The American dream is given a twisted makeover as Jake Gyllenhaal goes to extreme lengths to make a living post-GFC.

Set on the streets of Brooklyn, The Drop is a quietly foreboding psychological thriller set in the criminal world.

At first, opening track Next Time suggests Soul Power has a fairly conventional modern soul approach, but then the rock elements creep up, the rougher, grittier production, the wild organ solo, and Curtis Harding's nuanced vocals filter through.

Grand Theft Auto V's been rebooted for next-gen consoles - complete with a first-person mode. Is it any good? Chris Schulz goes on a rampage...

Peter Scholes marked another fruitful year for the Auckland Chamber Orchestra with a concert focused very much around the string players of his group.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra's Tuscan Summer concert promised a festival of Italian sumptuousness with a poster featuring a double-headed gelato, writes William Dart.

A madcap Satisfaction lit the fuse on the fireworks finale. It was the Rolling Stones’ best NZ show of their senior years.

The Rolling Stones finally broke cover last night to rock New Zealand in spectacular style.

At least Assassin's Creed: Unity looks beautiful. The fifth instalment of the history-spanning series renders revolutionary Paris in intricate detail.

John 117 has finally made landfall on the Xbox One. The Master Chief Collection brings together the core titles of the Halo series so far.

No matter what your favourite is of films based on Elmore Leonard books (and I'm for Out of Sight ahead of Jackie Brown), this crime comedy will deliver a surprise.

The Dadrock season is already upon us with everybody from Pink Floyd to Bob Dylan flogging off their odds and ends.

Twice garlanded with Cannes' Palme d'Or, the Belgian brothers who are Europe's modern masters of naturalism lost this year to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Winter Sleep.

Time has taken tragically little toll on David Hare's 1995 play. The pungent one-liners amuse, but the real sting is that references to inequality and the erosion of social conscience have become more pointed.

In Slipknot's sick world, death isn't an ending - it's a reason to celebrate. It's been six years since the Iowa act's last album, something the band blames on the loss of two key members: bassist Paul Gray.

Director Ken Loach, now 78, announced during the making of this modest but moving historical drama that it would be his last film, though there have been later suggestions of a change of heart.

Neil Young only occasionally reveals his private life, but in July he filed for divorce from his wife of 36 years, Pegi, and is now with actress Daryl Hannah.

The biggest star of Far Cry 4 might not be the game's hero, but its villain. Chris Schulz investigates.

Auckland Choral's Waves upon Waves certainly benefited from one of the most imaginative programme covers of the season.

An historical excursion into the salacious underbelly of Auckland's nightlife finds a suitably lascivious venue in the central hall of the White House

Sydney Dance Company's seminal and celebrated work begins with a simple representation of its title. A couple sit to one side (2), a solitary figure stands to the other (One) and the rest of the company (the Others) take centre stage.

Singstar was one of the original party games. The first version, released in 2004, achieved mainstream success worldwide and was played at parties everywhere.

The troubles that this Napier-based instrumental three-piece endured recently meant a gap of eight years between albums.

In 1997, director Eduardo Sanchez and his University of Central Florida classmate Dan Myrick wrote, directed and edited one of the most profitable films ever made, The Blair Witch Project.

Now in his mid-70s, prolific playwright Israel Horovitz shows little sign of slowing down, directing his first film My Old Lady, an adaptation of one of his own plays.

Remember those lovable goofballs from 1995's Big Me video? Go hunt them down on YouTube - there's so much to enjoy: Dave Grohl rocking pigtails, Pat Smear's cheesy grin, and the rest of the Foo Fighters wearing matching tracksuits.

Brooke Fraser’s new album is as satisfying for the listener as for Fraser herself.