Opinion: New Zealand Becoming a Republic

Posted 11:18am Sunday 17th May 2015

Over the last few weeks, we have seen the birth of a royal baby, Prince Harry visiting our shores and a formal process to decide whether to change New Zealand’s flag. In light of these events, it may be worth considering the state of New Zealand’s constitution and whether we are making a Read more...

The Life of David Gale

Posted 1:49pm Sunday 5th October 2014

Cult Film Given Sir Alan Parker’s high directorial pedigree (Mississippi Burning, Bugsy Malone, Pink Floyd – The Wall, among many others), a collaboration with Kevin Spacey (Gale) and Kate Winslet (Bitsey Bloom) is a mouth-watering proposition. However, this was a film universally panned Read more...

The Inbetweeners 2

Posted 4:38pm Sunday 14th September 2014

Rating: B+ “You better bring your wellies, because you’ll be knee-deep in clunge.” This seminal quote from Jay Cartwright (James Buckley) in the previous film typifies the Inbetweeners: horny, foul-mouthed, and desperately unaware of their social status. Reunited in Australia with the Read more...

The Wicker Man (1973)

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014

Cult Film We all know that remakes can be diabolical, and the second The Wicker Man, from 2003, was exactly that. It features the best of the worst Nicolas Cage, including some downright terrible acting and strutting his swag in a bear suit. However, the original film is of a much higher Read more...

12 Years A Slave

Posted 4:44pm Sunday 2nd March 2014

Grade: A+ “I don’t want to survive. I want to live.” While 12 Years a Slave is expertly (and beautifully) set in 1840s America, it is not a very comfortable film to watch. Steve McQueen’s (Shame and Hunger) film has garnered a raft of Oscar nominations and accolades, a testament to Read more...

This Ain’t No Mouse Music

Posted 2:29pm Sunday 11th August 2013

This Ain’t No Mouse Music is a documentary film that chronicles the career of legendary American song producer Chris Strachwitz. It takes the viewer on an auditory journey through the heartland of traditional American music and showcases some mighty fine artists and their songs along the way. Read more...

MOTHRAs

Posted 4:45pm Sunday 28th July 2013

The MOTHRAs were a way to celebrate Scarfie filmmaking, and usually featured a wide variety of submissions ranging from wacky and weird to funny but sincere. It was sort of like the Oscars, except it was probably much less grand. The Mothra is a fictional Japanese monster. It sometimes Read more...

The Silence of the Lambs

Posted 8:23pm Sunday 14th July 2013

Read the title to yourself a couple of times. It is freaking creepy. It sends shivers down your spine then back up to your head to remain for days. When you watch this film, you do not see the face of evil. You enter its mind. The Silence of the Lambs won five Oscars in 1991: Best Actor and Read more...

The Internship

Posted 8:23pm Sunday 14th July 2013

Rating: 2/5 Start of the U.S. summer? Check. An assorted cast of misfits with the odds stacked against them? Check. A worrying lack of originality in the plot? Check. Welcome to The Internship, your regular Hollywood light comedy. The film seems to benefit from director Shawn Levy’s Read more...

Con Air (1997)

Posted 3:03pm Sunday 26th May 2013

By the time Nicolas Cage (Cameron Poe) utters the moving line “I’m going to show you God does exist” and takes a bullet without flinching, Con Air has teleported us right back to the grand (but cheesy) days of the 1990s. Watching the archetypal Hollywood action thriller of its day is quite a Read more...