Reviews
Music: Local albums offer smooth sailing and nightmares in space
New releases from Leisure, Rhian Sheehan & Arli Liberman, and Alan Brown.
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Stories and analysis from The Northern Express Herald.
NZ film icon profiles NZ art icon: Gaylene Preston’s Robin White documetary is sensual, languid, and intense
While artist Robin White is the subject, the film itself is a masterclass
Listener’s September Viewing Guide Updated: Ethan Hawke’s The Lowdown – best new show of the year?
When and where the month's best new shows are arriving.
"How behind-the-scenes this gets is breathtaking": Why Jacinda Ardern doco deserves five stars
'Prime Minister' captures Jacinda Ardern's time in power in vivid detail.
A dystopic death march becomes a cross-country Hunger Games in The Long Walk
Stephen King meets Suzanne Collins in a totalitarian America.
Drift into cosmic folk listening to Big Thief’s new album
The alt-folk band likes to keep challenging audiences.
Spoof or Spooky? Papier mâché glitter monsters leap onto the screen in Seth Worley’s debut feature
While rated PG, school-holiday movie Sketch may be a little intense for the under 8s.
David Bowie: Five late-career gems from his 21st century boxset which prove he was great to the end
The pick of the songs from the last in a new Bowie career-overview series.
NZ Listener’s Songs of the Week: New tracks by Tom Scott, Serj Tankian with Bic Runga, and more
Sound advice about new songs to stream (or splash out on) from Listener writers.
The last huzzah: The touching end to Downton Abbey’s 15-year reign
The long-running franchise has reached the end of its course in its grand finale.
David Byrne and Blood Orange’s Devonté Hynes ask all the questions on fine new albums
New music to discover now.
Clarke Gayford: ‘Jacinda’s time in office was a whirlwind – we were just trying to keep our heads above water’
Clarke Gayford on making a movie about Jacinda Ardern and their lives then and now.
Absurdist romcom Splitsville makes infidelity a hoot
An absurdly tangled love quadrangle is lit up by brilliantly witty writing.
NZ Listener’s Songs of the Week: From Gorillaz featuring Sparks to Spinal Tap featuring Paul McCartney
New songs from Jeff Tweedy, The Bats, Yumi Zouma and where to hear them.
Trauma specialist: How Eva Victor’s film Sorry, Baby struck a nerve and a funnybone
The actor's script has won acclaim for its poignant, funny story in face of suffering.
Music: Pickle Darling and The Beths serve up fragility and reflectiveness
New music from Pickle Darling and The Beths reviewed.
Chris Schulz: Scribe is Dead is a haunting farewell from Aotearoa hip-hop legend
Scribe's last word? The rapper's farewell album is an honest, heavy goodbye.
Austin Butler runs hot in Aronofsky’s hit-and-miss Caught Stealing
Caught Stealing is stylish, silly - and slightly stolen.
Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch’s The Roses makes marriage failure a hoot
British stars replant prickly 1980s Hollywood comedy with surprising results.
Taranaki blast: Tangata Pai’s te reo-rich TV drama
Tangata Pai, the new primetime drama movement from the makers of Waru.
NZ Listener’s Songs of the Week: New tracks by Scribe, Reb Fountain, David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, Lady Gaga and more
New music tracks selected by Listener writers.
I believe you are a film star: How great Shayne Carter doco builds on acclaimed memoir
Read our five-star review, complete with soundtrack playlist.
Relay starts strong but disconnects in the final act
A promising thriller with terrific actors fails to fire on action and delivery.
From MOR to Morocco: Laufey and Ami Taf Ra’s new albums are jazz crazy enough
Laufey & Ami Taf Ra deliver distinctive jazz and world sounds.
Barrel of laughs: Liam Neeson & Pamela Anderson’s Naked Gun reboot a dumb comedy joy
Action star brings slapstick skills to defective detective, Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr.
Listener’s Songs of the Week: New tracks by Benee, Eminem, Skepta with Fred Again, and more
A weekly selection of tracks from the Listener team.
Folk this for a joke: How The Ballad of Wallis Island became one of the year’s best comedies
Tom Basden on writing, singing, starring in film opposite Carey Mulligan.
William v Harry, a thousand years ago
Series dramatises the royal feud leading to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Thursday Murder Club movie is a star-studded, cosy crime pantomime
Richard Orsman's best-seller becomes an Exotic Marigold Hotel with a body count.
