★★★½ - STUFF  - Amazing Norwegian explorer finally gets the biopic he deserves -  It says a lot about our bias in the English-speaking bits of the world, that Roald Amundsen, one of the king-hell heavyweights in any “greatest explorer of all time” sweepstakes, is mostly still remembered by us as…

★★★★ - THE LIST A plethora of female talent, and a few choice blokes, assemble for a spirited and sincere look at the circumstances surrounding the 1970 Miss World pageant. With feminist fury coming to a head, race relations making strides and dusty old stereotypes finally being questioned it’s a…

★★★★ - FLICKERING MYTH  - The 2016 drama A Street Cat Named Bob was hardly a slam-dunk sequel prospect. It was an amiable British story with a social conscience, adapted from the memoirs of James Bowen – a man who dragged himself up from the gutter with the help of a stray cat who refused to leave…

★★★★ - NZ HERALD  - A beloved Kiwi band's singular success story is told with admirable candor and reflection -  Six60: Till The Lights Go Out is a new documentary that charts the band's rise to the top. In cinemas now. The superlative ups and notable downs of New Zealand's most popular band are…

★★★★½ - STUFF  - Love Christmas movies? Actually, this Season may just have provided a new fave -  Hollywood has not been kind to Christmas in the past two decades. Whereas 20th century flicks like It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, Gremlins and The Nightmare Before…

★★★★ - EMPIRE  - It’s the most wonderful time of the year: snow is falling, lights are twinkling, children travel home to visit their families and make new memories together. Everybody wants to have a perfect Christmas. But what happens when you throw in a secret that could potentially ruin…

★★★★★ - STUFF  - Spike Lee's once-in-a-lifetime concert movie -  I can't stand David Byrne. I love David Byrne. I can't stand his control, his poise, his sheer nerdishness, the air of remove and effete intellectualism that he allows to colour so much of his image. I can't stand his insistence on…

★★★★ - THE AUSTRALIAN  - The Comeback Trail is one of the cleverest, funniest movies I have seen in a while. The movie is also Robert De Niro’s greatest performance since … well Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. OK, that was only 12 months ago, but I think you know what I mean. He plays cash-strapped…

★★★½ - STUFF  - Band reveals roots, regrets on road to success -  The “Dunedin Sound” was never like this. Sure local bands were gaining national, sometimes international attention for their songs when I was growing up in the Edinburgh of the South, but the likes of The Clean, The Chills, The…

★★★½ - DEADLINE  - Liam Neeson And Son Micheál Richardson Excel In Tuscany-Set Dramedy That Mirrors Their Own Lives -  The new family dramedy Made In Italy seems made to order for stars Liam Neeson and his own real-life son Micheál Richardson. But in fact this feature debut from writer-director…

★★★½ - NZ HERALD  - A superlatively pleasant cinematic excursion to Tuscany -  Liam Neeson stars opposite his real-life son in this cordial dramedy that luxuriates in a ridiculously idyllic – albeit probably accurate – depiction of Tuscany. Switching out his gun for a paintbrush after spending…

★★★★★ - NZ HERALD   - Sam Neill's superlatively charming screen presence drives a modern ocker classic -  This casually wonderful Australian adaptation of a 2015 Icelandic film is an utter joy from start to finish, and proves a splendid vehicle for Kiwi national treasure Sam Neill's delightfully…