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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There's a reason Beyonce Knowles is one of the richest women under the age of 30 (just). She knows how to shake it, she knows how to sell it, but most of all, she knows how to sing.

The first outing for Rapace since her role of Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy is a family story in more ways than one.

These days, children are used to monsters popping out of screens in 3D, but coming face-to-face with a brachiosaurus is something else.

Significant Lilburn music finally makes it to CD, but the whole story is still to be told.

Unsensational, intimate and quietly passionate, March's meticulously observed examination of the crisis facing the small atoll of Takuu is an object lesson in patient documentary film-making.

Male-female duo the Cults seem to want to dispel some of the connotations of their badge "new indie-pop band from New York".

The latest album from the youngest son of the late Nigerian rebel and music maker Fela Kuti is co-produced by Brian Eno, and while Afrobeat is well past its heyday, this sounds fresh and resonant.

Jazz and metal are linked by the fact that when they are played at their best they are both adventurous, fiery forms of music.

On her debut album, gutsy but dainty Wellington singer-songwriter Janina explores her life lessons through her three loves - classical music, rock 'n' roll and clever writing.

Whoever thought there was promise in this story idea should have baled out at script stage and saved a million dollars or so.