COMMENT: Veteran film-maker Bryan Bruce delivered one of NZ's worst hours of television last night, as he took a ''rambling, incoherent" look at NZ's school system.

This is more of an illustrated lecture than a play; our presenters are purportedly two members of the first successful Everest expedition, but we don't really get to know them properly.

Experiencing Stephen Hough's magisterial Brahms Second Piano Concerto brought back a conversation in which the Englishman talked of the power that came from the work's sense of emotional containment.

In contrast to his usual doom-and-gloom, Michael Moore takes a more optimistic path.

A familiar voice sang on the opening scene's soundtrack of The Catch, (Wednesdays, 7pm, TVNZ OnDemand).

The problem with The Block Party is while the acts were excellent, everything else was plagued with problems.

Back in 2004, when he was visiting this country, Steven Isserlis told me categorically that Elgar and Walton had written two of the finest cello concertos of the 20th century.

Until last year 'competitive forklift driving' sounded like a TV idea Alan Partridge would have pitched to the BBC's Chief Commissioning Editor along with 'inner-city sumo' and 'monkey tennis'.

Anohni here fully embraces her femininity and leaps straight into brittle and often dazzlingly appropriate electronica.

The crux of the game is shooting demons and running out of ammo. Constantly.

Much of it is awfully familiar, this isn't quite as inventive a period piece as the franchise was in previous decades.

R&R and Back Benches are seriously entertaining - but you need commitment to catch them, writes Duncan Greive.

Eve de Castro-Robinson introduced her Karlheinz Company programme as music that was vivid, visceral and singular.

This Tadpole production is an endearing tale of marital betrayal, more entertaining than one might expect for a romantic dramedy more than 40 years old.

COMMENT: The sad fact is that, after the events of this week's episode, there isn't any real threat in Game of Thrones at all any more.

Bird puns abound in the latest transfer from computer game to big screen.

Alienation is a gorgeous isometric twin-stick shooter with elements of Diablo which is engaging, addictive, and great fun.

The Angry Birds Movie exists because the video game franchise has been a phenomenal success since its release in 2010.

Whatever Elba is doing in Bastille Day, at least he does it well, which is more than can be said for many others involved, who struggle with the lacklustre script.

Courtroom drama has a peculiar capacity to grip an audience.

Bramwell Tovey's Time Tracks was a blunt, noisy launch for the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Aotearoa Plus, its annual concert of "cutting-edge contemporary".

COMMENT: TVNZ OnDemand's scheduling has reached a new low - but it was always just a matter of time, writes Calum Henderson.

The Avengers are back brighter than ever - squabbling, kicking ass and cracking jokes.

Doris is a housewife and businesswoman taking her first steps in the corporate world; George is an accountant away from home at a conference.

You may have met British chamber choir I Fagioilini at the cinema, in John La Bouchardiere's The Full Monteverdi.

This new movie by Torchlight Films is technically more ambitious than the previous, but something has been lost in the attempt to up the production ante.

Only a really good singer can sing as badly as Meryl Streep does in this charming if conventional biopic of the New York socialite, writes Peter Calder.

COMMENT: Let me put it this way, as a moviemaker Ricky Gervais makes for a great Golden Globes host.

Breaking up with your partner and having a showdown with them at a dinner party is heartbreaking - unless it's Married at First Sight, then it's captivating.