The Fox: Movie Review

Cast: Jai Courtney, Emily Browning, Damon Herriman, Sam Neill, Olivia Colman
Director: Dario Russo

An Australian black comedy with its tongue firmly in its mouth and its intentions as twisted as they could be, The Fox is as close to 90 minutes of off-kilter cinematic joy as it could possibly be.

Jai Courtney plays the clueless Nick, a seemingly all-round good guy who believes a great marriage proposal to his indifferent girlfriend Kori (Browning, superb) is throwing a ring on the table during a crappy pub meal surrounded by locals.

But unbeknownst to Nick, Kori is having an affair with her boss (Herriman) to provide some excitement in her life - and when Nick sets out one day to kill a fox that's been slaughtering his chickens, he finds out the truth - from the mouth of the fox itself (Colman, slinky and devious).

So when Nick's offered the chance by the fox to solve all his problems and throw Kori in a giant hole ("A magical hole," she taunts), he does so - only to have Kori emerge as a dream version of what he's always wanted.

Russo may have the perils of domestication in his sights and the awfulness of mundanity as well, but this folktale is a deadpan, dark delight which throws open the cracks of life and gets plenty of material mining them.

Riffing on the line "It is what it is", the film is also a mournful look at how relationships sour - in marriage or otherwise - and how temptation doesn't necessarily always make things better. Courtney plays wide-eyed clueless with no hint of malevolence and as the horror of the situation makes itself known, he keeps things grounded.

Browning is equally impressive, ranging from outright disgust at the boredom in her relationship to a rejuvenated joy after she emerges from the hole. She's a beating heart of this and while Colman gives a particularly juicy voiceover to the animated fox, she's no match for Sam Neill's scabrous take on a gossipy magpie, desperate to tell people things if they'll just give him some fresh chicken to eat.

Running at just 90 minutes, The Fox is an utter joy of blackly comedic proportions. It's the kind of off-kilter film you wish there were more of, but are grateful that when they're this good, they're not commonplace.

Cotton Reboot: PS5 Review

Developed by BEEP and Rocket Engine
Published by Clear River Games
Platform: PS5

One of Japan's apparently most recognisable cute'em up franchises, the Cotton series debuted in Japanese arcades back in 1991.

In Cotton Reboot!, you get to take control of young witch Cotton as she heads through various environments, blasting her way through whatever perils are pushed in front of her. However, in this side-scrolling actioner, you're not alone as you've got fairy companion Silk to accompany you and help get magical crystals to defeat the hordes of creatures and end of level bosses heading your way.

It's a very familiar side-scrolling horizontal shooter which sees you taking Cotton on a journey through waves of enemies and bosses. Much like Apidya Special did recently, the game follows a tried and true formula - shoot, bomb enemies, collect crystals and repeat. It's not exactly rocket science but there's a bit of strategy to be had when firing, given that the crystals offer up access to different elemental spells that unleash various levels of deadliness on your enemies.

At its heart, Cotton Reboot is really just a very simple game that requires a bit of thought, precision and some button-pressing. But it does it all in such a colourful way that the game has a lot of charm and enjoyment if you're just simply wanting to sit back and shoot.

Along with a HD Reboot mode which offers up some enhanced visuals and a remixed OST, the game's smooth gameplay makes this addictive and easy. Though if you want to make things harder, playing against the Nightmare Mode is a lot harder and infinitely more challenging. It's also a lovely touch that, like Apidya Special, just a flick of a mode can transport you back to the original X68000 version and its old-school graphics.

Cotton Reboot! may not be the most sophisticated of games, but this witchy cute-em-up does cast a spell when you'd least expect it to.

Cunk on Cinema: Review

After the success of bittersweet comedy Ann Droid, Diane Morgan returns as the daft documentarian Philomena Cunk.

Having taken on art and life, Cunk this time turns her eye on the business of Hollywood and the movies in a gloriously silly series that skirts over the birth of cinema, its development and its impact.

Whether it's asking Michael Bay about the length of films, tackling UK critic Mark Kermode over the Jizz Slinger's impact or mangling Francois Truffaut, which according to her is Frank Truffle, this three-part comedy series benefits from a witty script, some stupidly absurd asides and plenty of very pointedly obvious misunderstandings.

There are satirist Charlie Brooker's fingerprints all over this mockumentary series, whether it's the way the Red menace is examined or how post-war Londoners handed bricks to each other in a line as they cleared up, so they could remember what a house felt like. The script benefits from sharpness when it counts, and given the episodes are only 30-minutes apiece, the show's scattergun approach yields solid results while never really outstaying its welcome. And you're guaranteed a laugh every minute or so, with flat moments unlikely to pull you out of it.

There are some flat moments though. It beggars belief that Benedict Cumberbatch has never seen or heard of Morgan's Cunk, so here it's his acting which should sell the plausibility shortcomings. But he sadly doesn't - and even Kermode, who's across pop culture, would know Cunk's MO.

The series is more effective when Cunk is talking to academics, such as asking why one director was calling everyone fuckers, to which the academic says he's shouting Focus. It's funnier in these moments where it feels like the script's yielding results.

Morgan's an expert at the deadpan and some of the one-liners Cunk comes out with are genuinely funny - but what's also engaging about Cunk on Cinema is how much love it actually has for the genre. Whether it's Chaplin or Keaton footage, or an examining of Jaws' theme tune, there's plenty of affection here for the movies - and not just as cheap gag fodder.

One Piece Grand Gourmet: Nintendo Switch Review

Developed by Kairosoft
Published by Bandai Namco
Platform: Nintendo Switch 

The cosy restaurant simulator really hit its peak with Dave the Diver, an easy, yet somehow never quite relaxing game that covered all the bases and offered all the necessary enhancements to a simple sim.

One Piece: Grand Gourmet however, goes for the more chaotic approach to the restaurant simulator, taking in the characters from the much-loved anime series and demands that you feed every single one of them.

After a storm separates them from their crew, Sanji and Luffy find a restaurant ship that's being victimised by a group of fake Straw Hat pirates. These troublemakers are on the scene to ensure that Sanji's mentor, the Baratie, is given a bad name and it's up to Sanji to clear it - and beat the fakes in a series of culinary battles.

As with most simulators, One Piece Grand Gourmet starts simple - build the floating restaurant, feed people, get money and upgrade. The more comfortable the restaurant is, the more people will stay and spend - but conversely, the busier it gets, the harder it is to achieve your aims.

If you're a fan of the One Piece lore, then this really is the game for you - but for newcomers, it can be a touch overwhelming, no matter how cutely executed it is. Occasionally, the game leaves you feeling like you're watching, rather than contributing and while it's a case of sorting out what dishes go where from just four food types (main, side, desserts and drinks), Grand Gourmet starts to feel more like it's a chore rather than a pleasure to run a restaurant - especially due to the chaos.

But for those versed in the lore, the game is a brilliantly different way of capturing the success of the series and powers on the idea that you'll get a lot out of serving your fave characters and others. Just simply doing things to attract customers will get you through the first levels, but any more than that you'll need to start thinking about strategy - from what kind of meals to craft to what kind of decorations to use, the game's going to reward you when it should and punish you when it needs to.

Ultimately, how you feel about One Piece Grand Gourmet, no matter its cuteness and adherence to its lore, will depend on what you want from a restaurant sim - if you're after a more active kind of game, that's not this - but if you enjoy watching the chaos, this serves up what it needs in spades.

The End of Oak Street: HBO Max Movie Review

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery
Director: David Robert Mitchell

If you've ever wanted to see a dinosaur film where the dinos are rapacious, then It Follows director David Robert Mitchell has just the thing for you.

But be warned, while the execution follows the concept, the answers are not really forthcoming in a romp that has echoes of 1980s family films, pushed to the extreme edges of what's considered family friendly in a movie.

It's a very familiar set-up - in a seeming utopia, Denise and Greg Platt (Hathaway, all bangs and grit, and McGregor, wearing some of the shortest shorts you'll see) are a happy couple, with two kids (Sweet Tooth star Convery and Nashville's Stella) and a dog.

But under the surface, they hide their resentments from each other - Denise bashes away at a book in the basement at night while her husband delivers pizzas on top of his day job; and in the background, the two kids watch their silent squabbles with forlorn faces, full of fear of the possibility of divorce.

When a lightning storm knocks out all their power, the Platts find themselves ripped from suburbia and their entire neighborhood transported to someplace unknown. Things get worse when they go to find their errant dog Starbuck, only to discover their little corner is filled with dinosaurs waiting to get them.

As mentioned, the premise of The End of Oak Street works well.

It's in the smaller details that Mitchell creates a sense of horror and suspense in among the familiar romp which unfolds. Whether it's a flock of dinos picking at a fallen ginger cat or the Platts hiding from a dino stampede with a dead person in the front of their car they take solace in, Mitchell has an uncanny knack of making the everyday feel threatened - something he delivered to perfection in It Follows.

However, as the plot veers between escaping the dinos and slowing down to discuss what's next, the film finds a familiar rhythm that occasionally veers on repetitive, but somehow never manages to grate.

Whether it's a riff on the stalking Velociraptors from Jurassic Park in the shape of a slithering snake or Twilight Zone moments, The End of Oak Street has a way of sledgehammering through genres and turning the final result into something pleasantly watchable, but also simultaneously forgettable. (There's also one moment that genuinely does take your breath away, and feels daring for the genre.)

It may be that The End Of Oak Street is a suburban story that's padded out with too much drama and a lesbian sidestory, and one that could have stood to be more subversive in its Spielberg apeing, but as a romp through the dramas of family life, it's quite a doozy.

Technics A1000: Review

Sometimes a piece of kit comes your way that redefines how you look at the services it provides - and all its other competitor.

The Technics A1000 is one such piece of technology.

These premium over-the-ear headphones, from the much-praised Technics brand, offer a high-level service (admittedly for a high-level price point) that once you've used, are very hard to put down or imagine even using something else.

Technics has form in this arena though - having launched the A800 over-ear headphones a few years back and the uniformly excellent AZ range of mini earbuds, the company knows how to produce a quality piece of kit that does what it needs to and ensures you don't stay from their eco-structure.

So it's no surprise to say that with the Technics A1000, they've done it again.

Design and comfort are perhaps the two areas where Technics put most of its money in these - and it shows from the moment you open the package.

With a hard-shell case that keeps the headphones and charging gear neatly snug and carefully protected, it's clear that Technics have put first impressions front of mind. With many mid-range headphone providers dispatching a way to look after their headphones or even include a charger (citing e-waste concerns), Technics has decided that an all-in-one approach is the best way to go, including tidy compartments for USB-C charging cable and enough room to fold the headphones. It's a welcome touch, and the first sign that premium counts for something.

Blessed with an elegant sleek look and a design that feels contemporary and timeless, the Technics A1000 make a case for ease of use, with the Bluetooth connecting within seconds and pairing done before you've even realised it's begun. It's the small things that the Panasonic audio brand gets right, and they leave the right impression.
Weighing in at around 306g, these are not heavy headphones and it's an important distinction given how long they'll sit atop of your head. With an adjustable metal bar on the top and generous padding on both the headband and ear cups filled with memory foam, these feel comfortable from very first use and soon become headgear you've got used to and don't want to be parted from.

The hinges on the side of the ear cups also feel sturdy enough to endure plenty of use and ensure that no amount of putting them back in the case and taking them out will result in any kind of damage.

Battery life is impressive too - with ANC on, there's some 45 hours and with it off, 90 hours - it's a generous use and given the ANC is automatic and cancels out the noise around you, filtering out only your sound to enjoy, it's more than what you'll need.

Chiefly though what powers this better sound is the 40mm magnetic fluid driver, which keeps the parts moving within for a lower level of distortion. It's proprietary tech which was used in its AZ100 earbuds and will leave the bass singing out more than feeling like it's been muddied and mixed down below.

Long hours of continual use of these headphones also prove to be beneficial too.

There's little sign of ear sweat after a gaming session and there's no feeling of the weight of the headset pushing down on the head either - the light nature of the gear coupled with the comfort means they're perfect for either a binge-watch or a gaming session.

Perhaps the only minor niggle is that the volume control on the right earcup feels a little plasticky and requires leverage control rather than button pressing, but given that's a minor design thing which can no doubt be fixed on future releases, the A1000 make a serious case for being part of your audio gear.

Technics has always been about quality and comfort, as well as trying to push the audio envelope.

With this latest set of wireless headphones, it's made a clear-cut case for ownership and even though they're on a pricepoint similar to Sony's range, they're well worth considering for an investment because they'll last you for years and won't leave you feeling like they've let you down on any front.