If you thought the lovable penguins were out of control in 2012's zany third instalment of the Madagascar franchise, Europe's Most Wanted, then think again.

An all-star cast brings Disney's adaptation of the James Lapine/Stephen Sondheim musical to life on the big screen, and it's hard not to get wrapped up in their obvious enthusiasm.

Smart, sassy, and super scary, it showed that at her best, the 32-year-old can be considered among the best rappers around.

D'Angelo actually dropped his first release in 14 years in 2014, a musical surprise just before Christmas, but that left us no time to review it before the holidays.

Here are all 12 songs collected, and show this group/these groups at the top of their game as Martin Phillipps helms them through some classics.

Marianne Faithfull is perhaps the most over-admired, least listened-to and sometimes most tuneless singer of our time.

Five times honoured at Cannes, Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the festival's supreme Palme d'Or last year with this film.

'Right now ... it's 6 o'clock". Only five words, but they meant so much coming from Jim Hickey, the long-time TV One weatherman who delivered his last "rain generator".

Adam Granduciel is standing in the middle of the stage, hunched over his guitar and stabbing repeatedly at the strings as one final note reverberates around the Powerstation's walls.

Paddington was a creation of the 1950s, but the story of this polite, accident-prone bear from the depths of Peru has translated nicely into the present day.

Pitch-perfect acting and a fine control of high emotion that never slips into treacly sentiment distinguish this small and lovely ensemble piece by writer-director Ira Sachs, who gave us 2008's memorable dark farce, Married Life.

The new film for French cinema's leading lady has nothing to do with the fabled Paris cabaret of the title.

Shakespeare for short attention spans, this self-congratulatory “making-of” documentary doesn’t oblige the viewer to do anything so tedious as encounter the text. Indeed, as the title implies, it doesn’t even take us on stage very much.

The set deserves star billing in this Young Vic production released in cinemas under the NT Live* banner.

And so it ends, with a hiss and a roar. Actually, many hisses and many roars - those from that dragon from the previous instalment going down in flames at the beginning.

Reviewer Rachel Bache takes in crooner John Legend's Auckland show.

If you still call yourself a Smashing Pumpkins fan, there's one thing you accepted long ago - Billy Corgan is a bit of a prick. T

Mufti Day is the third album from Auckland-based Dictaphone Blues, and it's the best one yet.

Shakespeare's tale of teenage love is brought to life with an authentic, very contemporary infusion of teenage vitality from the Young Auckland Shakespeare Company.

The Basement's Christmas fundraising tradition is as scruffy and silly as a present wrapped by toddlers using tinsel and a gluestick.

The cool good looks and technical confidence of this self-funded feature belie its limited budget. But they can't compensate for a seriously underdeveloped script.

"It's inexcusable," one of the women in this small but diverting documentary remarks, "for a woman not to have her nails polished and have nice shoes."