Populate your film with a star-studded cast and you may tweak people's interest. Base it on an over-baked script and under-direct your actors and you're likely to lose that interest faster than you can say "Weather Underground".

Sarah Lang finds out what's behind the gritty realism of Harry.

The 2012 New Zealand Film Awards' best documentary tracks a year in the life of a 16-year-old Maori boy, although the genius bit may be an exaggeration.

A more delicate dish than last year's crowd-pleasing Le Chef, this light dramedy worships at the altar of classic French cuisine, sometimes at the expense of narrative.

Break open the dress-up box and polish the tiaras because the Disney princesses and heroes are poised to glide back into the country in a new show. Dionne Christian previews the ice spectacular in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Some of us already knew Jun Markl through his fine Debussy recordings for Naxos and, presiding over Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's Last Songs concert on Thursday, the conductor's reputation proved amply warranted.

Julia Fischer's new CD with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich under David Zinman is a clever concerto combo that will hopefully bring the lesser-known Dvorak to listeners initially drawn to the more popular Bruch.

They aren't in fact billed together, but Britain's young gun Chris Martin and American veteran Tom Rhodes create a great comedy face-off in their respective festival gigs.

Troy Rawhiti-Forbes steps into Tiger's shoes - how does he fare on the fairway?

Star Trek Into Darkness is an epic action flick, and also a bit of a vampire film, writes Russell Baillie in his (relatively) spoiler-free first look review.

In case you hadn't noticed, there are suddenly singing contest shows all over television, most of them virtually the same, separated only by key words or even just a letter.

Think of it as speed dating: A chance to see which comedians you might like to take it further with in the coming three weeks.

Bach Musica presented a Messiah with a difference on Sunday night, giving what was possibly the first Auckland performance of Mozart's 1789 makeover of the oratorio.

Michael Houstoun's reCYCLE, with the pianist tackling all 32 Beethoven Sonatas, has begun its historic journey around the country.