Marianne Faithfull is perhaps the most over-admired, least listened-to and sometimes most tuneless singer of our time.

Five times honoured at Cannes, Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the festival's supreme Palme d'Or last year with this film.

'Right now ... it's 6 o'clock". Only five words, but they meant so much coming from Jim Hickey, the long-time TV One weatherman who delivered his last "rain generator".

Pitch-perfect acting and a fine control of high emotion that never slips into treacly sentiment distinguish this small and lovely ensemble piece by writer-director Ira Sachs, who gave us 2008's memorable dark farce, Married Life.

The new film for French cinema's leading lady has nothing to do with the fabled Paris cabaret of the title.

Uwe Grodd chose his words carefully, introducing Auckland Choral's Monday Messiah.

Reggae festival's move to Auckland provides solid but soggy start to the summer festival season, writes Chris Schulz.

Shakespeare for short attention spans, this self-congratulatory “making-of” documentary doesn’t oblige the viewer to do anything so tedious as encounter the text. Indeed, as the title implies, it doesn’t even take us on stage very much.

The set deserves star billing in this Young Vic production released in cinemas under the NT Live* banner.

And so it ends, with a hiss and a roar. Actually, many hisses and many roars - those from that dragon from the previous instalment going down in flames at the beginning.

Reviewer Rachel Bache takes in crooner John Legend's Auckland show.

Shakespeare's tale of teenage love is brought to life with an authentic, very contemporary infusion of teenage vitality from the Young Auckland Shakespeare Company.

The Basement's Christmas fundraising tradition is as scruffy and silly as a present wrapped by toddlers using tinsel and a gluestick.

The cool good looks and technical confidence of this self-funded feature belie its limited budget. But they can't compensate for a seriously underdeveloped script.

"It's inexcusable," one of the women in this small but diverting documentary remarks, "for a woman not to have her nails polished and have nice shoes."

Northern Ballet's noted production of Charles Dickens' famous tale of curmudgeonly greed, grim reflection and a joyous redemption in Act III has all the charm of a very traditional Christmas card.

Following her roles in Gone Girl and Hector's Search for Happiness, Rosamund Pike again finds herself in a troubled relationship, this time as Abi, a mum of three in the process of divorcing husband Doug (Tennant).

Pack the tissues. Although this story of a young woman dealing with a progressive neurodegenerative disease is predictable and emotionally manipulative it's still hard to hold back the tears.

Guns? Knitting? It's still as hard as it always to find a sticking-to phrase that describes the adhesive power of AC/DC when it comes to being glued to their old ways.

It's that time of year, when labels start pouring out Christmas offerings from their stars, best of compilations, and re-releases.

You want them to remind you why they're great. You want them to teach those hip-hop pretenders a lesson. You want them to spit hard and fast over brilliant beats.