Imagine cruising down California's Highway 101 in an old Cadillac. Tunes up, top down, and the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean highlights a haze over the horizon.

Are you ready for a fight? Because you're probably going to get one.

For my money the most powerful, enjoyable and important act on the mainstage at this year's Womad in Taranaki - and there were some over-acclaimed but perfunctory internationals - was Moana and the Tribe.

Director Laila Marrakchi's Morocco-set drama about a family gathering to mourn its father is an enjoyable and visually scrumptious affair, even if the premise is familiar.

It's a quick turnaround for an industry that normally takes years to complete a follow-up - it will be 2017 before we see the next Lego movie. This alone gives a good indication of the quality of animation and story to expect.

If you loved Young@Heart, Ping Pong or Autumn Gold, about a group of geriatric athletes preparing for the World Masters Competition; Hip Hop-eration is for you.

Sci-fi survival tale will leave teens hungry for more, this cross between the Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games leaves you wanting more.

The miracle of order amid chaos that is the system of tiffin meals is the basis of a lightweight but very charming romantic comedy.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began life in the 80s as a goofball parody of other superhero comics, but this 21st century makeover comes from producer Michael Bay.

A handsomely shot and superbly acted exercise in cinematic minimalism, Locke, which takes place entirely in a car, is the kind of film that makes a mockery of a star rating system.

Buried in the middle of the brilliantly repulsive first Sin City film is a scene that will be seared into the memory banks of anyone who saw it.

Melodic bass lines were covered by scratchy, squealing guitars last night as Australian singer Courtney Barnett kicked off her international tour, performing to a sold out crowd at the Kings Arms in Auckland.

With so much music codified into genres and artists reluctant to alienate an audience, Pere Ubu remain refreshingly abrasive, marginal and theatrically challenging.

How's this for an impressive array of friends: the girls from Warpaint, Vampire Weekend's chief crooner Ezra Koenig, pop singer Jessie Ware, and trap king AA$P Ferg.

Uninteresting pop-rock matched with cheesy, tired lyrics.

If any band was threatening to disappear completely up their own bums, it was Alt-J.

NZTrio's Loft concerts have become something of a signature for the group; Aucklanders now know this is where you can experience chamber music up close and personal.

You wait for an album by a prolific Americana/alt-country figurehead with colourful back stories and past wayward lifestyles, and what do you know? Two come along at once.

Remember those heady days when Garden State came out?

Bonamassa - Grammy-nominated, with a back catalogue of at least a dozen albums but hardly a household name - found blues loyalists turned out for him in their legions last Friday.

Although singing a generous number of highly reconfigured Led Zeppelin songs at his 2013 Vector show with this band, Plant continues to distance himself from Led Zep's hard rock-cum-folk catalogue.

Zach Braff's debut feature film, the quirky indie flick Garden State, saw the Scrubs star explore life as a disconnected 20-something.

An eco-terrorism thriller with a hard shell and a heart full of moral imponderables, Reichardt's new movie will please those who enjoyed her lyrical, almost hallucinatory quasi-Western Meek's Cutoff.

A little like Wish I Was Here, also reviewed today, The Skeleton Twins is a film featuring siblings affected by their upbringing and who discover, as adults, the only person who can really help them deal with their issues is each other.

The moment USB (which stands for Unique Sonic Broadcast, not a piece of office equipment) opens with Modern Love, you hear a flicker of Swedish electro-pop diva Robyn, a touch of David Bowie, a flash of Kylie Minogue, and also something distinctly Kiwi, w

Italian tenor delivers a crowd-pleasing recital of opera arias and popular love songs.