Anita Shreve is fascinated with relationships. And this story, which explores a new marriage set against the backdrop of Africa, puts yet another relationship under the microscope.

Taika Waititi calls this his first feature, even though it arrives after the lovably deadpan Eagle vs Shark.

The Truckers inspire great loyalty, but fans may be tested by this outing which was knocked off quickly and suffers for it.

Over the years - and rather unkindly, in my opinion - Joanna Trollope's books have tended to be relegated to the category of "Aga saga".

Baltimore duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally produce the kind of music that confuses your sound receptors at the same time as comforting them.

Frisky and Mannish are musically adroit, vocally gifted and brilliant mimics teaching Pop Philosophy 101 at fast forward and delivered on high rotate.

The film of Cormac McCarthy's howlingly bleak apocalyptic novel is, first and foremost, a triumph of location scouting (the process by which film-makers find where they are going to set their shoot).

The source of this surprisingly affecting family drama was the book The Boys Are Back In Town, by English journalist Simon Carr, who worked as Jim Bolger's speechwriter in the early 1990s.

Auckland's Nightsong Productions and Theatre Stampede have premiered in Wellington a joyous, theatrical tour de force.

Calexico's instrumentals get the best reaction - with guitar twangs and big-echo whistling, whip-cracks and rodeo yelps - writes Chris Bourke.

Given there's hardly been a shortage of Hendrix albums since his death in 1970, the question is: Why had this album gained so much attention?

Mark Amery reviews 11 and 12 at the New Zealand Arts Festival.

The Karena family dynamics are captured on film.

The dancing sequences are sublime in Mao's Last Dancer.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson proves he's more than just every teenage girl's favourite vampire.

Sing the Truth is a tribute to feisty, brilliant jazz diva Nina Simone.

The carny folk have come to Wellington, all sweat, glitter and sawdust.

This brassy gumbo of styles comes off like a rollicking block party.

Scalper - real name Nadeem Shafi - was born and bred in east London and is of Pakistani descent.

Paula Green reviews four new collections of poems

The music these cloaked and hooded Texans conjure up is stunning in its tranquility.

The difference between the sexes is at the heart of this offbeat and charming Norwegian romantic comedy by director Petter Naess.

Some have likened Crazy Heart to The Wrestler with more interesting songs, and there are similarities in an abusive lifestyle which really has no style at all.

Megasus play slovenly and unhinged music, almost to the point where the songs fall apart.

While Massive Attack's fifth album doesn't have the anthemic tunes of early albums Blue Lines and Protection, making it a return to form for the Bristol band.