This American film starts off as as swords and sandals detective story, with Jesus the missing person, before defaulting to a hollow gospel drama.

REVIEW: The rapper isn't blessed with a booming voice. His songs aren't full of trap bass and Auto-Tuned vocals. All he has is his words. And that's all he needs.

Elena Langer is an accomplished teller of tales, a gift that has drawn the Russian-born British composer more than once to the operatic stage.

COMMENT: Netflix's true diabolical genius lies in the decision to begin playing the following episode before the one you're currently watching has finished.

All that hype. All that expectation. All those delays. All that face paint. For a food salvage operation?

Producer J.J. Abrams sure knows how to release a film. In 2007, he launched a mysterious trailer for an unnamed sci-fi film at a Transformers screening, creating a buzz that saw Cloverfield, as it was soon to be known, collect just over US$170 million.

Sixteen figures in flowing cream reclaim the King of Thebes from Freud in this melodic contemporary opera.

It's refreshing to see the 360 ALLSTARS crew bringing traditional circus skills into a wildly energetic celebration of street culture.

This excellent one-man show is not chatty or casual. Tight, dramatic spotlights focus sharply on the orator in the dark.

COMMENT: The Big Ward's greatest achievement is simply getting a serious public health issue into a time slot usually occupied by reality shows.

Around 30 Aucklanders jumped on and off the White Night Art Bus from Q Theatre on Saturday night and went west.

In the stark, filmic landscape that lies beyond the Oscars, there is nothing but badly CGI-ed tumbleweed.

Brass Poppies may be a chamber opera, but its 70 minutes achieved the vision and the resonances that one might not find in a piece twice its length.

A good part of the excitement at Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's latest dance project was experiencing our city's favourite orchestra in the faux-Egyptian temple of The Civic.

Hyperion Records continues to excavate the forgotten and often minor gems of the 19th century in its various Romantic Concerto series.

Life of a Domino's Pizza worker turns out to be riveting viewing, writes Calum Henderson.

I hate to say this because I do love the setting but the series is now a triumph of commerce over art. May the force be with you, writes Karl Puschmann.

Among the razzle-dazzle of the big shows, the Auckland Arts Festival always throws up some hidden gems like Waves.

In this fantastical Kiwi detective story, Carl Bland's musings on truth and loss are framed as "three men in search of a playwright," writes Janet.

Ralph Fiennes couldn't make a bigger splash if he tried, rampaging through director Luca Guadagnino's relationship drama.

The things you learn at the pictures. Had I not seen Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, I might have gone through life sublimely unaware of the word "bukkake", let alone the concept. That may have been no bad thing, of course.

Of course it's great. We're talking about Kendrick Lamar here, an artist who's not just the the Best Rapper Alive.

This is savage. One minute you're watching someone being ripped to death by a sabre-toothed tiger.

Sufjan Stevens described his mesmerising and moving Civic Theatre show last night better than anyone else could: "A celebration of termination."

The makers of this show have given themselves a challenge: they've attempted to adapt what is primarily adult literature for 4-8-year-olds.

John Psathas' collaboration blends live players and international musicians against World War I battlefields.

The latest offering from the inimitable Coen brothers is Hail, Caesar!, a goofy love letter to the golden age of Hollywood.

Madonna left fans bewildered after her first Auckland show, during which she performed a sex act on a banana and broke down in tears for her son Rocco.