The film of Cormac McCarthy's howlingly bleak apocalyptic novel is, first and foremost, a triumph of location scouting (the process by which film-makers find where they are going to set their shoot).

The source of this surprisingly affecting family drama was the book The Boys Are Back In Town, by English journalist Simon Carr, who worked as Jim Bolger's speechwriter in the early 1990s.

Peter Calder reviews new movie The Admiral...

The Karena family dynamics are captured on film.

The dancing sequences are sublime in Mao's Last Dancer.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson proves he's more than just every teenage girl's favourite vampire.

It's not just because of fancy 3D computer graphics that Tim Burton's Alice and Wonderland is the closest to what Lewis Carroll saw when he wrote the book.

Peter Calder reviews new movie Shutter Island...

Peter Calder reviews new movie Max Manus...

Mist twists through vast woods inhabited by gaunt gypsies and fangs shred human flesh, but in the end, the evening news is scarier than this remake of the 1941 werewolf thriller, Wolfman.

A disappointingly bland romantic comedy, Valentine's Day boasts an ensemble cast.

Given the horrendous events it documents, this viscerally gripping Australian drama is remarkably understated.

Peter Calder reviews new movie Bright Star...

Peter Calder reviews new movie Silent Wedding...

Director Chris Columbus, responsible for the first two Harry Potter films, returns to the world of teenage fantasy adventures.

Sparks do not fly between Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker.

The title of this film is a clue that it's a homage to John Cassavetes' 1980 film Gloria.

This exquisite little Israeli film, a major award-winner and commercial hit in its homeland.

Graduates of local television dramas, soap operas and sitcoms combine their talents.

Director Rob Marshall, who was behind the Oscar-winning musical Chicago, knows how to recreate big, bold musical numbers of energetic choreography, glitz and glamour.

Herald film reviewer Russell Baillie rates Invictus three stars and, unfortunately, we still lose the World Cup.

A delightful rom com that is actually funny.

In 2004's Kaikohe Demolition, German-born New Zealand-bred filmmaker Habicht got to know the stars of a dodgems-to-the-death demolition derby in the Northland town of the title and then filmed the hilarious showdown.

Director Jason Reitman is yet to put a foot wrong.

Good old 2D hand-drawn animation isn't very fashionable these days.

The debut feature of its writer-director, this disarmingly deadpan comedy can scarcely avoid comparison with (and even accusations of ripping off) 1999's Being John Malkovich.

Law Abiding Citizen stars Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, and that's probably the best that can be said about what is an overly violent thriller.