Philip Matthews

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. Philip was born in Wellington in 1968.

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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