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    The Rainmaker – John Grisham

    The Rainmaker is a courtroom drama, the kind of which John Grisham is famous for. It’s a story which grips from the start with multiple story lines.

    HCITY PROJECT - Issue 12
    Sam and Luke

    So Sam and Luke are flat out smashing uni at the moment, and we apologise for the rather light review this week, but check out Facebook for some crazy epic awesomeness!!

    The Loud American’s Cafe Review - Grey Street Kitchen
    Mackenzie McCarty

    355 Grey St., Hamilton East
    Entering this rather large cafe is a lesson in acoustics. Although only about a third of the seats are filled on this particular Friday afternoon, the noise is overwhelming and my boyfriend and I resort to a moderate yell in order to hear each other over the din of dishes, conversations, and esspresso machine.

    Comic Review - Fables by Bill Willingham
    Jizzle my Lizzle Crizzle

    The Fables series of comic books is based around the characters from the fables and the fairytales you read or listened to as a child, but they aren’t where they used to be anymore. I fell in love with the series a couple of years ago after being very unsure of the comic book thing, but now am totally convinced and if I were rich I would go and buy them all. I’ve read the ones I’ve had at least 3 times each, and while trying to write this have been totally distracted by staring at the art work which is amazing and have wanted to start reading from the beginning again.

    Movies - Shutter Island
    Richard Swainson

    There are a lot of good things in Martin Scorsese's latest, the psychological thriller "Shutter Island". Robbie Robertson's score, for one. Robertson seems to be channelling Bernard Herrmann, going wonderfully over the top from the very beginning. The music in the opening sequence - seemingly nothing more than shots of Leonardo Di Caprio and Mark Ruffalo arriving and driving through the title location - screams with a vigour reminiscent of the climax of "Vertigo".

    Movies - Crazy Heart
    Richard Swainson

    Jeff Bridges is the most underrated leading man of his generation. From "The Last Picture Show", "Fat City", and "The Fabulous Baker Boys" to "The Fisher King", "Fearless" and "The Big Lebowski" Bridges has consistently delivered as an actor for forty years. Now, finally, it looks as though he's about to win an Oscar.

    Kevin Pryor Goes Down on Books - Both Sides of the Moon

    Alan Duff is a controversial figure. Less so now that he has fled the country to escape his creditors. But before that he was well known for riling liberal Pakeha and Maori alike with his uncompromising take on race relations and urban poverty. He also drew attention for suing the cross-dressing director of his most famous work, and also for coming up to this very University and wanting to go mano to mano with the previous Vice Chancellor about the matter of a taxpayer funded swimming pool.

    Temeraire – Naomi Novik
    Judders from the Block

    Temeraire is set during the Napoleonic war. However, instead of being some historical fiction thing it’s a fantasy, because there are dragons involved in the fighting instead of just people with ships and guns and cannons. As far as fantasy novels go it’s not too far out there, there are no goblins or fairies or giants and the world operates in a totally recognisable way except for the dragons which are enlisted as planes which can think, talk and have feelings but are really good for dropping bombs off and for spitting acid at people and enemy dragons.

    The Loud American’s Cafe Review - Metropolis Caffe
    Mackenzie McCarty

    211 Victoria St., City Center

    “What’s that in your water?! Gross! Go ask for another one!”
    We’ve just taken our seats and are rather disgusted to find an uncooked chip floating in my water glass. Lifting the bottle up to the sun, we spy another one bobbing up and down, waiting to be poured into our refills.
    I ask the waitress what’s in the fruit salad. “Bananas, mangos,feijoas…” I’m sold! I love mangos and feijoas. Alas, my salad arrives without a mango or a feijoa to be found. Instead I am presented with abowl of pears, kiwifruit, under-ripe plums and sour pineapple,

    Auteur House - Clint Eastwood
    Richard Swainson

    Try to imagine Dirty Harry at 80. Think of the Man with No Name riding the prairie into his ninth decade, settling old scores, laying waste to rival clans as in his hey day. Difficult, isn't it? Lucky then that Clint Eastwood has negotiated age better than any other American movie star, taking roles suitable to his naturally weathered visage.