NZTrio's latest programme, Surge, made its way to Wellington and Whitianga before receiving a hometown airing last night.

New Zealand Opera's Tosca is more than extraordinarily gripping theatre, marking the huge advances made since the company last presented the opera in 2003.

A movie about a wrestling dog with a monkey for a coach stole Calum Henderson's time - and his heart.

Sicario is less a typical FBI thriller than something akin to Michael Mann's Heat or a Zero Dark Thirty substituting the War on Terror for the War on Drugs.

When it comes to Chris Cornell's solo career, there's a giant strobe-lit elephant stinking up the room.

As slight in scope as it is modest in subject matter, the second-to-last film by Albert Maysles, who died in March, is a charming if occasionally too-reverential portrait of New York identity and self-described "geriatric starlet" Iris Apfel.

If you see only one film this year shot on an iPhone 5s and focusing on transgender hookers in LA, make it this one.

The 1980s musical smash Cats returned to Auckland last night. But it hasn't aged gracefully, writes Tess Nichol.

The show covers a pair of crimes, one murder, one hit-and-run, the victims a pair of striking young women. One investigation is federal, the other state, writes Duncan Greive. They're linked by tattoos and old friendships.

Have you seen all the Star Wars movies? What about all six seasons of The Clone Wars?

What are the Black Keys to do when they're missing a Black Key? For Dan Auerbach, his bandmate Patrick Carney's troublesome shoulder injury caused the cancellation of an entire Keys tour, but freed him up to focus on something new.

Remarkable New Zealand playwright Eli Kent pulls off a difficult conceit: a show within a show, directed by an autocratic talking lightbulb.

This understated and delightful New York-based comedy starring Flight of the Conchords' Jemaine Clement as a guy grappling with single fatherhood is less weighty than writer/director James C. Strouse's earlier films.

Kody Nielson certainly is the master of musical reinvention. In his first outing as Silicon, he shrugs off many of the musical traits of the Mint Chicks and Opossom, and goes for something altogether more introspective and electronic.

In Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials the fight for survival now takes place among demolished cities and desert landscapes.

Even those familiar with the famous July Plot of 1944, in which a group of German officers led by Claus von Stauffenberg tried to kill Hitler, may not be aware that it was the last of more than a dozen planned or attempted assassinations.

The Monster of Mangatiti proves you can still work within the docu-drama genre to give the story the respect it deserves, and create devastatingly stunning imagery.

Imagine Dragons love New Zealand so much, they shot their latest music video here. Rachel Bache checks out the Las Vegas group's Auckland show.

Well in the battle of the Rugby World Cup songs, clearly we've already won, writes Russell Baillie about Sol3 Mio's Rugby World Cup song.

If you're looking for blood, you've come to the right place. Until Dawn splashes the thick red stuff across walls and has it clotting on floorboards.

Louder, straighter, more pummelling, more forceful - that's the direction British rockers Foals have taken on their fourth album.

Made it. Not having ever contemplated reviewing a Miley Cyrus album before, I've just survived repeated plays of 23 tracks of her new one since it popped out of nowhere, timed with her hosting of this week's MTV VMAs.

If you are going to do fairies there can be no holding back, so wunderkind English choreographer Liam Scarlett unashamedly mixes.

Because this is a film about the darkest days in New Zealand's long-time connection to the highest peak on the planet, it was always going to resonate here differently than in many parts of the world.

Show's aims unclear as it makes enviable return to NZ screens.

Even if you're not a horror fan, you've probably seen a Wes Craven film. Dominic Corry picks his five favourite films from the Scream director.

There was a sense of celebration, marred only by the thudding beats of revivalist worship downstairs. A well-filled Town Hall Concert Chamber hosted an audience keen to welcome home some distinguished young Auckland musicians.

Calum Henderson previews some of the strange new shows screening on Sky TV's new channel, TLC.

Meryl Streep's rock'n'roll dysfunctional family drama makes Mamma Mia look authentic.