoiled view you’re after, read…
Simon and Steve have both quite enjoyed Rogue One, the latest star in the Star Wars firmament, but they’re altogether more troubled by Passengers, the rather unsettling space romance starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt. Steve has found Middle School:…
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is, supposedly, something of a sideshow, a distraction from the wait the release of Episode VIII, now pushed back until December 2017. But this provides, perhaps, the film’s greatest strength. The story of Rogue One…
Music to the fore this week, with Steve and Simon having a thing or two to say about Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals‘ recent show at the Vector Arena here in Auckland. Steve also had the good fortune to…
The Founder This is a story that may make you pause a little between bites of your next Big Mac. The Founder tells the tale of Ray Kroc, the man who built up the McDonald’s business empire, and who dubbed himself…
JK Rowling has told her millions of fans that Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is the first in a series of five films. It’s odd, then, that director David Yates tried to fit at least two films into…
Simon and Steve are divided on the merits of both of Amy Adams’ new films; Arrival and Nocturnal Animals both have impressed Simon just a little more than they did Steve, who was much more pleased to see James at…
Nocturnal Animals A dark drama with dashes of David Lynch oddness and the western violence of Cormac McCarthy (or maybe it’s Tarantino), Nocturnal Animals is riveting and often disturbing, and a story of how we try to live with the…