It's been 10 years since the great Australian documentarian Bob Connolly made a movie. Probably his silence has had something to do with the untimely death of his wife to cancer, just after the release of 'Facing the Music.'

There's nothing remotely horrible or terrifying about British band the Horrors. Not any more. Now their palette blends pastels and aerated emotion to create the sort of smooth, rousing pop-rock heard around London in the 1980s.

A confession: I've never really "got" Chekhov. I have seen productions of three of the four "great" plays and all seemed remote and unapproachable.

Sarajevo, in Bosnia, was the perfect city for a siege. Nestled in a valley surrounded by hills, the people below became easy targets.

Award-winning Sunday Times columnist Danny Danziger made the inspired decision not to write a book about British soldiers, but to let the soldiers tell their own stories.

Franz Hasenohrl's transcription of Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel turned out to be a witty frolic.

Oh come on. Who really has a stag do the night before their wedding? Hugh Sundae reviews last night's feature length episode.

Jon Toogood couldn't be more grateful for his sold-out crowd braving the bitter elements to put their faith in a brand new band.

Like the under-appreciated Tell No One in 2006, this French film is an adaptation of an American crime novel (by Harlan Coben and Douglas Kennedy respectively).

Graham Reid encounters a legendary lost rock classic that some think never existed.

While it is spare and beautifully poised country music, there's a raw and pure refinement to these 10 songs - and Welch's devilishly dark words, that have a wry twist every so often, are the work of a seasoned, yarn-spinning poet.

It's over, finally - and thank goodness. Exhilarating, moving and visually impressive, watching boy-wizard Harry Potter face his fate in the battle between good and evil in the climatic finale is exhausting stuff.

After a faltering start with the Melody Makers, Ziggy uncoupled his music from familiar reggae rhythms and incorporated African sounds, rap, kept a political agenda and, all the while, didn't veer too far from the classic sound.

Auckland band The Vietnam War have been building momentum for a good five years, so it doesn't come as a surprise that their debut album sounds anything but amateur.

Graham Reid reviews the newest album from indie.folk duo, Rosy Tin Teacaddy.

Is my tray table stowed and my seatback upright? Oh, what's that? I'm not on a plane. Oops, I just blacked out for a minute and woke up in a puddle of dribble when I heard "Gidday.

The 22 Spanish writers in this entertaining collection were all born in or since 1975, the year General Francisco Franco died after 36 years of repressive rule in Spain.

Once again Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Geraldine Brooks takes a simple, barely known historical fact, fattens out and brings it to life so lyrically you feel transported back in time.

Glimpses of surrealism and the dark side of Romanticism.

When Simon Trpceski made his debut with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra three years ago, he gave us Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the impetuosity and zeal of a youthful athlete.

Tracing a fine line between being twee and elegant, the quartet-now-sextet of classical players who back fellow Icelanders Sigur Ros have produced a cool balm for busy eardrums with this, their second long-player.

Yeah, yeah, you knew Slim Shady would be back. Bad Meets Evil is his collaboration with fellow Detroit rapper Royce da 5'9' and this mini album is the duo's first work together since the early 2000s.

For Def Leppard fans this is all you could ever want in a live album.

The third - and apparently the last - album from techie Christchurch musician Annabel Alpers under the name Bachelorette was recorded in fashionable New York but seems to be inspired by homesickness or, perhaps it's lovesickness.