There was no need to be put off by high-flown talk of "rhetorical affect" on NZ Barok's website

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.

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.

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.

More than living up to the promise of The Avengers and putting the flat Iron Man II to shame, the latest superhero blockbuster from Marvel Studios is a triumph in almost every regard.

Following the excellent French documentary La Danse and New Zealand's reality series about our national ballet company, Bess Kargman's expose of the Youth America Grand Prix dance competition is riveting.

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.