Philip Matthews

Contributing writer

Philip Matthews is a Christchurch journalist working for Fairfax Media. He reviewed movies for the Listener for 12 years and has a film blog called Second Sight.

Books
Oct 9, 2018

Man Booker Prize Fight Week, round 1: Robin Robertson vs Richard Powers

The 2018 Man Booker prize is announced next week. Philip Matthews reviews two of the shortlisted novels, The Long Take by Robin Robertson and The Overstory by Richard Powers.

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Books
Oct 4, 2018

Book of the Week: Inside the tidy, inscrutable mind of David Lynch

Philip Matthews reviews a new memoir of genius director David Lynch, who emerges from the book as a 'happy neurotic'.

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Books
Apr 11, 2018

Every one of them words rang true and glowed like burning coal: on Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize lecture

An essay by Philip Matthews in response to the publication of Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize lecture.

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Books
Jan 31, 2018

Age waters the writer down: the sad demise of poor old Martin Amis

Philip Matthews on the Alanis Morrissette of literature – yelping, abrasive 90s has-been Martin Amis.

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Books
Oct 10, 2017

The Man Booker Prize shortlist, reviewed: ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ and ‘4 3 2 1’

The year's biggest literary prize - the Man Booker award - is announced on Wednesday morning, October 18 (NZ time). All week this week we review the six shortlisted titles. Today: Philip Matthews on Paul Auster's 4 3 2 1, and the favourite to win, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.

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Books
Jun 20, 2017

Lots of drugs, lots of rock’n’roll, almost no sex: Philip Matthews reviews a great music biography

Music memoirs are so hot right now. Philip Matthews reads one of the best new books of the bunch - a hilarious account by Will Carruthers of Spacemen 3, a "drug parakeet" who ended up digging trenches.

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Books
Feb 9, 2017

1984 in 2017: Philip Matthews on Orwell’s masterpiece in the Age of Trump

A new edition of George Orwell's 1984 appears just as a new ruler of doublespeak and fake news casts his shadow over the world. Philip Matthews re-examines the novel that serves as a prophecy.

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Books
Jan 12, 2017

Once upon a time in Altamont: the music festival to end all music festivals

Philip Matthews examines three new books looking back at the day the music died: December 6, 1969, when the Hells Angels murdered a guy at a Rolling Stones concert.

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Books
Nov 23, 2016

‘I was lying naked in the big bed, just awake, and Javine beside me was running her hands over her thighs’: sex and CK Stead

Sex in America, sex in France, sex in Croatia, and a Sylvia Plath character demands, "I want you to fuck me": Philip Matthews reviews a book of stories by CK Stead.

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Books
May 31, 2016

“I am a raving maniac of the cinema”: the greatest hits of film critic Jonas Mekas

Philip Matthews reviews Movie Journal: The Rise of the New American Cinema, 1959-1971 by Jonas Mekas

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