Review

Mia Farrow, Woody Allen, Dylan Farrow (at back) and Satchel (aka Ronan) Farrow as a baby, 1987. (Photo: Supplied)

Review: Allen v Farrow finally places Dylan at the centre of her own story

The new docuseries clears away the clutter of a messy saga, and refocuses the story back on the person it was always really about.

By Sam Brooks | 23rd February, 2021

Lindy Chamberlain at an inquest into her daughter Azaria’s death, Alice Springs Coroner’s Court, February 1982. (Photo: Supplied)

Review: Lindy Chamberlain finally gets a happy ending in Trial in the Outback

The most wronged woman in Australia gets to tell her story.

By Sam Brooks | 21st February, 2021

A funeral for a Head Hunters associate who was shot dead in February 2020 (Photo: Alan Gibson / New Zealand Herald)

Gangland: a book about meth and the people whose lives it touches

A senior journalist tells the story of how meth arrived - and flourished - in Aotearoa.

By Chloe Blades | 17th February, 2021

A Britney Spears promo photo, 2013 (Photo: Michelangelo Di Battista/Sony/RCA via Getty Images)

Review: Framing Britney Spears will make you feel angry – and guilty

The documentary is an uncomfortable watch that forces us to consider our own complicity in the pop singer's suffering.

By Emily Writes | 15th February, 2021

Review: When a City Rises is a celebration of a fallen city and its people

Review: When a City Rises is a celebration of a fallen city and its people

The follow-up to When A City Falls celebrates the people of Christchurch and the wins of the rebuild, but loses some nuance in the edit.

By Erin Harrington | 15th February, 2021

Colonies on petri dish (Photo: Wladimir Bulgar / Science Photo Library, via Getty)

We need to throw out a mindblowing amount of science and start again

The rot goes so deep it almost defies belief.

By Danyl Mclauchlan | 19th January, 2021

Vision (Paul Bettany) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) are stuck inside… a 1960s sitcom? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Sure. (Photo: Disney+)

Review: WandaVision is the first artistic triumph of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? You better believe it.

By Sam Brooks | 15th January, 2021

Image: Amanda Thompson/Alice Webb-Liddall

A meat eater reviews New Zealand’s best and worst vegetarian sausages

Which meat-free snarler should grace your summer barbie?

By Amanda Thompson | 14th January, 2021

Contributing writer

Photo: Getty Images

Is fancy dog food good enough for humans? We give it a go

We disregard commonsense and 'only for pet consumption' labelling to review dog food fit for a king.

By Jean Teng | 7th January, 2021

Image: Steven Trainoff Ph.D/Moment via Getty

An extraordinary, tender response to Witi Ihimaera’s memoir Native Son

Poet essa may ranapiri says this review is one of the hardest things they've written.

By essa may ranapiri | 6th January, 2021

Kelly Kahukiwa, of Whakaue Pataheuheu and Te Aitanga a Makaki iwi, holding a pūrerehua in the shade of kauri trees. A.H. Reed Memorial Park, Whangārei.
(This image has been slightly cropped) (Photo: Michelle Hyslop)

A review of The Overstory, a knockout novel that speaks for the trees

How should we live – and find hope – in the Anthropocene?

By Susan Wardell | 6th January, 2021

Not in fact a shot of Josie’s ratmate (Photo:
Jagoda Matejczuk/500px via Getty)

My flatmate, the rat

A review of Rat King Landlord, the new novel by activist and satirist Murdoch Stephens, by Josie Adams, who lives with a rat.

By Josie Adams | 3rd January, 2021

Illustration by Toby Morris

Every dairy lolly in New Zealand, reviewed and ranked

Summer is the time for buying dollar bags at the dairy. It's also the time for Madeleine Chapman to rank every single one of them.

By Madeleine Chapman | 29th December, 2020

Three Android phones: (L-R) Oppo Find X2 Pro, Samsung Galaxy A71, Samsung Galaxy A10

A 2020 buyer’s guide to Android phones in New Zealand

When the iPhone owns less than half the market, what are the best Android alternatives at every budget?

By Henry Burrell | 29th December, 2020

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in the film version of The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins.

A sincere appreciation of The Hunger Games

On the release of a new Hunger Games novel, we looked back and marvelled.

By Catherine Woulfe | 28th December, 2020

Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor in as Duke Simon and Daphne Bridgerton in Netflix’s Bridgerton. (Photo: Netflix)

Review: Netflix’s Bridgerton brings us Shonda Rhimes greatness when we need it most

What do you get when you mix Downton Abbey with Gossip Girl? A bloody good time, that’s what.

By Sam Brooks | 25th December, 2020