★★★★½ - STUFF  - Mads Mikkelsen's intoxicating new drama a memorable watch -  “Have I become boring?” Reaching his 40s has hit history teacher Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) hard. A decade ago, he had a grant, a PhD and a bright research career seemed assured. Instead, he’s still teaching the past to…

★★★★★ - DEADLINE   - Gemma Arterton & Gugu Mbatha-Raw Shine In A Lilting Period Film Perfectly Timed For Right Now -  For my money, the new movie Summerland could not have come at a better time. Cast to perfection, beautifully shot, and marking a lovely feature directorial debut for Jessica Swale,…

★★★★★ - NEWSHUB  - Oscar Kightley's Dawn Raid needs to be seen -  Stop drop and roll to the nearest cinema, one of the best local docos directed by one of New Zealand's best local storytellers is about to hit the big screen and it needs to be seen.  Dawn Raid is the story of the rise and fall of…

★★★★ - STUFF  - Oscar Kightley perfectly captures the music and the characters -  The story of Dawn Raid records is a scarcely believable journey through family, community, ambition, hubris, disaster and triumph. In 1999, two young men met at a Manukau Polytechnic business program. Danny…

★★★★ - DEADLINE  - Emily Blunt & Jamie Dornan At Odds In A Sweet Charmer Of An Irish Romantic Comedy -  Wild Mountain Thyme is an Irish charmer of the tallest order. Prepare to be swept away for two glorious hours to an idyllic place that will make you forget the woes of the real world, and I…

★★★★½ - DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD DAILY  Penguin Bloom is a heartfelt and life affirming movie that comes just at the right time. Naomi Watts delivers another performance worthy of Oscar attention and she is just about perfectly matched by her Magpie co-star. Penguin Bloom stars Naomi Watts, Andrew…

★★★★ - STUFF  - A smart, genuinely funny and tightly written comedy of very bad manners -  In their smart and spacious apartment, Ana and Julio are bickering. Again. The couple have been together 15 years and we sense that arguing is the last channel of communication between them that might…

★★★★★ - MOVIE ARMY  - A young woman, traumatised by a tragic event in her past, seeks out vengeance against those who cross her path - Once a year I see a movie that shocks, perplexes, entertains and stays in my mind weeks after I’ve seen it. Last year that film was 1917. This year it's Promising…

★★★★ - ABC RADIO  Documentary filmmaker Laura Gabbert has struck (delicious) gold with her latest film, Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles. For foodies and fans of reality TV cooking programmes, this is a no-brainer as the documentary follows some of the finest dessert chefs in the world as…

★★★★★ - STUFF  - Carey Mulligan stuns in this audacious, astonishing tale -  Melancholia, Under the Skin, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Handmaiden. Only a handful of movies in the past decade have left me awestruck by their originality, powerful storytelling, memorable characters,…

★★★★ - STUFF  - A worthy cinematic adaptation of Jane Harper's award-winning novel -  In present day rural Australia, a couple of hours north of Melbourne, the rain hasn't arrived for a year. The grasslands and wheat fields around the town of Kiewarra are a dustbowl. Cracked, baked clay ravines…

★★★★★ - STUFF  - Why this doco is unlike anything you've seen before -  Norwegian film-maker Benjamin Ree had long been fascinated by the subject of art theft and was actively looking for a story to tell, when he happened on an account of an otherwise unremarkable gallery heist in Oslo. The…