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.

Do you tire of the people who always bang on about how much better the book was than the movie? Well, you can rest easy if this James Bond yarn is ever committed to screen.

He's a bit of a mysterious one, that Jolyon Mulholland, whose back-lit spiral-haired silhouette evokes a certain album cover by the Rolling Stones.

Urge Overkill were touring mates with Nirvana and Pearl Jam but their increasingly power pop sound took them to a mainstream audience.

Peter Calder gives his view on the latest corporate movie, The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck and Tommy Lee Jones.

Jeffrey Foucault uses his strong, dark brown, assured voice to show his takes on life, loss and love in his new album 'Horse Latitudes'.

I'm All Right, Jack meets Nine to Five in this macaron-light French comedy, which springs from dated material - a wildly popular play written in the 80s and set in the 70s - but reshapes it with an ironic modern eye.

Back in the 90s when local rock music was dangerous, Head Like A Hole were the most dangerous of all - and early on they did it naked. New album, Blood Will Out is potent, fun, and dangerous.

James K. Baxter wrote once (I paraphrase from lapsed memory and lost book) that most authors like to picture their words being read by grave scholars in studies and beautiful graduates in tutorials.

One of modern animation's most lovable characters, Po, and his team of butt-kicking kung fu masters are back in Kung Fu Panda 2. Francesca Rudkin gives her views on the sequel.

If a nuclear war wipes out civilisation, then all that will remain are the cockroaches and Lemmy, proclaims a Motorhead fan at the beginning of this film.

Miami rapper Pitbull likes to call himself Mr Worldwide, and on this album it looks like he is looking for the title Mr Connected.

Auckland-based Hollie Fullbrook spins a delicate web of warm, but wintry stories on her debut album, Some Were Meant For Sea.

Accompanied by wailing violins, chilling minor chords and pained brass, most of the tracks on 'Last' sound like they could be the sound track to some thriller about a lonely child.

Much like fellow soul sisters Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, Jill Scott is not as prolific as you'd like someone with her talent to be.

The first movie was "good fun" while the second was "crass and stupid." What does Russell Baillie think of TFIII?

Tim Carlsen comes close as a homeless busker in One Day Moko... and he's got the voice for the role.

Listening to this Canadian band - who have the best band name in the history of music - is like having a really good hangover headache.

Following the stunningly spare 2008 debut, For Emma, Forever Ago, it's not as if he's come up with a tour de force folk record as a follow-up.

The 2010 winner of the Grand Prix, Cannes' no 2 award, this haunting and masterful French film was inspired by the slaughter, by Islamist terrorists, of seven French Trappist monks near their monastery in Algeria.

Politically incorrect and with a badass heroine and cynical tone, Bad Teacher takes its title inspiration and a lot more besides from the film Bad Santa, which starred Billy Bob Thornton.