Russell Baillie's week of it

Tonight is the opening of Bollywood and Beyond at Sylivia Park in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

MOVIES
Nothing too major is happening with new releases at the multiplexes, unless you count Red Riding Hood or World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles which was described to me as being "quite Blackhawk Down". Only for Somali warlords substitute, ah, alien spaceships taking on the Marine Corps in downtown LA. They're here for Earth's water and, by targeting Beverly Hills, they clearly have a preference for something foreign, bottled and sparkling.

Meanwhile, tonight is the opening of Auckland's second "Bollywood and Beyond" Indian Film Festival at Sylvia Park, the 17-title event kicking off with I am, a indie-Hindi (sorry) movie of four stories all dealing with fear. But lighter fare abounds in the rest of the programme.

STAGE
Well there's an odd coincidence. Tomorrow night at the Civic is the all-star performance - Lucy Lawless, Rhys Darby, Sam Neill, Antony Starr, Keisha Castle-Hughes among a cast of 17 - of Bare, Toa Fraser's first play. The very work which helped launched Madeleine Sami's career, with her playing multiple Auckland characters.

On the same night on the telly is the finale of Sami's compelling, if bleak, comedy series Supercity, in which she plays multiple Auckland characters. The play's other actor-originator Ian Hughes, is also performing and directing tomorrow night.

MUSIC
After Tuesday night's Foo Fighters benefit blast at the Auckland Town Hall, the week's other rock 'n' roll fundraiser features Jordan Luck and mates - including Dave McArtney, Rikki Morris, Debbie Harwood and more - at Devonport's Masonic, tomorrow. You can bet Mr Luck's greatest Dance Exponents-era ode to his old hometown Christchurch (in Cashel St I Wait) will rise from the rubble quite beautifully.

OR..
On Saturday fans of "other" clearly have two choices. The fifth annual New Zealand Beer Festival from midday-ish to mid-evening featuring 70 different craft beers and a couple of different bands.

Or The Dual - the third annual offroad marathon/half-marathon and 50km/30km mountainbike race around Motutapu and Rangitoto islands to benefit the Motutapu Restoration Trust. Funnily enough, the common or garden beer they'll be serving at the finishing line with plenty of restorative carbohydrates will likely taste 10 times better than the boutique stuff those lagerophiles will be quaffing in the horse paddocks.

- TimeOut