Latest from Entertainment Reviews

Movie review: Still Life
Chameleon character actor Marsan has a long list of supporting-role credits in big films (Sherlock Holmes; Mission Impossible III) and small (X+Y), which releases here next week.

McCahon looms large over WWI tribute
Activism through art specialist Lemi Ponifasio and Mau take Colin McCahon's iconic painting as a huge and architectural backdrop to their spellbinding tribute to the fallen of World War I - and take....

Musicianship for this trip back in time
House of Dreams was an ambitious time trip courtesy of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, transporting us through the homes of 17th and 18th-century music and art-lovers.

Mayhem backed by metal
If you know anyone who thinks the arts festival isn't for blokes take them to see BLAM! - a 75-minute blast of testosterone-driven mayhem with amped-up, gaming style SFX and a heavy-metal soundtrack.

Greg Dixon: Backstrom 'the most aggravating and repellent cop show'
Nobody likes a smart-arse. Nobody likes the smartest guy in the room if he's a smug bugger. Nobody likes a goddamn moaner. And nobody likes seeing a boss abuse his staff.

Review of The Mooncake and the Kumara
Good humour softens collision of settler cultures, writes Paul Simei-Barton

Will Smith's new movie a bit of a swindle
Will Smith and Aussie It Girl Margot Robbie team up in a sleek slice of escapism from directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the co-writers and directors of I Love You Phillip Morris and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Seventh Son a charmless witch flick
Even best actress Oscar winners can have a bad day at the office, and this is one of those for Julianne Moore.

Album review: Public Service Broadcasting, The Race for Space
The 2013 debut album Inform-Educate-Entertain by this British duo married sometimes driving rock or evocative soundscapes with spoken word samples from old British and American docos and films.

Madonna's new album all mixed-up
Ah Madonna. Despite that rare moment of vulnerability when she fell down the stairs at the Brit Awards last week, these days she mostly seems like an indestructible creation.

Album review: Steve Earle and the Dukes, Terraplane
The only surprising thing about Earle making a blues album - given he's done rock, country, folk and bluegrass - is that it took him so long.

Album review: Purity Ring, Another Eternity
Passion Pit making out with The xx while Ellie Goulding films things quietly in the corner.

Game review: The Order: 1886
It's good - and it's also bad. For The Order: 1886, a game that promises so much, that's a painful thing to say. But the evidence is irrefutable.

Album review: Songhoy Blues, Music In Exile
It's hard to fully explain this album without setting it in context.

Movie review: The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Just as warm and charming and with pretty much the same cast as the original, this sequel will delight its sizeable fan base, and leaves the door wide open for a third film.

Album review: Kiasmos, Kiasmos
One of the most interesting, if not visually engaging, artists at Laneway was electronica boffin Jon Hopkins, who added edge and scratchy beats to elevate his sound above the quasi-ambience of his albums.

This Chinese fable has a warm heart
Attending one or both of these two new plays by the prolific Renee Liang would be a great way to start a Lantern Festival visit this weekend.

Album review: Kodaline, Coming Up For Air
Irish band Kodaline move away from indie folk-fuelled first album In A Perfect World with the release of their sophomore album, Coming Up For Air.

Movie review: Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Mike (Austin Powers) Myers' debut as director is a documentary about a talent agent. The choice of subject matter is perhaps the last word in self-referentiality, though it's not clear whether the titular Gordon ever represented Myers.

Movie review: Treasure Island
More theatrical than knuckle-whiteningly dramatic, this NT Live* production of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1883 adventure book is nevertheless an eye-poppingly brilliant display of stagecraft with a show-stealing turn from a remote-controlled animatr

Colin Hogg: Oldies give reality a run for its money
Dan, the fluttery new weatherman on TV One's six o'clock news, says Kapiti just like cuppa tea, so he is trying.

Festival review: Splore, Tapapakanga Regional Park
Nestled in beautiful Tapapakanga Park Splore festival became annual for the first time this year, and it seems the move was a very successful one, write Lydia Jenkins and Rachel Bache.