Latest from Entertainment Reviews

Review: NZTrio, Whitianga Town Hall

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

Theatre review: Tosca, Aotea Centre

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.

Is this the dumbest thing you can watch on Netflix?

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

Emily Blunt's drug war thriller a real rush

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.

Chris Cornell: No need to scream

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

Documentary designed to charm

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.

Movie review: Tangerine

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

80s classic 'dated and stale'

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

Duncan Greive: Now is the Winter of our discontent

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.

Review: The man who tried to kill Hitler

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.

Alex Casey: Harrowing tale gets powerful treatment

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.

Dragons get fiery at NZ show

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.

Review: NZSO, Auckland Town Hall

Simone Young and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra returns with a monumental Bruckner Eighth Symphony.

This should be the worst TV show ever - but it's not

HBO's Show Me A Hero makes gripping TV of council meetings and housing shortages, writes Karl Puschmann.

Sol3 Mio rugby song brilliant cheese

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.

Review: Chillfest bloodstained and brutal

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.

Review: Band's bigger, bolder album

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

Review: Miley Cyrus' weird new 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.