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    The Spirit
    Reviewed by Paul Barlow

    I am a hard man to please when it comes to my movies, I want fresh and original, fun and exciting, or heartfelt and sincere, and to be honest The Spirit didn’t feel that way to me.  It tries too hard to pay homage to the original comic, while remaining in the same visually stylistic world as Miller’s previous cinematic creations, 300 and Sin City. However, without Snyder’s masterful use of time in a cinematic world and Rodriguez’s innate ability to tell a story on a number of levels, this film seems to fall flat. 

    Critic: Minuit, Apra Silver Scroll, Them Crooked Vultures
    By Nick Johnston

    Minuit will be back in town on Friday 21st August for the local release party of ‘Find Me Before I Die A Lonely Death dot Com’. I haven’t had a chance to review the album yet, but press has been positive so it looks like this is a show that shouldn’t be missed. The following night, Ladi6 will be returning to Hamilton. Both of these shows are on at Flow bar on Victoria St. Minuit is $19.50, Ladi6 is $15+bf for presells (available from Flow and CD & DVD store Centreplace).

    G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
    Reviewed by Morgon deGroot

    The Plot: How two of the main G.I. Joe characters came to join the group in the not too distant future and fight a villain with a fondness for nanotech weaponry. Lots of dumb fun ensues.

    Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
    Reviewed by Joshua Drummond

    As an unabashed Harry Potter fan I was quick to call dibs on this one. I suppose this will colour the review for some of you, but luckily I don’t care.

    Auteur House Presents: The Dearly Departed
    By Dr Richard Swainson

    The multiplicity of celebrity deaths during the university's teaching recess has been a challenge to more than the tear ducts. Unless I turn this column into a sequential series of obituaries some hard choices have to be made. Who amongst the recent dead is most deserving of eulogy?

    Doteyes EP
    Reviewed by Arianne Zilberberg

    It is a pity that Hamilton has just lost Shane Dudfield aka Doteyes to the big, bright, and busy Melbourne. He brightened up the Hamilton gig scene with fun, light and energetic electonica-esque music. The short EP consists of four tracks: Eye For A Telescope is a heavy base synth number accompanied by distorted vocals that fill in as another instrument, and embodies the typical repetitive traits of the genre only to surmount to an epic chorus (Caution- side effects may include head-bobbing and foot- tapping). It possesses a somewhat Animal Collective feel to it.

    Critic: Band Experiments & Doteyes EP
    By Nick Johnston

    Firstly, I am excited to announce the return of the Band Experiments in 2009! The Hamilton Live Music Trust will be organising the event this year after the fantastic revival of the competition last year by Mammoth Gig Guide. The competition was first established in 1999 and over the first few years of its existence, it saw many prominent local bands arise, including The Datsuns, Cornerstone Roots and Katchafire. The Band Experiments 2009 programme is scheduled to coincide with the end of the Waikato University and Wintec B Semesters (but well before exams), running every Thursday five weeks.

    Auteur House Presents: The French New Wave
    By Dr Richard Swainson

    The French New Wave or Nouvelle Vague is a term used to describe the revolution in Gallic cinema that began in 1958. A large number of innovative directors made their debut around that time, including Claude Chabrol, Francois Truffaut, Jacques Rivette, Agnes Varda, and Jean-Luc Godard. Two other figures who started their feature career slightly earlier, Louis Malle and Alain Resnais, are also generally thought part of the movement.

    The Phat Controller: Soldat
    Reviewed by Antony Parnell

    They say the best things in life are free. With the likes of BitTorrent and The Pirate Bay around, that saying is truer than ever these days. Downloading seems a lot more tempting than shelling out the cash that we all seem to be lacking at the moment. But if you are morally opposed to pirated games, I have good news for you. Soldat is free, and it is damn good.

    Critic: A look at the year ahead…
    By Nick Johnston

    Over the last few months I’ve really struggled to come across good new music. A lack of money hasn’t helped the scenario either as I’ve generally preferred to purchase albums on CD instead of downloading them. If anyone else has felt the same way though, never fear because there is a bumper crop of good music on the way over the next few months, no matter what your music taste is. Here are a couple of albums that should be interesting to check out when they arrive.