New Zealand popera star Hayley Westenra has teamed up with a legendary Italian composer for her latest album.

Guitar hero B.B. King singing the blues with a chorus of sock puppets? What the ... ?

For those expecting the ear-splitting riffs similar to the ones J Mascis lets rip with in Dinosaur Jr. then take a chill pill.

The antagonism is still there and Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince let it ricochet off one another.

The sinewy riffs, slightly breathless beats, and squally Eastern psychedelia influence of Window Rattle off Distance From View is the perfect example of how instrumental music can take a mundane image and make it magical.

These New York art rock oddballs have quite a pedigree to uphold following three of the most twisted, yet captivating, albums of the past decade.

After the uncharacteristically sanguine Happy Go Lucky, the master of bleak British social realism returns to downbeat form in a film whose confusions of perspective are perhaps provocatively deliberate.

This modern-day remake of the 1981 classic romantic comedy Arthur should be well received by fans of Russell Brand; what fans of the original film starring Dudley Moore will make of it is another matter.

The small, superb story has become a talisman in the author's Italy. Since its publication there 15 years ago, it's won plaudits and prizes and been made into a Mastroianni film.

Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Hours, was in debt to both life and literature. His new novel, By Nightfall, also displays a strong allegiance to both.

Bruno Mars' enamoured young crowd sings his lyrics right back at him, but none with more conviction than "I think I wanna marry you".

E.T.: The Extraterrestrial and the funny-looking aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind have been given a run for their money in the peculiar guise of Paul, a potty-mouthed ode to Steven Spielberg's sci-fi epics.

Mixing reality and fantasy with little help given to the reader makes an odd book - but it's no lemon.

It would be very easy in these economically grim times to write novels casting bankers in the harshest of lights - simple moustache-twisting pantomime villains.

Chomet's follow-up to his idiosyncratic The Triplets of Belleville is a wistful animated valentine to the days of the variety entertainers that is also a kind of love story.

In the liner notes Elvis Costello says this album should be counted alongside the finest of Simon's career (now reaching almost 50 years).

Aaron Neville saying he's been changed is hardly news and nor is his soulful, vibrating falsetto, which is given a florid showcase in the long intro to the gospel-cum-R&B opener Stand By Me.

Somehow Dave Grohl's second famous band went from his post-Nirvana solo outing to stadium giants.

An extremely enjoyable period drama that speculatively fills in the gaps in the ignored life of a sidelined sibling, this independent French production achieves miracles on a reportedly tiny production budget.

Just Go With It is a good way to approach this average romantic comedy from long-time collaborators Adam Sandler and director Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore, You Don't Mess with the Zohan).

The past catches up with the present to potent and sometimes shattering effect in this moving French film that hints at the wartime horrors it revisits without ever explicitly depicting them.

With some of the momentum of the Clean, urgent droning vocals and pure psychedelic guitar jangle, this debut EP by Auckland-based three-piece Ghost Wave touches a lot of familiar places.