The last time Roxy Music played in New Zealand it was in a Waikato field as the headliners of Sweetwaters 1981.

On the run from ruthless enemies, teenager John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) must come to terms with his alien heritage to get the girl (Dianna Agron) and save the planet.

Though Sue Orr's new collection of short stories, From Under The Overcoat, references short stories by literary greats such as Nikolay Gogol (The Over Coat) and James Joyce (The Dead), don't hold that against it.

A sickbed obsession culminates in moving musings about the beauty of our world.

Heroes don't come much kookier than Xerxes. He may be the King of Persia but he opens Handel's opera by extolling the beauties of a plane tree; a man who, as one character comments, "is aroused by a rough trunk."

The latest piece of youth-oriented theatre from Massive Company adopts the admirably egalitarian but dramatically unsatisfying strategy of giving what amounts to a lead role to each member of the 14 person cast.

A knockabout Kiwindian comedy with a light seasoning of pathos, this self-funded project does not exceed the expectations raised by its modest origins.

Rating: 4/5. Verdict: More absurd fun from Georgia's most colourful, camp and clever band

Rating: 4/5. Verdict: Setting their controls to the heart of the sun

Based on Posy Simmond's graphic novel, originally serialised in the Guardian's Review supplement, Tamara Drewe is a light and frothy satire on life and lust in a quiet English country village.

Deep in the Forest is subtitled a Cautionary Cabaret and punters should be cautioned to exercise a certain amount a scepticism when viewing the show's promotional material.

One of the pleasures of reading an essayist as eclectic as Geoff Dyer is that one can go within a few pages from regarding him as a fount of wisdom (when his opinions match yours) to thinking he's a pretentious phoney (when they don't).

For women of a certain (or uncertain) age, remembering nothing is not difficult. Remembering something is more problematic. Thus, women of a certain age will be enchanted by Nora Ephron's take on memory, or lack of it.

Confession time: I'd never read anything by Anne Rice before this. For a while, I thought she was another name for Stephenie Meyer. She's not (of course), but she could be.

Lynch fans will delight in her latest offering of love and heartache in the Italian hills. Sarah-Kate Lynch even helped smooth the reviewer's own path to love.

K Rd's Whammy Bar has hosted more than its share of full and sweaty nights over the last few years, a bit of communal congestion being something that regulars of this underground live music institution never seem to mind too much.

The avant-garde end of Fringe Fest spectrum finds an appropriate niche with a free event held at the base of the stairs that link Saint Kevin's Arcade with Myers Park.

Before they'd even put a toe in the water this week, the Wet Hot Beauties were the media's feel-good, sold-out hit of the summer.

Hilary Swank doesn't shy away from Hollywood's unglamorous roles; they have, after all, seen her collect Oscars for Million Dollar Baby and Boys Don't Cry.

The titanic Shakespearean tragedy that is arguably the greatest work of English literature gets a thrilling and compellingly delicate reading in this production, the latest release in the excellent NT Live series.

One of the many funny lines in the profanity-strewn satirical film In The Loop came from the character Jamie Macdonald, the senior press officer in 10 Downing St and the "angriest man in Scotland".

Rating: 4/5. Verdict: An implosion of influences force-fed turpentine wine and turned up loud.